Tafsir of Al-Waqi'ah 56:55

Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, Ikrimah, and al-Dahhak said: It is the plural of ahyam, which refers to the camel afflicted with al-huyām (with a damma on the ha’). This is a disease resembling dropsy that afflicts camels, causing them to drink until they die or become severely ill. It is said: ibil hayma (thirsty camels) and naqatun hayma (a thirsty female camel), just as it is said: jamalun ahyam (a thirsty male camel). The poet said: "Then she became like the hayma (thirsty one), water does not quench her thirst, nor does her thirst depart from her."

Some have interpreted al-hīm here as al-hayma’. It is also said that it is the plural of hā’im or hā’imah; however, the pluralization of the fā’il pattern to the fu’al pattern (like bāzil to buzul) is anomalous (shādh).

It is also narrated from Ibn Abbas and Sufyan that al-hīm refers to sandy land that does not quench thirst due to its porosity. Its singular is huyām (with a fatha on the ha’), according to the well-known opinion, like sahāb (clouds) and suhub (plurals). Then it was lightened, and underwent the same process as the plural of abyad (white), wherein the damma was changed to a kasra so that the ya’ could be preserved and the pronunciation lightened; thus, the ha’ was kasra-vocalized for the sake of the ya’, which is a consistent analogy in its category. Tha’lab said: It is with a damma (like qurāda and qurd), then it was lightened and underwent the process previously mentioned.

Regarding the conjunction with fā’: It is said that it is because the excessiveness follows the original state. It is also said that each of the conjoined clauses is more specific than the other; for the drinker of hamīm (boiling water) may not necessarily be afflicted with the disease of huyām, and one who is afflicted with the disease of huyām may drink something other than hamīm. The drinking that does not result in quenching is a consequence of drinking the hamīm, for it does not moisten the parched throat.

What the Mufti of the Roman lands chose is that this is like an explanation for what precedes it; meaning: Your drinking will not be ordinary drinking, but rather like the drinking of the Hīm (with a damma), which is an infinitive (masdar), though it is also said to be the name of what is drunk.

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah exalt him and grant him peace)—as narrated by a group, among them al-Hakim, who authenticated it from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both)—recited sharaban with a fatha on the shin; this is the infinitive (masdar) of shariba, which is the standard form. A group of the seven reciters, as well as al-A’raj, Ibn al-Musayyib, Shu’ayb, Malik ibn Dinar, and Ibn Jurayj, recited it this way. Mujahid and Abu Uthman al-Nahdi recited it with a kasra on the shin, making it a noun meaning "the beverage" rather than an infinitive, similar to tihn (milled grain) and ra’y (pasture).