Tafseer of The Poets · Ash-Shu'araa · 26:148
And fields of crops and palm trees with softened fruit?
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.
And palm trees with date-clusters that are haḍīm — by al-ṭalʿ is meant the kufurrā (the spathe enclosing the date-cluster).
The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the meaning of the word haḍīm. Some said: it means ripe and fully mature.
Those who said this are mentioned here:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the words وَنَخْلٍ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ : he said: it has ripened and full maturity has reached it, so that it is haḍīm.
Others said: it means broken and fallen apart.
Those who said this are mentioned here:
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 وَنَخْلٍ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ . Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr said in his narration: it breaks completely. And al-Ḥārith said: it breaks and falls apart.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: I heard ʿAbd al-Karīm say: I heard Mujāhid say concerning وَنَخْلٍ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ : he said: as soon as the date-cluster comes forth, one grasps it and breaks it. Ibn Jurayj said: Mujāhid said: when one touches it, it breaks and falls apart; he said: it concerns the fresh date that is haḍīm — you grasp it and break it.
Others said: it is the soft, tender date.
Those who said this are mentioned here:
Hannād related to us, saying: Abū al-Aḥwaṣ related to us, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning وَنَخْلٍ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ : he said: al-haḍīm is the soft, tender date.
Others said: it is the date whose clusters lie upon one another.
Those who said this are mentioned here:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, who said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌ : when the palm tree is heavily laden, the clusters lie upon one another and press against one another, so that they partly damage one another — then this is called haḍīm.
The most correct view concerning this is that one should say: al-haḍīm is that which is broken on account of its softness and moisture. This is derived from the expression: "So-and-so broke his right" (haḍama fulānun ḥaqqah) — when he diminished it and bit off from it. Likewise, the haḍm of the date-cluster is nothing other than the diminishing of it through its moisture and softness, whether by the touch of hands, or by the clusters lying upon one another. The base form is mafʿūl, shifted to faʿīl.
