You are here: Home » Chapter 95 » Verse 1 » Translation
← Sura 95 →
← Aya 1 →

Chapter 95

The Figal-Tīn ( التين )

8 verses • revealed at Meccan

»The surah that opens with the oath of the Divine One swearing by The Fig and the olive, and other signs, representing the Holy Land in which God revealed the Evangel, the Torah, and the Quran, and thereby guided all mankind. It is named after “the fig” (al-tīn) mentioned in verse 1. The surah questions how man can deny the Judgement, and emphasizing the importance of faith and good deeds.«

The surah is also known as The Figtree

بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمٰنِ الرَّحيمِ

Yusuf Ali: In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1
وَالتّينِ وَالزَّيتونِ

Yusuf Ali

This is also a very early Sūra. It appeals to the most sacred symbols to show that God created man in the best of moulds, but that man is capable of the utmost degradation unless he has Faith and leads a good life. In subject-matter this Sūra closely resembles S. 103.
C. 275 | [95:1-8] Nature and history and the Light of Revelation, through the ages, show that man, created by God in the best of molds, can yet fall to the lowest depths, unless he lives a life of faith and righteousness. Then will he reach his goal: if not, he must stand his Judgment—none can doubt—before the wisest and justest of Judges.
By the Fig1 and the Olive,2
  • The substantive proposition is in verses 4-8, and it is clinched by an appeal to four sacred symbols. viz., the Fig, the Olive, Mount Sinai, and the sacred City of Mecca. About the precise interpretation of the first two symbols, and especially of the symbol of the Fig, there is much difference of opinion. If we take the Fig literally to refer to the fruit or the tree, it can stand as a symbol of man’s destiny in many ways. Under cultivation it can be one of the finest, most delicious, and most wholesome fruits in existence: in its wild state, it is nothing but tiny seeds, and is insipid, and often full of worms and maggots. So man at his best has a noble destiny: at his worst, he is “the lowest of the low”. Christ is said to have cursed a fig tree for having only leaves, and not producing fruit (Matt. 21:18-29), enforcing the same lesson. There is also a parable of the fig tree in Matt. 24:32-35. See also the parable of the good and evil figs in Jeremiah, 24:1-10. But see second note for verse 3 below.
  • For the sacred symbolism of the Olive, see first note to verse 23:20, and respectively notes five, six and seven to verse 24:35, where the parable of God’s Light includes a reference to the Olive. But it is possible that the Olive here refers to the Mount of Olives, just outside the walls of the City of Jerusalem (see first note to verse 52:2), for this is the scene in the Gospel story (Matt. 24:3-4) of Christ’s description of the Judgment to come.