thetruth
14-06-06, 11:14 PM
How Many Wives Will The Believers Have In Paradise?
Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
How many wives will the believers have in Paradise?
Wa `alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullah:
The stronger hadiths indicate that the Believers shall have two wives, in Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Hurayra, from the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace: “Each man among them shall have two wives, the marrow of each of the two wives' shanks will be seen glimmering under the flesh, and there is not in all Paradise a single unmarried man.” They will have up to a hundred concubines in Paradise while the Shuhada’ shall have seventy-two wives, numbers indicating abundance rather than an exact quantity, and Allah knows best.
Some texts:
1. Al-Miqdam ibn Ma`dikarb said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“For the Shahid in the Divine presence there will be six qualities: [1] he will be forgiven from the first moment his blood is spilled; [2] he shall see his seat in Paradise and be protected against the punishment of the grave; [3] he shall be safe from the Greatest Terror [the rising of the dead]; [4] he shall be crowned with the diadem of dignity, one ruby of which is worth more than the entire world and its contents; [5] he shall be coupled with seventy-two spouses from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise; and [6] he shall be granted to intercede for seventy of his relatives.” Ahmad and al-Tirmidhi narrated it and the latter said: “This is a fair, sound, single-chained hadith” (hasan sahih gharib).
2. Anas said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The servant in Paradise shall be married with seventy wives.” Someone said, “Messenger of Allah, can he bear it?” He said: “He will be given strength for a hundred.” Abu Nu`aym in Sifat al-Janna, al-`Uqayli in the Du`afa’, and al-Bazzar in his Musnad.
2a. From Zayd ibn Arqam, Allah be well-pleased with him, when an incredulous Jew or Christian asked the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, “Are you claiming that a man will eat and drink in Paradise??” He replied: “Yes, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, and each of them will be given the strength of a hundred men in his eating, drinking, coitus, and pleasure.” Ahmad, al-Nasa’i in the Sunan al-Kubra, Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn Hibban, and al-Hakim who declared it sahih.
Note that the Jews succeeded in “disappearing” all notion of a next life from their religion while the Christians succeeded in making it an ethereal abstraction. The Mu`tazila and other minority sects went that path also as do those who deny the reality of the punishment and reward of the grave, Hellfire, the Prophet’s Basin, the Bridge, the Balance, the Vision of Allah Most High etc.
3. Abu Sa`id al-Khudri said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The humblest of the People of Paradise shall have eighty thousand servants and seventy-two wives. A palace of pearl and peridot(a: A pale green variety of chrysolite; used as a gemstone) and sapphire shall be erected for him as wide as the distance between al-Jabiya [a valley about 70 kms. East of Makka] and San`a’ [in Yemen].” Al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad narrated it.
4. Abu Hurayra said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The humblest of the People of Paradise in rank shall have seven levels and as he will be on the sixth, below the seventh, he will have three hundred servants, every morning and evening three hundred dishes of gold shall be brought before him, every dish carrying something the other does not. He will taste pleasure as sharply with the first dish as he will with the last. He shall say, ‘My Lord! If you gave me permission, I would feed all the people of Paradise and water them from what I have and nothing should go missing from it.’ He will most certainly have seventy-two wives from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise, the couch of only one of whom is as wide as a square mile on earth.” Ahmad narrated it in the Musnad.
5. Abu Umama said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“None is made to enter Paradise by Allah Most High except Allah Most High shall marry him to seventy-two wives, two of them from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise and seventy of them his inheritance from the People of Hellfire, not one of them but her attraction never lags nor his arousal ever wanes.” Narrated by Ibn Majah, Ibn `Adi in the Kamil, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur. Al-Suyuti marked its chain as “fair” (hasan) in al-Jami` al-Saghir (§7989).
6. Ibn Abi Awfa said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“Every man from the People of Paradise shall be married off to four thousand virgins, eight thousand slave-girls, and one hundred wide-eyed maidens of Paradise. They shall all meet him within every seven days. They shall say with their exquisite voices no creature has ever heard the like before: ‘We are the everlasting women, we never grow old, we are the refined women, we never grow sour, we are the ever-pleased women, we never anger, we are the sedentary ones, we never travel away, blessings to him who is for us and we are for him!’” Abu al-Shaykh in al-`Azama and al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur.
7. Hatib ibn Abi Balta`a said, Allah be well-pleased with him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, upon him blessings and peace:
“The believer in Paradise shall be married off to seventy-two women, seventy women of the hereafter and two women of the women of this world.” Narrated by Ibn al-Sakan in Ma`rifat al-Sahaba and Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq.
8. Abu Hurayra said, Allah be well-pleased with him:
It was asked, “Messenger of Allah, do we reach our women in Paradise?” He replied, “A man will reach in a single day one hundred virgins.” Al-Tabarani in al-Saghir and al-Awsat, Abu Nu`aym in Sifat al-Janna, and al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad. Abu Dya’ al-Maqdisi declared it sahih according to Ibn al-Qayyim in Hadi al-Arwah and Ibn Kathir in al-Fitan wal-Malahim and so did Khaldun al-Ahdab in Zawa’id Tarikh Baghdad (§100).
9. Ibn `Abbas narrated something similar. Abu Ya`la in his Musnad with a good chain as indicated by al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa’id.
10. Jabir said, Allah be well-pleased with him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, upon him blessings and peace:
“I entered Paradise and saw that most of its dwellers were women.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur and Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq.
May Allah grant the highest levels in Paradise to this mercied Umma for the sake of the Most Honored Being in the Divine Presence, our liege-lord Muhammad, upon him and his Family and Companions blessings and peace.
Hajj Gibril
Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
How many wives will the believers have in Paradise?
Wa `alaykum as-Salam wa rahmatullah:
The stronger hadiths indicate that the Believers shall have two wives, in Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Hurayra, from the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace: “Each man among them shall have two wives, the marrow of each of the two wives' shanks will be seen glimmering under the flesh, and there is not in all Paradise a single unmarried man.” They will have up to a hundred concubines in Paradise while the Shuhada’ shall have seventy-two wives, numbers indicating abundance rather than an exact quantity, and Allah knows best.
Some texts:
1. Al-Miqdam ibn Ma`dikarb said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“For the Shahid in the Divine presence there will be six qualities: [1] he will be forgiven from the first moment his blood is spilled; [2] he shall see his seat in Paradise and be protected against the punishment of the grave; [3] he shall be safe from the Greatest Terror [the rising of the dead]; [4] he shall be crowned with the diadem of dignity, one ruby of which is worth more than the entire world and its contents; [5] he shall be coupled with seventy-two spouses from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise; and [6] he shall be granted to intercede for seventy of his relatives.” Ahmad and al-Tirmidhi narrated it and the latter said: “This is a fair, sound, single-chained hadith” (hasan sahih gharib).
2. Anas said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The servant in Paradise shall be married with seventy wives.” Someone said, “Messenger of Allah, can he bear it?” He said: “He will be given strength for a hundred.” Abu Nu`aym in Sifat al-Janna, al-`Uqayli in the Du`afa’, and al-Bazzar in his Musnad.
2a. From Zayd ibn Arqam, Allah be well-pleased with him, when an incredulous Jew or Christian asked the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, “Are you claiming that a man will eat and drink in Paradise??” He replied: “Yes, by the One in Whose hand is my soul, and each of them will be given the strength of a hundred men in his eating, drinking, coitus, and pleasure.” Ahmad, al-Nasa’i in the Sunan al-Kubra, Ibn Abi Shayba, Ibn Hibban, and al-Hakim who declared it sahih.
Note that the Jews succeeded in “disappearing” all notion of a next life from their religion while the Christians succeeded in making it an ethereal abstraction. The Mu`tazila and other minority sects went that path also as do those who deny the reality of the punishment and reward of the grave, Hellfire, the Prophet’s Basin, the Bridge, the Balance, the Vision of Allah Most High etc.
3. Abu Sa`id al-Khudri said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The humblest of the People of Paradise shall have eighty thousand servants and seventy-two wives. A palace of pearl and peridot(a: A pale green variety of chrysolite; used as a gemstone) and sapphire shall be erected for him as wide as the distance between al-Jabiya [a valley about 70 kms. East of Makka] and San`a’ [in Yemen].” Al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad narrated it.
4. Abu Hurayra said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“The humblest of the People of Paradise in rank shall have seven levels and as he will be on the sixth, below the seventh, he will have three hundred servants, every morning and evening three hundred dishes of gold shall be brought before him, every dish carrying something the other does not. He will taste pleasure as sharply with the first dish as he will with the last. He shall say, ‘My Lord! If you gave me permission, I would feed all the people of Paradise and water them from what I have and nothing should go missing from it.’ He will most certainly have seventy-two wives from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise, the couch of only one of whom is as wide as a square mile on earth.” Ahmad narrated it in the Musnad.
5. Abu Umama said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“None is made to enter Paradise by Allah Most High except Allah Most High shall marry him to seventy-two wives, two of them from the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise and seventy of them his inheritance from the People of Hellfire, not one of them but her attraction never lags nor his arousal ever wanes.” Narrated by Ibn Majah, Ibn `Adi in the Kamil, and al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur. Al-Suyuti marked its chain as “fair” (hasan) in al-Jami` al-Saghir (§7989).
6. Ibn Abi Awfa said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace:
“Every man from the People of Paradise shall be married off to four thousand virgins, eight thousand slave-girls, and one hundred wide-eyed maidens of Paradise. They shall all meet him within every seven days. They shall say with their exquisite voices no creature has ever heard the like before: ‘We are the everlasting women, we never grow old, we are the refined women, we never grow sour, we are the ever-pleased women, we never anger, we are the sedentary ones, we never travel away, blessings to him who is for us and we are for him!’” Abu al-Shaykh in al-`Azama and al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur.
7. Hatib ibn Abi Balta`a said, Allah be well-pleased with him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, upon him blessings and peace:
“The believer in Paradise shall be married off to seventy-two women, seventy women of the hereafter and two women of the women of this world.” Narrated by Ibn al-Sakan in Ma`rifat al-Sahaba and Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq.
8. Abu Hurayra said, Allah be well-pleased with him:
It was asked, “Messenger of Allah, do we reach our women in Paradise?” He replied, “A man will reach in a single day one hundred virgins.” Al-Tabarani in al-Saghir and al-Awsat, Abu Nu`aym in Sifat al-Janna, and al-Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad. Abu Dya’ al-Maqdisi declared it sahih according to Ibn al-Qayyim in Hadi al-Arwah and Ibn Kathir in al-Fitan wal-Malahim and so did Khaldun al-Ahdab in Zawa’id Tarikh Baghdad (§100).
9. Ibn `Abbas narrated something similar. Abu Ya`la in his Musnad with a good chain as indicated by al-Haythami in Majma` al-Zawa’id.
10. Jabir said, Allah be well-pleased with him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say, upon him blessings and peace:
“I entered Paradise and saw that most of its dwellers were women.” Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur and Ibn `Asakir in Tarikh Dimashq.
May Allah grant the highest levels in Paradise to this mercied Umma for the sake of the Most Honored Being in the Divine Presence, our liege-lord Muhammad, upon him and his Family and Companions blessings and peace.
Hajj Gibril