Al-Insan (The Human Being): (18) A spring therein called Salsabil.

Ibn al-A'rabi stated that he had never heard the word Salsabil except in the Qur'an.

• Based on this view, it has no known derivation.
• The majority, however, hold that the words salis (smooth/sweet), silsal (very smooth), and Salsabil all mean a drink that is sweet and easy to swallow. The letter bā’ was added to the root structure, making the word five letters long, indicating the utmost smoothness.
• Al-Zajjaj said that Salsabil in the language is an adjective for something that possesses extreme smoothness.
• The benefit of mentioning Salsabil is that this drink possesses the flavor of ginger but lacks its sharpness, as the opposite of sharpness (ladh') is smoothness (salāsah).
• It is attributed to Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) that its meaning is: "Ask a path to it" (sal sabīlan ilayhā). This interpretation is considered distant, unless it is intended that the entire phrase "Salsabil" became a proper noun for the spring, similar to how "Ta'abbata Sharran" became a name. It was named this because no one drinks from it except those who seek a path to it through righteous deeds.

There are two possibilities regarding the accusative case (naṣb) of the word Aynan (spring):

1. It is an apposition (substitute, badal) for Zanjabīl (ginger).
2. It is in the accusative case due to the grammatical rule of specification (ikhtiṣāṣ).

Salsabil is treated as a diptote (not inflected for the genitive case, ṣarf) because it is the end of a verse, similar to how al-Ẓunūnā and al-Sabīlā were treated. The explanation for this has already been provided earlier in this Sura.

Know that the Almighty then mentioned those who will serve in those gatherings:

! 7 < { And there will circulate among them young boys, forever young. When you see them, you would think them scattered pearls. } > 7

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