Tafseer of Man · Al-Insaan · 76:15
And there will be circulated among them vessels of silver and cups having been [created] clear [as glass],
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.
His saying: wa-yuṭāfu ʿalayhim bi-āniyatin min fiḍḍatin wa-akwābin kānat qawārīrā (and there is passed around among them vessels of silver and goblets that are of glass). The Exalted, magnified is His mention, says: and there is passed around among these righteous ones vessels, belonging to the vessels from which they drink their beverage; it is of silver that was (originally) glass, and He made it silver while it has the clarity of glass, so that it possesses the whiteness of silver and the clarity of glass.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes 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 saying: wa-yuṭāfu ʿalayhim bi-āniyatin min fiḍḍatin wa-akwābin kānat qawārīrā he says: vessels of silver, whose clarity and condition is like the clarity of glass.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Mujāhid: min fiḍḍatin he said: in it is the fineness of glass within the clarity of the silver.
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 on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: the clarity of glass, while it is of silver.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: wa-yuṭāfu ʿalayhim bi-āniyatin min fiḍḍatin that is: the clarity of glass within the whiteness of silver.
His saying: wa-akwābin (and ewers), he says: and along with the vessels there is passed around large jugs containing the beverage; and every large jug without a handle is a "kūb".
As 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: wa-akwābin he said: they have no handles.
And Ibn Ḥumayd has already related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān with this report with this isnād, on the authority of Mujāhid, and he said: al-akwāb are the drinking cups (al-aqdāḥ).
His saying: kānat qawārīrā he says: these vessels and these ewers were glass, and Allah changed them into silver. It is also said: it was only said "and there is passed around among them vessels of silver" in order to indicate thereby that the soil of Paradise is silver, for every vessel that is manufactured is only manufactured from the earth of the ground in which it is. Thus He, magnified is His praise, by His describing the vessels that are passed around among the people of Paradise as being of silver, made known — so that His servants would know that the soil of the ground of Paradise is silver.
The reciters (al-qurrāʾ) differed over the reading of His saying "qawārīr, salāsil". Most of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa, except Ḥamza, read it as: salāsila and qawārīrā with retention of the alif and the nunation (tanwīn); and so it also stands in their copies (maṣāḥif). Ḥamza dropped the alifs in all of this and pronounced no nunation over them. Abū ʿAmr retained the alif in the first of "qawārīr", but did not retain it in the second. All of this is, in our judgment, correct, except that what I have mentioned about Abū ʿAmr is the most pleasing to me of the two; for the first of "al-qawārīr" is a verse-ending, and its agreement with the rest of the verse-endings of the Surah pleases me more, since in most of them this occurs with retention of the alifs.
**
The Exalted, magnified is His mention, says: qawārīrā in clarity of clarity, of silver of silver, in whiteness (5).
As Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, saying: al-Ḥasan said concerning His saying: kānat qawārīrā * qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: the clarity of glass within the whiteness of silver.
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Kathīr related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His saying: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: the whiteness of silver within the clarity of glass.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Marwān ibn Muʿāwiya related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Khālid informed us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His saying: kānat qawārīrā * qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: their earth was of silver.
And His saying: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: the clarity of glass within the whiteness of silver.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sulaymān related to us, saying: Abū Hilāl related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: qawārīra * qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: if the people of falsehood (6) had need to manufacture a vessel of silver through which one could see what is inside it from its back, as one sees what is in glass, they would not be able to do so.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: it is of silver, and its clarity is the clarity of glass within the whiteness of silver.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin he said: in the clarity of glass and the whiteness of silver.
His saying: qaddarūhā taqdīran (they have measured them precisely), he says: they measured these vessels that are passed around among them according to the measure of their slaking of thirst, neither more nor less than that.
And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His saying: qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: they are measured according to the slaking of the people.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd, concerning His saying: qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: the measure of their slaking.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUmar ibn ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: qawārīra min fiḍḍatin qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: they do not diminish and they do not overflow.
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 on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: they are not filled to overflowing so that they are spilled, and they do not diminish their water so that it decreases; thus they are full.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: qaddarūhā taqdīran according to their slaking.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: qaddarūhā taqdīran they are measured according to the slaking of the people.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: min fiḍḍatin qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: they measured them according to their slaking, according to the measure of the drinking of the people of Paradise.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: full, not spilled and not incomplete.
Others said: rather, the meaning of this is: they measured them according to the measure of the palm of the hand.
* 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 us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: qaddarūhā taqdīran he said: they are measured according to the palm of the hand.
The reciters differed over the reading of His saying qaddarūhā taqdīran . Most of the reciters of the cities read it as qaddarū-hā with fatḥa on the qāf, with the meaning: the cupbearers who go around among them with it measured them out for them. From al-Shaʿbī and others of the early scholars it is related that they read it with ḍamma on the qāf, with the meaning: they were measured out for them (quddirat ʿalayhim), so that there is no increase and no decrease in them.
And the reading other than which I do not permit myself to read is the fatḥa on the qāf, on account of the agreement of the proof of the reciters concerning it.
