Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:95
Indeed, Allah is the cleaver of grain and date seeds. He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living. That is Allah; so how are you deluded?
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 His word: إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَالِقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَى (Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: This is an admonition from Allah, whose praise is exalted, to those who set up idols and gods as equals to Him, directed at the locus of His argument against them, and a declaration from Him to them of the error in which they persist by assigning idols as partners to Him in their worship of Him. The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: Truly, the One to whom worship is due, O people, to the exclusion of all those gods and idols that you worship, is Allah who splits the grain — that is to say: He splits the grain of everything that grows up as vegetation, and brings forth from it the sown crops — "and the date-stone," of everything that is planted and has a stone, and brings forth from it the tree.
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And "al-ḥabb" (the grain) is the plural of "al-ḥabba" (the single grain), and "al-nawā" (the date-stone) is the plural of "al-nawāt" (the single stone).
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And in agreement with what we have said about this, a group of the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13581 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone" — as for "who splits the grain and the date-stone": He splits the grain so that the ear comes forth, and He splits the stone so that the date-palm comes forth.
13582 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: He splits the grain and the stone so that the vegetation comes forth.
13583 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: It is Allah who splits that; He split it and brought forth from it what He brought forth. He split the stone and brought forth from it the vegetation of the date-palm, and He split the grain and brought forth from it the vegetation that He created.
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And others said: The meaning of "fāliq" (who splits) is: creator.
* Mention of who said that:
13584 - Hannād ibn al-Sarī related to us, saying: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His word: "Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: the creator of the grain and the date-stone.
13585 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, in the same manner.
13586 - 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, his word: "Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: the creator of the grain and the date-stone.
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And others said: The meaning of it is: that He splits the cleft that is in the grain and the stone.
* Mention of who said that:
13587 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the word of Allah: "who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: the two clefts that are in them.
13588 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, in the same manner.
13589 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muʿallā ibn Asad related to us, saying: Khālid related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik concerning the word of Allah: "Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: the cleft that is in the stone and in the wheat-grain.
13590 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Laylā, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid: "who splits the grain and the date-stone," he said: the two clefts that are in them.
13591 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, saying: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān related to me, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word: "who splits the grain and the date-stone," he says: the creator of the grain and the date-stone, that is to say: of every grain.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of the statements about this, according to me, is that which we have adduced earlier. That is because Allah, whose praise is exalted, made this followed by His report concerning His bringing forth of the living from the dead and the dead from the living. By that it became known that He intended by His report about Himself only that He is the One who splits the grain so that the vegetation comes forth, and the stone so that the plantings and the trees come forth, just as He brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living.
* * *
And as for the statement that is transmitted on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning the meaning of "fāliq," namely that it means "creator": that is a statement for which — if he did not intend by it that He creates from it the vegetation and the plantings by splitting it — I know no valid ground, for in the language of the Arabs it is not known that "Allah split the thing" has the meaning of "He created it."
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The explanation of His word: يُخْرِجُ الْحَيَّ مِنَ الْمَيِّتِ وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيِّتِ مِنَ الْحَيِّ ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ فَأَنَّى تُؤْفَكُونَ (6:95) (He brings forth the living from the dead, and He is the One who brings forth the dead from the living. That is Allah; how then are you turned away?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: He brings forth the living ear from the dead grain, and He is the One who brings forth the dead grain from the living ear, and the living tree from the dead stone, and the dead stone from the living tree.
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And the tree, so long as it stands erect upon its roots and has not withered, and the plant upon its stem so long as it has not withered away, the Arabs call "living"; and when it dries up and withers or is cut off from its root, they call it "dead."
* * *
And in agreement with what we have said about this, a group of the people of exegesis have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
13592 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: as for "He brings forth the living from the dead": He brings forth the living ear from the dead grain, and He brings forth the dead grain from the living ear, and He brings forth the living date-palm from the dead stone, and He brings forth the dead stone from the living date-palm.
13593 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of Abū Mālik: "He brings forth the living from the dead and He is the One who brings forth the dead from the living," he said: the date-palm from the stone and the stone from the date-palm, and the grain from the ear and the ear from the grain.
* * *
And others said that which:-
13594 - related to me about it al-Muthannā, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his word: (Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone, He brings forth the living from the dead and He is the One who brings forth the dead from the living), he said: He brings forth the dead drop (of seminal fluid) from the living, and then He brings forth from the drop a living human being.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And we have chosen the interpretation that we have chosen herein, because this follows upon His word: "Truly, it is Allah who splits the grain and the date-stone," so that His word "He brings forth the living from the dead and He is the One who brings forth the dead from the living" — even though it is a report from Allah concerning His bringing forth of the ear from the grain and of the grain from the ear — nevertheless in its general scope includes that which is transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās in the interpretation of it. And every dead thing that Allah brings forth from a living body, and every living thing that Allah brings forth from a dead body.
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And as for His word "That is Allah," He says: The One who brings all that about is Allah, exalted is His majesty — "how then are you turned away?", He says: by what ways of turning away from the truth, O ignorant ones, are you led away from what is right and turned aside? Do you not then reflect, so that you may know that it is not fitting that to the One who has favored you with the splitting of the grain and the date-stone, and who brought forth for you from the dry grain and stone sown crops, fields, and fruits, of part of which you nourish yourselves and with part of which you take delight — that to Him in His worship a partner be assigned who neither harms nor benefits, neither hears nor sees?
