As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 65 of 182

As-Saffat 37:65

طَلْعُهَا كَأَنَّهُۥ رُءُوسُ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينِ

“Its emerging fruit as if it was heads of the devils.”

Saheeh International

Essence

On a palm, the first spathe is the hopeful sign of harvest; on this tree, the first thing to appear looks like devils' heads.

A reflection

The first sign of harvest, inverted

Every date farmer knows the moment. In late winter, the first spathe pushes out of the palm's crown: white, tender, elongated, like a large almond. It is the first thing seen of the coming harvest. After months of waiting, it means fruit is on its way.

That is ṭalʿ, and the commentaries describe it exactly. One says it is the palm's first emergence, before its strands of dates come out: white, soft and long, like an almond. The lexicons give the root as coming up into view, as the sun rises. The palm's first spathe is the first thing seen of a date cluster. This picture is established.

The ayah borrows that word for the tree of Zaqqum. One commentary notes the borrowing. Ṭalʿ belongs to the palm. Here it is used for what comes out of this tree, either because it looks like a spathe or simply because it emerges.

Now feel what the first hearers felt. In an oasis culture, the palm's spathe was hope made visible. The ayah takes that word, the word for the first promising sign of food. It attaches it to the most hideous image they could imagine: ka-annahu ruʾūsu al-shayāṭīn. As if it were the heads of devils.

The effect is deliberate. A harvest is supposed to reward the waiting. This tree's first appearance announces that its fruit will be the opposite of everything fruit is for.

It is a reminder that what we cultivate eventually shows its first sign. Every habit, every path, has a moment when its first spathe appears. It is worth looking closely at what is breaking out.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.