Tafseer of The Overwhelming · Al-Ghaashiya · 88:6
For them there will be no food except from a poisonous, thorny plant
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: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ (They will have no food except from ḍarīʿ). He says: these who, on the Day of Resurrection, are the possessors of the humble, toiling, exhausted face will have no food except what they are given to eat of ḍarīʿ. The ḍarīʿ, among the Arabs, is: a plant called al-shibriq. The inhabitants of the Ḥijāz call it ḍarīʿ when it has withered, while others call it al-shibriq; and it is a poison.
In accordance with what we have said, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* 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: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: the ḍarīʿ is al-shibriq.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: ʿAbbād ibn Yaʿqūb al-Asadī related to us — Muḥammad said: he related to us, and ʿAbbād said: he informed us — Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Aṣbahānī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: al-shibriq.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, saying: Najda, a man of ʿAbd al-Qays, related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, concerning His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: it is a thorny tree, lying flat upon the ground; when it is spring Quraysh call it al-shibriq, and when the stalk withers they call it al-ḍarīʿ.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: al-shibriq.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
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; he said: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, His statement: ضَرِيعٍ — he said: the withered al-shibriq.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: it is al-shibriq; when it withers it is called al-ḍarīʿ.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he says: of the worst food, the most repugnant of it and the foulest of it.
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to me, saying: Sharīk ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, concerning His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: al-shibriq.
Others said: the ḍarīʿ is stone.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: the stones.
Others said: the ḍarīʿ is a tree of fire.
* 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, His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he says: a tree of fire.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلا مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ — he said: the ḍarīʿ is the thorn of fire. He said: and as for the world, the ḍarīʿ is the withered thorn that has no leaf; the Arabs call it the ḍarīʿ, and in the hereafter it is a thorn of fire.
