لا يُصَدَّعونَ عَنها وَلا يُنزِفونَ
Which neither causes them headache nor stupefaction.
EXEGESIS
Yuṣaddaʿūna is from the root ṣadaʿa, meaning to split and crack. Ṣudāʿ is used for headache, since it is as if the head is about to split out of pain. Therefore, the verse means that the heavenly wine does not cause them any headache, as opposed to worldly wines. Yunzifūna means to pull and extract something from its source until it runs out. Thus, it might be a reference to how one’s intellect and sobriety is dragged out and dissipates due to intoxication. Such loss of intellect and awareness is not a property of the heavenly drinks: Except Allah’s exclusive servants … served around with a cup from a clear fountain, snow-white, delightful to the drinkers, wherein there will be neither headache nor will it cause them stupefaction (37:40 and 37:45-47). It could also be that lā yuṣaddaʿūna ʿanhā means that they are not held back or separated from that wine (or from paradise), and lā yunzifūna means that they are not dragged or taken out of paradise.
The order of yuṣaddaʿūna and yunzifūna is also sensible: it does not cause them any headache, and it does not even intoxicate them (which could be weaker than a headache). Or if lā yuṣaddaʿūna ʿanhā is interpreted as not being separated from the wine, then lā yunzifūna says that even though they are not separated from the wine, they are not intoxicated by it.
Yunzifūna has also been recorded as yunzafūna, which complies with verse 37:47: wa lā hum ʿanhā yunzafūna. A possible distinction is that yunzafūna in chapter 37 means being intoxicated and losing one’s intellect, while yunzifūna here means having an end to their drink. Along these lines is another subtlety based on the use of the particle ʿan instead of min – both here and in 37:47 – min is used when talking about the origination or beginning of something, while ʿan is used to indicate its end and termination. Had the verses used min, then the lack of headache and intoxication would have been a praise for the wine: it is such a wine of which (minhā) the drinkers neither get a headache nor stupefaction. But with ʿan, the centre of attention and praise is the drinkers: they do not get any headache or stupefaction of it (ʿanhā). Yet on a deeper and more mystical level, one may deduce from the use of ʿan that they are not separated from intoxication and there is no end to their drunkenness!
Now that I’m drunk, do not whip me,
According to the law a drunk is free.
When I recover, then we shall see,
But good luck with that, for that will never be.
Do not question, punish or confine,
Anyone who drinks from the cup of Thy wine.
Drunk forever is one who dies:
He’s died in Thy love; he will never rise.
EXPOSITION
The path of religion is that of reason and intellect. Thus, anything that causes the suspension or dissipation of the intellect is against this path. It then follows that since the heavenly drinks are a result (or the reality) of the religious path and the righteous acts in this world, it neither causes them headache nor stupefaction. How can there be any headache in paradise when it is the abode of peace (10:25), where no ill shall touch its residents (39:61, 15:45, 35:35)? Hence, those who preserve themselves in this world from enjoyments and engagements that suspend the reason will get to drink from a clear wine Which neither causes them headache nor stupefaction. The purity and clarity of their drink is a result or manifestation of their purity and frankness in their interactions in this world.
[1] Raghib, under ṣ-d-ʿ and n-z-f.
[2] Tahqiq, under ṣ-d-ʿ and n-z-f.
[3] Raghib, under n-z-f.
[4] Razi, 29/394-395.
[5] Rūmī, Mathnawī, vol. 5, lines 4205-4208.