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IT has traditionally been believed that good men who go to paradise will be rewarded with the beautiful women of paradise known as houris. Women throughout the centuries never thought of asking, ‘what about us?’
But in this century of women, this question keeps coming up, even in the most conservative of circles. In several places in the Quran, where the blissful condition of the dwellers of paradise is described, mention is also made of houris. In Surah Al-Dukhan it is said, “We will pair them with large-eyed companions (44: 54).” In Surah Al-Tur, it is said, “They will be resting against pillows on couches arranged in rows. We will pair them up with beautiful companions with big, beautiful eyes (52:20).”
In Surah Al-Rehman, the Quran says, “The houris will be protected in tents, whom neither humans nor jinns have touched before (55: 72).”
According to Surah Al-Waqia among the blessings of paradise will be “…houris with beautiful eyes like hidden pearls” (56: 22).
In the same surah, the Quran goes on to describe the conditions for the righteous in paradise: “With companions most refined; Whom We have created in the best of form; We made them virgin; loving, well-matched; For those on the right” (56: 34-38). Even though the word ‘virgin’ is most frequently applied to women, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, it is applicable to both males and females.
In An Arabic-English Lexicon, Lane gives the definition of ‘hur’ or ‘hurun’, which is the plural form of haura, and can be both masculine as well as feminine. ‘Hawar’ means, “the intense whiteness of the white of the eye and intense blackness of the black of the eye, with intense whiteness or fairness of the rest of the person”. ‘Ahwariyyun’ means “a man, white or fair of the towns or villages”. The word ‘hawariyyun’ means, “those who whiten clothes etc. by washing and beating them”. Or, “one who is freed and cleared from every vice, fault or defect”, or, “a thing that is pure and unsullied”.
According to Maulana Umar Ahmed Usmani, it is a misconception that hurun means the females of paradise who will be reserved for good men. He says that ‘hur’ or ‘hurun’ is the plural of both ‘ahwaro’, which is the masculine form as well as ‘haurao’, which is feminine. It means both pure males and pure females. He says that basically the word ‘hurun’ means white.
‘Alhawarriyat’ means the women of the towns and cities who are comparatively fairer. The word ‘al-hawariyyun’ has also been used in the Quran to refer to the disciples of Jesus, who used to wash clothes white. By whiteness here is also meant the purity of their personalities or souls.
Another word in the Quran, which has been widely misinterpreted, especially in Urdu translations and commentaries, is ‘zauj’, whose plural is ‘azwaj’. In Arabic this word means “a pair” or “one of a pair”, or “a spouse” (36:36). In Urdu, this word has come to refer to wives only. Sometimes it can also mean “various kinds”, or “variety”. Since ‘zauj’ is also used to refer to the female partner, the wives of the Prophet (PBUH) are referred to as ‘Azwaj-i-Mutaharrat’, or pure companions.
In the Quran when mention is made of those who will go to paradise, it is stated, ‘Wa lahum fiha azwajum mutaharratun’ (2:25).
‘Hum’ is a masculine preposition, but this is used as a common gender and is the manner of address adopted throughout the Quran. It actually means, “And for them will be pure companions”. Pick up any Urdu translation of the Quran and you find something like, “And for them will be pure wives”, and sometimes, “pure women”, assuming that only men will go to paradise and be rewarded with pure and beautiful wives or women.
There is also the belief that good wives here will be transformed into the women of paradise for the benefit of good men. In the case of ‘zauj’, the word itself belongs to the group of words which come under the heading of ‘ghair zawil uqool’, meaning “those without intelligence”. For the plural of this group, the grammatical female form is used.
There are numerous examples in history and the Quran of women who will go to paradise. One example is that of Hazrat Aasiya, the wife of Pharaoh. She was an extremely pious woman and did not support her husband in his cruelty, false pride and shirk. When it became clear to him that she was a staunch believer in one God and would never accept him as her god, he punished and tortured her.
At this she prayed, “O my Lord, make for me a house near You in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the people who are unjust” (66: 11). At this God showed her her heavenly abode and she became blissful. One wonders what the reward for Bibi Aasiya would be: would she be turned into a houri for some man’s pleasure, or would she be rewarded with pure companions, just like the male dwellers of paradise?
Since loneliness is a blight and no one likes to be alone for a long period, those who are successful will be provided with companions for their eternal life in paradise. Thus houris and azwaj in the Quran refer to the pure, chaste and beautiful companions that both good men, as well as good women, will be rewarded with, without discrimination.
nilofar.ahmed58@gmail.com
i wonder why this interpretation by Nilofar was not made by all the Imams,islamic scholars and researchers since the advent of Islam? Its certainly an invention of a new idea by the writer by juggling the Arabic vocabulary.
1. This concept of men being rewarded with 70 virgins in Heaven is like the word “jihad” very wrongly interpreted. God is beyond “offering bribe” to men to do good. The problem is that only a handful of people truly understand the classical Arabic, and it is difficult to translate those terms in English. The entire Quran is in an allegorical form. The Quran speaks to humans in a language that only that particular individual wants to understand. There is no “heaven with 70 virgins” as rewards for men. This concept mis-translated and exploited by Western Media has not only become a joke, it seeks to demean Allah to being a “sexist”. In the Eyes of God all human beings are created equal with of course certain biological differences between men and women. Otherwise women are equal in intellectual, moral, sometimes physical, emotional and spiritual way with men; some women even excel men. Paradise is within everyone’s reach. It is time men learn to be “men” and treat others including “women” in a more respectful manner. The ridicule being cast here in western world is why men are to be rewarded with “70 virgins” in heaven? Why cannot women interpret and purport a claim that they should equally be rewarded with “70 desirable untouched clean studs”? It is time the ignorant “masters of the Quran” stop twisting the meaning without proper context or playing with Quranic words and injunctions and use it to justify men’s dominance over women. Let’s stop being ignorant, and concentrate on finer things and blessings of Allah.
There are a lot ahadees on the topic of hur,,
there are three ways to get the correct knowledge..
1 Quran
2, Ahadees
3, Ashaab (RZ)
So the topic article is not clear neither eliable…
I mean it's clearly meant to be allegorical. Why can't we leave it at that?
Good research but question is why are we ( Muslims ) so obsessed with "Houris".
It's against the nature of a woman to desire multiple men. Does any husband want to share her wife with other men in this world? Allah has created men and women differently.
Aasiya (RA) will be married to the best of creations Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
If we start translating the Quran according to the dictionaries then it will lead us all astray. For e.g. the mean of "Salah" is to move the hips. What's next?
All the people who've had bad relationships in this world with each other will forget the bad things. Allah says in the Quran that He will remove any ill-feeling or enmity from the hearts.
While it may well be that it is against the nature of a woman to desire multiple men, we assume this to be true because we men say this. If such a comment is presented to women today, they could well ask what gives the men the right to right to seek other women while they are married to them? Allah has created men and women differently only in a "bilogical" sense, and in no other way. Most women are capable today of living and surviving without the need of men.
There are lot of men who want just one woman. But they do have the option to have up to four wives. If equal, why cannot women have the same option, while on earth? In heaven they want loving and funny male-houris with strong arms, broad chest and great stamina.
Interpreting Islam requires a lot of understanding and depth. From what I have read from different sources and hence cross-verification, 'houris' are heavenly maidens reserved for males who qualify for heaven. Why such a reward for males? In this world we often see that men tend to be more promiscuous than women, and often succumb to temptations. Hence promise of higher rewards in afterlife, provided they stay on the right path is a big incentive for them. As for chaste women, the rewards in heaven are not any less than their counterparts. It is said that 'houris' or 'heavenly maidens' are especially created by God only for heaven and blessed with awesome beauty. If a woman remains chaste in this world, it is said Allah will grant her beauty several times more than the 'houris'. This is the reward which a woman will earn in heaven. If her earthly husband also qualifies for entry in heaven, he will be the only male companion she will have there. However, she will be made the head of maidens or houris her male companion is blessed with. Girls in this world often dream about becoming queens or princesses, but the actual reward for a practicing Muslimah is much higher than that in afterlife. Lastly, as for Aasia the wife of pharoah, since her husband claimed godhead and thus doomed to hell, she will have the honour of being blessed eternal companionship of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Can a chaste woman ask anything more than that? Apart from Aasia, mother of Jesus (pbuh), Hazrat Maryam or Mary, will also be blessed with the same reward. This is my humble understanding as per my sources. The most important thing is however to live this life so we really deserve a place in heaven and escape from hell.
I agree with John's comments on the article. It sure is misleading. Most of those who have so far commented on this article with exception of John of course, do not seem to have any or much knowledge on or about Islam.
This is a misleading article. The focus of the Quran and the Hadiths in describing the Houris as having female attributes, along with strong racial preferences (fair skinned, etc – which are not universal tastes) bring up problems for a thinking believer.
As for Surah 78 Verse 33, the first word is divided into 2 morphological segments. A conjunction and noun. The prefixed conjunction wa is usually translated as "and". The noun is FEMININE plural and is in the accusative case (منصوب). The noun's triliteral root is kāf ʿayn bā (ك ع ب).
Thus, the Houris are always female. This is why you will be incapable of finding masculine descriptions for these "companions". The carnal focus is clearly to allude to males.
Hello Nilofar , I read your topic three times.Very interesting.
One Question " During Jihad when a man dies,he goes straight to heaven in the company of 70 virgins."
what happens when a women dies in Jihad ? and What is her reward?
What is your source for the oft-quoted and outrageous statement that a Jihadi will get 70 virgins? I believe Nilofer gave sources for all of her statements.
@ Mohan No one goes straight to heaven. Humanity will go to heaven or not (as the case may be) after the youm-ul-hisab (the day of judgement). Another useful tip for you would be to read the concept of Jihad in detail and understand what all is included in jihad and you may even find that a poor labourer working hard all day to feed his family is also carrying out jihad.
It is very interesting and informative article.
Regards
Shafique
Trying to wriggle out of uncomfortable situation but it does not help as most of the Islamic scholars since 7th century have interpreted houris as females – but with the modern moral values – it becomes uncomfortable and hence try to wriggle out of the uncomfortable situation.
@ Sam: Brother this world is not perfect neither it can ever reach the perfection. This world contains both Good and Evil. U cannot eliminate any one of these factors in this world and reach the perfection. But in Jannah there will only be GOOD with out any evil!
thank you, nilofar! how rational and well-put is this! THIS is why we should be more well-versed in something (be it religion or any topic of discourse) before we automatically believe whatever's fed to us. thank you for showing how interpretations can twist an otherwise non-discriminatory belief. one can easily imagine how the self-proclaimed custodians of Islam and advocates of repressive patriarchy would react to this…
Interesting!
Kudos on this article to repudiate an often misunderstood (and manipulated) meaning of Quran. As pointed out, in the brief study of Arabic that I once did, it was clear that the plural or several words can be for both sexes.
Much appreciated!
Overall, a refreshing read indeed. I remember reading somewhere that some women asked the same question to Prophet (PBUH) but dont remember what he (PBUH) answered. In my limited knowledge, the question is not new and touched upon by various Muslim women scholars in the past also.
Humm, a thought provoking article. There has to be a reward for good & chaste muslim women. Otherwise why would they seek a life of purity. Though lots a women in our society are married to men whom they don't like, still live a life of obedience, purity and chastity. would they be interested to live a life forever with the same guy who gave the woman a miserable life in this world. Some enlightened scholars better shed some light on this.
It is about time someone explained this…very nice and informational article….Paradise here I come! Inshallah!
Good explanation of the idea of mates/ partners in haven…but seriously who cares! Important question is how do we get to a better place in life hereafter by not making this world a better place first….! Why are we so obssessed with havens and hoors and all? Look at the chaos we have created and we dream about all these blessings. Pity