Meaning of ‘Faaliq al-Habbi wan-Nawa'

16-2-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

What does Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, mean in the supplication, “My Lord, the Lord of the heavens, the earth and everything, Who causes the grain and the fruit-stone to split...” [Al-Bukhaari, Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Abu Daawood, and others] What does he mean with, “Who causes the grain and fruit stone to split”? Does this mean that He causes them to grow? What does this mean?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

The meaning of “Faaliq al-Habbi wan-Nawa" is that Allah, The Exalted, causes the seed-grain (from which plants germinate) to split open and the plant to grow therefrom, and He causes the date-stone (from which palm trees germinate) to split and the palm tree to grow therefrom.

‘Awn Al-Ma‘bood reads, “Faaliq is derived from Falq, which means splitting. Habb means grain, and Nawa is the plural of Nawaah, which is the date-stone. The hadeeth mentioned the date-stone in particular because of the great virtue of date palms and their abundance in the lands of the Arabs. It means, ‘O Allah, Who splits them and thus makes plants and palm trees grow out of them...’”

Allah knows best.