16
The heretics entertained doubts about His words:
“ They will have no food except from a dry, thorny plant.” …
As for the Most High’s statement,
“ They will have no food except from a dry, thorny plant ” (al-Ghashiyah 88:6),
then He said,
“ Indeed, the tree of Zaqqūm will be the food of the sinner ” (al-Dukhan 44:43-44).
Thus He has plainly informed that they will in fact have food, so they cast doubts upon the Qur’an and alleged that it is self-contradictory3.
(3) Shaykh al-Shanqiti—may Allah have mercy on him—said: Concerning the verse, “and there will be no food for them except from ghislin” (al-Haqqah 69:36), the exclusive wording indicates that the inhabitants of Hell will have no sustenance other than ghislin, which, according to the soundest interpretation, is the pus that flows from the wounds of the people of Hell. The term appears in the morphological pattern fa‘lin, derived from the root g-s-l, because this pus resembles the wash-water of their ulcers. May Allah protect us and all Muslims from it.
Another verse, however, restricts their food to something other than ghislin, namely: “They will have no food except from dari‘” (al-Ghashiyah 88:6). Dari‘, on the most reliable explanation, is the dried shrub called shabraq. Abud-Dhuayb alludes to this when he says:
“He grazed on the fresh shabraq until, when it withered
and turned into dari‘, the lean camels abandoned it …”
شك الزنادقة في قوله:
{لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلاَّ مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ}
.
...
وأما قول الله تعالى:
{لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلاَّ مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ}
[الغاشية: ٦]
.
ثم قال:
{إِنَّ شَجَرَةَ الزَّقُّومِ، طَعَامُ الأَثِيمِ}
[الدُّخان: ٤٣، ٤٤]
.
فقد أخبر أن لهم طعامًا فشكوا في القرآن وزعموا أنه متناقض٣.
٣ قال الشيخ الشنقيطي رحمه الله: قوله تعالى: {وَلا طَعَامٌ إِلاَّ مِنْ غِسْلِينٍ} [الحاقة: ٣٦] ظاهر هذا الحصر أنه لا طعام لأهل النار إلا الغسلين، وهو ما يسيل من صديد أهل النار على أصح التفسيرات، كأنه فعلين من الغسل، لأن الصديد كأنه غسالة قروح أهل النار. أعاذنا الله والمسلمين منها.
وقد جاءت آية أخرى تدل على حصر طعامهم في غير الغسلين، وهي قوله تعالى: {لَيْسَ لَهُمْ طَعَامٌ إِلاَّ مِنْ ضَرِيعٍ} [الغاشية: ٦] وهو الشبرق اليابس على أصح التفسيرات، ويدل لهذا قول أبي ذؤيب:
رعى الشبرق الريان حتى إذا ذوى
وصار ضريعًا بان عنه النحائص =