Ar-Rahmaan (The Beneficent)

Verse 68 - 69

Table of Contents

    68. In the two Gardens there shall be fruits and date-palms and pomegranates.

    69. Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both [jinn and men] deny?

    Regarding the fruits of Paradise, the blessed Verse 68 is saying that there is abundance of fruits and those like dates and pomegranates in the two Gardens. The Arabic word fakiha is certainly quite broad in its range of senses encompassing all kinds of fruit, but the significance of dates and pomegranates are mentioned owing to their significance.

    Some Qur’anic exegetes falsely maintain that semantically speaking, the Arabic word fakiha excludes dates and pomegranates. Lexicographers disagree with this baseless view. Basically, specific in lieu of general in cases of expressing privileges and merits is quite common. In short, dates and pomegranates have their prime of place among fruits in Paradise, since they are rich in vitamins.1

    The blessed Verse 69 repeats the rhetorical question:

    "Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both [jinn and men] deny?"

    Footnotes

    1. Fifteen nutritive elements and five vitamins are reportedly found in dates. Furthermore, some parts of date palms are rich in medicinal ingredients. Regarding pomegranates, according to a number of Islamic traditions, they are the best of fruits (sayyid al-fakiha; Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 6, p. 63). Nutrition experts enumerate many qualities for pomegranates, including refining the blood, richness in Vitamin C. Other good qualities have also been mentioned for sweet and sour pomegranates, including: strengthening the stomach, gums, the eyes, treatment of choleric fevers, jaundice, scabies, chronic ulcers, and diarrhea. According to a tradition narrated from Imam Sadiq (as): "Let your children eat pomegranates as they lead to their faster growth" (Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 66, p. 164). According to another tradition, "Eating pomegranates by children makes them speak earlier" (Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 66, p. 165). It is also narrated from Imam Baqir (as) and Imam Sadiq (as): "Pomegranates were the Messenger of Allah's (S) most favorite fruit.” (Usul Kafi, vol .6, p. 352). ↩