إِنَّ أَصْحَٰبَ ٱلْجَنَّةِ ٱلْيَوْمَ فِى شُغُلٍ فَٰكِهُونَ · هُمْ وَأَزْوَٰجُهُمْ فِى ظِلَٰلٍ عَلَى ٱلْأَرَآئِكِ مُتَّكِـُٔونَ · لَهُمْ فِيهَا فَٰكِهَةٌ وَلَهُم مَّا يَدَّعُونَ
Inna aṣḥāba'l-jannati'l-yawma fī shughulin fākihūn · Hum wa azwājuhum fī ẓilālin ʿala'l-arāʾiki muttakiʾūn · Lahum fīhā fākihatun wa lahum mā yaddaʿūn
"The people of the garden are today in an occupation, taking their ease. They and their spouses are in shade, reclining upon couches. There they have fruit, and they have whatever they call for."
The language of the descriptions of the garden was treated in detail in al-Wāqiʿa: the ordering of the senses, the choice of objects, the distinction between ṭaʿām and fākiha (necessity and surplus), whether the tables are joined by wāw or by a chain, and the table's closing with a sound. I do not repeat it here; I rely on that treatment.
What belongs here is the brevity of the table in Yāsīn. In al-Wāqiʿa there were long tables for two groups; in Yāsīn the table is four verses (55-58) and the fourth is not an object but a word.
ش-غ-ل — the root: a task's taking hold of a person, leaving him no time for anything else. Shughl/shughul — occupation, the work that takes a person up.
It is transmitted in the sources on the variant readings that the word is read in the forms shughl and shughul; there is no difference in meaning.
Various explanations are transmitted in the classical commentaries — being occupied with the favours, being occupied with one another, being so full as to remain unaware of the state of those in the fire. I transmit these as explanations; I do not add them to the wording of the verse. There is no certain knowledge.
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is that the word comes indefinite: fī shughulin — unspecified. This is the third open list in the sūra (together with 36 and 42; tabulated above).
And the word itself is worth recording: the recompense is recounted not as a condition but as an occupation. Not a motionless repose, that is, but a time that is filled. I give this as an observation.
The root ف-ك-ه was analysed in detail in al-Wāqiʿa at 56/20. The finding there was this: the root has two branches — fākiha (fruit) and fukāha (pleasant talk, jesting, banter); and ṭaʿām announces necessity, fākiha surplus. I do not repeat it here.
What belongs here is this, and it can be verified: Yāsīn uses both branches of the root two verses apart.
| Verse | Word | Pattern | Which branch |
|---|---|---|---|
| 55 | fākihūn | Active participle / adjective | State — at ease, content, in good cheer |
| 57 | fākiha | Noun | Object — fruit |
In al-Wāqiʿa the root occurred three times (20, 32, 65) and in all three as an object or a verb (fākiha, fākiha, tafakkahūn). In Yāsīn, by contrast, the person's state is named first and the object in his hand afterwards. This difference is a countable datum.
A note on the variant readings: it is transmitted that the word is read in the forms fākihūn and fakihūn. The second is the assimilate-adjective pattern and announces a settled state; the first is an active participle. The difference does not change the meaning fundamentally; I record it.
My own reading: the first word of the table is not an object but a state. The sūra begins its description of the garden not with what is possessed but with the condition of the person.
In Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) at 40/8 the naming of spouses together in the prayer of those who bear the Throne was treated (wa man ṣalaḥa min ābāʾihim wa azwājihim wa dhurriyyātihim), and a reference to al-Wāqiʿa was made there. I rely on that line.
There is a lexical link that belongs here and can be verified within the sūra: the word azwāj occurs twice in Yāsīn.
| Verse | Expression | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 36 | khalaqa'l-azwāja kullahā | Creation — all the pairs |
| 56 | hum wa azwājuhum | Recompense — together with their spouses |
The same word, one in the evidential section and one in the section on recompense. I record this as an observation.
Arīka — its plural is arāʾik. The lexicographers describe the word as "a couch with a canopy, a covered divan": a shaded seat with a curtain or covering drawn over it.
The root has occurred in al-Insān and al-Muṭaffifīn; in both together with the same verb: muttakiʾīna fīhā ʿala'l-arāʾik.
And the choice of the word agrees with another word of the verse: fī ẓilālin — in shade. A covered couch and shade are two words belonging to the same field.
مُتَّكِـُٔون — root و-ك-أ, Form VIII: to lean on something, to recline. The lexicographers record: to recline is, in Arab culture, the posture of one who is in no hurry; the traveller and the labourer do not recline.
| Reading | Meaning | Ground |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What they ask for, what they call for | The "to ask, to call" branch of the verb iddiʿāʾ |
| 2 | What they claim as their own | The "to attribute a thing to oneself" branch of iddiʿāʾ |
Both are transmitted; I do not impose a preference. The common point can be verified: on either reading what is given is what the person himself determines — not what is assigned from outside.
A point of word order: lahum is repeated twice — lahum fīhā fākihatun wa lahum mā yaddaʿūn. Two things could have been joined with a single lahum. The repetition shows that two possessions are announced separately: one a definite object (fruit), the other an extent whose limit is not given (what they call for).