هضم

Core meaning

To make give way what should have held: the right of which someone is despoiled, the spathe that melts under the tooth.

Uses

1. هَضْمًا → "spoliation" : the right of which one would be despoiled, joined to wrong.

   • «فَلَا يَخَافُ ظُلْمًۭا وَلَا هَضْمًۭا» — "shall fear neither wrong nor spoliation" (20:112)

2. هَضِيمٌ → "melting" : the spathe of the palm, tender, yielding without resistance.

   • «وَنَخْلٍۢ طَلْعُهَا هَضِيمٌۭ» — "and date-palms with melting spathes" (26:148)

Evidence from the text

In 20:112, هَضْم is joined to ظُلْم: whoever does sound deeds, being a believer, "shall fear neither wrong nor spoliation". Wrong is the harm done; spoliation, the share of one's due of which one would be despoiled.

In 26:148, هَضِيم describes the spathe of the date-palms, amid "gardens and springs, and crops": a matter that yields without resistance. Both uses speak of a consistency that does not hold, that of a right, that of a fruit.

Distinctions

• ظلم — wrong: the harm itself; هضم is what one is despoiled of