The Maidens Of Paradise

The temporary life of this world is a great test for man. Temptations are many and man is weak. Of all the temptations, the temptation relating to the opposite sex is the highest. If the sexual urge of a man is left unchecked and unregulated, there will be total anarchy and mischief in the world.

To control and regulate this desire any form of illicit affiliation with the opposite sex is strictly forbidden. To maintain a high level of morality, Islam has ordained very strict laws and many restrictions to curtail the unlawful, carnal desires of man.

All of these strict restrictions weigh heavily on the 'Nafs' - the desire. The nafs constantly seeks gratification and indulgence of its desires. To control these wild desires is not an easy task. There is a constant struggle that exists between man and his desires in this world. For the young, the struggle is even more intense and great.

For those people who restrain and control the desires of the nafs in this world, Allah has promised immense rewards in the Hereafter. Man sometimes forgets these rewards and becomes inclined in sin. If he is reminded about these rewards, his resolve to control the nafs becomes stronger and more vigorous. It becomes easier to sacrifice the desires in view of these great rewards in the Hereafter.

In this post, only a glimpse of the rewards of the Hereafter - especially those relating to the the Hurs (Maidens) of Jannah are mentioned. By pondering about the beauties of Jannah and its beautiful maidens, we will feel a renewed vigour to fight our carnal desires and strive for the pleasure of Allah by doing righteous deeds. Furthermore, the beauty of the woman of this world will appear pale and insignificant before the beauty of those stunning damsels in Jannah.

Allah has put in every human being the natural desire and inclination for gold, silver, money, transportation, land and other items of this world. Similarly, Allah has placed in every person the natural desire for the opposite sex, and out of the desires of a person, the greatest test for a Muslim is how he fulfils this desire. He can either fail this test by unlawfully satisfying this desire, or pass this test by controlling this desire lawfully through marriage.

In order to motivate us to pass this test, it is very important for us to understanding the reward for controlling one's desires and staying away from evil.

Jannah is a place where a person will have all that he desires, and he will live a perfect and everlasting life. Each pleasure at Jannah will be far more superior than the pleasure found in this world.

Similarly, the women in Jannah will be far more superior to the women living in this world. Once a person gets to know of this, it will become easier for him to stay away from evil and corruption and it will become easy for him to work towards the Hereafter.

This post attempts to provide a rather detailed description of these women based on the verses of the Holy Qur'an, its Tafsir, the Hadith and stories of the Prophets AS.

Those celestial women specially created for the people of Jannah are known as Hur'ayn. A Hur is young, gorgeous, wide-eyed beauty, a fair skinned woman with intensely dark eyes. The meaning of " 'ayn" is a woman with big, attractive eyes, which is also considered a sign of beauty.

The following is a narration from the Sahabahs RA. It is narrated from Abdullah ibn Abbas RA, Anas RA, Abu Salman RA and Mujahid RA that the Hurs will be created from 'saffron'. When the present creation of mankind which is created from sand has the best of forms and beauty, then you can imagine the beauty of women created from saffron.

Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'an:

"And they will have pure wives in Jannah and they will stay there forever."

With regards to the term "pure" - Qatada RA mentions that these women will be pure from all external impurities such as menstruation, urine excreta and saliva. They will also be free from all evil and internal qualities such as malice, hypocrisy, swearing etc. Thus they will not have within them the smallest amount of disobedience to their husbands.

Allah SWT says:

"And they will have fair females with big, lovely eyes who will be like hidden pearls."

The women of Jannah will be like fresh pearls because of their cleanliness and fair skin colour.

Anas RA narrates that Rasullullah SAW said:

"Definitely, the inhabitants of Jannah will visit a market every Friday. A northly wind will blow and it will spread goodness upon their faces and clothes causing them to increase in beauty. They will then return to their wives after having become more beautiful than they were before. Their wives will say to them, "We swear by Allah, you have definitely increased in beauty". They will also say to their wives, "We swear by Allah, you have also increased in beauty."

In Paradise, the menn who have been gifted entrance will be granted by Allah with more power to enjoy the pleasures with their wives. This is explained in Sahih Bukhari:

"The believer will be given great sexual potency in Jannah. He will be granted potency equal to that of one hundred men." (Sahih Bukhari)

A Hadith narration in Sahih Muslim adds on:

"The person that enters Jannah will be in perpetual Pleasures, Never will he be afflicted in anyway, nor will his clothing wear away and Never will he loose his youth." (Sahih Muslim)

The wives of Jannatis will sing melodiously:

"The women of Jannah will sing so melodiously for their husbands, that the human ear has never heard such melody. Amongst their songs will be the following verses: 'we are the chosen beauties, wives of most honourable husbands, who look with the coolness of eyes, who are perpetual, never dying, who are chaste, never feared, ever present, never absent." (Sahih Bukhari)

As human beings, we have our own understanding of beauty which is confined to our limited and deficient knowledge and its respective standards. Allah, in his infinite knowledge and wisdom had described the women of Jannah as BEAUTIFUL. Beautiful according to the standards of the creating abilities of Allah Almighty. So we cannot comprehend how beautiful these women must actually be.

May Allah grant us the ability to strive for His pleasure in this world and grant us death with Imaan.

Ameen.