“A spring from which the servants of Allah will drink, causing it to flow abundantly. (6) They fulfil their vows and fear a Day whose evil will be widespread. (7) And they give food, despite their love for it, to the needy, the orphan, and the captive. (8)”
“Indeed, the righteous” means the believers who are sincere in their faith and obedient to their Lord. Their singular form (1) is bārr, just as shahīd (witness) has the plural ashhād (witnesses), and nāsir (helper) has the plural ansār (helpers). Barr is also used, following the pattern of nahr (river) and anhār (rivers). “They will drink,” in the Hereafter, “from a cup” containing (2) a beverage “whose mixture is camphor.”
Qatadah said: “It will be mixed for them with camphor and sealed with musk.” Ikrimah said: “Its mixture” means its taste. The scholars of meaning said: What is intended is that it will resemble camphor in its whiteness, pleasant fragrance, and coolness, for camphor itself is not drunk. This is like His saying, “until, when he made it a fire” (al-Kahf 18:96), meaning, like a fire. This is the meaning of the statement of Qatadah (3) and Mujahid: the fragrance of camphor mingles with it. Ibn Kaysan said: “It has been perfumed with camphor, musk, and ginger.” Ata and al-Kalbi said: Camphor is the name of a spring in Paradise.
“A spring” is in the accusative as dependent upon “camphor.” It was also said that it is (4) an accusative of praise. Another interpretation is: “I mean, a spring.” Al-Zajjaj said: The best interpretation is that the meaning is, “from a spring from which the servants of Allah drink.” It is also said: “They drink it” (5), with the preposition serving merely as a grammatical supplement; and it was said that “from it” is the meaning of “by it.” “The servants of Allah”: Ibn Abbas said, “the close allies of Allah.” “Causing it to flow abundantly”: that is, they direct it wherever they wish from their dwellings and palaces, like one who has a river and channels it here and there to wherever he wishes.
“They fulfil their vows”: this is among their qualities in this world; that is, they used to be like this in the world. Qatadah said: What is meant is that they fulfil what Allah has made obligatory upon them of prayer, zakah, fasting, the pilgrimage, and the lesser pilgrimage,