فيها عَينٌ جارِيَةٌ
In it there is a flowing spring.
EXEGESIS
ʿAyn (spring) is given in the indefinite. This is to denote a genus or category for all its types, meaning though it is said in the singular, it is understood in the plural, and denotes paradise as having a multitude of springs. This is also proven by other verses such as 51:15 where the plural ʿuyūn is given.
Jāriyah (flowing) is from jarā: to run, rush, circulate. It is used in the literal sense for various forms of movement such as the flow of rivers and blowing of the wind, and metaphorically to mean: to follow or proceed similarly, to function the same as, and to act as per someone or something.
EXPOSITION
In it there is a flowing spring contrasts with the boiling spring mentioned in verse 5. This spring is not merely beautiful to the beholder but offers a wholesome, delicious, and refreshing drink with its unique characteristic and taste, to the delight of its master who inhabits the palace and those with access to it.
The word jāriyah (flowing), as noted in the Exegesis, suggests ‘that which runs’. It has therefore also been interpreted as a spring that never stops or exhausts and one that is released and runs freely forever. Ālūsī adds that the adjective jāriyah may be for emphasis to denote its greatness, just as ḥāmiyah (scorching) was added to nār (fire) in verse 4; or it is to denote plenitude, meaning it consists of innumerable flowing springs. As noted in the Exegesis, the use of spring in the indefinite may suggest plurality and many springs. Others have said the mention of spring in the singular is to reference the individual spring found in each palace belonging to the faithful, which freely flows from a larger river and in any direction its lord wishes it to (76:6), without the need for trenches or canals, and hence a flowing spring.
In recounting the blessings of paradise, the Quran, for example, also mentions, a spring (ʿayn) where the servants of Allah drink, which they make gush forth as they please (76:6), a spring (ʿayn) in it, named Salsabīl (76:18), and a spring (ʿayn) where those brought near [to Allah] drink (83:28).
Ibn Arabi, as typical, interprets this verse with a mystical lens, and explains in it there is a flowing spring of the sciences of divine realisation (ʿulūm al-maʿārif) drinking from which brings out a ‘tasting’ (dhawq) of divine proximity, an unveiling (kashf), a finding (wijdān) and a super-consciousness of the unicity (tawḥīd) of the one Truth.
There is something to be said here about the literal interpretation of physical pleasures in paradise. It would seem odd that Islam encourages other-worldliness and frowns on the excessive (even if lawful) indulgence in physical pleasure in this world and then tempts and promises the faithful with the very same, and in abundance, in the eternal afterlife. This is perhaps because whilst in this ephemeral realm, physical pleasures addict and enslave the mind and body. When one is obsessed with them, they blind and become a hindrance and obstacle to the soul’s growth and purification. In the afterlife, however, sensual pleasures are not a means of escaping pain (such as hunger, fatigue, or stress) as they are in this world and they neither become an addiction and distraction from God, nor does one tire from their indulgence as they do in this world. God’s presence is actively felt in the hereafter, instead of via intermediate causes and effects, and the more one indulges in the physical, the greater the accompanied spiritual pleasure and awareness of the divine.
Hence, the metaphysical interpretations offered by Ibn Arabi and oftentimes by others (such as Mulla Sadra) are simply alluding to this ever-present spiritual pleasure even as one indulges in the outward physical pleasure in paradise. It is not that one negates the other and that one must choose between physical versus spiritual or one receives one and not the other. Yet, what remains true is that the intensity of pleasure (physical and spiritual) will vary according to one’s rank. And those of a higher rank will enjoy and prefer that which gives them a more direct encounter with the divine.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From the Prophet: ‘The rivers of paradise gush from beneath mountains of musk.’
[1] Zamakhsharī adds: ‘Just like the verse 81:14 is literally then a soul shall know … (ʿalimat nafsun) but means ‘then every soul shall know …’ (Zamakhshari, 4/744).
[2] Ibn Kathir, 8/377; Zamakhshari, 4/743-744; Tabrisi, 10/727.
[3] Alusi 15/328; Safi, 5/321.
[4] Ibn Kathir, 8/377.
[5] Alusi, 15/328.
[6] Tabrisi, 10/727; Nemuneh, 26/422.
[7] Ibn Arabi, 2/428.
[8] Ibn Kathir, 8/377.