And the Kufans, except for Hafs, recited it as tūqadu (“is kindled”), with a ta carrying a ḍammah and an ungeminated qaf with a fatḥah, referring to the glass—that is, to the flame within the glass, since the glass itself is not kindled. The remaining reciters read it with a ya carrying a ḍammah, without gemination, referring to the lamp: “from a blessed olive tree”—that is, from the oil of a blessed tree. The possessive noun is omitted, as indicated by His saying, “whose oil would almost glow forth.” By the blessed tree He meant the olive tree. ⦗41/a⦘ It is abundant in blessing and has many benefits: its oil is used for lamps, and it is the brightest and purest of oils. It serves as both a condiment and a fruit, and its extraction requires no elaborate pressing; anyone can extract it. It is related in a hadith that it is “a remedy for hemorrhoids” (1). It is a tree whose leaves grow from its top to its bottom.
Abu al-Hasan al-Sarakhsī informed us; Zāhir ibn Aḥmad informed us; Abu al-Hasan al-Qāsim ibn Bakr al-Ṭayālisī informed us; Abu Umayyah al-Ṭarsūsī informed us; Qabīṣah ibn ʿUqbah informed us; Sufyān al-Thawrī informed us, from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿĪsā, from ʿAṭāʾ who resided in Syria—not Ibn Abī Rabāḥ—from Asad ibn Thābit and Abu Aslam al-Anṣārī, who said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Eat olive oil and anoint yourselves with it, for it comes from a blessed tree” (2).
His saying, Exalted is He, “neither eastern nor western,” means: it is not exclusively eastern, such that the sun does not reach it when it sets; nor is it exclusively western, such that the sun does not reach it in the early morning when it rises. Rather, it stands exposed to the sun throughout the day: the sun reaches it at its rising and at its setting. Thus, it is both eastern and western, receiving its share from both conditions, and so its oil is brighter. This is like saying, “So-and-so is neither black nor white,” meaning that he is neither purely black nor purely white; rather, each of the two qualities is found in him. Likewise, “This pomegranate is neither sweet nor sour,” meaning that it combines sweetness and sourness. This was the view of Ibn ʿAbbās, as narrated by ʿIkrimah and al-Kalbī, and it was the view of the majority.
Al-Suddī and a group of others said: It means that it is neither in a sheltered place where the sun does not reach it, nor in a fully sun-exposed place where shade does not reach it; thus, neither sun nor shade harms it.