Will you please give information about houri, houris?

Dear Brother / Sister,

They are girls whose eyes are large, whose pupils are jet black and whose sclerae are extremely white. The word “hur” in Arabic is the plural form of “hawra”. Its singular form is used as “houri” by adding the relative suffix “i” to it.

The word “iyn” which is used in the Quran to express “houris” is derived from the word “ayn (eye)” and it refers to women with large eyes.

Terminologically, “houri” refers to each of the beautiful girls Allah promised to the ones who deserve to enter Heaven.

We learn about houris’ body structure, beauty, and moral values from the Quranic verses and hadiths.

“As to the Righteous (they will be) in a position of Security among Gardens and Springs; dressed in fine silk and in rich brocade, they will face each other. Moreover, We shall join them to Companions with beautiful, big, and lustrous eyes.” (ad-Dukhan, 51-54)

“Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfillment of (the heart's) desires; Gardens enclosed, and grapevines; companions of equal age (girls); and a cup full (to the brim).” (an-Naba, 78/31-34).

“Therein will they recline (at ease): Therein can they call (at pleasure) for fruit in abundance, and (delicious) drink; and beside them will be chaste women restraining their glances, (companions) of equal age.” (as-Sad, 38/51-52).

“We have created (their Companions) of special creation and made them virgin - pure (and undefiled), beloved (by nature), equal in age, for the Companions of the Right Hand.” (al-Waq'iah).

What is meant by the expression of “equal in age” in verses above can be both that all of these women are at the same age and they are at the same age with their husbands.

Here is this Allah’s kind gift to His righteous and blissful slaves who arranged their lives in accordance with Allah’s orders and prohibitions; put up with all kinds of troubles, sorrows and torment in order not to abandon their religion; did not give in to arrogant ones and rioted against cruelty and cruel ones.

“In them will be fair (Companions), good, beautiful” (ar-Rahman, 55/70).

“In them will be (Maidens), chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched” (ar-Rahman, 55/56).

“And (there will be) Companions with beautiful, big, and lustrous eyes like pearls well-guarded.” (al-Waq’iah, 56/22-23).

The most important trait of a woman is her modesty and chastity. For this reason, while declaring the boons of Heaven, Allah the Glorious firstly mentioned their modesty and chastity before their beauty.

It can be deduced from the second verse above that there will be righteous women and righteous men from jinn in Heaven. These women will be wives for men of jinn like righteous women of humankind will be for men of humankind. As a matter of fact, neither these righteous women of jinn nor the righteous women of humankind will be touched by men.

The Prophet (pbuh) describes the inhabitants of Heaven as follows:

“Every one of them will have two wives; the marrow of the bones of the wives' legs will be seen through the flesh out of excessive beauty. They (i.e. the people of Paradise) will neither have differences nor hatred amongst themselves; their hearts will be as if one heart and they will be glorifying Allah in the morning and in the evening.” (Bukhari, Bad’ul-Khalq, 59, Sifatul Jannah)

However, women who believed in Allah and became one of the righteous slaves of Allah while in the world are superior to houris because they had to struggle against devils and their own lower-selves. They became victorious in this struggle, gained Allah’s consent and deserved to enter Heaven.  However, the reason why houris are in Heaven is not their own deeds. Allah created them for the inhabitants of Heaven like other boons of Heaven. The Prophet’s hadith below confirms this:

Once, Umm Salama asked the Prophet (pbuh), “O Messenger of Allah! Are the women in the world or houris in Paradise better?" The Messenger of Allah said, "The women of this world will have superiority over the houris just as the outer lining of a garment has superiority over the inner lining." When Umm Salama asked why, he answered as follows: "For, they performed salah (prayers), fasted, and worshipped a lot in the world.” (from Tabarani; Mawdudi, Tafhimul Quran, VI. 81).

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