Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:58
As if they were rubies and coral.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn (55:58)
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: it is as though these (women) with lowered gaze, who are in these two gardens, are in their clarity the ruby, through which one can see the thread that is inside it from behind; likewise one sees the marrow of their legs through their bodies, and in their beauty they are the ruby and the coral.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of the report that has been transmitted about this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:
Muḥammad ibn Ḥātim related to me, saying: ʿUbayda related to us, on the authority of Ḥumayd, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, he said: "Verily, of the woman from the people of Paradise the whiteness of her leg is seen through seventy garments of silk, and (even) her marrow; and that is because Allah, blessed and exalted is He, says: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ). As for the ruby: if you were to put a thread into it and then hold it up to the light, you would see it through it from behind."
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, he said: Ibn Masʿūd said: Verily, the woman from the people of Paradise wears seventy garments of silk, and (yet) the whiteness of her leg and the beauty of her leg behind it are seen; that is because Allah says: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ). Now, the ruby is a stone: if you were to put a thread into it and then hold it up to the light, you would look at the thread from behind the stone.
He said: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Abū Rajāʾ related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ) — in the whiteness of the coral.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, saying: ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, he said: ʿAbd Allāh informed us: that the woman from the people of Paradise wears seventy garments of silk, and (yet) the whiteness of her leg and its beauty, and the marrow of her leg, are seen behind it; and that is because Allah said: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ). Do you not see that the ruby is a stone: when you put a thread into it, you see the thread from behind the stone.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, he said: "Verily, the woman among the ḥūr al-ʿīn (the gazelle-eyed maidens) wears seventy garments, and (yet) the marrow of her leg is seen just as one sees the red drink in the white glass."
Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: al-Muṭṭalib ibn Ziyād related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His word: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ) — he said: the clarity of the ruby and the beauty of the coral.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ): the clarity of the ruby in the whiteness of the coral. It has been mentioned to us that the Prophet of Allah ﷺ said: "Whoever enters Paradise, for him therein are two wives, the marrow of whose legs is seen through their garments."
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Marwān related to us, saying: Abū al-ʿAwwām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ) — he said: they are compared to the clarity of the ruby in the whiteness of the coral.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ): in the clarity of the ruby and the whiteness of the coral.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ) — he said: they are like the ruby in clarity, and the coral in whiteness; the clarity is the clarity of the ruby, and the whiteness is the whiteness of the pearl.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: ( Alsof zij robijn en koraal zijn ) — he said: in the clarity of the ruby and the whiteness of the coral.
