Ibn al-A'rabi said: Khamt is the fruit of a tree called “the hyena’s fart,” resembling the poppy; it crumbles easily and is of no benefit. Thus, whoever takes khamt to be the name of the edible produce is justified in reading “produce” with an indefinite ending; while whoever takes it to be the source and understands the produce as its fruit, the genitive construction is evident, though the indefinite reading is also permissible. The Arabs say, “In so-and-so’s orchard are grapes of the vine,” identifying the grapes by the vine because they come from it.

“And tamarisk trees, and a little lote-tree.” Tamarisk is the ṭarfā’ tree. It was also said that it is a tree resembling the tamarisk, except that it is larger. The lote-tree is a well-known tree, namely the nabq tree; its leaves are used for washing the head, and it is planted in orchards. But this was not of that kind; rather, it was a wild lote-tree, from which no benefit could be derived and whose leaves were fit for nothing.

Qatadah said: Their trees had been among the finest of trees, but because of their deeds Allah turned them into the worst of trees.

“That was how We repaid them for their disbelief. And do We repay anyone but the utterly ungrateful? (17) And We placed between them and the towns We had blessed other towns, close together, and We ordained travel between them: ‘Travel through them by night and day in safety.’ (18)”

“That was how We repaid them for their disbelief”: that is, We recompensed them with what We did to them because of their disbelief. “And do We repay anyone but the utterly ungrateful?” Hamzah, al-Kisa'i, Hafs, and Ya'qub recited it, “And do We repay,” with the first-person plural and with the zāy vowelled with kasrah; “the utterly ungrateful” is then in the accusative, governed by “That was how We repaid them.” The other reciters read it with the third-person singular and with the zāy vowelled with fathah, making “the utterly ungrateful” nominative: that is, Is anyone recompensed with a punishment like this except the utterly ungrateful?

Mujahid said: “Repaid” means punished. The verb yujāzī is used in connection with punishment, while yajzī is used in connection with reward.

Muqatil said: Is anyone requited for his evil deeds except one who is ungrateful to Allah for His blessings?

Al-Farra' said: The believer is rewarded, but not requited; that is, he is rewarded for his deeds, yet he is not repaid for his evil deeds. “And We placed between them and the towns We had blessed”—with water and trees—these were the towns of Syria, “other towns, close together”: connected settlements, such that the second could be seen from the first because of their proximity. Their trade route was from Yemen to Syria; they would spend the night in one town and take their midday rest in another, and they had no need to carry provisions from Saba' to Syria.

It was also said that their settlements numbered four thousand seven hundred connected towns from Saba' to Syria.

“And We ordained travel between them”: that is, We determined the length of their journey between these towns. Their travel in the morning and evening was the equivalent of half a day; [when they travelled for half a day] (1), they would reach a town with water and trees.