Tafseer of The Inevitable · Al-Waaqia · 56:18
With vessels, pitchers and a cup [of wine] from a flowing spring -
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.
And His word with goblets and ewers (56:18) — al-akwāb is the plural of kūb, and that belongs to the pitchers that have a wide opening and have no spout.
And in the manner of what we have said about that, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word with goblets, he said: al-akwāb are the jugs of silver.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, with goblets and ewers, he said: the ewers (abārīq) are those which have ears (handles), and the goblets (akwāb) are those which have no ears.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the goblets have no ears.
Yaʿqūb related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, he said: al-Ḥasan was asked about the goblets; he said: those are the jugs from which is poured out for them.
Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father say: Abū Ṣāliḥ, the companion of al-Kalbī, passed by; my father said: al-Ḥasan said to me, while I was sitting: ask him. I said: what are the goblets? He said: the silver jugs with round openings, and the ewers (abārīq) are those which have spouts.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, with goblets, he said: they have no handles and no ears.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word with goblets and ewers: and the goblets with which one scoops have no spouts, and they are smaller than the ewers.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word with goblets and ewers, he said: the goblets, which are smaller than the ewers, have no handles.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say: the goblets are jugs which have no handles, and in Nabataean they are called kūbā; and it was them that al-Aʿshā meant with his word:
A wine from Ṣarīfūn, pleasant of taste, with foam between goblet (kūb) and cask (dann).
And as for the ewers (abārīq): those are the ones which have handles.
And His word and a cup of flowing drink (56:18) — and a cup of wine from a flowing drink, from visible, flowing springs. And in the manner of what we have said about that, the people of interpretation have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word and a cup of flowing drink: he said: the wine.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word and a cup of flowing drink: that is to say: of flowing wine.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His word and a cup of flowing drink: the cup is the wine.
Abū Sinān related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word and a cup of flowing drink, he said: the flowing wine.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayṭ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, the same.
[Footnote: This evidentiary verse too is from al-Aʿshā of the Banū Qays ibn Thaʿlaba (his dīwān, Cairo edition, p. 17). Al-ṣarīfiyya: the wine ascribed to Ṣarīfūn, a well-known place in Iraq famed for the quality of its wine. It is said that he called it ṣarīfiyya because it was at that time taken from the cask, like fresh milk (ṣarīf). And it is said that it is ascribed to Ṣarīfīn, a river that branches off from the Euphrates. Al-ṣarīf is also the wine that has not been mixed with water. Al-kūb: the mug without an ear (handle). Al-dann: the cask of wine. Al-zabad: that which comes as foam on top of the wine when it is stirred in the cask, or poured from the ewer into the goblet.]
