Tafseer of The Announcement · An-Naba · 78:16
And gardens of entwined growth.
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: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) — "and densely-grown gardens" — He says: and so that through that rain We may bring forth gardens, that is, orchards. He said (وَجَنَّاتٍ) "and gardens," while the meaning is: "and the fruit of gardens"; the mention of the fruit was omitted because the wording already refers to it sufficiently. And His word: (أَلْفَافًا) means: densely intertwined and joined together.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* 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 word: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: joined together.
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: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he says: gardens one part of which is intertwined with the other.
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: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: intertwined.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: one part intertwined with the other.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: one part intertwined with the other.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: intertwined.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: (وَجَنَّاتٍ أَلْفَافًا) he said: it is the intertwined, one part above the other.
The Arabic philologists differed concerning the singular of "alfāf." Some grammarians of Basra said: the singular is "laff." And some grammarians of Kufa said: the singular is "laff" and "lafīf." He said: and if you wish, "ilfāf" may be a plural whose singular is itself also a plural, so that you say: "jannatun laffāʾ" (a densely-grown garden) and "jannātun luff" (densely-grown gardens), and then "luff" is made into "alfāf" as a plural.
Another of them said: we have not heard of "shajaratun laffa" (a densely-grown tree), but the singular is "laffāʾ," its plural is "luff," and the plural of "luff" is "alfāf"; it is therefore a plural of a plural.
The correct view in this is that "alfāf" is a plural of "laff" or "lafīf," and that is because the exegetes are agreed that the meaning is "intertwined," whereas "laffāʾ" means "the thick/stout," and intertwining has nothing to do with thickness — unless one understands it as referring to the density of the intertwining, in which case that is an acceptable interpretation.
