Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:29
And [banana] trees layered [with 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.
His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd ("and clustered banana trees"). As for al-Farrāʾ, he follows the reading of it with the ḥāʾ: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd, and so it stands also in the authoritative copies (maṣāḥif) of the people of the cities. But it has been transmitted from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, may Allah be pleased with him, that he read it as wa-ṭalʿin manḍūd ("and clustered spathes of blossom") with the ʿayn.
ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad al-Zuhrī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, saying: Zakariyyā related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of his father, may Allah be pleased with him: he read it as wa-ṭalʿin manḍūd.
Saʿīd ibn Yaḥyā al-Umawī related to us, saying: my father related to me, saying: Mujāhid related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Qays ibn Saʿd, who said: a man read in the presence of ʿAlī wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd, and ʿAlī said: what is the matter with the ṭalḥ? It is only wa-ṭalʿin manḍūd. Then he recited ṭalʿuhā haḍīm ("its spathes of blossom are fine in form"). We said: shall we then not change it? He said: indeed, the Qurʾān is today neither touched nor changed. As for the ṭalḥ: al-Muʿammar ibn al-Muthannā used to say that among the Arabs they are great, very thorny trees, and he recited a verse from one of the camel-drivers:
Her guide proclaimed to her the glad tidings and said:
"Tomorrow you shall see the ṭalḥ-trees and the sand-dunes." (4)
As for the interpreters — from among the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and the Successors (tābiʿūn) — they say: it is the banana.
Ḥumayd ibn Masʿada related to us, saying: Bishr ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Taymī related to us, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd, the freedman of the Banū Raqāsh, who said: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the ṭalḥ, and he said: it is the banana.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Sulaymān al-Taymī informed us, saying: Abū Saʿīd al-Raqāshī related to us that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say: the ṭalḥ manḍūd, that is the banana.
Yaʿqūb and Abū Kurayb related to me, both of them saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Sulaymān, who said: Abū Saʿīd al-Raqāshī related to us, saying: I said to Ibn ʿAbbās: what is the ṭalḥ manḍūd? He said: it is the banana.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, on the authority of his father, who said: Abū Saʿīd al-Raqāshī related to us, saying: I asked Ibn ʿAbbās about the ṭalḥ, and he said: it is the banana.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Taymī, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Raqāshī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: the banana.
He [Ibn Ḥumayd] said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Kalbī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: the banana.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Abū Bishr informed us, on the authority of a man from Basra, that he heard Ibn ʿAbbās say about the ṭalḥ manḍūd: it is the banana.
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 — all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: your banana; for they were delighted with [the place] Wajj and its shade by its ṭalḥ and its lotus-trees.
Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, concerning His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: the banana.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Hawdha ibn Khalīfa related to us, on the authority of ʿAwf, on the authority of Qasāma, who said: the ṭalḥ manḍūd, that is the banana.
He said: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning the word of Allah wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: the banana. Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: the banana.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — we were told that it is the banana.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: Allah knows best, except that the people of Yemen call the banana "ṭalḥ."
And His word: manḍūd ("clustered") means that part is piled upon part, and that part is joined to part.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the interpreters spoke.
* 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, concerning His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — he said: part upon part.
Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd — heaped up, for they were delighted with [the place] Wajj and its shade by its ṭalḥ and its lotus-trees.
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The footnotes:
(4) This evidential verse belongs to the evidential verses of Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān (folio 175 — from the facsimile 26390 of the manuscript "Murād Munṯalā" in Istanbul). He recited it concerning His word, the Exalted: wa-ṭalḥin manḍūd. He said: the interpreters claim that it is the banana. But among the Arabs the ṭalḥ is a great, very thorny tree. And the camel-driver said: "Her guide proclaimed to her the glad tidings … the two verses." End. As for al-ḥibāl with the ḥāʾ — as in the author's transmission — it is the plural of ḥabl, and that is the raised ridge of sand that stretches through the earth over a long distance. And with the jīm [al-jibāl] in the transmission of Abū ʿUbayda, it is the plural of jabal (mountain). He proclaims to his she-camel the glad tidings that tomorrow she will reach her homeland and there behold what she has been familiar with: the ṭalḥ-trees and the sand-ridges, or the mountains.