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yatajarraʿuhū wa-lā yakādu yusīghuhū wa-yaʾtīhi l-mawtu min kulli makānin wa-mā huwa bi-mayyitin wa-min warāʾihī ʿadhābun ghalīẓun
gulping it down, but hardly swallowing it: death will assail him from every side, but he will not die, and there is [yet] a harsh punishment ahead of him.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah ‘Ibrahim – Verse 17
17. “He will drink it little by little which he can hardly swallow agreeably, and death will come to him from every side, while he will not be about to die, and there will be a vehement chastisement before him.”
The punishment of the hell-dwelling people is depicted well in the profile in this verse. A- The chastisement of such people is bit by bit, little by little and gradual so as to be tortured to the utmost. The verse says:
“He will drink it little by little which he can hardly swallow agreeably…”
B- The different kinds of punishments take the dwellers of Hell as to the brink of their death-beds, though they will not die despite all these. The verse continues saying:
“…and death will come to him from every side, while he will not be about to die…”
C- The chastisements are followed by graver consequences, which will be ever increasing as well. The verse says:
“…and there will be a vehement chastisement before him.”
The Qur’an contains several qualities for the chastisement of the Hereafter Day: ‘painful, ‘severe’, ‘great’, ‘vehement’ all of which mean and make allusions to the intensity and the magnitude of the type of chastisement. The Arabic word /’is aqah/ denotes drinking water with one’s own will. The sentence mentioned in the verse signifies that one will never drink that water willingly. 9 The blissful Prophet (S) remarked:
“Whoever drinks wine, his prayers will not be answered for forty days and it is appropriate for him that Allah makes him drink the stinking and infectious water of Hell.”
The Arabic term /sadid/ means the festering fluid which comes out of a wound. And /tajarru‘/: signifies sipping gradually and continuously. The Arabic term /’is aqah/ means making the drink flow through one’s throat, and /’ištid ad/ means acceleration with all of one’s power. The Qur’anic word /‘ asif/ means a strong wind which blows during day-time, or it may mean the day in which blows a strong wind.
Footnotes