from it, nor will they become intoxicated” [The Inevitable: 17, 19]. “They will be given pure wine to drink”—that is, a pure drink containing no admixture, causing no harm to the mind and no pain in the head. This is unlike the wine of this world, which robs one of reason and causes headaches. This, however, is pure wine containing no harm whatsoever. “Sealed, whose seal is musk”—that is, its remainder and finish is musk, meaning that it has a pleasant fragrance, unlike the wine of this world, which has a foul odor.
Because these righteous people restrained themselves in this world from the pleasures Allah had forbidden them, they will be granted those pleasures on the Day of Resurrection. “So for this let the competitors compete”—that is, let those who compete vie with one another for this reward and recompense in a race so intense that it leaves them out of breath—a figure of speech expressing the speed of their racing. One says, “I competed with him,” meaning: I raced him in a race that left me breathless. Competition in goodness means racing toward obedience to Allah, Glorious and Exalted, and toward what pleases Him, while remaining far from everything that incurs His wrath.
Then He, Glorious and Exalted, says: “Its mixture is from Tasnīm, a spring by which those brought near drink.” That is, the drink given to these righteous people is mixed “from Tasnīm”—a spring exalted both in rank and in physical location. This is because the rivers of Paradise spring forth from Firdaws, and Firdaws is the highest and central part of Paradise, above which is the Throne of the Lord, Glorious and Exalted, as authentically reported from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him (1).
Thus, this drink is mixed with that exquisite water which comes from Tasnīm—that is, from the raised and lofty place, namely the Garden of Everlasting Residence. “A spring by which those brought near drink”—that is, those brought near drink by means of this spring, its bubbling waters, and its flowing rivers.
Here someone may ask: Why did He say, “drink by means of it”? Is it a vessel that can be carried, such that one may say, “He drank with the vessel”?