Letting the Days Go By, Water Flowing Underground
- philhoraia
- Nov 17, 2023
- 8 min read
The title is a line from a Talking Heads song. In this hadith we shall be looking at verses that speak of rivers running underground.
S 2:25 And give good news to those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds that theirs are jannat, rivers running beneath them. Every time they have been provided with therefrom from fruit as a provision they have said: This is the one we were provided with before. And they have been given similar to it. And theirs therein are purified husbands and they abide therein indefinitely.
S 2:266 Would any of you like to have a jannah of palm trees and grapes, rivers running beneath it, having therein of all fruits, and old age has struck him and he has offspring that are weak then a storm in which is fire has struck it then was on fire? Thus Allah clarifies the verses for you; perhaps you will ponder.
S 3:15 Say: Shall I inform you of better than that? For those who have feared, with their lord are jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding indefinitely therein, and purified husbands and pleasure from Allah. And Allah is a seer of the slaves.
S 3:136 Those, their recompense is forgiveness from their lord and jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. And excellent was the workers’ wage.
S 3:195 Then their lord responded to them: I do not waste a deed of a worker among you, of male or female, one another’s. So those who emigrated and were expelled from their homes and were harmed in my way and fought and were killed, I will atone for them their evil deeds and admit them to jannat, rivers running beneath them. A reward from Allah. And Allah, with him is the best reward.
S 3:198 But those who have feared their lord, theirs are jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely, a lodging from Allah. And what is with Allah is best for the righteous.
S 4:13 Those are Allah’s hudud and he who obeys Allah and his messenger, he admits him to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. And that is the great success.
Who admits them? Allah? The messenger?
S 4:57 And those who have believed and have done good deeds, we shall admit them to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. Theirs therein are purified husbands and we admit them to shady shade.
S 4:122 And those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds, we shall admit them to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. A promise of Allah in truth and who is truer than Allah in that spoken?
S 5:12 And Allah took a covenant of the Banu Isra’il and we raised among them 12 captains. And Allah said: I am with you if you establish salat and give the zakat and believe in my messengers and honour them and give Allah a good loan. I will atone for your evil deeds and admit you to jannat, rivers running beneath them. But he who has disbelieved after that among you, he has strayed from the evenness of the way.
S 5:85 So Allah has remunerated them for what they have said with jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding indefinitely therein. And that is the recompense of the good-doers.
S 5:119 Allah said: This is a day their truthfulness benefits the truthful. Theirs are jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. Allah was pleased with them and they were pleased with him. That is the great success.
"Allah said"? It would seem unlikely that these are the supposed words of Isa introducing a supposed quotation. The author blundered.
S 6:6 Have they not seen how many of a century we destroyed before them? We firmly established them on the Earth what we had not firmly established for you. And we sent the sky upon them, an outflowing. And we made the rivers, running beneath them. Then we destroyed them for their sins and we constructed a century, others, after them.
S 7:43 And we pulled out what is in their chests of malignity. Rivers run beneath them. And they said: Praise be to Lah who has guided us to this and we were not to be guided if Allah had not guided us. Our lord’s messengers came with the truth. And they were called: That is the Jannah, you have been caused to inherit it for what you used to do.
S 9:72 Allah has promised the believing men and the believing women jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely, and good domiciles in jannat of ‘Adn. And pleasure from Allah is bigger. That--it is the great win.
S 9:89 Allah has prepared for them jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. That is the great win.
S 9:100 And the first preceding of the emigrants and the Ansar and those who followed them in doing well, Allah was pleased with them and they were pleased with him. And he has prepared for them jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. That is the great win.
S 10:9 Those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds, their lord guides them by their faith. Rivers run beneath them in the jannat of bliss.
S 13:35 The similitude of the Jannah which the fearers have been promised, rivers run beneath it. Its food is lasting and its shade. That is the result of those who have feared and the result of the kafirun is the fire.
'The' Jannah's food and shade are lasting? Will they come to an end?
S 14:23 And those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds have been admitted to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely with their lord’s permission. Their greeting therein is Peace.
S 16:31 Jannat of ‘Adn which they enter, rivers running beneath them. Theirs therein is what they will. Thus does Allah recompense the fearers.
S 18:31 Those, theirs are Jannat of ‘Adn, rivers running beneath them. They are adorned therein with bracelets of gold and wear green garments of sundus and istabraq, reclining therein on the couches. Excellent was the reward and good as a support.
S 20:76 Jannat of ‘Adn, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. And that is the recompense of him who has purified himself.
S 22:14 Allah admits those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds to jannat, rivers running beneath them. Allah does what he wants.
S 22:23 Allah admits those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds to jannat, rivers running beneath them. They are adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls and their garment therein is silk.
S 25:10 Blessed be the one who, if he had willed, might have made for you better than that--jannat, rivers running beneath them, and make you castles.
S 29:58 And those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds, we will house them from the Jannah, rooms, rivers running beneath them, abiding indefinitely therein. Excellent was the wage of the workers,
S 39:20 But those who have feared their lord, theirs are rooms, above them built rooms, rivers running beneath them. Allah’s promise. Allah does not lag behind the appointment.
S 43:51 And Fir’awn called among his people. He said: People, is the dominion of Egypt not mine and these rivers running beneath me? So do you not see?
S 47:12 Allah admits those who have believed and have done good deeds to jannat, rivers running beneath them. And those who have disbelieved enjoy and eat as cattle eat and the fire is a shelter for them.
S 48:5 That he may admit the believing men and the believing women to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely, and atone for them their evil deeds, and that was with Allah a great win.
S 48:17 There is no difficulty upon the blind man nor difficulty upon the lame nor difficulty upon the sick. And he who obeys Allah and his messenger, he admits him to jannat, rivers running beneath them. But he who turns away, he tortures him with painful torture.
Who admits to jannahs? Who tortures him?
S 57:12 A day you see the believing men and women chasing, their light in front of them and in their right hands. Your good news today, jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. That is the great win.
S 58:22 You do not find a people believing in Allah and the last day having affection for those who have opposed Allah and his messenger even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their clan. Those--he has written faith in their hearts and supported them with spirit from him. And he admits them to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein indefinitely. Allah was pleased with them and they were pleased with him. Those are Allah’s party. Indeed, Allah’s party are the successful.
S 61:12 He forgives you your sins and admits you to jannat, rivers running beneath them, and good housing in Jannat of ‘Adn. That is the great win.
S 64:9 A day he gathers you for the day of gathering, that is the day of taghabun. And he who believes in Allah and does a righteous deed he atones for him his evil deeds and admits him to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. That is the great win.
S 65:11 A messenger reading to you Allah’s clarifying verses that he may bring out those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds out of the darknesses into the light. And he who believes in Allah and does a righteous deed, he admits him to jannat, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. Allah has done good for him in provision.
S 66:8 Those who have believed, repent to Allah in sincere repentance. Perhaps your lord will atone for you your evil deeds and admit you to jannat, rivers running beneath them, on a day Allah does not disgrace the prophet and those who have believed with him. Their light strives between their hands and in their right hands. They say: Our lord, perfect our light for us and forgive us. You are almighty.
S 85:11 Those who have believed and have done the righteous deeds, theirs are jannat, rivers running beneath them. That is the big win.
S 98:8 Their wage is with their lord--jannat of ‘Adn, rivers running beneath them, abiding therein forever. Allah was pleased with them and they were pleased with him. That is for him who has feared his lord.
There are no real rivers in what is now Saudi Arabia, just a few wadis that are either permanently or intermittently dry. The author had evidently heard of rivers but did he imagine that they were mostly an underground thing?
Not related to the topic but an additional thought: In the Bible, Moses is placed in the River Nile. In S 28:7 he is to be thrown (!) into the sea.
S 28:7 And we inspired Musa’s mother: Suckle him but when you have feared for him throw him into the sea and do not fear or grieve. We are returning him to you and making him of the commissaries.
Is this sea the Red Sea and the author imagined that Moses had been thrown into it?
Definition for yamm:
Noun
open sea synonym ▲Synonym: بَحْر (baḥr)
In Syriac the Red Sea is ܝܡܐܕܣܘܦ Yammadsuph. If the author had been reading or listening to something translated after a fashion from Syriac, might he have been influenced by a Syriac word, as he evidently had been regarding the word tur? The Arabic word is probably ultimately derived from Syriac.
Further reading:
The rivers (two) beneath Jannah (the garden) refers to the water system of Mecca AKA Petra, Jordan. This is confirmed by Pharaoh boasts about the riverS. He rules Petra and was hated by Mo.