وَماءٍ مَسكوبٍ
And ever-flowing water.
EXEGESIS
Maskūb: outpouring, flowing, overflown. It could mean water that is gushing out from a spring, pouring down from a fall, or flowing in a river. It is also interpreted to mean water that is poured on wine and therefore mixed with it. At any rate, it refers to running water as opposed to stagnant water.
EXPOSITION
The pure pouring and running water in the rivers of paradise is for those who cleanse their souls of evil traits, and whose acts of charity gush forth toward those in need. As for those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We shall admit them into gardens with streams running in them, to remain in them forever. In it there will be chaste mates for them, and We shall admit them into a deep shade (4:57).
It is an appealing scene to imagine oneself resting and taking pleasure in gardens with flowing water, abundant fruits, and extended shades. These promises were attractive not only to the desert Arabs at the time of revelation, but also to those currently living in dense cities and tight urban conditions.
Rāzī has a beautiful and elegant explanation of these last few (and similar) verses. The question is: why has the Quran mentioned some specific heavenly bounties such as lote trees (sidr) and plantains (ṭalḥ) and not others? A common answer is that the Quran has emphasised bounties that were more dear to the Arabs who were the direct audience of the Quran at the time of revelation. This is of course true, but there is more to the book of God than this. Rāzī has described a more subtle and plausible point as follows: when it is said that ‘so and so rules over the east and the west’ it means that the person’s kingdom extends from the east to the west, including the lands in-between. When it is said ‘he respects the children and the elderly’ it means that he respects everyone including the youth and people of middle age, not that he only respects the two mentioned groups. In other words, sometimes two extremes are mentioned in order to imply the whole spectrum in-between.
More generally speaking, sometimes what is intended in a statement is not to ascribe a quality or predicate to the subject of the statement alone; rather, the particular subject is mentioned as an example from which the case of other subjects can be deduced (it is a matter of tamthīl, not taʿyīn or taḥdīd). An example of this is verses 5-6: And when the mountains are shattered into bits, and become scattered dust. The crumbling and shattering of the strong mountains implies the crumbling and shattering of every solid foundation, every source of protection, and every reliable structure. Another example is in verses 49-50: Say: ‘Indeed the former and latter generations will all be gathered for the tryst of a known day’, which means that all generations from beginning to end (including the ones in between) will be resurrected.
As with trees, lote-trees have very tiny leaves, while banana trees have very large leaves. When the Quran says that there are lote-trees and banana trees in paradise, it implies that there are trees of all kinds with all sizes of leaf in those gardens. The same idea applies to cases where the Quran specifically talks about palm and vine (2:266, 17:91, 18:32, 23:19, 36:34): the palm is among the largest and tallest trees, while the vine is a very small and delicate tree. The same can be said about the mention of dates, olives, and pomegranate together (6:99, 6:141, 16:11, 55:68), which vary quite a lot from one another. A clear evidence for this notion is to be found in verse 2:266, where it talks about a garden of palm trees and vines and then it says: with all kinds of fruit for him therein. Of course, this does not deny the many other points and wisdoms behind such verses.
[1] Raghib; Tahqiq, under s-k-b.
[2] Tibyan, 9/496.
[3] Zamakhshari, 4/461.
[4] Qurtubi, 18/209-210; Alusi, 14/140.
[5] Razi, 29/405.