لا يُسمِنُ وَلا يُغني مِن جوعٍ
Neither nourishing, nor availing against hunger.
EXPOSITION
This is similar in meaning to the verse, then [he will] neither live in it nor die (87:13), meaning hell leaves its inmates in a state of limbo. In this case, consuming ḍarīʿ neither satiates them nor repels the hunger from which they flee. Extreme hunger drives them to eat whatever they can find but what they are given as sustenance is so putrid and painful to consume that it burns their insides and drives them back, seeking refuge from it. Neither nourishing when they eat the bitter dry thorns, nor availing against hunger and its excruciating pain.
Some, such as Ālūsī and Rāzī, have suggested that this verse may also mean that they will have no food at all. This is because the ḍarīʿ (and other foods of hell mentioned in the Quran) is no food at all. So even the words in the previous verse, they will have no food except bitter dry thorns is like one saying ‘he had no shade except the blazing sun’. The intent is to emphasise that he had nothing except that which negates and opposes what he seeks. And in this case they will have nothing but hunger to satiate them, and ḍarīʿ is mentioned for emphasis.
This is unlikely to be the case though because eating that which is fiery hot, thorny, and poisonous would add to their torment as opposed to only enduring extreme hunger. Other verses as well mention their consumption more assertively as, for example, and a food that chokes [those who gulp it] (73:13). And in the understanding of the mystics as well, the pleasures and torments of the afterlife are simply manifestations of one’s behaviour and attachments in this world. So just as the arrogant oppressors consume the rights of others, usurping unlawfully and filling their bellies with what is not theirs, they shall now consume in hell that which they earned for themselves. (See also 4:10, 9:35, and 69:32.) Furthermore, the report of Zurārah from Imam al-Bāqir (a) under Insights from Hadith for the previous verse confirms that the wicked will be fed in hell.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Most past exegetes have mentioned that when the previous verse was revealed concerning ḍarīʿ being the food of the wretched, the Meccan Quraysh argued: ‘Even our camels are nourished by ḍarīʿ,’ but they confused ḍarīʿ with shibrīq, the shrub before it dried, and so this verse was revealed to clarify that ḍarīʿ, unlike shibrīq, neither nourishes nor avails against hunger. This widely-quoted justification for the verse’s revelation is surprising and confirms the tendency amongst past exegetes to stay with the majority and simply re-quote what others have said.
Firstly, these verses would have been revealed together as their content and rhythm suggests. Hence, it is unlikely that verse 6 was first revealed, and then, after the Quraysh mocked it, the surah’s revelation continued with verse 7.
Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous verse, when the Quran speaks of ḍarīʿ, it is not the ḍarīʿ of this world (however we may define it or to whatever we equate it). These are simply metaphors of the realities in the hereafter to give man a sense of what to expect based on his limited sensory experiences in this world. Otherwise, the pleasures and torments of the hereafter are incomparable to those of this world.
[1] Alusi, 15/326; Razi, 31/141.
[2] Baghawi, 2/245; Nawawi 2/625; Qurtubi, 20/32; Razi, 31/141; Tabrisi, 10/726; Thalabi, 10/188.