And when he mentioned what they will drink, knowing that it is neither pleasant nor quenches thirst, he followed it with what they will eat, saying, limiting it: ﴿They have no﴾ meaning these who have melted themselves in a worship that Allah has not permitted ﴿food﴾ originally ﴿except from dhariʿ﴾ meaning dry shibrāq, which is a thorn that camels graze as long as it is moist. When it dries, they avoid it, and it is poison. [And] it is said in the Qāmūs: dhariʿ is like amīr: shibrāq or its dry form, or the plant when it is moist is called shibrāq, and when it is dry it is called dhariʿ. No creature approaches it due to its foulness, or something in Hell is more bitter than the thorn and more foul than carrion and hotter than fire, and it is a rotten plant thrown into the sea. And al-Harawī said in al-Gharībain and ʿAbd al-Haqq in al-Wāʿi: dhariʿ is shibrāq, which is a known thorny plant in Hijaz. It is said shibrāq as long as it is moist, and when it dries it is dhariʿ. And al-Qazzāz said in his Diwān: dhariʿ is the dry part of the tree, and it is said to be specifically the dry shibrāq, and it is said to be a green plant thrown into the sea and it is foul.

Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It is a pasture that does not provide fat or meat for the grazing animals, and if they do not leave it for something else, their condition worsens. And Ibn al-Athīr said in al-Nihāyah: dhariʿ is a plant in Hijaz with large thorns. And he said: shibrāq is a Hijazi plant that is eaten and has thorns, and when it dries it is called dhariʿ. And this is a shibrāq garment, which is one that has been spoiled, and in its weaving is foolishness, and I also burned the garment, meaning: I scorched it. And it is said in the Qāmūs: shibrāq is like zibrīj: the moist dhariʿ, and its singular is bahāʾ. Al-Baghawī (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Mujāhid, Qatādah, and ʿIkrimah said: It is a low thorny plant on the ground, which Quraysh calls shibrāq. When it blooms, they call it dhariʿ, and it is the worst and most repulsive food, and this is the narration of al-ʿAwfī from Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both). And it does not prevent in the power of Allah, glorified and exalted is He, that the ghislin, when it separates from the bodies of the people of Hell, becomes in the form of the shibrāq called dhariʿ, so their food would be the ghislin which is dhariʿ. And it is possible that this is a metaphor for the worst of living conditions and nothing specific is intended - and Allah, the Exalted, knows best. Al-Mawlī said: And it is called dhariʿ because a person humbles himself when eating it due to its roughness, bitterness, and foulness.