Surah Al-Haqqah 69:7
ﲺ ﲻ ﲼ ﲽ ﲾ ﲿ ﳀ ﳁ ﳂ ﳃ ﳄ ﳅ ﳆ ﳇ ﳈ ﳉ
Which Allah imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so you would see the people therein fallen as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees.
Tafsir of Al-Haqqah 69:7
Tafsir
Mafatih al-Ghayb
Verse range: 69:7
Al-Haqqah (The Inevitable Reality): Verse 7
{سخرها عليهم سبع . . . . .} (He subjected it [the wind] against them for seven...)
Then He said: {كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ خَاوِيَةٌ} (As if they were trunks of date-palms, hollowed out.)
This means: As if they were the bases/stumps of date-palms, empty inside, containing nothing. The word nakhil (palm trees) can be treated as feminine or masculine. Allah Almighty said elsewhere: {كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ مُنْقَعِرٌ} (Al-Qamar: 20) (As if they were uprooted trunks of date-palms). It has also been recited as (أَعْجَازُ نُخَيْلٍ).
This description is subject to two interpretations:
- It suggests they were likened to palm trees violently torn from their roots, which serves as a report concerning the immense size and stature of their bodies.
- It might refer specifically to the stumps (uṣūl) rather than the main trunks (juthū‘), meaning the wind had broken them apart until they became massive pieces resembling the stumps of palm trees.
As for describing the palms as khāwiyah (hollowed out):
- It might be a description of the people themselves, as the wind entered their hollow interiors, causing them to fall down like hollow-cored palms.
- It might mean bāliyah (decayed/worn out), because when a palm decays, its interior becomes empty. Thus, after their destruction, they were likened to decayed palm stumps.
Then He said:
! 7 < {فَهَلْ تَرَىٰ لَهُم مِّن بَاقِيَةٍ} . > 7 ! (So do you see any remnant of them?)