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Laws of Religion

Laws of Islam Concerning Women and Men

 

19.  Companions in Paradise

from the Qur’an

and major hadith collections

 

 

Companions in Paradise

        From the Qur’an

 

(Editor’s note: The Qur’an offers many descriptions of the rewards that those who are faithful and do good works will receive after death. These generally describe Paradise as a garden with rivers running below. There are also statements as to who will be in Paradise to dwell with the deceased. It is this subject, companionship in Paradise, that is discussed on this page.)

 

According to the Qur’an, among the necessary virtues of those who will dwell in Paradise is that they abstained from sexual activity except with their wives and female slaves.[1] Those who believe and do good works will be joined in Paradise by their spouses.[2] The faithful whose offspring were also among the faithful will be joined by their offspring in Paradise.[3]

 

The Qur’an says that righteous believers will be joined in Paradise by youths – immortal boys who, when seen, could be taken for scattered pearls.[4] Such immortal children will serve those who are foremost among the righteous believers, serving them both food and drink.[5]

 

The Qur’an says that righteous believers in Paradise will there find mates who are purified.[6] Those who enter Paradise will enjoy the company of women of the same age[7] – good, beautiful,[8] ample-breasted[9] and amorous[10] – who gaze modestly with their large lovely eyes.[11] They are like hidden pearls.[12] These women, having been guarded in pavilions,[13] have never been touched either by man or jinn.[14]

 

Companions in Paradise

From the hadith compilations of al-Bukhari and Muslim

 

As the Last Hour approaches, the number of men will decrease and the number of women will increase until each man will be looking after 50[15] or 40[16] women. Also, a portent of the Last Hour will be the widespread open commission of unlawful sexual intercourse (zina).[17]

 

Hadiths report that Muhammad said that all the men in Paradise will have wives.[18] The first group of men to enter Paradise will each have two wives so beautiful that the marrow of their leg bones will be visible through their skin[19] – large-eyed maidens[20] so beautiful that the marrow of their leg bones will be visible through their skin.[21]

 

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Abbreviations used in footnotes:

QR:   Qur’an, with surahs (chapters) and ayahs (verses) numbered as in most modern translations, including those found here, here and here.

BK:    Hadith collection of al-Bukhari as found here (USC/CMJE website) and here (ebook download). In a few instances, the hadiths on the USC website differ from those in the ebook download, either by having slightly different numbering of the hadiths or because the hadith appears only on the USC site and not in the ebook download. Such cases are noted in the footnotes by putting either “(USC)” or “(ebook)” after the relevant hadith number when it applies to only one of these two sources. Part or all of the hadith collections of al-Bukhari, with somewhat different numbering systems, can also be found here, here and here.

ML:    Hadith collection of Muslim as found here and here. Part or all of the hadith collection of Muslim, with somewhat different numbering systems, can also be found here and here.

DJP:  The Distinguished Jurist’s Primer, by Ibn Rushd, translated by Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee, published by Garnet Publishing Ltd, Reading, UK. Volume 1, 1994. Volume 2, 1996. Full text online and download for Volume 1 are here and here and for Volume 2 are here and here.

RT:    Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law by Ahmad ibn Naqib al-Misri, translated by Nuh Ha Mim Keller, revised edition 1994, published by Amana Publications, Beltsville, Maryland, USA.  Reliance of the Traveller can be found here and here.

SR:    al-Shafi‛i’s Risala: Treatise on the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence, translated by Majid Khadduri, Second Edition, published by The Islamic Texts Society.

●  The sources cited are described on the page Source Texts Used for Laws of Islam.