Ar-Room (The Romans)

41. “Mischief has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of what they have done, so that they may turn (away from evil).”

Man’s deeds affect on the nature. The evil deeds of man hinder the water, and the land to give benefit and they cause some undesirable phenomena to be created.

So, in this verse it says:

“Mischief has appeared in the land and the sea because of what the hands of men have wrought, that He may make them taste a part of what they have done, so that they may turn (away from evil).”

The above holy verse has a vast scope of meaning around the relation between ‘mischief’ and ‘sin’ which is neither allocated to the lands of Mecca and Arabic nor to the age of the Prophet (S), but it is a verity-proposition which states the link of ‘predicate’ and ‘subject’.

In other words, wherever a mischief appears, it is the effect of the people’s deeds; and, in the meantime, it contains an educational goal, so that people taste the bitter fruit of their deeds, perhaps they turn away from evil.

Some commentators believe that this verse refers to the drought and famine which seized the pagans of Mecca as the result of the Prophet’s curse. The sky did not rain, the deserts dried and became drier, and even fishing in the sea (the Red Sea) became difficult for them.

Supposing this statement is correct, it is only the statement of one example and it never restrains the meaning of the verse in the relation of ‘mischief’ and ‘sin’; restrains neither to that time and that place, not to the drought and scanty of rain.

We read in a tradition from Imam Sadiq (as) who once said:

“The life of the animals of the sea depends on rain; so when it does not rain, decadence appears in both the land and the sea, and this is at the time when sins increase.”1

Of course, whatever is mentioned in this noble narration is the statement of a clear expansion of mischief, and what is mentioned in this tradition about the rainfall and the life of animals in the sea is a matter which has exactly been experienced that whenever it rains less, there will be found less fish in the sea.

We heard some of the dwellers of the sea banks say:

“The benefit of rain for the sea is more than its benefit for the desert.”