37لا يَأكُلُهُ إِلَّا الخاطِئونَMuhammad Asadwhich none but the sinners eat!"1The noun ghislin, which appears in the Qur'an only in this one instance, has been variously - and very contradictorily - explained by the early commentators. Ibn Abbas, when asked about it, frankly answered, "I do not know what ghislin denotes" (Razi). The term "filth" used by me contains an allusion to the "devouring" of all that is abominable in the spiritual sense: cf. its characterization in the next verse as "[that] which none but the sinners eat" i.e. (metaphorically) in this world, and, consequently, in the hereafter as well.