As-Saffat · Makki · ayah 46 of 182

As-Saffat 37:46

بَيْضَآءَ لَذَّةٍ لِّلشَّـٰرِبِينَ

“White and delicious to the drinkers;”

Saheeh International

Essence

Three words describe the cup: shining white, delight itself, and a delight for anyone who drinks, with no bitter first taste to push through.

A reflection

A word the Quran keeps for the Garden

Pleasure is everywhere in human life. It is in food, rest, love, music, praise, a warm room on a cold night. Yet the Quran is remarkably sparing with the plain Arabic word for it.

The corpus data shows the root of ladhdha, delight, only three times in the whole Quran. Twice as the noun, once as a verb. Look at where.

Here, describing the cup of the Garden: ladhdhatin lil-shāribīn, a delight to those who drink. In 47:15, describing its rivers, in exactly the same three words: rivers of wine, ladhdhatin lil-shāribīn. And in 43:71, describing everything there: in it is whatever souls desire and whatever eyes delight in.

That is all. The word is never used of the pleasures of this world. When the Quran speaks of the enjoyment of this life, it chooses other words: matāʿ, provision for a while; zīna, adornment; lahw, distraction. It is honest about worldly enjoyment. It never pretends it is not real. But the word that means a good taste, the very opposite of pain, it reserves for the next life.

It is as if the Quran is saying something gently about our world. What you have here is real, but it is a sample, a loan, a decoration. The thing itself, delight with nothing else mixed in, is waiting.

The parallel in 47:15 sharpens the picture. There the Garden has four rivers. Water that never goes stale. Milk whose taste never turns. Wine that is delight to its drinkers. Honey that is purified. Each one is described by removing the flaw its earthly version has. Water stagnates; milk sours; wine is harsh on the throat; honey carries wax and debris.

This ayah belongs to that pattern. The cup of the Garden is defined by what the earthly cup always lacked. It is pure delight, and nothing but.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.