Mujahid said: The place of settlement is upon the face of the earth in this worldly life, while the place of storage is with Allah in the Hereafter. This is indicated by His saying, exalted is He: “For you on the earth is a place of settlement and provision for a time” (al-Baqarah, 36).

Al-Hasan said: The place of settlement is in the graves, and the place of storage is in this world. He would say: “O son of Adam, you are a trust deposited among your family, and soon you will join your companion.”

It was also said: The place of storage is the grave, while the place of settlement is Paradise and Hell, on account of His saying, glorified and exalted is He, in His description of Paradise and Hell: “How excellent a resting place!” (al-Furqan, 76), and “How evil a resting place!” (al-Furqan, 66). “We have certainly explained the signs in detail for a people who understand.”

“And He is the One who sends down water from the sky; then by it We bring forth the growth of every kind of plant. From it We bring forth green foliage, from which We bring forth grain arranged in layers; and from the spathes of palm trees come clusters hanging low; and gardens of grapevines, olives, and pomegranates—similar and dissimilar. Look at their fruit when it bears fruit and at its ripening. Surely in this are signs for a people who believe” (99).

“And He is the One who sends down water from the sky; then by it We bring forth”—that is, by the water—“the growth of every kind of plant. From it We bring forth”—that is, from the water; though it was also said, from the plant—“green foliage,” meaning greenery, just as al-'awir means al-a'war (one-eyed). That is, the tender green growth of wheat, barley, and the like. “From which We bring forth grain arranged in layers,” meaning piled one upon another, ⦗122⦘ like the ears of wheat, barley, rice, and all other grains.

“And from the spathes of palm trees”: the spathe is the first part of the palm fruit to emerge. “Clusters”: this is the plural of qinw, meaning a date cluster, just as sinw has the plural sinwan; these two forms have no parallel in Arabic. “Hanging low,” meaning within easy reach, so that both one standing and one sitting can take it. Mujahid said: It means hanging down. Al-Dahhak said: They are short and close to the ground.

There is ellipsis here; its meaning is: among palm trees are those whose clusters hang low, and among them are those whose clusters are far beyond reach. Mention of those that are near suffices in place of those that are far, since this is more readily understood. This is like His saying, exalted is He: “Garments that protect you from the heat” (al-Naml, 81), meaning from both heat and cold; He mentioned one of the two only.

“And gardens of grapevines,” that is, We brought forth from it gardens. Al-A'mash narrated from Asim the recitation, “and gardens,” in the nominative case, coordinated with “clusters”; the majority of the reciters differed from this.

“And olives and pomegranates,” meaning olive trees and pomegranate trees (1), “similar and dissimilar.” Qatadah said: This means that their leaves are alike while their fruits differ, for olive leaves resemble pomegranate leaves. It was also said: they are similar in appearance but differ in taste.

“Look at their fruit.” Hamzah and al-Kisa'i recited it with a dammah on the letters tha and mim, here, in what follows, and in Ya-Sin, regarding it as a plural form.