'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, the Exalted and Majestic: "Those are for them a known provision." "Fruits, and they are honored." "In the Gardens of Delight." "On thrones facing one another." "Circulated among them is a cup from a flowing spring." "White, delicious to the drinkers." "No in it is any intoxication, nor will they be made to drink thereof." "And with them are [pure] companions, restrained in [their] glances." "As if they were [delicate] eggs, well protected." The phrase "Those are" refers to the sincere servants. His saying: "known" means: with them. Their eyes have settled with the knowledge of what provision will flow to them, and that their desires will come to them at the right time. Otherwise, if that were only known to Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, then the people of Paradise would not have been specified with anything. His saying: "and they are honored" is a complete and profound addition to the blessing; because there are those who are provided for but not honored, and that is the greatest humiliation. The word "thrones" is the plural of "throne." Abu al-Sammal read it with a fatḥah on the first letter. In this facing, there is a narration reported from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that they are in the Gardens, and curtains are lifted from them so that some of them can see each other. And certainly, at times they are free to choose in their palaces. The phrase "circulated" means: the boys circulate, as explained by another verse. The "cup" was said by al-Zajjaj, al-Tabari, and others to be the vessel in which there is wine or something that flows like it from drinks and the like. It is not called a cup unless it contains this mentioned drink. Al-Dahhak said: Every cup in the Qur'an is wine. Some people went to say that the cup is a specific vessel among vessels, and it is anything that has a wide mouth and does not have a handle, and it does not matter whether it contains wine or not. His saying: "from a flowing spring" means: from a continuously flowing source. The letter mīm in "ma'īn" is original; because it is from the flowing water. It is possible that it is from the eye, so the mīm would be additional, meaning: from what is designated by the eye, not concealed or in a safe place. The wine of this world is merely pressed and stored, while the wine of the Hereafter flows as rivers. His saying, glorified and exalted is He: "No in it" may refer back to the cup or to the wine, which is more apparent. Al-Hasan ibn Abi al-Hasan said: The wine of Paradise is whiter than milk. In the reading of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: [yellow]. This is described for the wine alone. And "delicious to the drinkers" means: having delight, so it is described by the source broadly. This has been used until it was said: "delight" means: delightful. And from this is the saying of the poet: (p-283) 'By your words of delight, if the lions of the wilderness were spoken to, they would come swiftly.' And His saying: "No in it is any intoxication" does not negate the "no"; because the circumstance prevented it from acting upon what it should act upon. The "intoxication" is a general name for harm. You say: He harmed him thus if he harmed him in secrecy, and from it is "al-ghīlah" in killing. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said regarding nursing: "I had intended to prohibit al-ghīlah." And from the wording is the saying of the poet: 'Our predecessors lived in ease with their lives, all together, and the ghūl harmed me in Mecca.'

That is: obstacles have hindered me. This is one meaning of 'al-ghawl'. Among them is the saying of the Arabs in a proverb: 'He has no work, what has hindered him?' This is said about a man who does not respond to a matter except that he is enriched in it, or a man who is called to perform what he has done. Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and Ibn Zayd said: 'Al-ghawl' is pain in the belly. Ibn Abbas also said, and Qatadah: It is a headache.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The name is more general than all of this. It negates from the wine of Paradise all types of harm, as it is present in the wine of this world. Sa'id ibn Jubair inclined towards this generality, and from him is the saying of the poet:

And the wine continues to deceive us, And takes away the first of the first.

That is: it harms us by the loss of reason.

Ibn Kathir, Nafi', Abu Amr, and Ibn Amir read: 'yunzafun' with a فتح (opening) of the zay. Likewise in 'al-Waqi'a', from your saying: 'nazafa al-rajul' when he became drunk, and 'nazafat-hu al-khamr', and 'al-nazif': the drunkard. From this is the saying of the poet:

So I kissed her mouth, taking hold of her horns, Drinking the intoxication with the cold water of the Husharj.

And by the loss of reason, Ibn Abbas and Qatadah interpreted 'yunzafun'. Hamzah and al-Kisai read with a كسر (breaking) of the zay, and likewise in 'al-Waqi'a', from: 'anzafa' with two meanings: one of them is he became drunk, and from this is the saying of al-Ubayrid al-Riyahi:

By my life, if you became intoxicated or became sober, Then wretched are the regretful ones, you the family of Abjara.

The second: his drink has become distant. It is said: 'anzafa al-rajul' when his drink is complete. All of this is negated for the people of Paradise. Al-Asim read here with a فتح (opening) of the zay, and in 'al-Waqi'a' with a كسر (breaking) of the zay. Ibn Abu Ishaq read with a فتح (opening) of the ya and a كسر (breaking) of the zay.

His saying, the Exalted: 'Qasirat al-Tarf', Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ibn Zayd, and Qatadah said: Its meaning is: about their husbands, that they do not look at others, and the gaze of one of them does not extend to a foreign man. This is the restriction of the gaze. 'Ayn': the plural of 'Ayna', which is the large-eyed one in beauty.

As for His saying, the Exalted: 'Like they are concealed eggs', the people differed, what is it? Al-Suddi and Ibn Jubair said: He likened their colors to the color of the inner eggshell, which is the white, and it is the concealed, meaning: preserved in a shell. Al-Tabari favored this, saying: As for the outer eggshell, it is not concealed. The majority said: He likened their colors to the color of the ostrich eggshell, which is white mixed with a beautiful yellow. They said: And the egg itself is mostly the concealed with the feathers, and whenever it is in a state that it is not concealed, it is not compared to it. This is the saying of al-Hasan and Ibn Zayd, and from this is the saying of Imru al-Qais:

Like the white of the muqana' with yellow, Nourished by the flowing water, not dissolved.

And this meaning is abundant in the poetry of the Arabs. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said - as narrated by al-Tabari -: The concealed white refers to the preserved jewel.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is not correct to me from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him; because the wording from the verse contradicts it. And a group said: Indeed, He, the Exalted, compared them to the hidden egg as a general comparison, the entirety of the woman to the entirety of the egg. And by that, He meant the harmony of the parts of the woman, and that each part of hers has its proportion in quality to its kind, just as the other parts have their proportion to their kind. So, the proportion of her hair to her eye is equal since they are both the utmost in their kind. And the egg has the most harmony of parts; because from whichever angle you approach it, the view of it is the same.