Tafseer of The Thunder · Ar-Ra'd · 13:4
And within the land are neighboring plots and gardens of grapevines and crops and palm trees, [growing] several from a root or otherwise, watered with one water; but We make some of them exceed others in [quality of] fruit. Indeed in that are signs for a people who reason.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted says: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — and in the earth there are tracts of it that lie close together and side by side, some lying right next to others, yet which, despite their proximity and the closeness of some to others, differ from one another in quality; so there may be a saline tract that lets nothing grow, beside a good tract that lets things grow and is beneficial.
The exegetes explained it in accordance with what we have said.
Mention of those who said that:
20067 — Abū Kurayb related to us and said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: the brackish soil and the fertile soil, the saline and the good land.
20068 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us and said: Abū Aḥmad related to us and said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: brackish soils and fertile soils.
20069 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us and said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, identically.
20070 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: Saʿīd ibn Sulaymān related to us and said: Isḥāq ibn Sulaymān related to us, on the authority of Abū Sinān, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: the fertile and the brackish soil.
20071 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me and said: my father related to me and said: my uncle related to me and said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he means: the brackish soil and the fertile soil, which may lie side by side, and one is preferred over the other with respect to the harvest.
20072 — Al-Qāsim related to us and said: al-Ḥusayn related to us and said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — Ibn ʿAbbās said: (tracts adjoining one another) — the fertile and the brackish soil, side by side, the one lets things grow and the other beside it lets nothing grow.
20073 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: Shabāba related to us and said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (tracts adjoining one another) — the good of it is the sweet soil, and the bad of it is the brackish soil.
20074 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us and said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, identically.
20075 — [isnād link], he said: Isḥāq related to us and said: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, identically.
20076 — Bishr related to us and said: Yazīd related to us and said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — villages that lie side by side, some close to others.
20077 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us and said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: villages lying side by side.
20078 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: ʿAmr related to us and said: Hishām informed us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq al-Kūfī, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: (tracts adjoining one another) — he said: the brackish soil, beside the fertile soil.
20079 — It was related to me by al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Farj — he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to us — he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he means the brackish soil and the fertile soil, side by side.
20080 — Al-Ḥārith related to us and said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us and said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: one tract of earth lets things grow sweet, the other lets things grow sour, and they lie side by side and are irrigated with the same water.
20081 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us and said: Abū Aḥmad related to us and said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: this is sweet and that is sour, and it is irrigated with the same water, and they lie side by side.
20082 — ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn Yaḥyā al-Ramlī related to me and said: Ḍamra ibn Rabīʿa related to us, on the authority of Ibn Shawdhab, concerning His word: (And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another) — he said: fertile and saline soil.
His word: (and gardens of grapevines and crops and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone, watered with one and the same water; and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — Allah the Exalted says: And in the earth there are, along with the tracts that differ from one another in properties — in salinity and sweetness, in badness and goodness — despite their mutual proximity, also orchards of grapevines and crops and palm trees, which stand close together in form yet differ in tastes and colours, even though they all together drink the same water. Among them are those whose taste is good, whose appearance is beautiful and whose scent is pleasant, and there are those whose taste is sour and which possess no scent.
The exegetes explained it in accordance with what we have said.
Mention of those who said that:
20083 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us and said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: (and gardens of grapevines and crops and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: conjoined and not conjoined — (watered with one and the same water, and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: in a single plot of ground there may occur peaches, pears, white and black grapes; some are heavier in fruit than others, some sweet and some sour, and the one is better than the other.
20084 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: Shabāba related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (and gardens) — he said: and what is connected with them.
20085-20086 — [isnāds of Mujāhid, identically]
The reciters of the Qurʾān differed in the reading of His word: (and crops and palm trees). Most of the reciters of Medina, Kufa and Basra read (wa-zarʿin wa-nakhīlin) in the genitive, as a connection to "the grapes," with the meaning: And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another, and gardens of grapevines and of crops and palm trees.
Some of the reciters of Basra read (wa-zarʿun wa-nakhīlun) in the nominative, as a connection to "gardens," with the meaning: And in the earth are tracts adjoining one another and gardens of grapevines, and therein are also crops and palm trees.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct thing to say is that both readings have a closely related meaning; well-known reciters have followed each of the two readings, so whichever reading the reciter chooses, he has done well. That is because the crops and palm trees, when they are in orchards, are in the earth, and when they are in the earth, the earth in which they are is an orchard, so whether they are described as being in an orchard or in the earth makes no difference.
As for His word: (palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — "al-ṣinwān" is the plural of "ṣinw," and these are palm trees brought together by a single shared root; the difference between the plural and the dual in it is only by the ending: in the dual the n is always in the genitive, and in the plural it follows the declension. A comparable word is "al-qinwān," singular "qinw."
The exegetes explained it in accordance with what we have said.
Mention of those who said that:
20087 — Abū Kurayb related to us and said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ: (growing in clusters from a single root) — he said: conjoined — (and standing alone): separate.
20088 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us and said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us and said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ — he said: (growing in clusters from a single root): that is the palm tree beside which other palm trees stand with the same root — (standing alone): the palm tree by itself.
20089 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us and said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us and said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: "al-ṣinwān": two palm trees with the same root — (standing alone): one or two palm trees standing apart.
20090 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthanná related to us and said: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us and said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq — he said: I heard al-Barāʾ say about this verse: the palm tree has palm trees [beside it] — (standing alone): the scattered palm trees.
20091 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: ʿAmr ibn al-Haytham Abū Qaṭan, Yaḥyā ibn ʿAbbād and ʿAffān related to us — and the wording is that of Abū Qaṭan — he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: "al-ṣinwān": the palm tree beside which other palm trees stand — (standing alone): separate.
20092 — Al-Ḥasan related to us and said: Shabāba related to us and said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: "al-ṣinwān": three, four or two palm trees with the same root — (standing alone): separate.
20093 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us and said: Abū Aḥmad related to us and said: Sufyān and Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of al-Barāʾ, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: two palm trees with the same root — (standing alone): separate.
20094 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us and said: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root) — he says: conjoined.
20095 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me and said: my father related to me and said: my uncle related to me and said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he means by "al-ṣinwān": the palm tree out of which other palm trees grow from the same root, whereby the one bears fruit and the other does not; the root is one but the crowns are scattered.
20096 — Al-Ḥārith related to me and said: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us and said: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — palm trees with the same root, and standing alone: scattered palm trees.
20097 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us and said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: conjoined and not conjoined.
20098 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: al-Nufaylī related to us and said: Zuhayr related to us and said: Abū Isḥāq related to us, on the authority of al-Barāʾ — he said: "al-ṣinwān": that which has one root and is scattered — (standing alone): that which has grown by itself.
20099 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: Shabāba related to us and said: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root) — two or more palm trees with the same root — (standing alone): alone.
20100-20101 — [isnāds of Mujāhid, identically]
20102 — Abū Kurayb related to us and said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayt, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: growing in clusters from a single root: conjoined with one root; standing alone: with scattered root.
20103 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us and said: Hishām informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: "al-ṣinwān": that which is conjoined with one root — (standing alone): the scattered.
20104 — Bishr related to us and said: Yazīd related to us and said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — as for "al-ṣinwān": these are two or three palm trees whose roots are one and whose branches are diverse — (standing alone): the single palm tree.
20105 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us and said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: (growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: growing in clusters from a single root: the palm tree in whose root there are two or three palm trees with one root.
20106 — Yūnus related to me and said: Ibn Wahb informed us and said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (and palm trees, growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone) — he said: "al-ṣinwān": two or three palm trees that stand in one root; that is what people reckon as ṣinwān.
20107 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us and said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar — he said: A man related to me: There was a dispute between ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and al-ʿAbbās; al-ʿAbbās uttered harsh words against him. ʿUmar went to the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, have you not seen what al-ʿAbbās did and did to me? I wanted to answer him, but I thought of his position with you and restrained myself. He said: May Allah show you mercy — a man's paternal uncle is the ṣinw of his father.
20108 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us and said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us and said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda: (growing in clusters from a single root): the palm tree in whose root there are two or three palm trees with one root. He said: There was a dispute between ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and al-ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with both; al-ʿAbbās uttered harsh words against him. ʿUmar went to the Prophet ﷺ and said: O Prophet of Allah, have you not seen what al-ʿAbbās did and did to me? I wanted to answer him, but I thought of his position with you and restrained myself from that. He said: May Allah show you mercy — a man's paternal uncle is the ṣinw of his father.
20109 — [isnād link] — ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us and said: Ibn ʿUyayna informed us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Shābūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: the Prophet ﷺ said: Do not hurt me by attacking al-ʿAbbās, for he is the remnant of my forefathers, and a man's paternal uncle is the ṣinw of his father.
20110 — Yaʿqūb related to me and said: Hishām related to us and said: Ḥajjāj informed us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ and Ibn Abī Mulayka: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to ʿUmar: O ʿUmar, do you not know that a man's paternal uncle is the ṣinw of his father?
20111 — Al-Qāsim related to us and said: al-Ḥusayn related to us and said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — he said: al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid: (growing in clusters from a single root) — he said: three palm trees in one root, like three children of the same father and mother who differ from one another in deeds, just as the fruits of these three palm trees in one root differ from one another. Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: like the righteous and the wicked among the children of Adam, their father is one.
20112 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad related to us and said: Ḥajjāj ibn Muḥammad related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj — he said: Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh informed me, on the authority of Mujāhid, identically.
20113 — Al-Qāsim related to me and said: al-Ḥusayn related to us and said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — he said: This is a similitude that Allah struck for the hearts of the children of Adam.
The earth was in the hand of the All-Merciful like a single layer of clay; He spread it out and levelled it, so that the earth became tracts that lay side by side. Then water descends upon it from the sky, and the one brings forth its blossom and fruit and trees, and lets its crops grow and revives its dead ground; the other brings forth its brackish soil, its salt and its badness — and both are irrigated with the same water.
If the water had been salty, one would say: That ground became salty because of the water! So it is with people: they are created from Adam, and from the sky a reminder descends upon them; the one heart becomes tender, gives heed and bows down; the other heart hardens, becomes distracted, loses its senses and becomes coarse.
Al-Ḥasan said: By Allah, no one sits with the Qurʾān but that he rises from it with more or with less. Allah said: وَنُنـزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَحْمَةٌ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَلا يَزِيدُ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلا خَسَارًا (And We send down of the Qurʾān that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it only increases the wrongdoers in loss.) [17:82]
As for His word: (watered with one and the same water) — the reciters of the Qurʾān differed in the reading of (tus-qā):
Most of the reciters of Medina and Iraq — from the people of Kufa and Basra — read (tus-qā) with a t, with the meaning: the gardens and the crops and the palm trees are watered. Some said: it was read with t because of the femininity of "the grapes."
Some of the reciters of Mecca and Kufa read (yus-qā) with a y.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reading that most appeals to me is the reading of the one who read this with a t: (tus-qā bi-māʾin wāḥidin) — with the meaning: the gardens, the palm trees and the crops are watered with one and the same water — because (tus-qā) follows upon what precedes it together with its mention, and these are plural forms of non-human beings. The other reading, however, is also not impossible, with the meaning: all that is watered with one and the same water — that is to say: all that is watered with one and the same sweet water as opposed to the salty.
The exegetes explained it in accordance with what we have said.
Mention of those who said that:
20114-20121 — [several isnād chains of Mujāhid, al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Ibn Shawdhab, all saying:] (watered with one and the same water) — the water of the sky, like the similitude of the righteous and the wicked among the children of Adam — their father is one.
As for His word: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — the reciters of the Qurʾān differed:
Most of the reciters of Mecca, Medina, Basra and some of Kufa read (wa-nufaḍḍilu) with an n — with the meaning: We favour some above others with respect to the fruits.
Most of the reciters of Kufa read (wa-yufaḍḍilu) with a y, connecting to His word: يُغْشِي اللَّيْلَ النَّهَارَ — (and He favours some above others).
Abū Jaʿfar said: Both are widespread readings with the same meaning; whichever reading the reciter chooses, he has done well. But the y appeals to me most in the reading, because it stands in the continuation of the sentence whose beginning is: اللَّهُ الَّذِي رَفَعَ السَّمَاوَاتِ (Allah is He Who raised the heavens) — reading it with y is then, since that is so, more fitting.
The meaning of the word is: the gardens of grapevines, crops and palm trees — growing in clusters from a single root and standing alone — are watered with one and the same sweet and not salty water, and Allah makes their tastes differ from one another, so that He favours some above others in taste — the one is sweet and the other sour.
The exegetes explained it in accordance with what we have said.
Mention of those who said that:
20122 — Abū Kurayb related to us and said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: the Fārisī date and the daqal date, and the sweet and the sour.
20123 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us and said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: in a single plot of ground there may be peaches, pears, white and black grapes; some are heavier in fruit than others, some sweet and some sour, and the one is better than the other.
20124 — Al-Muthanná related to me and said: ʿĀrim Abū al-Nuʿmān related to us and said: Ḥammād ibn Zayd related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: baranī and this and that; the one is better than the other.
20125 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us and said: Muʾammal related to us and said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His word: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: this one is sour, this one is sweet, and this one is bitter.
20126 — Maḥmūd ibn Khidāsh related to me and said: Sayf ibn Muḥammad — the nephew of Sufyān al-Thawrī — related to us and said: al-Aʿmash related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra — he said: the Prophet ﷺ said concerning His word: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: the daqal and the Fārisī, and the sweet and the sour.
20127 — Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Tirmidhī related to us and said: Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Raqqī related to us and said: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-Raqqī related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Abī Unaysa, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, concerning His word: (and We favour some above others with respect to the fruits) — he said: the daqal and the Fārisī, and the sweet and the sour.
His word: (truly in that are signs for a people who understand) — Allah the Exalted says: truly in the fact that Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — makes this distinction between these adjoining tracts of earth and the fruits of their gardens and crops as we have described and explained, there are clear indications and lessons for a people who understand how this differs from one another — namely, that the One Who made this differ from one another in this manner is also the One Who makes a distinction between His creatures with respect to the apportionment of guidance and misguidance, of being granted success and being forsaken. He granted the one success and forsook the other, He guided the one and led the other astray. Had He willed, He would have made them all alike, just as, had He willed, He could have made all the fruits of the gardens that receive the same watering alike, whereas they differ from one another in taste.