Consumption in the Qur'an

[Safe_from_sweden]

Peace!

When the Quran exactly want to indicate food, ie. feeding or eating it uses the root Taa-ain-mim م ع ط so from that root we have the verb to feed listed together with the term rizk (supply) in 51:57 which translates "I do not want from them supply (rizk) nor I want them to feed Me (juṭ'ʿimūni) ".

In 76:8 we have an even more precise expression where the feeding of the poor, orphans and captives is mentioned together, so it is said "we yuṭ'ʿimūne l-ṭaʿāma ʿalā hubbihi mis'kīnen ve jetīmen wa-asīren" i.e. "And they feed the poor and the fatherless and the captives with food for his love."

Now that we know how to recognize the root when the Qur'an targets food, feeding one might wonder what in that case would be the true meaning of verse 2:35 which translates as "And We said,' O Adam, live, you and your wife, in Paradise we kulā min'hā...! ". The term we kulā min'hā is often translated as "and eat (fruits) from it" or "and eat in it" or and "eat from it".

It is clear to us that this expression "we kulā min'hā" in this verse does not refer to any food or dish, but on the contrary to a much broader concept of what could be a consumption, so it would be more logical to translate "and consume from it abundantly رَغَدًا (regaden).

In 2:57 the expression "kulū min ṭayyibāti mā razaqnākum" is used which translates as "Eat from the goodness of the provisions We have provided you".

A more logical translation of the phrase "kulū min ṭayyibāti mā razaqnākum" in the verse 2:57 would be "Consume from yields that we supplied you". This means that the term ṭayyibāti indicates that what a man consumes i.e. consumes from the yields that bears in nature.

In the end, one might comfortably ask whether this first man and his companion inhabiting the Earth ate the flesh of animals in addition to all that fruit and vegetables that God gave to bear in nature?