Paradise for women?

[Ummah-Forever]

Salam Alaykum,

I am plasing this subject here because I don't want it to influence somebody in a negative way in the religion section.

The thing is I heard this lecture and the talk was about paradise. The speaker talked all the time about man being rewarded with wonderfull women in paradise according to Qur'an and I am not here to question. One woman asked about womans reward and the speaker said, we presume women also get beautifull man in paradise. I was confused. First why the fact that it is not explicitly mentioned what is the reward for woman, people conclude the reward is the same. Are not man and woman different? I can't find this fitting in my brain as I know coming from myself that that is not what many believing woman wish if hardly any. I think women would wish to be with their husbands, the only one they live with, because we hope to be reunited with our families. I don't understand a women who would wish to be poligame in paradise and find it good. What happened to emotions, healthy jealousy, love that binds two people forever? Without our loved ones, what is it we can be looking forward too, eating, drinking only? If man get to live with beautifull women, I wouldn't want the same kind of life for me and it would make me sad to be excluded that way. The idea of poligamy in this life and another is troubling me all in all, because it sound quite animalistic and ignoring the suffering it inflicts to the woman involved.

Please forgive me if my words sounded hars. I am just trying to remove the obstacles to my faith. I hope somebody can help me on this because it is affecting my iman badly and I can't live without my iman. I am even affraid to read the passages in the Qur'an that involve that.

[dhakiyya]

I think you need to examine the exact meaning of the Arabic words used in the Qur'an - someone fluent in Arabic can do this inshaAllah. The masculine gender is used in Arabic to refer to both males and females in some circumstances. This may be why some scholars say this reward also applies to women? Though really I don't know, not being a scholar and not being able to do tafseer on the Qur'an.

As for polygamy in this life, not all women hate polygamy or would not want their husband to have additional wives. Provided that he follows the rules correctly (i.e. treats them all equally, provides for all of them sufficiently, honours all the rights they have over him, etc) you don't actually lose much when compared to women in monogamous marriages. In addition you have more time to pursue your own interests, co-wives to share childcare with and so on. Yes it can be disasterous if the husband doesn't fulfil his responsibilities, but the same is true of monogamous marraige. Also, a lot of men don't want polygamous marriages because its too much financial and emotional burden for them, women who don't want polygamy should seek out a husband from among the men who don't want polygamy.

[sunny_skies]

I hope this helps :)


The "72 virgins" idea is probably the most overblown idea that people seem to remember about Islam (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Islam). It's turning into a real stereotype. Forget the doctrines of monotheism (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=monotheism) and tolerance, it seems all people want to hear about is the virgins. There's a lot more to Paradise (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Paradise) than just sex and physical pleasure, you know.
Before I go describing them in detail, I want to note that I'm taking the issue and the verses out of context. One really should read the whole Surah (chapter) to get a better understanding of the religious signifigance. Nearly a third of the Qur'an talks about the life after this one, so while there are chapters and chapters to describe the hereafter (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=hereafter), I'm just discussing a few verses which talk about the servants; a minor perk in the grand scheme of Paradise. Personally I think the greatest reward is to be in the presence of God Almighty. Plenty of non-Muslims take one of these single verses and generalize that all of heaven is lascivious (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=lascivious), but that simply isn't the case. I'm just focusing on the virgins, since that's what you came here to read.
To start off, you need to understand what the rewards in Jannah (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Jannah) (Paradise) are. The Quran (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quran) says that those who do get into Paradise will be rewarded with blessing (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=blessing)s that eclipse anything on earth; unlimited food of your choice, riches, and wishes come true. Things considered sinful on Earth such as wine will be allowed, and people will be able to eat and drink all they want and not get full or hungover or sick. People will be reunited with their friends and relatives, we will all be made young again, and there will be no anger or pain. Everyone will be given palace (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=palace)s to live in, and clothing fit for royalty, with luxurious couches and thrones for everyone. There will be rivers of the purest water, milk (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=milk), wine (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=wine), and honey (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=honey), all of which are better than any you will find on earth. Those who get to the highest part of Paradise, Jannah al-Firdaus (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Jannah%20al-Firdaus), will also be able to see Allah (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Allah) with their own eyes. So, in a sense, Heaven is a paradise filled with pleasures. You need to imagine the context of when this idea of Paradise was revealed to the people; of the extremely stark and difficult life of ancient Bedouin (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Bedouin) Arabia (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Arabia). Something as simple as the constant flow of water in a stream was considered miraculous, so it would be natural to imagine heaven depicted this way, flowing with streams of water under the shade of huge trees. (Well what did you expect Paradise to be? Clouds, wings, and harps?)
Also, the believers who make it into Paradise, male and female, are promised beautiful companions, known as "Houris" in Arabic (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Arabic). The Quran (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quran) describes them in some detail as such: "Serving [the believers] will be immortal youths with jeweled and crystal cups filled with the purest wine which will neither give them headache nor hangover, with fruits and meats of their desire. They will be fair ones with lovely intense eyes like guarded pearls (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=pearls); A reward for the good deeds of their past life." (56:17-24)
"We have created mates for them and made them virgins, matched in age, for the companions of the right hand." (56:35-38)
"They will be chaste (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=chaste), restraining their eyes in modesty, never touched by man or Jinn (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Jinns)."(55:56) "Serving them will be immortal servants. When you see them, they will look like scattered pearls." (76:19)
The Islamic scholar Yusuf Ali defines the word "Houris" in his english interpretation of Qur'an (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quran) as "Youths of perpetual freshness." He also described them in his commentary: "The companionship of Beauty and Grace is one of the highest pleasures of life. In this bodily life it takes bodily form. In the higher life it takes a higher form...The pronoun in Arabic (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Arabic) is in the feminine gender. It is made clear that these maidens for heavenly society will be of special creation,-of virginal purity, grace, and beauty, inspiring and inspired by love, with the question of time and age eliminated."

The Houris are basically creations of God, intelligent yet soulless and created to serve the believer who goes to Paradise. They are created for the purpose of serving the believer, and as such, they dont exactly have free will. They are described as pure, beautiful, lustrous, virgin, and more perfect than any human on earth. Imagine the woman of your dreams.
Women (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Women) aren't left out: A man in paradise will get numerous female servants for himself, while a woman would get male servants. The Quran says that women shall be compensated just as well and says about the believers that "they" (the gender unspecified) shall have perfected mates/spouses as a reward of their deeds (2:25, 3:15, 4:57). So women will get the man of their dreams. Actually, even better than you could dream of.
In Paradise, you can marry them. You can interpret the "mates" as being spouses. Even if you were married on earth, they will be invisible to your spouse. Islam (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Islam) is pretty clear in saying that guiltless sex is a reward in Paradise. Since they are more like spouses, they will probably be given the status of one instead of a servant.
There is no direct evidence in the Qur'an (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quran) to support there being 70 or 72 for each person. The numerical value of 70 is derived from a Quranic commentary by Quranic scholar Ibn Kathir (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Ibn%20Kathir). The number 72 comes from a hadith (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=hadith) that says "'The smallest reward [each] for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=pearls), aquamarine (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=aquamarine) and ruby (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=ruby), as wide as the distance from [Damascus] to [Yemen].'"
Do Muslims believe it literally? Are they required to? This particular Hadith (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Hadith) has technical weaknesses in its chain of transmitters and is therefore not considered 100% authenticly faultless, though it is listed in an authoritative collection. As a result, Muslims are not required to believe in it, though many inevitably do (but an even more respectable Hadith with virtually the same message can be found in a separate hadith collection). Most muslims believe that they will experience incredible physical pleasures when they enter heaven, and that you will be happier in heaven than you could possibly be in this life. Some say that the houris are a metaphor for the ineffable (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=ineffable) joys of the afterlife. "Ineffable" is the perfect word to describe it, since Allah (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Allah) promises rewards beyond imagination, meaning you can't even guess what reward lies ahead since there is no equal on Earth. Ergo, if you can imagine the greatest, richest, best thing in this life, then what will actually be there will be even better.
So, to answer the question "Do terrorists get 72 virgins in Paradise?" Anyone who gets into Heaven will get the servants, it's not specific to martyrs (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=martyr) or the shaheed (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=shaheed)s. The more important question is, who is privileged to enter heaven according to Islam (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Islam)? That's a topic for another node.(Hint: Islam (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Islam) is unambiguous on the issue of suicide and hurting innocent people; they're Completely sinful) In case it's not clear to anyone, Terrorists (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Terrorist) who hurt innocent people are sinning, so it's up to Allah (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Allah) if they'll go to Paradise (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Paradise) or not. You see, bad deeds aren't rewarded, only punished. Sources:
The Qur'an (http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quran)
http://www.islamfortoday.com/firestone01.htm
http://www.guidedones.com/metapage/frq/islamicpar.htm

[BARAA IBN MALIK]

Salam Alaykum,

I am plasing this subject here because I don't want it to influence somebody in a negative way in the religion section.

The thing is I heard this lecture and the talk was about paradise. The speaker talked all the time about man being rewarded with wonderfull women in paradise according to Qur'an and I am not here to question. One woman asked about womans reward and the speaker said, we presume women also get beautifull man in paradise. I was confused. First why the fact that it is not explicitly mentioned what is the reward for woman, people conclude the reward is the same. Are not man and woman different? I can't find this fitting in my brain as I know coming from myself that that is not what many believing woman wish if hardly any. I think women would wish to be with their husbands, the only one they live with, because we hope to be reunited with our families. I don't understand a women who would wish to be poligame in paradise and find it good. What happened to emotions, healthy jealousy, love that binds two people forever? Without our loved ones, what is it we can be looking forward too, eating, drinking only? If man get to live with beautifull women, I wouldn't want the same kind of life for me and it would make me sad to be excluded that way. The idea of poligamy in this life and another is troubling me all in all, because it sound quite animalistic and ignoring the suffering it inflicts to the woman involved.

Please forgive me if my words sounded hars. I am just trying to remove the obstacles to my faith. I hope somebody can help me on this because it is affecting my iman badly and I can't live without my iman. I am even affraid to read the passages in the Qur'an that involve that.


SALAMALAYKUM WARAHMATULAHI WABARAKATU UKHTI

I am no scholar but i had problems in believing things but slowly my imaan rose. For me this was the only choice and that was not letting my self doubt anything about the diin. Any time these questions came to my head i said first a'uudhu bilahi minashaydani al rajim, for the shaitaan is the one who whispers into a muslims ear and the small things that people say is sunna do it for you are keeping your self further away from sins which reduces chances for the shaitaan. listen to lectures.

about the rewards in jannah all i know is what is said in the quran and ahadith, but know one really knows what to expect in jannah for the hadith says in what is in jannah no ear has heard nor any eye has seen nor has it been imagined.

hope i was of help

WA-ALAYKUMSALAM WARAHMATULAHI WABARAKATU

[Abu Muslim]

Walaykum Salam,

Ukhtee, there is absolutely nothing to worry about insha'Allah. In jannah we are the happiest people in the world, we feel no envy, we feel no jealousy, there is nothing negative in there in any way whatsoever. You get whatever you want...which means you dont get anything you dont want.

The problem is you are comparing jannah to the dunya, how you feel in dunya is not the same as jannah. This dunya is waaste compared to jannah.

Instead of worrying about jannah and whats going to happen there, insha'Allah try to focus on pleasing Allah SWT and GETTING there. Remember none of us are guaranteed jannah, so no use dwelling on what could happen, lets do our best getting there and hope Allah swt has mercy on us and enters us. May Allah make us of those in jannah. Ameen.

*smiles*

[imported_wicked]

salaam
dr.zakir naik said women will also get the same in jannah as they desire

[Ummah-Forever]

You were all of help. Thank you so much for taking time to answer.

I have to get rid of the earth way of thinking and taking things literally, when reading about the things that are not seen by human eyes. The parameters are (as not yet experienced) just unimaginable as Allah is too.

I am insh'Allah starting to learn Arabic this summer fot the purpose of reading Qur'an and can't wait. I have a lot to learn.

And yes I know after some time that human logic can be attacked by Shaytan whisperings. But there is no doubt in me about the truth.

La ilaha illallah Muhammadan Rasullah
Allah-o-Akbar

May Allah bless you.

[perfectpearl]

The man will have what he wishes and so will the women.

The one he married here in this world will be more beautiful than the other women. He will be attracted to the women that he married in this earth more than all the other women. The women (earth one) will not mind him with other women in paradise.

I hope this clears it out.

[THE PATH 2]

IN SIMPLICITY

the best thing ..that will happen..even better than jannah is

ALLAH WILL SAY..TODAY I AM PLEASED WITH YOU:)

descriptions of jannah are from a wordly perspective/paralells if you will..Ffor human nature

jannah would be jannah without anything

but just being in the company of ALLAH:)