Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:12
And grain having husks and scented plants.
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.
His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ ("and the grain with its husk-straw and the fragrant plants") (55:12) — the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and upon it is the grain, and that is the grain of wheat and barley with its blade; and the straw (al-tibn): that is al-ʿaṣf. And that is what ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbada meant:
He waters the water-channels whose foliage is bent down, their slope, from the flowing water that stands brimful. (2)
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have expressed themselves.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he says: the straw.
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 His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: al-ʿaṣf is the green blade of the crop whose tops have been cut off; that is called al-ʿaṣf when it is dry.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ: the green stalks of the crop.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ — and its ʿaṣf is its straw.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: al-ʿaṣf: the straw.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ, he said: the grain is the wheat and the barley, and al-ʿaṣf: the straw.
Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn al-Mubārak al-Khurāsānī related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: the grain is the very first thing that sprouts.
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 His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: al-ʿaṣf: the blade of every plant. He said: one says of a crop when it has been mown: ʿuṣāfa, and every blade is ʿuṣāfa.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: Abū Rawq ʿAṭiyya ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ — he said: al-ʿaṣf: the straw.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, ذُو الْعَصْفِ — he said: al-ʿaṣf: the crop.
Some said: al-ʿaṣf is the very grain of the wheat and the barley.
* Mention of who said that:
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement وَالْحَبُّ ذُو الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ — as for al-ʿaṣf: that is the wheat and the barley.
As for His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ: the people of interpretation differed over its interpretation. Some said: it is the sustenance (al-rizq).
* Mention of who said that:
Zayd ibn Akhzam al-Ṭāʾī related to me, saying: ʿĀmir ibn Mudrik related to us, saying: ʿUtba ibn Yaqẓān related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: every rayḥān in the Qurʾān means sustenance (rizq).
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, وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: the sustenance.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, وَالرَّيْحَانُ: the sustenance, and some of them say: rayḥānunā.
Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn al-Ṣalt related to us, saying: Abū Kudayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: the scent (al-rīḥ).
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Yūnus ibn Muḥammad related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Wāḥid related to us, saying: Abū Rawq ʿAṭiyya ibn al-Ḥārith related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: the sustenance and the food.
Others said: it is the fragrant plant (rayḥān) that one smells.
* Mention of who said that:
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, he said: الريحان is what the earth makes grow of fragrant plants (rayḥān).
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ: as for the rayḥān, that is what the earth makes grow of fragrant plants.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he said: this rayḥān of yours. Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ: the fragrant plants (rayāḥīn) whose scent one smells.
Others said: it is the greenness of the crop.
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ — he says: the greenness of the crop.
Others said: it is what stands upon a stalk.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, he said: الريحان is what stands upon a stalk.
The most correct of the views about this is the statement of the one who said: by it is meant the sustenance, and that is the grain of which one eats.
And we have said that this is the most correct of the views about it, because Allah, whose praise is exalted, has informed concerning the grain that it possesses ʿaṣf — and that is what we have described of the blade that comes forth from it and the straw when it is dry. The most fitting for the rayḥān, then, is that it is the kernel that comes forth from it, since it is of the same kind as that from which the ʿaṣf comes. And it is heard from the Arabs that they say: "we went out, seeking the rayḥān of Allah and His sustenance"; and one says: "subḥānaka wa-rayḥānaka," that is to say: and Your sustenance. To that also belongs the statement of al-Namir ibn Tawlab:
The peace of the Deity and His sustenance, and His garden and a heaven that bestows abundant rain. (3)
And it has been mentioned about some of them that he used to say: al-ʿaṣf is the eaten part of the grain, and the rayḥān: the sound part that is not eaten.
The reciters differed in the reading of His statement وَالرَّيْحَانُ. Most of the reciters of Medina and Basra, and some of those of Mecca and some of those of Kūfa, read it in the nominative (rafʿ), as a coordination with al-ḥabb, in the meaning: and upon it is the grain with its husk-straw, and upon it too is the rayḥān. And most of the reciters of Kūfa read وَالرَّيْحَانُ in the genitive (khafḍ), as a coordination with al-ʿaṣf, in the meaning: and the grain with its husk-straw and with its rayḥān. (4)
The most correct of the two readings therein is the reading of the one who read it in the genitive, on account of the reason which I have set forth in its interpretation, and because it has the meaning of "sustenance." As for those who read it in the nominative, they directed its interpretation, as I think, toward the rayḥān that one smells, and for that reason they preferred the nominative therein. But reading it in the genitive, in the meaning: and upon it is the grain with blade and straw, and with the sustenance to be eaten, is more fitting and better, for what we have set forth earlier.
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Footnotes:
(2) This verse belongs to the testimonia of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 172 of the photographed copy of the University of Cairo no. 26390, after the copy "Murād Mullā". This is after our citation on the first photocopy no. 26059 had ended, because its leaves stop at Sūrat al-Qamar). Abū ʿUbayda cited it at His statement والحب ذو العصف والريحان; he said: there comes forth for it ʿaṣīfa, and that is its ear at the top, and that is al-habūd; and its ear is only its growth and its abundance and its blade that blows away (yataʿaṣṣaf). And it is as ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbada said: "He waters the water-channels ... [the verse]." Ṭammahā: he filled it, so that nothing remained in it; and ṭamma his vessel: he filled it. The commentator of Mukhtār al-shiʿr al-jāhilī (p. 426) said: al-madhānib is the plural of midhnab, and that is a watercourse to the land; and the brook flows from the meadow with its water down to its low ground. And ʿaṣīfatuhā: that is the blade that is mown and then eaten, after which its root is watered so that the blade returns. And judhūruhā: what has slid down from these water-channels and come to rest. Al-atī: the brook; here is meant: what flows of water in the brook. And al-maṭmūm: that which is filled with water.
(3) The verse is by al-Namir ibn Tawlab al-ʿUklī (al-Lisān: rawḥ), and after it follows:
Clouds that send down the sustenance of the servants, so that it brings the lands to life and the trees thrive well.
And it belongs to the testimonia of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 172 of the photographed copy no. 26390 of the University of Cairo); he said: the rayḥān and its grain that is eaten; one says: subḥānaka wa-rayḥānaka, that is to say: Your sustenance; al-Namir ibn Tawlab said "Salām al-ilāh ... [the verse]," end. And in (al-Lisān: darr): al-dirra in the rains is that the one follows the other, and its plural is dirar; and the clouds have dirar, that is to say: downpour; the plural is dirar; al-Namir ibn Tawlab said: ... [the two verses]. "Samāʾun dirar" means: a heaven with abundant rain, end.
(4) This is derived from the words of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān, p. 320 of the manuscript.
