عالِيَهُم ثِيابُ سُندُسٍ خُضرٌ وَإِستَبرَقٌ ۖ وَحُلّوا أَساوِرَ مِن فِضَّةٍ وَسَقاهُم رَبُّهُم شَرابًا طَهورًا

Upon them will be cloaks of green silk and brocade and they will be adorned with bracelets of silver. Their Lord will give them to drink a pure drink.

EXEGESIS

Sundus and istabraq are both fine silk garments (22:23).^{‎[1]Tabrisi, 10/621.} Sundus is characterised by its softness, whereas istabraq has thicker texture and gives out a lustre.^{‎[2]Tabrisi, 10/621.} Istabraq has also been said to come into Arabic from the Persian language. It has also been said to have an Arabic root from the word barq, which means luminescence or lightning. Others, still, have said that it is the union between the Arabic and Persian words.^{‎[3]Amthal, 19/269.}

One might ask: how can the bracelets of the people of paradise be of silver here, while elsewhere the Quran says: They will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and wear green garments of silk and brocade (18:31)? This can be understood in a number of ways: perhaps they will be adorned with, consecutively or simultaneously, both bracelets of gold and silver.^{‎[4]Razi, 30/755.} Or perhaps the option of choosing silver or gold bracelets will be left to the inhabitants of heaven.^{‎[5]Razi, 30/755.}

Ṭahūr (pure) is an adjective in the morphological form of faʿūl, and it is derived from the verbal noun taṭhīr, which means the act of purification. The significance of the faʿūl morphological form is twofold: on one hand, it serves as an emphasised descriptor; on the other, it also serves as an indicator of medium or tool.^{‎[6]Raghib, p. 526.} With this in mind, ṭahūr thus not only describes that which is exponentially more purified, but also that which is a means or medium for the purification of other entities. This is further evidenced by the Quran when it also describes water as ṭahūr: and We send down from the sky purifying water (25:48).

EXPOSITION

A moving pattern is embedded in the interplay between the three drinks provided sempiternally to the abrār. As detailed earlier, in this low world, zanjabīl flavoured drinks energise the drinker, just as kāfūr flavoured drinks are relaxantand ṭahūr drinks are highly purified and purifying. Many secrets and dimensions are unknown to us in what concerns the heavenly kāfūr (83:25-26), zanjabīl, and ṭahūr drinks. However, in keeping with Ibn Abbas’s principle stated earlier, we may draw some inferrences about them.

In this surah, the kāfūr flavoured drink is presented as the first token of comfort and relief given to the abrār. Perhaps, in the beginning, this enchanting drink may have the effect of effacing all their worries, regrets, sorrows, and anxieties (35:34).^{‎[7]Amthal, 19/256.} Or, perhaps it may serve to comfort the heart when the heat of spiritual yearning to the Beloved intensifies.^{‎[8]Tahqiq, 10/83.}

Next, if the kāfūr flavoured drinks come to soothe the heat of yearning and love, perhaps the zanjabīl drinks come to rekindle and inflame divine love in the heart at a deeper level.

Perhaps these are preparatory for the souls to ready themselves for another superior set of drinks, the pure drinks given by the Lord Himself,^{‎[9]Razi, 30/756; Alusi, 15/181.} ones that have the power to purify them from all remaining forms of contamination. In heaven, the reality of contamination is not forgetfulness or distraction (ghaflah) as experienced in this world.^{‎[10] Mizan, 20/130.} Instead, it is the limitation of one’s existence and the finiteness of one’s capacity for receiving more grace and knowledge from God.

Indeed, the apex of the divine discourse is the announcement that Their Lord will give them to drink a pure drink. It is the crown gift, when all intermediaries are set aside and the abrār are given to drink by the Lord of paradise Himself (50:35).^{‎[11] Mizan, 20/131.} It is the ultimate drink, after which deeper veils, unnoticed until then, are cast aside. The human being who has reached this point has now eternally entered a higher realm of divine presence. If worldly drinks separate a man from his mind, this drink of divine purity, given by the Lord of paradise’s water bearers, will make the soul more thoroughly devoid of everything other than Allah and more profoundly intoxicated in God’s beauty and majesty. When it is received, it is the best of heaven’s hidden gifts.^{‎[12] Amthal, 19/271.}

Just as there are no limits to the grace and knowledge of God, there is no quota on the number of ṭahūr drinks the abrār are invited to experience after their preceding kāfūr and zanjabīl counterparts. Befriended by eternity, with each new ṭahūr drink, new praises of God (10:10) are uttered from the heart of the abrār. Each of these expressions manifests a greater spiritual witnessing of their Lord, a more profound bewilderment at His infinite beauty and majesty. In this world, a rank is reserved to God’s elite servants who are firmly rooted in peity and knowledge and about whom He said: Clear is Allah of whatever they allege [about Him] – [all] except Allah’s exclusive servants (37:159-160).^{‎[13] Mizan, 20/130.} In heaven, the experience of holding this rank eternally metamorphoses into an evermore supreme reality and meaning.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is reported to have said about Upon them will be cloaks of green silk: ‘Their clothes [simply] fall upon them such that they wear it [effortlessly].’^{‎[14] Tabrisi, 10/623.}
2. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) is reported to have said about Their Lord will give them to drink a pure drink: ‘[God] will cleanse them from [the attachment to] everything other than Him.’^{‎[15] Tabrisi, 10/623.}

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Rāzī has proposed that the silver bracelets could be those of the servants of heaven, whereas the gold bracelets of verse 18:31 belong to the inhabitants of heaven.^{‎[16] Razi, 30/755.} However, the repeated third person plural pronoun, hum (them/they/their) in this verse refers to the same group. Since those who will be given to drink from their Lord are the inhabitants of heaven, it can be asserted that those wearing the silk cloaks are also the inhabitants of heaven. For a discussion on how the inhabitants are said to both hold gold and silver bracelets, refer to the Exegesis. 

Some exegetes have taken ṭahūr, which came to qualify the drink, to mean (1) that it is a pure and clean drink, uncontaminated by any form of impurity and/or (2) that it does not turn into impurity after digestion and, instead, cleanses the body and transforms into perfumed sweat.^{‎[17] Razi, 30/755.} However, this is the case of any of the drinks of paradise and does not distinguish the drink referred to in this verse only. Instead, we have presented an alternative understanding of ṭahūr in the Exegesis.

[1] Tabrisi, 10/621.
[2] Tabrisi, 10/621.
[3] Amthal, 19/269.
[4] Razi, 30/755.
[5] Razi, 30/755.
[6] Raghib, p. 526.
[7] Amthal, 19/256.
[8] Tahqiq, 10/83.
[9] Razi, 30/756; Alusi, 15/181.
[10] Mizan, 20/130.
[11] Mizan, 20/131.
[12] Amthal, 19/271.
[13] Mizan, 20/130.
[14] Tabrisi, 10/623.
[15] Tabrisi, 10/623.
[16] Razi, 30/755.
[17] Razi, 30/755.