What are ḥamīm and ghassāq, the only 'drink' given in Hell according to 78:24-25?
Answer
Verses 78:24–25 say the transgressors taste "neither coolness nor any drink — only scalding water (ḥamīm) and a dark, festering fluid (ghassāq)." The classical exegetes are consistent: ḥamīm is water heated to the extreme — boiling, scalding — which intensifies thirst rather than relieving it; ghassāq is explained by al-Ṭabarī and the early authorities as the foul discharge of the people of the Fire, and Ibn Kathīr notes it also carries the sense of a bitter, stinking cold, so the two extremes are combined. What would normally bring relief — cool, clean water to drink — is exactly what is withheld, and its opposite is given in its place. But the Qur'an does not leave us staring into that cup. Only a few verses later, the same passage turns to those who were mindful of their Lord, and pours for them what is withheld here: "gardens and vineyards… and a cup filled to the brim" (78:31–34), "a reward from your Lord, a generous gift" (78:36). The two drinks are placed side by side on purpose. The same God offers both, and the difference between them is not arbitrary — it is the difference between a life spent denying Him and a life spent turning to Him. This verse is not a spectacle to dwell on; it is a fork in the road, and the choosing is happening now, in this life, while the pure cup is still being offered.
Qur’anic evidence — read the full study of 78:25 →
In more depth
The grammar reinforces the contrast: 78:24 first denies bard — which the commentators gloss as any relief, even rest or sleep — before naming what is given instead. The Qur'an uses such stark imagery not to terrify for its own sake but to wake a sleeping heart: the same surah that withholds every comfort from the defiant overflows with comfort for the God-conscious a few lines later. Mercy is never far from the warning; it is usually in the very next breath.