لَيسَ لَهُم طَعامٌ إِلّا مِن ضَريعٍ

They will have no food except bitter dry thorns.

EXPOSITION

Ḍarīʿ is understood to be a bitter, dry, thorny, shrub-like plant or cactus that clings to the ground,^{‎[1]Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Suyuti, 6/342; Thalabi, 10/188.} and is loathsome in smell and appearance.

Many exegetes noted that the Quraysh of Mecca already knew of the term. They called this desert plant shibrīq when it was fresh and ḍarīʿ when in its dry state.^{‎[2]Alusi, 15/325; Baghawi, 5/245; Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Qurtubi, 20/29; Suyuti, 6/342; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.} It was also said to be lethally poisonous^{‎[3]Nawawi, 2/625.} when dry, which no beast would approach.^{‎[4]Alusi, 15/326; Baghawi, 5/245; Qurtubi, 20/30; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.}

Other descriptions given for ḍarīʿ include a green seaweed with a terrible stench, usually cast out upon the seashores.^{‎[5]Alusi, 15/326; Qurtubi, 20/30; Thalabi, 10/188. All quote this as the opinion of the philologist al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī.} Ibn Abbas reports that it is a fiery tree in hell,^{‎[6]Alusi, 15/326; Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Suyuti, 6/342; Thalabi, 10/188.} that if it were in this world it would burn the earth and all things on it.^{‎[7]Nemuneh, 26/417.}

Borrowing from a very common description of hellfire given in eschatological reports, ḍarīʿ has also been described as ‘the sweat of the inmates of hell and what will ooze out from the genitals of adulterers’.^{‎[8]Qummi, 2/418; Safi, 5/320.} However, this may be a confusion between ḍarīʿ and ṣadīd (14:16) and ghislīn (69:36), which are said to be the food and drink of people of other categories of hell.

And some have opined ḍarīʿ refers to the stones in hell,^{‎[9]Ibn Kathir, 8/377.} or that it is another name for the zaqqūm tree (37:62, 44:43, 56:52).^{‎[10]Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Qurtubi, 20/30; Suyuti, 6/342.}

Like the boiling water drunk out of extreme thirst (88:5), the wretched will come to this food and eat it out of extreme hunger but it will only add to their torment and hunger.

But like all descriptions and imagery for paradise and hellfire in the Quran, what is mentioned is only understood by man in relation to what is familiar to him of this world; otherwise, what lies in the realm of the afterlife is beyond man’s limited comprehension and imagination.^{‎[11]Thaalabi, 5/583.} These descriptions are explained by many as blurry and indistinct appearances seen from afar by those imprisoned in a corporeal world and with limited sensory perceptions; the reality of what the people of paradise will enjoy or the severity of suffering is beyond man’s ability to understand.

Noteworthy as well is that ḍarīʿ shares a root with the term ḍarāʿah (to humble, to abase),^{‎[12]See the Exegesis of verse 2.} and thus consuming ḍarīʿ adds to the abasement and humiliation for those in the fire.^{‎[13]Qurtubi, 20/30; Nasr, 88:6.}

Some like Rāzī and Qurṭubī have commented on the apparent disparity between this verse that describes ḍarīʿ as They will have no food except bitter dry thorns with 69:36 that states they will have no food except ghislīn (pus). Rāzī resolves this with two possibilities. First, just as in paradise there are levels, so too in hellfire there are degrees. Whereas some inmates of hell will feed on zaqqūm (37:62, 44:43, 56:52), others will consume pus (ghislīn), and for those described here it will be ḍarīʿ. And likewise for the drink; some will drink from a boiling spring (verse 5), others will drink from boiling water (10:4), and yet others from a purulent fluid (14:6). It [hell] has seven gates, and to each gate belongs a separate portion of them (15:44).

And second, ghislīn may be pus that oozes out of ḍarīʿ, so there would be no contradiction and the two would be the same. Just as one who says ‘I have no food except a sheep’ and then says ‘I have no food except milk’, meaning the milk from the sheep, hence both statements are true.^{‎[14]Razi, 31/140.} Qurṭubī also offers the first explanation (of different realms in hellfire each with its own food), but adds that this verse and 69:36 could refer to the same place where both states exist, just like the verse, they shall circuit between it and boiling hot water (55:44), meaning their only food will be ḍarīʿ and ghislīn and they shall circuit between them, back and forth.^{‎[15]Qurtubi, 20/31.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From the Prophet: ‘Ḍarīʿ is a thing in the fire that resembles thorns; more bitter than aloes, more fetid than a putrid corpse, and more burning than fire. Allah has named it ḍarīʿ.’^{‎[16]Qurtubi, 20/30; Suyuti, 6/342; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.}
2. From the Prophet, that Gabriel said to him: ‘If a drop from ḍarīʿ fell into the water of the world’s inhabitants then all the inhabitants of the earth would die from its stench.’^{‎[17]Qummi, 2/418.}
3. From the Prophet: ‘The inmates of hell will be afflicted with hunger until it appears to them there is no greater chastisement. They will call out for food and will be responded to with food from ḍarīʿ, neither nourishing nor availing against hunger [88:6-7].^{‎[18]Suyuti, 6/342.}
4. When al-Abrash al-Kalbī asked Imam al-Bāqir (a) concerning the words of Allah, The day the earth is transformed into another earth … (14:48), he said: ‘It means the earth will become a bread from which people will eat until they are freed from the accounting [on Judgement Day].’ Abrash asked: ‘Won’t people be too preoccupied [with the accounting] to [feel the need for] eating?’ So he [Imam al-Bāqir (a)] replied: ‘[If] even in the fire they will not be too preoccupied with punishment from eating ḍarīʿ and drinking ḥamīm, how will they be too occupied from it during the accounting?’^{‎[19]Kafi, 8/121-122, h. 93.}

Note: This is similar to a tradition from Zurārah from Imam al-Bāqir (a) with a slight variation, and in that, when the Imam explains why people will still need food on Judgement Day, he adds: ‘Allah created the son of Adam like a hollow receptacle that cannot escape eating and drinking. Will they be more occupied on that day or in the fire? For they will call out [for food and drink even in hell], and Allah says: … If they cry out for help, they will be helped with a water like molten copper which will scald the faces. What an evil drink … [18:29].’^{‎[20]Barqi, 2/397, h. 69.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

As for how a plant or tree could exist in hell, Rāzī tells us that just as the skin of its inmates can remain whilst burning (4:56), and therein will also exist chains and shackles, serpents, and other creatures of torment, so can the trees and shrubs of fire survive.^{‎[21]Razi, 31/141.} Or, as Ālūsī puts it, God produces fire out of the green tree (36:80), so producing a tree in fire is hardly a feat for Him.^{‎[22]Alusi, 15/326.} This was one of the questions raised by Abū Jahl in mocking the Prophet when verse 37:62 was revealed concerning the zaqqūm tree in hellfire.^{‎[23]Bihar, 8/257; Tabrisi, 8/696.}

Such discussions are based on the assumption that people in hell live in fire. However, if we assume that they live in an extremely hot abode surrounded by fire, be it a sun-like fire or fire from any other source, then these questions find no basis. Looking deeper into the Quran’s verses, we may conclude that this latter assumption is not farfetched. In 56:42-44, the environment of hell is described as having: scorching wind and scalding water, and the shade of pitch-black smoke, neither cool nor refreshing. This climate is produced because over them shall be sheets [of fire] (7:41), because We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose curtains will surround them [on all sides]. If they cry out for help, they will be helped with a water like molten copper which will scald the faces. What an evil drink, and how ill a resting place (18:29). They are told: Get off toward the triple-forked shadow, which is neither shady nor is of any avail against the flame. Indeed it throws up sparks [huge] like palaces (77:30-32).

In such a scorching environment surrounded by something like flames from all sides, some of which may at times reach the grounds of hell, people can live, plants can grow, and water can persist but under excruciating circumstances. Whatever the case, the heat there is incomparable to the heat we know of in this world and hence the most appropriate name for it is fire.

[1] Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Suyuti, 6/342; Thalabi, 10/188.
[2] Alusi, 15/325; Baghawi, 5/245; Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Qurtubi, 20/29; Suyuti, 6/342; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.
[3] Nawawi, 2/625.
[4] Alusi, 15/326; Baghawi, 5/245; Qurtubi, 20/30; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.
[5] Alusi, 15/326; Qurtubi, 20/30; Thalabi, 10/188. All quote this as the opinion of the philologist al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī.
[6] Alusi, 15/326; Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Suyuti, 6/342; Thalabi, 10/188.
[7] Nemuneh, 26/417.
[8] Qummi, 2/418; Safi, 5/320.
[9] Ibn Kathir, 8/377.
[10] Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Qurtubi, 20/30; Suyuti, 6/342.
[11] Thaalabi, 5/583.
[12] See the Exegesis of verse 2.
[13] Qurtubi, 20/30; Nasr, 88:6.
[14] Razi, 31/140.
[15] Qurtubi, 20/31.
[16] Qurtubi, 20/30; Suyuti, 6/342; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.
[17] Qummi, 2/418.
[18] Suyuti, 6/342.
[19] Kafi, 8/121-122, h. 93.
[20] Barqi, 2/397, h. 69.
[21] Razi, 31/141.
[22] Alusi, 15/326.
[23] Bihar, 8/257; Tabrisi, 8/696.