of any worker among you to be lost whether male or female, the one of you being from the other” (3:195).
The wives of the righteous are mentioned particularly as accompanying their husbands in Paradise: “They and their wives are in shades, reclining on raised couches” (36:56). “Our Lord! Make them enter the Gardens of perpetuity, which Thou hast promised them and such of their fathers and their wives and their offspring as are good” (40:8). “Enter the garden, you and your wives; being made happy” (43:70).
Among the various descriptions of women in Paradise is the word ḥūr, which occurs four times in the Holy Qur’ān. It is a plural of aḥwar (applied to a man) and of ḥaurā’ (applied to a woman), signifying one having eyes characterized by the quality termed ḥawar (LL.)27 Purity is the prevailing idea in the meaning of ḥawar, and therefore hawārī,28 which is derived from the same root, means a pure and sincere friend. Hence “pure ones” is the nearest rendering of the word ḥūr, in English The four occasions on which the women of Paradise are spoken of as ḥūr are: “Those who keep their duty are indeed in a secure place, in gardens and springs … and We shall join them to pure (ḥūr), beautiful ones” (44:51-54). “The dutiful will be surely in Gardens and bliss … Reclining on thrones set in lines, and We will join them to pure (ḥūr), beautiful ones” (52:17-20). “Therein (i.e., in the gardens) are goodly beautiful ones … Pure ones (ḥūr) confined to pavilions” (55:70-72). “And the foremost are the foremost, these are drawn nigh (to Allāh). In Gardens of bliss … On thrones inwrought … and pure (ḥūr), beautiful ones, the likes of hidden pearls: a reward for what they did” (56:10-24).
Are ḥūr the women that go to Paradise, the wives of the righteous? A hint to this effect is given in a ḥadīth. The last of the occasions on which the ḥūr are spoken of is 56:10-24, and in continuation of the subject there occur the words: “Surely We have created them a new creation, so We have made them virgins, loving, equals in age, for those on the right hand” (56:35-38). In connection with their being a (new) creation, the Holy Prophet is reported to have said that, by
27 Ḥawar means originally whiteness (which is a symbol of purity), and the word ḥaurā, is applied to a woman who is of a white colour and whose white of the eye is intensely white and the black thereof intensely black (LA). Aḥwar, besides being applied to a man of a similar description, also signifies pure or clear intellect (LL.).
28 In the Holy Qur’ān this word has been particularly applied to the chosen disciples of Jesus, but in Ḥadīth it is used in a general sense in connection with the chosen friends of any holy prophet.