Hadith 5425

(1) His statement: “In Paradise, there is a sea of water, etc.”: Al-Tayyibi said: By “sea,” he means something like the Tigris or Euphrates, and by “river,” something like the Mu’qil River, branching from one of them, then into streams. The apparent meaning is that the mentioned seas are the sources of the rivers described in the Qur’an, as Allah says: “In it are rivers of water unspoiled, rivers of milk whose taste does not change, rivers of wine delightful to those who drink it, and rivers of purified honey” [Muhammad: 15]. His statement: “branch out” omits one of the tas, meaning the rivers split into streams after the rivers are established, flowing through the gardens of the righteous and beneath the palaces of the virtuous. It can be said that the rivers are the rivers themselves, called so because they flow, unlike the seas of this world, which are mostly stationary. (As stated in Al-Mirqat)