Tafseer of The Beneficent · Ar-Rahmaan · 55:72
Fair ones reserved in pavilions -
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 explanation of the saying of the Exalted: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ (72) ("Fair ones, secluded in the tents")
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says, reporting about these good and fair women: حُورٌ ("ḥūr") — by His utterance ḥūr He means: white women. It is the plural of ḥawrāʾ, and the ḥawrāʾ is the white woman.
We have already expounded earlier the meaning of ḥūr with the testimonies that absolve us from repetition in this place.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes too have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā al-Qattāt, on the authority of Mujāhid: حُورٌ ("ḥūr"), he said: white women.
He said: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Mujāhid: حُورٌ ("ḥūr"), he said: white women.
He said: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: حُورٌ ("ḥūr"), he said: the women.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("fair ones, secluded"), the ḥawrāʾ is the beautiful woman with large, deep-black-rimmed eyes.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān: the ḥūr means blackness amid whiteness.
He said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: the ḥūr are those whose hearts, souls, and glances are white.
As for His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("secluded"), the exegetes differ regarding its explanation. Some of them said: its explanation is that they are restricted to their husbands, so that they desire no other in their place and do not raise their glances to men other than them.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl informed us, on the authority of Abū Yaḥyā al-Qattāt, on the authority of Mujāhid: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: their glance and their souls are restricted to their husbands.
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("secluded"), he said: their glance is restricted to their husbands, so that they desire no other.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: they restricted their souls and their glances to their husbands, so that they desire no other.
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh and Ibn al-Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: they restricted their glance to their husbands.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: they restricted their souls, their hearts, and their glances to their husbands, so that they desire no other.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: their glance is restricted to their husbands, so that they desire no other.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("secluded"), he said: restricted to their husbands, so that they desire no other.
Others said: by it is meant that they are confined within the bridal chambers.
* Mention of who said that:
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: confined within the tents.
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Bazūrī related to us, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, the like of it.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("secluded"), he said: confined.
Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Abū Maʿshar al-Sindī informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb, he said: confined within the bridal chambers.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: they do not leave the tents.
ʿUbayd ibn Ismāʿīl al-Hibārī related to me, saying: ʿAthhām ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: the virgins of paradise.
Abū Kurayb and Abū Hishām related to us, they said: ʿAthhām ibn ʿAlī related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, the like of it.
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ ("secluded"), he said: the ones confined within the tents, who do not go out from them.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: confined, not roaming about on the roads.
The correct judgment regarding this, in our view, is that one says: Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has described them as secluded in the tents, and seclusion (al-qaṣr) is confinement. He did not restrict their description as confined ones to one of the two meanings that we have mentioned to the exclusion of the other, but rather made their description by it general. The correct view is that the report about them is taken generally, that they are secluded in the tents and restricted to their husbands, so that they desire no other, just as He has stated it generally.
His saying: فِي الخِيام ("in the tents") — by "the tents" are meant: the dwellings. The Arabs sometimes call the litters of the women "tents" (khiyām); to this belongs the saying of Labīd:
"The departing beasts of burden of the tribe stirred you on the day they set out, when they hid themselves in cotton litters whose tents creaked." (1)
But in this verse the dwellings are meant by it.
In accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes too have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, he said: Shuʿba related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Maysara related to us, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: the hollow pearl.
Al-Ḥasan ibn ʿArafa related to us, saying: Shabāba related to us, saying: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh, the like of it.
Yaḥyā ibn Ṭalḥa al-Yarbūʿī related to me, saying: Fuḍayl ibn ʿIyāḍ related to us, on the authority of Hishām, on the authority of Muḥammad, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: the tent is a pearl of four parasangs by four parasangs, with four thousand door-leaves of gold.
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: Abū Nuʿaym related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"), he said: dwellings of pearls.
Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Aḥmasī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to us, saying: Idrīs al-Awdī related to us, on the authority of Shamir ibn ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, he said: ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: Do you know what fair ones, secluded in the tents are? The tents: a hollow pearl.
He said: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd related to us, saying: Misʿar related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: a hollow pearl.
And from him, on the authority of Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, he said: the tent is a hollow pearl, a parasang by a parasang, with four thousand door-leaves of gold.
He said: Abū Dāwūd related to us, saying: Hammām related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the tent in paradise is of a hollow pearl, a parasang by a parasang, with four thousand door-leaves.
Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard my father relating on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Khulayd al-ʿAṣrī, he said: it was related to me that the tent is a hollow pearl, with seventy door-leaves, all of it of pearls.
Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn Abī ʿĀʾisha, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that he said: the tents: a hollow pearl.
He said: Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the tents: a hollow pearl.
Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Wakīʿ and Yaʿlā related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: في الخيام ("in the tents"), he said: the hollow pearl.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"), he said: tents: a hollow pearl.
He said: Mihrān related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ḥarb ibn Bashīr, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Maymūn, he said: the tents: the tent is a hollow pearl.
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Salama ibn Nubayṭ, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, he said: the tent is a hollow pearl.
Abū Hishām related to us, saying: Ibn al-Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"): in the bridal chambers. He said: ʿUbayd Allāh and Ibn al-Yamān related to us, on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"), he said: in the bridal chambers.
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Abī Qays, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"), he said: tents of pearls.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: فِي الخِيامِ ("in the tents"), the tents: the pearl and the silver, as one says — and Allah knows best.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), it was related to us that Ibn ʿAbbās used to say: the tent is a hollow pearl, a parasang by a parasang, with four thousand doors of gold.
And Qatāda said: it used to be said: the dwelling of the believer in paradise — the swift rider rides within it for three nights —, and its rivers, its gardens, and what Allah has prepared for him of honors.
Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: the tent is a hollow pearl, a parasang by a parasang, with four thousand doors of gold.
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: it is said: their tents in paradise are of pearls.
Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Abū Rajāʾ, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, about His saying: مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("secluded in the tents"), he said: the tents: the hollow pearl.
Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Ḥirmī ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: Shuʿba related to us, saying: ʿUmāra informed me, on the authority of Abū Mijlaz: "that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said about the saying of Allah حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ('fair ones, secluded in the tents'): a hollow pearl."
It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd informed us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying: Ibn Masʿūd used to relate on the authority of the Prophet of Allah ﷺ that he said: "It is the hollow pearl", meaning by it the tents in His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents").
Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Mujāhid, about His saying: حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ ("fair ones, secluded in the tents"), he said: in tents of pearls.
