thought was a reasonable answer but it has now become clear that more
explanation is needed. What was the question? What is the reward of
Muslim womenin paradise?
Partly due to the inflated responses of some men, we have been
compelled to write about this issue and I shall endeavour to clarify
any misconceptions. Some men seem to think that it is absolutely fine
to boastabout the reward that they will get in paradise then put down
any females by assuming thatthere reward is little. They say that they
are going to get seventy two virgins and the woman will receive very
little reward. A woman who asked us this question almost questioned if
there was any reward forwomen in paradise. This came as a shock to us
andwe had to start to search to find answers.
Ponder these Quranic passages:
"Men who surrender unto Allah, and women who surrender, and men who
believe and women who believe, and men who obey and women who obey,
and men who speak the truth and women who speak the truth, and men who
persevere (in righteousness) and women who persevere, and men who are
humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who
give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard
their modesty and women who guard (their modesty), and men who
remember Allah much and women who remember – Allah hath prepared for
them forgiveness and a vast reward." (The Clans 33:35)
"Whoever acts righteously, whether male or female, and is a believer,
him verily we shall revive with a goodlylife." (The Bee 16:97)
Gender has no relevance when striving for paradise. Also note that the
women here are included in the vast reward. So what could we get in
paradise? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) said, "In paradise there are things that no ear has heard, no eye
has seen and no one could contemplate." (Muslim 2825)
"For men there is a share of what they earned, andfor women, a share
of what they earned. Pray to Allah for His grace." (The Women 4.32)
So women like their malecounterparts will get their share of what they
have strived for in the world and this will not belost.
"So, whoever does the smallest good act will seeit." (The Earthquake 99:7)
What about in Paradise?
"For them, with their Lord, there is what they wish. That is the
reward of those who are good intheir deeds." (The Troops 39:34)
We do not need to emphasise that this is for all the inhabitant of
paradise; that they will have whatever they wish for and if they do
not want something then it istheir choice. It is your paradise and you
can choose to have whatever you wish.
It is also narrated that the believing women of paradise are superior
to the maidens of paradise by seventy degrees. (Tafsir As-Sharbini Vol
4 p. 181)
Note that in another hadith it states that if one of the maidens of
paradise were to spit into the oceans that they would turn sweet. If
this is the beauty of the maiden what then wouldbe the beauty of the
Muslim woman in paradise?
Hut Full?
They said that they will have a 'hut of women' and whatever their
wills desire of carnal pleasures. They based their claim on this
hadith:
وقال عبد الله بن وهب: أخبرنا عمرو: أن دراجاً أبا السمح حدثه عن أبي
الهيثم عن أبي سعيد عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال"أدنى أهل الجنة
منزلة الذي له ثمانون ألف خادم، واثنتان وسبعون زوجة، وتنصب له قبة من
لؤلؤ وزبرجد وياقوت كما بين الجابية وصنعاء " ورواه
الترمذي من حديث عمرو بن الحارث به
Abu Sa'eed narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) said, "The lowest station of the inhabitants of Paradise
will attain eighty thousand servants, seventy two spouses and erected
for him is a domeof pearls, chrysolite and ruby, similar to the
distance between Al-Jabiyyah and San'a." Narrated Imam At-Tirmidhi
with a sound chain – Hassan Gharib.
Whenever I get a question that confuses me I try to look at the
original sources and thenuse this as a base for my answers. Now their
claim is that men get this reward and not the women. My first problem
is that the hadith says 'Ahl Al-Janna' which we have translated as the
inhabitants of paradise. Does this not include women? It must and it
must also include Jinn. Note the hadith is Hassan Gharib which is a
hadith that has a sound chain but has come to us from two chains of
narrators. The next problem is the word 'zawjah' or spouses, which has
been translated as women. We can understand this but ifyou look
towards the rules in Arabic for the useof the number seventy, which
precedes it, what follows must be a feminine singular noun. This leads
us to say that this hadith includes women and Jinn, for the above
reasons, to have multiple partners in paradise.
We can also examine the Quranic chapter the Heffer (2:25) which
states, "They have purified partners, in there, and abide therein
forever." Partners (azawaj), as Zaynab Ansari rightly pointed out, is
not gender specific.
Final Remarks
I would like to say this issue is somewhat a distraction to the
concern that we should have which is what are we doing to make
ourselves worthy of attaining it. That is what we shall be concerned
with.
It really annoys me when some men deem deen to be a 'man' thing and
thatthe women should stay athome. This is one of the reasons why men
are no longer what they used to be because we have no women who can
teach them the religion! If there are facilities for women then use
them and accommodate them because other groups will get them and then
where would we be!
So please brothers do notmake Muslim women's life harder by pointing
out how many partners you will have and remember that they will have
what they wish for as well. Paradise is for everyone and in
paradisewomen will be righty rewarded for putting up with us men!!
Hmm, that reward could be endless if they are anything like me maybe
that is why I am not married!!
I would like to finish this post with this hadith:
Abu Hurayra narrated that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) once said, "Whoever enters Heaven shall find comfort and no
distress; his garments shall not grow threadbare, neither shall his
youth ever come to an end. In Heaven there shall be that which no eyes
has seen, no ear has heard and which has never occured to mortal
mind."
(Ibn Al-Mubarak, 512; Al-Bayhaqi, Ba'th from Remembrance of Death
translation by Abdul Hakim Murad p.241)
There is no distress, no pain, no sadness in Paradise.
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