Will the food for the people in Hell be only be “Dhari”?
Surah al-Ghashiyah (88:6): “They will have no food except ˹bitter˺ dry thorns,”
Or only foul pus that flows from the people of Hell?
Surah al-Haqqah (69:36): “nor any food except pus,”
Or will they also get to eat from the tree of Zaqqum?
Surah as-Saffat (37:66): “They will indeed eat from it, filling up their bellies.”
Response
When Allah says “They have no food except from dariʿ” The dariʿ, here is dried form of the plant shibriq. It is a thorny plant when fresh, and when it dries it becomes toxic and is then called dariʿ. In its fresh state, it is grazed by camels and wild donkeys. The torment of the people of the Fire through eating it is likened to dariʿ because of how terrible it tastes and its harmful consequences.
Some scholars have said that dariʿ is used for a specific tree in Jahannam, and that tree would have ghislin flowing from it—as in His words: “Then he will have no close friend here today, nor any food except from ghislin” (al-Haqqah: 35–36).
If so, then the preposition min (from) indicates origin—meaning: they have no food except what comes from dariʿ, and that what flows out is the ghislin. In this way, the two verses are reconciled.
The description of dariʿ as “which neither nourishes nor satisfies hunger” shows how vile and harmful it is. It is pure torment—it gives no nourishment that could restore any part of their scorched bodies, and it does not remove the pain of hunger. It may be that hunger is itself one of their punishments, so they ask for food, and they are fed dariʿ, which does not relieve their hunger in the least.
Translation: His saying: “So he will have no close friend here today, nor any food except from ghislin—none will eat it except the sinners” (al-Haqqah: 35–37), means: he will have no one to save him today from the punishment of Allah—not a hamim (a close companion or relative), nor an intercessor who will be obeyed. And he will have no food here except from ghislin.
Qatadah said: It is the worst food of the people of the Fire.
And ar-Rabiʿ and ad-Dahhak said: It is a tree in Jahannam.
Ibn Abi Hatim said: My father narrated to us, from Mansur ibn Abi al-Muzahim, from Abu Saʿid al-Muʾaddib, from Khuṣayf, from Mujahid, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: I do not know exactly what ghislin is, but I think it is Zaqqumum.
And Shabib ibn Bishr narrated from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbas, who said: Ghislin is the blood and water that flows from their flesh.
And ʿAli ibn Abi Talhah narrated from him that ghislin is the pus and discharge of the people of the Fire.
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (8/217)
Now if we look into Surah al-Haqqah (69:36) when it says they will only eat ghislin which is the pus that flows from them, it refers to a specific group of sinners, from the context we see Allah says:
69:33 – “For they never believed in Allah, the Greatest,”
69:34 – “nor did they encourage the feeding of the poor.”
69:35 – “So they will have no close friend here today,”
69:36 – “nor any food except pus,”
69:37 – “which none will eat except the sinners.”
Also Ibn Attiyah says: ويُحْتَمَلُ أنْ يَكُونَ الإخْبارُ هُنا عن طائِفَةٍ، وهُناكَ عن طائِفَةٍ، ويَكُونُ الغِسْلِينُ والضَّرِيعُ مُتَبايِنَيْنِ عَلى ما يُفْهَمُ في لِسانِ العَرَبِ
It is also possible that the mention here refers to one group, and the other to another group, and that ghislin and dariʿ are distinct from each other, as understood from the usage in Arabic language.
