(So his fruits were encircled), meaning his wealth, or according to the other opinion, his crops. What is meant is that what this disbeliever was afraid of and what the believer had terrified him actually had happened. A storm struck his garden, a garden which he had erroneously thought would last forever, distracting him from thoughts of Allah, may He be glorified.
(And he began Yuqallibu his hands over what he had spent upon it,) Qatadah said: "He was clasping his hands together in a gesture of regret and grief for the wealth he had lost."
The word: حُسبانا - (husbana) in verse 40 has been explained by Qatadah as 'punishment' in an absolute sense, by Sayyidna Ibn ` Abbas ؓ as 'fire' and by some as 'stoning.' As for what appears after that in the Qur'an: أُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ (And its produce was struck by destruction from all sides - 42), it obviously means that some major calamity hit his gardens, wealth and things of luxury reducing everything to ruins. The Qur'an does not mention any particular calamity explicitly. It appears that, some fire came down from the skies and burnt the whole thing - as it appears in the Tafsir of 'husban' by Sayyidna Ibn 'Abbas ؓ who has explained it as 'fire.' And Allah knows best.
Tazkirul Quran
Maulana Wahiduddin KhanOn ayahs 41–43
If God showers His blessings on a man, he should always remain grateful to Him. But, if he does not possess the right mentality, prosperity becomes the cause of arrogance and vanity developing in him. On the contrary, one who possesses the right mentality does not forget God, even in poverty. He is content with whatever he has, while entertaining the hope that God will give him more. A man who lives in this world with open eyes will never indulge in impudence or arrogance. Man is brought up as a humble creature. He is subject to accidents, disease and old age. Neither the water nor the other things with the help of which he cultivates his ‘Garden’ in this world personally belong to him. All this is in order to ensure that man should live in this world with humility and modesty. But the transgressor does not learn any lesson from any of these things. He does not come to his senses until he loses everything and only after being deprived of everything does he come to realise—after seeing it with his own eyes—that he possessed nothing but total helplessness.
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
