حَدائِقَ وَأَعنابًا
Gardens and vineyards.
EXEGESIS
Ḥadāʾiq is the plural of ḥadīqah, meaning an enclosed garden. It is a garden that is surrounded by either a wall or by trees. This does not necessarily imply a sense of confinement and limitation, but it could concern an aspect of privacy. It could also be the usage of a term that is meaningful to us, but not necessarily involving the attributes of its worldly instances. Some lexicologists have defined ḥadīqah as any garden. Others have specified that it is a land that has water, named after the eyeball (ḥadaqat al-ʿayn). This would make the verse similar to many Quranic descriptions of paradise as ‘gardens with streams running in them’.
Despite these lexical definitions, one must look at how the Quran has used the term. One noticeable attribute of ḥadāʾiq in the Holy Quran is that they have many trees (27:60, 80:30). Since the verse mentions vineyards separately, it could be deduced that ḥadāʾiq are gardens that are filled and/or surrounded by abundant standing trees, as opposed to vine, which is more delicate and requires support.
Aʿnāb is the plural of ʿinab, which is used for both vine and its fruit (grape). The former meaning is more consistent with its addition to gardens.
EXPOSITION
These next few verses elaborate on the triumph and the great reward that the God-wary will receive on the Day of Resurrection. They will have enclosed Gardens and vineyards. The word gardens in its general and absolute sense would also include vineyards. Yet the verse has explicitly named vineyards. There are a few possible explanations for this: 1. It is due to some special quality of this tree or its fruit. This itself could be an implicit instruction for us to investigate and discover about this species. 2. It is because grapes and vineyards were of special importance to the audience at the time. Therefore, they are specifically mentioned to appeal to them. 3. The expression in this verse is a way of including all types of trees: Gardens refers to all standing trees, and vineyards refers to all trees that need support. See the Exposition of 56:28-31 for more on such expressions. The following verse is a more elaborate description of two gardens in this world that might be related to what is meant here: We had made two gardens of vines, and We had surrounded them with date palms, and placed crops between them (18:32).
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Some exegetes have counted several special features for vine: it is a source of fruit, food, drink, and medicine; its fruit comes to market before the other fruits and leaves the market after them (i.e. it has the longest season); and when it is dried it maintains the qualities and nutrients that it has when it is fresh. This is worthy of praise, as it is an attempt at finding out some of the secrets alluded to in the Quran. Nevertheless, these claims should be verified by science. It should also be proven that these qualities are found only in vine and not in other plants, in order to justify the exclusivity of mentioning vineyards. This exclusivity is difficult to prove.
According to the spiritual visions of some mystics it could be that what is special with some of the trees that are mentioned in the Quran – such as palm, vine, olive tree, and fig tree – is their precedence to the other trees in creation, or their growth from the same soil from which Adam’s clay was taken. Such statements are certainly possible, yet they are completely beyond our comprehension and we can neither prove nor disprove them. Therefore, it is best to leave such knowledge to its experts.
[1] Lisan, under ḥ-d-q; Taj, under ḥ-d-q; Tahqiq, under ḥ-d-q.
[2] Ayn, under ḥ-d-q; Maqayis, under ḥ-d-q.
[3] Raghib, under ḥ-d-q.
[4] Alusi, 15/218.
[5] Bursawi, 10/307.
[6] Kashif, 7/503.
[7] Furqan, 30/56.
[8] Mubārak, al-Ibrīz, p. 341, narrated from ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dabbāgh.