Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:17
There will circulate among them young boys made eternal
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His saying, the Exalted: يَطُوفُ عَلَيْهِمْ وِلْدَانٌ مُخَلَّدُونَ ("There circulate among them immortal youths") (17)
And His saying: يَطُوفُ عَلَيْهِمْ وِلْدَانٌ مُخَلَّدُونَ ("There circulate among them immortal youths"). The Exalted, whose praise is sublime, says: among these, the Foremost ones whom Allah has brought near in the gardens of bliss, youths circulate, all of one and the same age, who do not change and do not die.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both of them — on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: مُخَلَّدُونَ ("immortal"), he said: they do not die.
And others said: what is meant by this is that they are adorned with earrings and bracelets.
What is most correct concerning this is the statement of the one who says that the meaning is: that they do not change and do not die, for that is the clearer of the two meanings. The Arabs say of a man when he grows old without going grey: "he is indeed mukhallad (made enduring)"; and it is a mafʿal-form derived from al-khuld (eternity, permanence).
