The Quran

Preface

مَثَلُ الجَنَّةِ الَّتي وُعِدَ المُتَّقونَ ۖ فيها أَنهارٌ مِن ماءٍ غَيرِ آسِنٍ وَأَنهارٌ مِن لَبَنٍ لَم يَتَغَيَّر طَعمُهُ وَأَنهارٌ مِن خَمرٍ لَذَّةٍ لِلشّارِبينَ وَأَنهارٌ مِن عَسَلٍ مُصَفًّى ۖ وَلَهُم فيها مِن كُلِّ الثَّمَراتِ وَمَغفِرَةٌ مِن رَبِّهِم ۖ كَمَن هُوَ خالِدٌ فِي النّارِ وَسُقوا ماءً حَميمًا فَقَطَّعَ أَمعاءَهُم

Yusuf Ali

(Here is) a Parable of the Garden which the righteous are promised: in it are rivers of water incorruptible;¹ rivers of milk of which the taste never changes; rivers of wine, a joy to those who drink; and rivers of honey pure and clear. In it there are for them all kinds of fruits;² and Grace from their Lord.³ (Can those in such Bliss) be compared to such as shall dwell for ever in the Fire, and be given, to drink, boiling water, so that it cuts up⁴ their bowels (to pieces)?

In this symbolism there are four kinds of drinks and all kinds of fruits; and the summing up of all spiritual delights in the “Grace from their Lord”. The four kinds of drinks are: (1) delicious, cool, pure water, not like earthly water, for it never suffers corruption; (2) milk which never turns sour, whose taste is like that of fresh warm milk drawn from the udder; (3) wine, not like any wine on earth, for it leaves no headaches behind, and causes no intoxication, which is a kind of madness or poison, but is ever ajoy to drink; and (4) honey, pure and clear, with no admixture of wax or any foreign substance. These drinks, again speaking metaphorically, will cool the spirit, feed the heart, warm the affections, and sweeten life. (R).
See n. 4671 to 43:73. (Eds.)
Grace from their Lord: that is the covering up or blotting out of sin and all that was sad or unsatisfactory in the lower life; the pure Light from the Countenance of God Most High: 92:20.
Cf. 37:66-67, and n. 4074. Just as the Bliss of the Blessed will penetrate their being through and through, so the agony of the condemned ones will penetrate their being through and through. “Bowels” besides meaning their inmost being, also suggests the seat of their feelings and affections.