And water that is poured forth

وَمَاءٍ مَّسْكُوبٍ

“And water (that is) poured”.

Core image

The phrase presents water in a state of ongoing pouring and flowing, highlighting abundance, ease, and uninterrupted refreshment.

Linguistic focus

مَسْكُوب comes from سَكَبَ: to pour. The meaning centers on movement, outflow, and water made readily available.

Contextual insight

The ayah speaks against the desert reality of the Arabs: scarce rivers, difficult access, and water reached by bucket and rope—then presents the opposite in Jannah.

Language Point

The root idea of مَسْكُوب

The word مَسْكُوب is tied directly to the verb سَكَبَ, meaning “to pour.” This root unfolds through concrete examples of liquid moving outward and downward.

سَكَبَ المَاء

“He poured the water.” The root’s central image is simple and vivid: water being poured out.

سَبَكَتِ العَيْنُ الدَّمْعَ

“The eye poured out tears.” The same sense of outflow extends even to tears being shed.

The linguistic field here is not static water, but water in motion.
The emphasis falls on pouring, flowing, and release rather than effortful extraction.
This makes the ayah’s image one of accessible and ongoing provision.

Lexical Expansions

Related expressions built around flow

سَكْب / أُسْكُوب

Water that flows on the earth without digging. These forms point to naturally available, flowing water.

السَّكْبَة

The upper slope of land from which water flows down to irrigate the lower parts of the terrain. The image is one of descent and spread.

الإِسْكَابَة

The small wooden cork placed in the mouth of an oil-jar, water skin, or vessel to stop leakage. Its relevance lies in regulating the flow and pour of liquid.

Tafsir Insight

Al-Qurtubi’s explanation: continuous, uncut flow

وَمَاءٍ مَّسْكُوبٍ means water that flows continuously without being cut off. Its root is pouring: water poured forth, flowing day and night, without dug channels, never cut off from them.

Continuous

The description is not momentary. It points to water that keeps running.

Uninterrupted

It is not cut off.

Without dug channels

The water is not dependent on carved pathways to reach it.

Human Context

The desert backdrop behind the promise

The imagery is grounded in the lived reality of the Arabs: a people of desert lands and hot regions where rivers were scarce.

Rivers in their regions were few.
Water was not simply present in abundant flowing form.
Reaching water often required a bucket and rope.

Scarcity

The setting is one of limited rivers and a harsh, hot environment.

Effort

Water access involved labor and means—specifically a bucket and rope.

Contrast

The opposite of hardship is what is promised

Because they knew scarcity and difficult access, they were promised the opposite of that in Jannah: water poured forth, flowing continuously, and never cut off.

The force of the image lies in contrast: not effortful drawing, but ready flow; not scarcity, but abundance; not interruption, but continuity.

Not extracted with strain

The contrast is between bucket-and-rope access and effortless availability.

Not limited

The water is uncut and continuously flowing day and night.

Educational Synthesis

What this ayah teaches

The wording centers on water as something actively poured and flowing.
The surrounding language examples deepen the same idea through tears, terrain, and vessel control.
Al-Qurtubi emphasizes perpetual flow: day and night, without cessation.

The ayah’s emotional force comes from the desert audience’s real struggle with water access.
The promise is presented as the complete reversal of scarcity and effort.
Every detail remains tied to pouring, flow, continuity, and contrast.