اركُض بِرِجلِكَ ۖ هٰذا مُغتَسَلٌ بارِدٌ وَشَرابٌ
[We told him:] ‘Stamp your foot on the ground; this [ensuing spring] is a cooling bath and drink.’
EXEGESIS
Mughtasal (bath) comes from ightisāl, meaning to wash oneself. It is either a place where one washes, or it refers to the water that is used to wash oneself.
Bārid (cooling) literally means cold.
EXPOSITION
In the call of Prophet Job (a) that we read in the previous verse we are told that he simply stated his difficulty to God, although much of what Prophet Job (a) said is obviously omitted there. In this verse too, like in the previous stories (for example verse 33) there is omission; he was commanded Stamp your foot on the ground, and as soon as he did that a spring gushed forth and he was told this is a cooling bath and drink. It is said that two springs gushed forth, he drank from one and bathed in the other. In any case, the drinking and bathing was meant to cure him of all internal and external ailments, and as soon as he did that he was cured of all his bodily ailments.
Like with Prophet David (a) and Prophet Solomon (a), the story of Prophet Job (a) points the reader to the main theme of wonder present in the surah. Prophet Job’s (a) miraculous recovery by simply bathing and drinking water is one of the amazing stories that invokes wonder in the reader.
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Makārim Shīrāzī says that the water is described with the quality of being cold because washing with cold water should have health benefits. He also adds that the water one washes oneself with should be potable, that is why in some narrations it is recommended to first drink a bit of it.
[1] Tibyan, 8/568.
[2] Tabari, 23/107; Zamakhshari, 4/97; Nemuneh, 19/297.
[3] Tabrisi, 8/745.
[4] Tibyan, 8/568; Tabari, 23/107. See also Muhit, 9/163 and Nemuneh, 19/297, for a discussion of the various opinions on this.
[5] Zamakhshari, 4/97.
[6] Tibyan, 8/568.
[7] Nemuneh, 19/297.