The answer to that is that the yellow variety, in relation to fresh dates, is cooling, even though its sweetness gives it a slight degree of heat. And Allah knows best.

I say: this rejoinder, in my view, is questionable, because the two reports have different lines of transmission—the first comes from ʿĀʾishah, whereas this one is from Anas—so one is not obliged to interpret one by means of the other; it is quite possible that they refer to separate and distinct occasions, all the more so as the first tradition contains the additional wording, “We temper the heat of this with the coolness of that….” That meaning is not fully evident with respect to kharbaz (yellow watermelon) so long as it shares with fresh dates the quality of heat. And Allah knows best.

Benefits derived from the hadith

Al-Khaṭīb said in al-Faqīh wa’l-Mutafaqqih (79/1–2), after citing his chain back to ʿAbd Allāh ibn Jaʿfar:

“Among the benefits of this hadith is that some people who pursued the path of piety and asceticism claimed: ‘It is not lawful to eat for pleasure, nor out of desire and admiration; one should consume only what is indispensable to keep body and soul together.’ When this hadith became known, the statement of that faction collapsed, and it became permissible to eat out of appetite, enjoyment, and delight. Another group among them said: ‘No one may combine two kinds of food, nor two relishes on one tablecloth.’ This hadith likewise refutes that opinion and permits a person to combine two kinds—and even more—of foods and relishes.”

I add: those people do cite certain hadiths to support their view, but they are weak reports. I have listed a number of them in Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah, nos. 241 and 257.

59 – “O ʿAli, take some of this, for it will benefit you more.”

Related by Abū Dāwūd (3856), al-Tirmidhī (2/2, 3), Ibn Mājah (2442), and Aḥmad (6/364).