Al-Waqi'ah · Makki · ayah 20 of 96

Al-Waqi'ah 56:20

وَفَـٰكِهَةٍ مِّمَّا يَتَخَيَّرُونَ

“And fruit of what they select”

Saheeh International

Essence

The word for fruit here is also the word for good talk among friends, and the word for choosing means leaning towards the better.

A reflection

The same letters as good conversation

A good greengrocer lets a customer pick her own plums. One at a time, by hand, feeling the give at the stalk end. He does not weigh out a kilo for her. The whole pleasure of the transaction is in the choosing, and both of them know it.

This ayah is about that, and the word for fruit is not what you expect.

Fākiha is from a root meaning sweetness and relish: finding a thing good and delightful. The lexicons are careful. Fruit is what is eaten for delight beyond plain nourishment. It is not the staple. Nobody lives on it.

And from the same three letters comes something that is not food at all. Fukāha is light, pleasant talk and jesting. A fākih man was cheerful and good-humoured, enjoying his own state. A man who made his companions laugh was described with this root.

So the word for fruit and the word for easy, delightful conversation are the same letters.

That tells you what the Arabs thought fruit was for. It is the thing passed round after the meal, when the serious business of eating is over and the talk begins. Not sustenance. Company, with something sweet in your hand.

Which reframes this ayah entirely. We read it as an item on an inventory: and fruit, of what they choose. A supply detail.

It is the opposite of a supply detail. Everything in this surah's description so far has been building a gathering. A woven couch. Settled, facing one another. Someone going round. A cup that is never empty. And now the thing passed round when people are at ease together. It carries, in its own letters, the word for the talk that goes with it.

The lexicons add one more use that fits the surah. A camel's milk was said to be afkahat when spring grazing made it richest.

The richest yield, at the best season, named by the word for delight.

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.