تُسقىٰ مِن عَينٍ آنِيَةٍ

And forced to drink from a boiling spring.

EXEGESIS

Āniyah (boiling) is the feminine of ānī, an active participle of the verb anā. Anā al-māʾ means the water boiled to extreme heat. The same participle is used in 55:44 in masculine form. Some exegetes believe that it shares a root with anīn, a lamentation or crying out aloud.^{‎[1]Qummi, 2/418.} Hence, the meaning would be a spring which laments over the intensity of its own heat,^{‎[2]Qummi, 2/418.} with a roaring, deafening sound.

Ṭabarī and Suyūṭī have offered the meaning of present (ḥāḍirah)^{‎[3]Suyuti, 6/342; Tabari, 30/103.} for āniyah, deriving it from ān, meaning moment.

EXPOSITION

Tusqā (forced to drink) is given in the passive form, suggesting either they will not drink it willingly or they will do so themselves but will be forced to drink only because of their extreme thirst. This is supported by 56:51-55: Then indeed, you, astray deniers, will surely eat from the zaqqūm tree, and stuff your bellies with it, and drink boiling water on top of it, drinking like thirsty camels. This is in stark contrast to the flowing spring in paradise mentioned in verse 12 of this surah.

Āniyah is explained by most as water whose boiling has reached all extremes in heat.^{‎[4]Thaalabi, 5/582.} It appears to be the same boiling hot water described as ḥamīmin ān in 55:44. Many exegetes also report it as a spring that God set boiling from the day He created the heavens and the earth.^{‎[5]Suyuti, 6/342; Tabari, 30/102; Thalabi, 10/188.} A more graphic description of the boiling water served to the wicked in hellfire is found in 18:29 and 44:45-48.

For Ibn Arabi, this is a spring from the compounded ignorance and corrupt beliefs that was their source of nourishment and a torment to their souls,^{‎[6]Ibn Arabi, 2/427.} so now it will continue to be the source of their futile attempt to quench their thirst in hell.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. From Imam Ali (a), describing death and what awaits a sinful person in the grave and the afterlife: ‘Until those who accompanied him [in his funeral] went away and those who were wailing for him returned [home]. Then he was made to sit in his grave for terrifying questioning and a slippery examination. The great calamity of that place is the boiling water (ḥamīm), the entry to hell, the flames of an eternal fire, and the intensity of its blazes.’^{‎[7]Nahj, sermon 83.}

[1] Qummi, 2/418.
[2] Qummi, 2/418.
[3] Suyuti, 6/342; Tabari, 30/103.
[4] Thaalabi, 5/582.
[5] Suyuti, 6/342; Tabari, 30/102; Thalabi, 10/188.
[6] Ibn Arabi, 2/427.
[7] Nahj, sermon 83.