Tafseer of The Cave · Al-Kahf · 18:34
And he had fruit, so he said to his companion while he was conversing with him, "I am greater than you in wealth and mightier in [numbers of] men."
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.
The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ (And he had fruits/wealth)
The reciters differed in their recitation of this. Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz and Iraq read it as "wa-kāna lahu thumur" — with a ḍamma on the thāʾ and the mīm. Those who recited it thus, however, differed among themselves: some of them said that it means gold and silver, and they said: that is the thumur, because it is wealth that yields a return — that is to say: it multiplies.
* Mention of who said this:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us — and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted: وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ — he said: gold and silver. And concerning the word of Allah, the Almighty and Exalted: بِثُمُرِهِ — he said: that too is gold and silver.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the word: ثَمَرٌ — he said: gold and silver. He said: and the word وَأُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ — that is also the same.
Others said: no, what is meant by this is: the abundant wealth of all kinds of possessions.
* Mention of who said this:
Aḥmad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Hārūn, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: Ibn ʿAbbās recited it as "wa-kāna lahu thumur" — with a ḍamma — and he said: it means kinds of possessions.
ʿAlī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "wa-kāna lahu thumur" — he said: wealth.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word: "wa-kāna lahu thumur" — he said: of all wealth.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word وَأُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ — he said: the thumur is all wealth — that is to say: the fruits and all the rest of the wealth.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Abū Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: "al-thumur" is all wealth. He said: every wealth that is gathered together is thumur, when it comes from the kind of fruits or all the rest of the wealth.
Others said: no, what is meant by this is the capital (the principal of the wealth).
* Mention of who said this:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning the word "wa-kāna lahu thumur": thumur is the capital (al-aṣl). He said concerning وَأُحِيطَ بِثَمَرِهِ: that is to say: over his capital. It appears that those who directed its meaning toward kinds of wealth meant that it is a plural of thumār, which is in turn a plural of thamar, just as kitāb forms the plural kitub and ḥimār forms the plural ḥumur. Some who held to this recitation read "thumur" with a ḍamma on the thāʾ and a sukūn on the mīm, intending the ḍamma but simplifying the mīm for the pronunciation. It is also possible that they intended thereby a plural of thamara, just as khashaba forms the plural khashab. Some Medinan reciters read it as وَكَانَ لَهُ ثَمَرٌ with a fatḥa on the thāʾ and the mīm — as a plural of thamara, just as khashaba forms the plural khashab and qaṣaba forms the plural qaṣab.
The most correct recitation in my judgment is the reading of those who read it as "wa-kāna lahu thumur" — with a ḍamma on the thāʾ and the mīm — because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters concerning it, even though it is a plural of thumār, just as kutub is a plural of kitāb.
The meaning of the word is: وَفَجَّرْنَا خِلالَهُمَا نَهَرًا وَكَانَ لَهُ — from both gardens — "thumur," that is to say: from his two gardens he had kinds of fruits. This is made clear, for whoever wishes to understand it, by His word: جَعَلْنَا لأحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ وَحَفَفْنَاهُمَا بِنَخْلٍ وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمَا زَرْعًا (We made for one of them two gardens of grapevines and surrounded them with palm trees and placed crops between them) — then He said: and he had from those grapevines, palm trees, and crops fruits.
Then follows: فَقَالَ لِصَاحِبِهِ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُهُ (Then he said to his companion, while he was conversing with him) — Allah, the Almighty and Exalted, says: the one to whom We had given two gardens of grapevines said to his companion who had no wealth, while addressing him:
أَنَا أَكْثَرُ مِنْكَ مَالا وَأَعَزُّ نَفَرًا (I have more wealth than you and am mightier in following) — that is to say: mightier in tribe and kinsmen, just as ʿUyayna and al-Aqraʿ said to the Prophet ﷺ: we are the leaders of the Arabs and the possessors of riches, remove Salmān, Khabbāb, and Ṣuhayb from us — out of contempt for them and arrogance toward them.
As Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word: فَقَالَ لِصَاحِبِهِ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُهُ أَنَا أَكْثَرُ مِنْكَ مَالا وَأَعَزُّ نَفَرًا — and that, by Allah, is the desire of the corrupt one: abundance of wealth and might in following.