Houri

Beautiful woman in Paradise in Islamic belief

"Huri" redirects here. For the village in Iran, see Huri, Iran. For the Ainu bird monster or deity, see huri (Ainu legendary bird). For other uses, see Houri (disambiguation).

"Houris" redirects here. For the Egyptian god, see Horus.

Houris in paradise, riding camels. From a 15th-century Persian manuscript. Part of a series on

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In Islam, a houri (/ˈhʊərri, ˈhaʊəri/;[1] Arabic: حُـورِيَّـة ,حُورِيّ, romanized: ḥūriyy, ḥūrīya, lit. 'maiden'),[Note 1] or houris or hoor al ayn in plural form, is a maiden woman with beautiful eyes who lives alongside the Muslim faithful in paradise.[3][4]

The term "houris" is used four times in the Quran,[2] although the houris are mentioned indirectly several other times, (sometimes as azwāj, lit. companions), and hadith provide a "great deal of later elaboration".[2] Muslim scholars differ as to whether they refer to the believing women of this world or a separate creation, with the majority opting for the latter.[5]

Houris have been said to have "captured the imagination of Muslims and non-Muslims alike".[2] According to hadith, faithful women of the Dunya will be superior to houris in paradise.[6]

## Etymology

[edit]

In classical Arabic usage, the word ḥūr (Arabic: حُور) is the plural of both ʾaḥwar (Arabic: أحْوَر) (masculine) and ḥawrāʾ (Arabic: حَوْراء) (feminine)[7] which can be translated as "having eyes with an intense contrast of white and black".[8]

The word "houri" entered several European languages in the 17th and 18th centuries.[9]

Arthur Jeffery and other scholars suggests an Iranian origin for the term, proposing the origins of the word to be the Middle Persian hū̆rust 'well grown'.[10]

## Descriptions in scripture and commentaries

[edit]

See also: Houri § Disputed sexualised descriptions

The houris are mentioned in several passages of the Quran, always in plural form, but only mentioned directly four times. No specific number is ever given in the Quran for the number of houris accompanying each believer.[citation needed]

### Quranic description

[edit]

In the tafsirs and commentaries on the Quran, Houris are described as:

* 37:48[11] "with large and beautiful eyes",[12]
* 38:52[13] "companions of modest gaze well matched",[14]
* 44:54[15] "wide and beautiful eyes",[16]
* 52:20[17] "beautiful houris of wide and beautiful eyes",[18]
* 55:56[19][20][21] "untouched beforehand by man or jinn",[22]
* 55:58 "as elegant as rubies and coral",[23]
* 55:72[24] "bright-eyed damsels sheltered in pavilions",[25]
* 55:74[26] "untouched by any man",[25] "reclining on green cushions and beautiful carpets",[25]
* 56:8[27][28][29] "the people of the right, how ˹blessed˺ will they be"[30] 56:22[31] and they will have "houris, maidens with intensely black eyes set against the whiteness of their irises",[32]
* 56:35[33] "created without the process of birth",[32]
* 78:31–33[34][35] and as "splendid companions",[36]
* 44:54 "Thus. And We will marry them to fair women with large, [beautiful] eyes".[37]

It is thought that the four verses specifically mentioning Houri were all "probably" 'revealed' at "the end of the first Meccan period".[38]

### Hadith description

[edit]

Details of descriptions of houri (or ḥūr), in hadith collections differ, but one summary (by Smith & Haddad) states:[2]

> they are generally said to be composed of saffron from the feet to the knees, musk from the knees to the breast, amber from the breast to the neck, and camphor from the neck to the head.[39] Working often with multiples of seven, the traditionalists have described them as wearing seventy to 70,000 gowns, through which even the marrow of their bones can be seen because of the fineness of their flesh, reclining on seventy couches of red hyacinth encrusted with rubies and jewels, and the like. The ḥūr do not sleep, do not get pregnant, do not menstruate, spit, or blow their noses, and are never sick.[40]

In hadith, Houris have been described as "transparent to the marrow of their bones",[41][42] "eternally young",[43] "hairless except the eyebrows and the head",[43] "pure"[42] and "beautiful".[42] Sunni hadith scholars also relate a number of sayings of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in which the houris are mentioned.

* A narration related by Bukhari states that

> Everyone will have two wives from the houris, (who will be so beautiful, pure and transparent that) the marrow of the bones of their legs will be seen through the bones and the flesh.[44]

* Another, reported by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Nishapuri, relates that

> The first group to get into Paradise will be like the full moon during the night, and the one following this group will be like the most luminescent of the sky's shining stars in the sky; each man among them will have two spouses, the marrow of whose shanks will glimmer be visible from beneath the flesh—none will be without a spouse in Paradise.[45]

* Al-Tirmidhi reports

> Al-Hasan Al-Basri says that an old woman came to the messenger of God and asked, O Messenger of God make dua that God grants me entrance into Jannah. The Messenger of God replied, "O Mother, an old woman cannot enter Jannah." That woman started crying and began to leave. The Messenger of God said, "Say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age, but God will make all the women of Jannah young virgins. God Most High says, 'Lo! We have created them a (new) creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age.'"[46]

* According to a report transmitted by Ibn Majah in his Sunan:

> A woman does not annoy her husband but his spouse from amongst the maidens with wide eyes intensely white and deeply black will say: "Do not annoy him, may Allah ruin you. He is with you as a passing guest. Very soon, he will part with you and come to us".[47][48][49]

### Quranic commentators

[edit]

Sunni sources mention that like all men and women of Paradise, the houris do not experience urination, defecation or menstruation.[50]

Ibn Kathir states that jinns will have female jinn companions in Paradise.[51]

#### Contemporary

[edit]

According to Smith and Haddad, if there is any generalization that can be made of "contemporary attitudes" toward the nature of the hereafter, including Houri, it is that it is "beyond human comprehension ... beyond time", that the Quran only "alluded to analogously".[52]

#### Imam Reza

[edit]

According to 8th Shia Imam, Imam Reza, the heavenly spouses are created of dirt (Creation of life from clay) and saffron.[53]

### Symbolism

[edit]

Muhammad Asad believes that the references to houris and other depictions of paradise should be understood as allegorical rather than literal, citing the "impossibility of man's really 'imagining' paradise". In support of this view he quotes Quran verse 32:17[54] and a hadith found in Bukhari and Muslim.[55]

Shia philosopher Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai mentions that the most important fact of the description of the houris is that good deeds performed by believers are re-compensated by the houris, who are the physical manifestations of ideal forms that will not fade away over time and who will serve as faithful companions to those whom they accompany.[56]

### Similarities to Zoroastrianism

[edit]

See also: Religious influences on Zoroastrianism

The houri has been said to resemble afterlife figures in Zoroastrianism narratives:

> The Zoroastrian text, Hadhoxt Nask, describes the fate of a soul after death. The soul of the righteous spends three nights near the corpse, and at the end of the third night, the soul sees its own religion (daena) in the form of a beautiful damsel, a lovely fifteen year-old virgin; thanks to good actions she has grown beautiful; they then ascend heaven together.[57] The orientalist Arthur Jeffery argues in his book Foreign 'Vocabulary of the Qur’an' that the two concepts closely correspond to each other. Possibly the word "houri" also has an Iranian origin, but this is heavily debated among scholars. Jeffery believes it might have been borrowed from the Pahlavi word 'hurūst'. Although the word itself might have been borrow by the Arabs from Aramaic, the relation to the 'maidens of paradise' likely came under influence of this Pahlavi word,[58]

## Gender and identity

[edit]

It has traditionally been believed that the houris are beautiful women who are promised as a reward to believing men,[59] with numerous hadith and Quranic exegetes describing them as such.[60] In recent years, however, some have argued that the term ḥūr refers both to pure men and pure women (it being the plural term for both the masculine and feminine forms which refer to whiteness) and the belief that the term houris only refers to females who are in paradise is a misconception.[59]

The Quran uses feminine as well as gender-neutral adjectives to describe houris,[61][62][63] by describing them with the indefinite adjective عِينٌ, which some have taken to imply that certain passages are referring to both male and female companions.[64] In addition, the use of masculine pronouns for the houris' companions does not imply that this companionship is restricted to men, as the masculine form encompasses the female in classical and Quranic Arabic—thus functioning as an all-gender including default form—and is used in the Quran to address all humanity and all the believers in general.[65][66][67][Note 2]

In The Message of The Qur'an, Muhammad Asad describes the usage of the term ḥūr in the verses 44:54 and 56:22, arguing that "the noun ḥūr—rendered by me as 'companions pure'—is a plural of both aḥwār (masc.) and ḥawrā' (fem.)... hence, the compound expression ḥūr ʿīn signifies, approximately, 'pure beings, most beautiful of eye'."[68][69]

Annemarie Schimmel says that the Quranic description of the houris should be viewed in a context of love: "every pious man who lives according to God's order will enter Paradise where rivers of milk and honey flow in cool, fragrant gardens and virgin beloveds await home".[70]

### Relation to earthly women

[edit]

Regarding the eschatological status of this-worldly women vis-à-vis the houris, scholars have maintained that righteous women of this life are of a higher station than the houris.[5] Sunni theologian Aḥmad al-Ṣāwī (d. 1825), in his commentary on Ahmad al-Dardir's work, states, "The sound position is that the women of this world will be seventy thousand times better than the dark-eyed maidens (ḥūr ʿīn)."[71] Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Baḥraq (d.1524) mentions in his didactic primer for children that "Adamic women are better than the dark-eyed maidens due to their prayer, fasting, and devotions".[72]

Other authorities appear to indicate that houris themselves are the women of this world resurrected in new form, with Razi commenting that among the houris mentioned in the Quran will also be "[even] those toothless old women of yours whom God will resurrect as new beings".[73][74] Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari mentions that all righteous women, however old and decayed they may have been on earth, will be resurrected as virginal maidens and will, like their male counterparts, remain eternally young in paradise.[75] Modernist scholar Muḥammad ʿAbduh states "the women of the Garden are the good believers [al-mu'mināt al-ṣalihāt] known in the Qur'an as al-ḥūr al-ʿayn, (although he also makes a distinction between earthly women and houri).[76]

Verses that are thought to refer to women from earth in paradise (Q.2:25, 3:15, and 4:57) talk of "purified companions" [azwāj muṭahhara], which distinguishes them from ḥūr, who are by definition "pure rather than purified".[38]

## Disputed sexualised descriptions

[edit]

Further information: Islamophobic trope § 72 virgins

### Sexual intercourse in Paradise

[edit]

In the Quran, there is no overt mention of sexual intercourse in Paradise.[77] However, it is alluded to in hadiths, tafsirs[78][79] and Islamic commentaries.[80][81][82][83]

### Reference to "72 virgins"

[edit]

"72 virgins" redirects here. For other uses, see 72 virgins (disambiguation) and Islamophobic trope § 72 virgins.

The Sunni hadith scholar Al-Tirmidhi quotes Muhammad as having said:

> The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy-two houri, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine, and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a.[84][85]

However, others object that the narration granting all men seventy-two wives has a weak chain of narrators.[86]

Another hadith, also in Jamiʽ at-Tirmidhi and deemed "good and sound" (hasan sahih) gives this reward specifically for the martyr:

> There are six things with Allah for the martyr. He is forgiven with the first flow of blood (he suffers), he is shown his place in Paradise, he is protected from punishment in the grave, secured from the greatest terror, the crown of dignity is placed upon his head—and its gems are better than the world and what is in it—he is married to seventy-two wives among the wide-eyed houris (Ar. اثْنَتَيْنِ وَسَبْعِينَ زَوْجَةً مِنَ الْحُورِ الْعِينِ) of Paradise, and he may intercede for seventy of his close relatives.[87]

This hadith is sometimes erroneously attributed to the Quran.[88][89]

### Outsider translations of the Qur'an

[edit]

See also: Translation of the Qur'an

#### N. J. Dawood

[edit]

Further information: N. J. Dawood § Koran, and English translations of the Quran

Te translation of the "Koran" (Qur'an) by N. J. Dawood, published as a Penguin paperback, describes houris as "chaste" and "virgins".[90] Dawood was a native speaker of Arabic but not a Muslim or a religious scholar.[91][92] His expertise was poetry and his translation treated the text as a work of artistic literature. His 1956 edition re-ordered the Surahs to match the Bible, to make it easier for Western readers to understand. Ziauddin Sardar, criticized Dawood' translation as containing "distortions that give the Qur'an violent and sexist overtones", in an article published by The Guardian comparing to a modern translation by Tarif Khalidi.[93] Sardar described the very popular Dawood translation as "largely responsible for the current misconception that Muslim paradise is full of "virgins" - despite the fact that the Qur'an explicitly denies any carnal pleasures in paradise".[94] Dawood's knowledge of the Arabic language is extensive and respected, and he also translated government documents, but him not being Muslim has made his translation controversial.[92] Many Muslims believe that fully capturing the meaning of the Quran in any other language is impossible and it should only be attempted by a Muslim who understands the religion.[92][better source needed]

#### Marmaduke Pickthall

[edit]

Houris are also described as virgins in the translation by Marmaduke Pickthall.[90]

#### Christoph Luxenberg's Syriac raisins

[edit]

Christoph Luxenberg, in his German language book "The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran" (German: Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran), claimed that the word for Houris meant white raisins, based on its machining in Syriac Aramaic.[90][additional citation(s) needed]

### Fully grown adults

[edit]

The virgins of paradise "they will be of one age, thirty-three years old," according to Ibn Kathir (as reported by Ad-Dahhak aka Ibn Abi Asim), based on his interpretation of the word Atrab (Arabic: أَتْرَابًا) in Q.56:37).[95][14]

However, another interpretation of Atrab (in Q.56:37 and also Q.78:33) by Muhammad Haleen, describes Houri "as being of similar age to their companions".[96] An Islamic Books pamphlet also states Houri will "have the same age as their husbands so that they can relate to each other better", but also adds that they will "never become old";[97] (Translations of Q.56:37 and Q.78:33—for example by Mustafa Khattab's the Clear Quran and by Pickthall—often include the phrase "equal age" but do not specify what the houris are of equal age to.)

On the other hand, the houris were created "without the process of birth", according to a classical Sunni interpretation of Q.56:35 in Tafsir al-Jalalayn,[Note 3] so that the heavenly virgins have no birthday or age in the earthly sense.[citation needed]

Other sources, including a tafsir of Ibn Kathir, (see above) emphasize the purpose of the use of kawa'ib in verse Q.78:33 "is to highlight the woman’s youthfulness", though she is an adult, she "has reached the age when she begins to menstruate";[99] and that she is of the age of "young girls when their breasts are beginning to appear".[77] At least one person (M Faroof Malik) translates Arabic: قَـٰصِرَٰتُ ٱلطَّرْفِ in verse Q.55:56 as "bashful virgins".[100]

#### Meaning of the term kawa'ib

[edit]

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Verse Q.78:33 describes Houri with the noun ka'ib, translated as "with swelling breasts"[101] by several translators—like Arberry, Palmer, Rodwell and Sale (it is also translated as "buxom" or "full bosomed").[102] At least two Islamic Fatwa sites (islamweb.net and islamqa.info) have attacked the use of these translations by those who "criticize the Quran",[103] or who "seek to make Islam appear to be a religion of sex and desire".[104]

Ibn Kathir, in his tafsir, writes that kawa'ib has been interpreted to refer to "fully developed" or "round breasts ... they meant by this that the breasts of these girls will be fully rounded and not sagging, because they will be virgins."[105] Similarly, the authoritative Arabic–English Lexicon of Edward William Lane defines the word ka'ib as "A girl whose breasts are beginning to swell, or become prominent, or protuberant or having swelling, prominent, or protuberant, breasts".[106][Note 4]

However, M. A. S. Abdel Haleem and others point out that the description here refers in classical usage to the young age rather than emphasizing the women's physical features.[77][109] Others, such as Abdullah Yusuf Ali, translate ka'ib as "companions",[110] with Muhammad Asad interpreting the term as being allegorical.[111]

## See also

[edit]

* Islam portal
* Religion portal

* Islamophobic trope § 72 virgins
* Apsara – Type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist culture
* Garden of Eden – Biblical garden of God
* Jannah – Islamic concept of Paradise
* Maid of Heaven – Dungeon in Tehran, IranPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets (Bahá'í faith)
* Peri – Fairy-like spirit in Middle Eastern folklore of Persian originPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
* Women in Islam – Women's role in Islamic culture

## References

[edit]

### Notes

[edit]

1. ^ حورية is also transliterated as ḥūriyyah or ḥūriyya, Arabic: [ħuːˈrijja]. adjectival and feminine singular formation from حُـور, plural of aḥwar أحور or ḥawrā’ حوراء the complete name, al-ḥur al-ʿayn Arabic: ألحور ألعين "literally means having eyes with marked contrast of black and white"[2]
2. ^ In these verses, God addresses the believers, male and female alike, and orders them to speak وَقُولُوا (masculine form) and listen وَاسْمَعُوا (masculine form), using the grammatical masculine form although the addressed group includes females.
3. ^
* "Indeed, We will have perfectly created their mates" (Q.56:35)
can be interpreted as "Verily We have created them with an unmediated creation namely the wide-eyed houris We created them without the process of birth", according to a classical Sunni interpretation of the Quran, Tafsir al-Jalalayn, (translated by Feras Hamza)[98]
4. ^ islamweb.net states: "{Kawaa‘ib} means round-breasted";[107] and islamqa.info translates Q.78:33 as “And young full-breasted (mature) maidens of equal age”[108]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ "houri". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 30 September 2024. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
2. ^ a b c d e Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.164
3. ^ "Houri" Archived 2021-09-21 at the Wayback Machine. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
4. ^ "Definition of HOURI". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
5. ^ a b Seyyed Hossein Nasr; Caner K. Dagli; Maria Massi Dakake; Joseph E.B. Lumbard; Mohammed Rustom, eds. (2015). The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary. New York, NY: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-112586-7.
6. ^ Soysal, Gökhan (28 March 2022). "What Will Women Receive in Paradise for Controlling Their Anger?". SeekersGuidance. Retrieved 27 November 2024.
7. ^ see Lane's Lexicon, p. 666 and Hans Wehr, p. 247
8. ^ Wehr's Arabic-English Dictionary, 1960.
9. ^ Rustomji, Nerina (2 September 2021), Rustomji, Nerina (ed.), "The Word", The Beauty of the Houri: Heavenly Virgins, Feminine Ideals, Oxford University Press, p. 0, ISBN 978-0-19-024934-2, retrieved 19 November 2024
10. ^ Cheung, Johnny (6 June 2016), On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qur'ānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic, retrieved 9 February 2023
11. ^ "Quran 37:48". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
12. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir As-Saaffat". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
13. ^ "Quran 38:52". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
14. ^ a b al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Saad". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
15. ^ "Quran 44:54". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
16. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Ad-Dukhan". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
17. ^ "Quran 52:20". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
18. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir At-Tur". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
19. ^ "Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Surah Al Rahman, Arabic English, HTMl, PDF, Free Download". Quran4u.com. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
20. ^ "Quran 55:56". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
21. ^ al-Jalalayn. "TafsirAr-Rahman". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
22. ^ "Surah Ar-Rahman - 56".
23. ^ "Ayah ar-Rahman (The Beneficent, The Mercy Giving, The Merciful) 55:58". www.islamawakened.com.
24. ^ "Quran 55:72". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
25. ^ a b c al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Ar-Rahman". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
26. ^ "Quran 55:74". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
27. ^ "Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Surah Al Waqiah, Arabic English, HTMl, PDF, Free Download". Quran4u.com. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
28. ^ "Quran 56:8". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
29. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Ar-Al-Waqi'a". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
30. ^ "Al-Waqi'ah 56:8, (translation, Dr., Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran)". Quran.com. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
31. ^ "Quran 56:22". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
32. ^ a b al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Al-Waqi'a". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
33. ^ "Quran 56:35". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
34. ^ "Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Surah Al Naba, Arabic English, HTMl, PDF, Free Download". Quran4u.com. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
35. ^ "Quran 78:31". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
36. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir An-Naba'". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
37. ^ AboeIsmail (12 March 2019). "Surah 44: ad-Dukhan". QuranOnline.net. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
38. ^ a b Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.165
39. ^ Kitāb aḥwāl al-qiyāma, p. 111. References to the general description of the ḥūr are abundant in the collections of traditions; see, for example, the summary and numerous citations of Ṣoubḥi El-Ṣaleḥ, La Vie Future selon le Coran. Paris: Librarie Philosophique J. Vrin, 1971, p.25. quoted in Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.164
40. ^ La Vie Future selon le Coran, p.39. quoted in Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.164
41. ^ Abu ʽIsa Muhammad ibn ʽIsa at-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Vol. 2.
42. ^ a b c Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:54:476
43. ^ a b Abu ʽIsa Muhammad ibn ʽIsa at-Tirmidhi, Sunan al-Tirmidhi, hadith: 5638
44. ^ Sahih al-Bukhari, 4:54:476
45. ^ Sahih Muslim, 40:6793
46. ^ Shamaa-il Tirmidhi, Chapter 035, Hadith Number 006 (230)
47. ^ Muadh bin Jabal. "Sunan Ibn Majah – The Chapters on Marriage". AHadith.com. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
48. ^ "Index of Islam". muslimhope.com.
49. ^ "Book on the Etiquette of Marriage". www.ghazali.org.
50. ^ Al Ghazzali, Ihya ʿUlum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences) Vol. 4
51. ^ Ismail ibn Kathir (2000). "The Reward of Those on the Right After". Tafsir ibn Kathir.
52. ^ Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.167-8
53. ^ "حوریان بهشتی فقط برای مردان؟!". موسسه فرهنگی و اطلاع رسانی تبیان. 4 January 2012.
54. ^ Quran 32:17
55. ^ https://archive.org/stream/TheMessageOfTheQuran_20140419/55877864-54484011-Message-of-Quran-Muhammad-Asad-Islam-Translation_djvu.txt ""what is kept hidden for them [by way] of a joy of the eyes", i.e., of blissful delights, irrespective of whether seen, heard or felt. The expression "what is kept hidden for them" clearly alludes to the unknowable - and, therefore, only allegorically describable - quality of life in the hereafter. The impossibility of man's really "imagining" paradise has been summed up by the Prophet in the well-authenticated hadith; "God says: 'I have readied for My righteous servants what no eye has ever seen, and no ear has ever heard, and no heart of man has ever conceived'" (Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah; also Tirmidhi). This hadith has always been regarded by the Companions as the Prophet's own comment on the above verse'(cf. Fath al-Bari VIII, 418 f.). "
56. ^ Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai, Tafsir al-Mizan
57. ^ Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not a Muslim, 1995: p.47
58. ^ The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʼān . BRILL. 2007. ISBN 978-90-04-15352-3. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30.
59. ^ a b "Are all 'houris' female?". Dawn.com. 9 June 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
60. ^ "Question 10053. Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn?". Islam Question and Answer. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
61. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
62. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
63. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
64. ^ Asad, M. The Message of the Quran, Surah 56:22 [8]. "The noun hur—rendered by me as companions pure—is a plural of both ahwar (masc.) and hawra' (fem.)"
65. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
66. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
67. ^ "The Quranic Arabic Corpus - Word by Word Grammar, Syntax and Morphology of the Holy Quran". corpus.quran.com.
68. ^ Ibid The Message of the Quran by M. Asad, Surah 56:22 note [8].
69. ^ Ibid The Message of the Quran by M. Asad, Surah 44:54 note [30]. "For the rendering of hur 'in as 'companions pure, most beautiful of eye', see surah {56}, notes [8] and [13]. It is to be noted that the noun zawj (lit., 'a pair' or – according to the context – 'one of a pair') applies to either of the two sexes, as does the transitive verb zawaja, 'he paired' or 'joined', i.e., one person with another."
70. ^ Annemarie Schimmel, Islam: An Introduction, p. 13, "Muhammad"
71. ^ al-Ṣāwī, Aḥmad (1947) [composed 1813]. Ḥashiyat ʿAlā Sharḥ al-Kharīdat al-Bahīyah [An Annotative Commentary Upon "The Resplendent Pearl"]. Cairo: Maṭbaʿat Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa Awlāduh. p. 67\. "والصحيح: أنّ نساء الدنيا يكنّ أفضل من الحور العين بسبعين ألف ضعف."
72. ^ Bahraq al-Yamanī, Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar (1996) [composed 15th-16th century]. Ḥilyat al-Banāt wa'l-Banīn wa Zīnat al-Dunyā wa'l-Dīn [The Splendour of Girls and Boys and the Adornment of This Life and the Next]. Dār al-Ḥāwī. p. 129\. "والنّساء الآدميّات أفضل من الحور العين بصلاتهنّ وصيامهنّ وعبادتهنّ."
73. ^ Asad, M. (2003). "(Surah) 56 Al-Waqiah, ayah 22". The Message of The Qur'an. Al-Hasan, quoted by Razi in his comments on 44:54.
74. ^ Ismail ibn Kathir (2000). "(Surah) 56 Al-Waqiah ayat 35–36". Tafsir ibn Kathir. The Reward of Those on the Right After.
75. ^ Asad, M. (2003). "(Surah) 56 Al-Waqiah, ayat 35–36". The Message of The Qur'an.
76. ^ Smith & Haddad, Islamic Understanding, 1981: p.166
77. ^ a b c Haleem, M.A.S. Abdel (2011). "Paradise in the Qur'an". Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and Style. I.B Tauris. pp. 235. ISBN 9781845117894.
78. ^ Ibn Kathir, Tafsir ibn Kathir (Quranic Commentary), "The Reward of Those on the Right After", [Chapter (Surah) Al-Waqiah (That Which Must Come To Pass)(56):35–36], Dar-us-Salam Publications, 2000, ISBN 1591440203
79. ^ "Will men in Paradise have intercourse with al-hoor aliyn?". IslamQA. 30 August 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
80. ^ Imam Muhammad Ibn Majah. "Volume 5:37 Book of Zuhd 4337". Muflihun.com. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
81. ^ al-Jalalayn. "Tafsir Yā Sīn". Tafsir al-Jalalayn. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
82. ^ Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab (2008). Sexuality in Islam. Routledge. pp. 75–76\. ISBN 9780415426008.
83. ^ Abdul-Rahman, Muhammad Saed (2003). Islam: Questions and Answers: Basic Tenets of Faith: Belief (Part 2). MSA Publication Ltd. pp. 415–419\. ISBN 1861790864.
84. ^ "Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2562 - Chapters on the description of Paradise - Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)". sunnah.com.
85. ^ "Various Questions Answered by Shaykh Gibril Haddad". Living Islam.
86. ^ Salahuddin Yusuf, Riyadhus Salihin, commentary on Nawawi, Chapter 372, Dar-us-Salam Publications (1999), ISBN 1-59144-053-X, ISBN 978-1-59144-053-6
87. ^ "Hadith – The Book on Virtues of Jihad - Jami'at-Tirmidhi". Sunnah.com - Sayings and Teachings of Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم).
88. ^ Warraq, Ibn (12 January 2002). "Virgins? What virgins?". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
89. ^ Anjali Nirmal (2009). Urban Terrorism: Myths and Realities. Pointer Publishers. p. 33\. ISBN 978-8171325986.
90. ^ a b c quote https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5
91. ^ "NJ Dawood - obituary - Telegraph". 11 December 2014. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014.
92. ^ a b c "The Jewish master of Arabic | the Jerusalem Post". 22 January 2015.
93. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/21/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview26#:~:text=While Dawood's translation presents the,gardens they have immaculate spouses."
* quote: "Dawood translates Az-Zumar (chapter 39) as "The Hordes", suggesting bands of barbarian mobs; Khalidi renders it as "The Groups"."
* quote: (reviewing Tarif Khalidi's new translation to older versions) "The translation I have in mind is Khalidi's predecessor in the Penguin Classics: The Koran, translated with notes by NJ Dawood. First published in 1956, Dawood's translation has been republished in numerous editions. It has been a great source of discomfort for Muslims, who see in it deliberate distortions that give the Qur'an violent and sexist overtones. It is the one most non-Muslims cite when they tell me with great conviction what the Qur'an says."
94. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/jun/21/saturdayreviewsfeatres.guardianreview26 quote: "While Dawood's translation presents the Qur'an as a patriarchal, sexist text, Khalidi brings out the gender-neutral language of the original. A good example is provided by 2:21. In Dawood we read: "Men, serve your Lord." In Khalidi, it becomes: "O People! Worship your Lord." Dawood's translation of the famous verse 2:25, frequently quoted, is largely responsible for the current misconception that Muslim paradise is full of "virgins" - despite the fact that the Qur'an explicitly denies any carnal pleasures in paradise. This is because we find "men" in Dawood's translation in the garden of paradise who are "wedded to chaste virgins". Khalidi renders it correctly: "In these gardens they have immaculate spouses"."
95. ^ "Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English) Surah Al Waqiah. The Reward of Those on the Right After. أَتْرَابًا (Atrab)". Quran Translation / Tafsir. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
96. ^ Abdel Haleem, Muhammad (1999). Understanding the Quran; Themes and Styles (PDF). I.B. Tauris. p. 99. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
97. ^ Al-Hoor-al-Hayn, Women of Paradise. Islamic Books. n.d. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
98. ^ "56:35". Al-Tafsir. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
99. ^ Saalih al-Munajjid, Muhammad (Supervisor). "Do the words of Allah, "And full-breasted maidens of equal age (wa kawaa'ib atraaban)" describe the breasts of al-hoor al-'iyn?". Islam Question and Answer. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
100. ^ "Quran 55:65". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
101. ^ Quran 78:33
102. ^ "Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning of Q.78:33". Islam Awakened. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
103. ^ "Meaning of {Farjaha} in verse 66:12 and {Kawaa'ib} in 78:33". Islamweb.net. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
104. ^ "The description of the breasts of al-hoor al-'iyniyn is a lie and is a fabrication against the texts #243879". Islam Question and Answer. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
105. ^ Ibn Kathir. Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 10 Surat At-Tagabun to the end of the Qur'an. pp. 333–334.
106. ^ كعب in Lane's lexicon.
107. ^ "Meaning of {Farjaha} in verse 66:12 and {Kawaa'ib} in 78:33". Islamweb.net. 29 January 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
108. ^ "The description of the breasts of al-hoor al-'iyniyn is a lie and is a fabrication against the texts #243879". Islam Question and Answer. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
109. ^ "Do the words of Allah, 'And full-breasted maidens of equal age (wa kawaa'ib atraaban)' describe the breasts of al-hoor al-'iyn?". IslamQA. 29 April 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
110. ^ Abdullah Yusuf Ali: The Meanings of the Illustrious Qur'an, Alminar Books, Houston, TX, 1997
111. ^ Asad, M. (2003). "(Surah) 56 Al-Waqiah, ayah 38". The Message of The Qur'an. "As regards my rendering of kawa’ib as 'splendid companions', it is to be remembered that the term ... from which it is derived has many meanings ... one of these meanings is 'prominence', 'eminence' or 'glory' (Lisan al-Arab) ... If we bear in mind that the Qur'anic descriptions of the blessings of paradise are always allegorical, we realize that in the above context the term kawa’ib can have no other meaning than 'glorious [or splendid] beings'."

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Abdel Haleem, Muhammad (1999). Understanding the Quran; Themes and Styles (PDF). I.B. Tauris. p. 99. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
* Smith, Jane Idleman; Haddad, Yvonne Y. (1981). The Islamic Understanding of Death and Resurrection. Albany: State University of New York Press. doi:10.1093/0195156498.001.0001.002.013 (inactive 1 July 2025). ISBN 0-87395-506-4. Retrieved 28 February 2025.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)

## External links

[edit]

Quotations related to Houri at Wikiquote

* v
* t
* e

People and things in the Quran

Characters

Non-humans

* Allāh ('The God')
* Names of Allah found in the Quran, such as Karīm (Generous)

| Animals|

| Related|

* The baqara (cow) of Israelites
* The dhiʾb (wolf) that Jacob feared could attack Joseph
* The fīl (elephant) of the Abyssinians
* Ḥimār (Domesticated donkey)
* The hud-hud (hoopoe) of Solomon
* The kalb (dog) of the sleepers of the cave
* The namlah (female ant) of Solomon
* The nūn (fish or whale) of Jonah
* The nāqat (she-camel) of Ṣāliḥ

|

Non-related|

* ʿAnkabūt (Female spider)
* Dābbat al-Arḍ (Beast of the Earth)
* Ḥimār (Wild ass)
* Naḥl (Honey bee)
* Qaswarah ('Lion', 'beast of prey' or 'hunter')

Malāʾikah (Angels)|

* Angels of Hell
* Mālik
* Zabāniyah
* Bearers of the Throne
* Harut and Marut
* Jundallah
* Kirāman Kātibīn (Honourable Scribes)
* Raqib
* Atid

| Muqarrabun|

* Jibrīl (Gabriel, chief)
* Ar-Rūḥ ('The Spirit')
* Ar-Rūḥ al-Amīn ('The Trustworthy Spirit')
* Ar-Rūḥ al-Qudus ('The Holy Spirit')
* Angel of the Trumpet (Isrāfīl or Raphael)
* Malakul-Mawt (Angel of Death, Azrael)
* Mīkāil (Michael)

|

Jinn (Genies)|

* Jann
* ʿIfrīt
* Sakhr (Asmodeus)
* Qarīn

Shayāṭīn (Demons)|

* Iblīs ash-Shayṭān (the (chief) Devil)
* Mārid ('Rebellious one')

Others|

* Ghilmān or Wildān
* Ḥūr

Prophets

| Mentioned|

* Ādam (Adam)
* Al-Yasaʿ (Elisha)
* Ayyūb (Job)
* Dāwūd (David)
* Dhūl-Kifl (Ezekiel?)
* Hārūn (Aaron)
* Hūd (Eber?)
* Idrīs (Enoch?)
* Ilyās (Elijah)
* ʿImrān (Joachim the father of Maryam)
* Isḥāq (Isaac)
* Ismāʿīl (Ishmael)
* Dhabih Ullah
* Lūṭ (Lot)
* Ṣāliḥ
* Shuʿayb (Jethro, Reuel or Hobab?)
* Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd (Solomon son of David)
* ʿUzair (Ezra?)
* Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā (John the Baptist the son of Zechariah)
* Yaʿqūb (Jacob)
* Isrāʾīl (Israel)
* Yūnus (Jonah)
* Dhūn-Nūn ('He of the Fish (or Whale)' or 'Owner of the Fish (or Whale)')
* Ṣāḥib al-Ḥūt ('Companion of the Whale')
* Yūsuf ibn Ya‘qūb (Joseph son of Jacob)
* Zakariyyā (Zechariah)

| Ulul-ʿAzm
('Those of the
Perseverance
and Strong Will')|

* Muḥammad
* Aḥmad
* Other names and titles of Muhammad
* ʿĪsā (Jesus)
* Al-Masīḥ (The Messiah)
* Ibn Maryam (Son of Mary)
* Mūsā Kalīmullāh (Moses He who spoke to God)
* Ibrāhīm Khalīlullāh (Abraham Friend of God)
* Nūḥ (Noah)

|

Debatable ones|

* Dhūl-Qarnain
* Luqmān
* Maryam (Mary)
* Ṭālūt (Saul or Gideon?)

Implied|

* Irmiyā (Jeremiah)
* Ṣamūʾīl (Samuel)
* Yūshaʿ ibn Nūn (Joshua, companion and successor of Moses)

People of Prophets

| Good ones|

* Adam's immediate relatives
* Martyred son
* Wife
* Believer of Ya-Sin
* Family of Noah
* Father Lamech
* Mother Shamkhah bint Anush or Betenos
* Luqman's son
* People of Abraham
* Mother Abiona or Amtelai the daughter of Karnebo
* Ishmael's mother
* Isaac's mother
* People of Jesus
* Disciples (including Peter)
* Mary's mother
* Zechariah's wife
* People of Solomon
* Mother
* Queen of Sheba
* Vizier
* Zayd (Muhammad's adopted son)

| People of
Joseph|

* Brothers (including Binyāmin (Benjamin) and Simeon)
* Egyptians
* ʿAzīz (Potiphar, Qatafir or Qittin)
* Malik (King Ar-Rayyān ibn Al-Walīd))
* Wife of ʿAzīz (Zulaykhah)
* Mother

|

People of
Aaron and Moses|

* Egyptians
* Believer (Hizbil or Hizqil ibn Sabura)
* Imraʾat Firʿawn (Āsiyá bint Muzāḥim the Wife of Pharaoh, who adopted Moses)
* Magicians of the Pharaoh
* Wise, pious man
* Moses' wife
* Moses' sister-in-law
* Mother
* Sister

Evil ones|

* Āzar (possibly Terah)
* Firʿawn (Pharaoh of Moses' time)
* Hāmān
* Jālūt (Goliath)
* Qārūn (Korah, cousin of Moses)
* As-Sāmirī
* Abū Lahab
* Slayers of Ṣāliḥ's she-camel (Qaddar ibn Salif and Musda' ibn Dahr)

Implied or
not specified|

* Abraha
* Abu Bakr
* Bal'am/Balaam
* Barṣīṣā
* Caleb or Kaleb the companion of Joshua
* Luqman's son
* Nebuchadnezzar II
* Nimrod
* Rahmah the wife of Ayyub
* Shaddad

Groups

| Mentioned|

* Aṣḥāb al-Jannah
* People of Paradise
* People of the Burnt Garden
* Aṣḥāb as-Sabt (Companions of the Sabbath)
* Jesus' apostles
* Ḥawāriyyūn (Disciples of Jesus)
* Companions of Noah's Ark
* Aṣḥāb al-Kahf war-Raqīm (Companions of the Cave and Al-Raqaim?
* Companions of the Elephant
* People of al-Ukhdūd
* People of a township in Surah Ya-Sin
* People of Yathrib or Medina
* Qawm Lūṭ (People of Sodom and Gomorrah)
* Nation of Noah

| Tribes,
ethnicities
or families|

* ‘Ajam
* Ar-Rūm (literally 'The Romans')
* Banī Isrāʾīl (Children of Israel)
* Muʾtafikāt (Sodom and Gomorrah)
* People of Ibrahim
* People of Ilyas
* People of Nuh
* People of Shuaib
* Ahl Madyan People of Madyan)
* Aṣḥāb al-Aykah ('Companions of the Wood')
* Qawm Yūnus (People of Jonah)
* Ya'juj and Ma'juj/Gog and Magog
* People of Fir'aun
* Current Ummah of Islam (Ummah of Muhammad)
* Aṣḥāb Muḥammad (Companions of Muhammad)
* Anṣār (literally 'Helpers')
* Muhajirun (Emigrants from Mecca to Medina)
* People of Mecca
* Wife of Abu Lahab
* Children of Ayyub
* Sons of Adam
* Wife of Nuh
* Wife of Lut
* Yaʾjūj wa Maʾjūj (Gog and Magog)
* Son of Nuh

Aʿrāb (Arabs
or Bedouins)|

* ʿĀd (people of Hud)
* Companions of the Rass
* Qawm Tubbaʿ (People of Tubba)
* People of Sabaʾ or Sheba
* Quraysh
* Thamūd (people of Ṣāliḥ)
* Aṣḥāb al-Ḥijr ('Companions of the Stoneland')

Ahl al-Bayt
('People of the
Household')|

* Household of Abraham
* Brothers of Yūsuf
* Lot's daughters
* Progeny of Imran
* Household of Moses
* Household of Muhammad
* ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim
* Daughters of Muhammad
* Muhammad's wives
* Household of Salih

Implicitly
mentioned|

* Amalek
* Ahl as-Suffa (People of the Verandah)
* Banu Nadir
* Banu Qaynuqa
* Banu Qurayza
* Iranian people
* Umayyad Dynasty
* Aus and Khazraj
* People of Quba

Religious
groups|

* Ahl al-Dhimmah
* Kāfirūn
* disbelievers
* Majūs Zoroastrians
* Munāfiqūn (Hypocrites)
* Muslims
* Believers
* Ahl al-Kitāb (People of the Book)
* Naṣārā (Christian(s) or People of the Injil)
* Ruhban (Christian monks)
* Qissis (Christian priest)
* Yahūd (Jews)
* Ahbār (Jewish scholars)
* Rabbani/Rabbi
* Sabians
* Polytheists
* Meccan polytheists at the time of Muhammad
* Mesopotamian polytheists at the time of Abraham and Lot

Locations

Mentioned|

* Al-Arḍ Al-Muqaddasah ('The Holy Land')
* 'Blessed' Land'
* Al-Jannah (Paradise, literally 'The Garden')
* Jahannam (Hell)
* Door of Hittah
* Madyan (Midian)
* Majmaʿ al-Baḥrayn
* Miṣr (Mainland Egypt)
* Salsabīl (A river in Paradise)

| In the
Arabian Peninsula
(excluding Madyan)|

* Al-Aḥqāf ('The Sandy Plains,' or 'the Wind-curved Sand-hills')
* Iram dhāt al-ʿImād (Iram of the Pillars)
* Al-Madīnah (formerly Yathrib)
* ʿArafāt and Al-Mashʿar Al-Ḥarām
* Al-Ḥijr (Hegra)
* Badr
* Ḥunayn
* Makkah (Mecca)
* Bakkah
* Ḥaraman Āminan ('Sanctuary (which is) Secure')
* Kaʿbah (Kaaba)
* Maqām Ibrāhīm (Station of Abraham)
* Safa and Marwa
* Sabaʾ (Sheba)
* ʿArim Sabaʾ (Dam of Sheba)
* Rass

|

Sinai Region
or Tīh Desert|

* Al-Wād Al-Muqaddas Ṭuwan (The Holy Valley of Tuwa)
* Al-Wādil-Ayman (The valley on the 'righthand' side of the Valley of Tuwa and Mount Sinai)
* Al-Buqʿah Al-Mubārakah ('The Blessed Place')
* Mount Sinai or Mount Tabor

In Mesopotamia|

* Al-Jūdiyy
* Munzalanm-Mubārakan ('Place-of-Landing Blessed')
* Bābil (Babylon)
* Qaryat Yūnus ('Township of Jonah,' that is Nineveh)

Religious
locations|

* Bayʿa (Church)
* Miḥrāb
* Monastery
* Masjid (Mosque, literally 'Place of Prostration')
* Al-Mashʿar Al-Ḥarām ('The Sacred Grove')
* Al-Masjid Al-Aqṣā (Al-Aqsa, literally 'The Farthest Place-of-Prostration')
* Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām (The Sacred Mosque of Mecca)
* Masjid al-Dirar
* A Mosque in the area of Medina, possibly:
* Masjid Qubāʾ (Quba Mosque)
* The Prophet's Mosque
* Salat (Synagogue)

Implied|

* Antioch
* Antakya
* Arabia
* Al-Ḥijāz (literally 'The Barrier')
* Al-Ḥajar al-Aswad (Black Stone) & Al-Hijr of Isma'il
* Cave of Hira
* Ghār ath-Thawr (Cave of the Bull)
* Hudaybiyyah
* Ta'if
* Ayla
* Barrier of Dhul-Qarnayn
* Bayt al-Muqaddas & 'Ariha
* Bilād ar-Rāfidayn (Mesopotamia)
* Canaan
* Cave of Seven Sleepers
* Dār an-Nadwa
* Jordan River
* Nile River
* Palestine River
* Paradise of Shaddad

Events, incidents, occasions or times

* Incident of Ifk
* Laylat al-Qadr (Night of Decree)
* Event of Mubahala
* Sayl al-ʿArim (Flood of the Great Dam of Ma'rib in Sheba)
* The Farewell Pilgrimage
* Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

| Battles or
military expeditions|

* Battle of al-Aḥzāb ('the Confederates')
* Battle of Badr
* Battle of Hunayn
* Battle of Khaybar
* Battle of Uhud
* Expedition of Tabuk
* Conquest of Mecca

|

Days|

* Al-Jumuʿah (The Friday)
* As-Sabt (The Sabbath or Saturday)
* Days of battles
* Days of Hajj
* Doomsday

Months of the
Islamic calendar|

* 12 months: Four holy months
* Ash-Shahr Al-Ḥarām (The Sacred or Forbidden Month)
* Ramaḍān

Pilgrimages|

* Al-Ḥajj (literally 'The Pilgrimage', the Greater Pilgrimage)
* Al-ʿUmrah (The Lesser Pilgrimage)

Times for prayer
or remembrance|

Times for Duʿāʾ ('Invocation'), Ṣalāh and Dhikr ('Remembrance', including Taḥmīd ('Praising'), Takbīr and Tasbīḥ):

* Al-ʿAshiyy (The Afternoon or the Night)
* Al-Ghuduww ('The Mornings')
* Al-Bukrah ('The Morning')
* Aṣ-Ṣabāḥ ('The Morning')
* Al-Layl ('The Night')
* Al-ʿIshāʾ ('The Late-Night')
* Aẓ-Ẓuhr ('The Noon')
* Dulūk ash-Shams ('Decline of the Sun')
* Al-Masāʾ ('The Evening')
* Qabl al-Ghurūb ('Before the Setting (of the Sun)')
* Al-Aṣīl ('The Afternoon')
* Al-ʿAṣr ('The Afternoon')
* Qabl ṭulūʿ ash-Shams ('Before the rising of the Sun')
* Al-Fajr ('The Dawn')

Implied|

* Ghadir Khumm
* Laylat al-Mabit
* First Pilgrimage

Other

Holy books|

* Al-Injīl (The Gospel of Jesus)
* Al-Qurʾān (The Book of Muhammad)
* Ṣuḥuf-i Ibrāhīm (Scroll(s) of Abraham)
* At-Tawrāt (The Torah)
* Ṣuḥuf-i-Mūsā (Scroll(s) of Moses)
* Tablets of Stone
* Az-Zabūr (The Psalms of David)
* Umm al-Kitāb ('Mother of the Book(s)')

Objects
of people
or beings|

* Heavenly food of Jesus' apostles
* Noah's Ark
* Staff of Musa
* Tābūt as-Sakīnah (Casket of Shekhinah)
* Throne of Bilqis
* Trumpet of Israfil

| Mentioned idols
(cult images)|

* 'Ansāb
* Jibt and Ṭāghūt (False god)

| Of Israelites|

* Baʿal
* The ʿijl (golden calf statue) of Israelites

|

Of Noah's people|

* Nasr
* Suwāʿ
* Wadd
* Yaghūth
* Yaʿūq

Of Quraysh|

* Al-Lāt
* Al-ʿUzzā
* Manāt

Celestial
bodies|

Maṣābīḥ (literally 'lamps'):

* Al-Qamar (The Moon)
* Kawākib (Planets)
* Al-Arḍ (The Earth)
* Nujūm (Stars)
* Ash-Shams (The Sun)

Plant matter|

* Baṣal (Onion)
* Fūm (Garlic or wheat)
* Shaṭʾ (Shoot)
* Sūq (Plant stem)
* Zarʿ (Seed)

| Fruits|

* ʿAdas (Lentil)
* Baql (Herb)
* Qith-thāʾ (Cucumber)
* Rummān (Pomegranate)
* Tīn (Fig)
* Zaytūn (Olive)
* In Paradise
* Forbidden fruit of Adam

|

Bushes, trees
or plants|

* Plants of Sheba
* Athl (Tamarisk)
* Sidr (Lote-tree)
* Līnah (Tender Palm tree)
* Nakhl (Date palm)
* Sidrat al-Muntahā
* Zaqqūm

Liquids|

* Māʾ (Water or fluid)
* Nahr (River)
* Yamm (River or sea)
* Sharāb (Drink)

Note: Names are sorted alphabetically. Standard form: Islamic name / Biblical name (title or relationship)

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST

National|

* Germany
* United States

Other|

* İslâm Ansiklopedisi
* Yale LUX

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