The number of Houris each man has in Paradise
Fatwa No: 287017

Question

Salam aleykoum wa rahmatullah, I would like to know about catogories from the hoors is there 3 kinds or 2 kinds? does servant means ''walidans'' young boys ?1''...emerald will be openedfor him in which there are 70 doors. In each door therewill be wives, cushions, and servants. ...''2''Abu Sai'd narrates that RasUlulah said, "Theperson who will be in the lowest level of Jannat willhave 80,000 servants and 72 wives. ...''3''In every jewel there will bethrones, wives, and female slaves. The lowest wife fromamongst his wives will be a hur with large and lovelyeyes. ...''source of 1, 2, 3 :http://www.islamicbulletin.org/free_downloads/women/maidens.pdf''Ibn Abi Awfa said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace: “Every man from the People of Paradise shall be married off to four thousand virgins, eight thousand slave-girls, and one hundred wide-eyed maidens of Paradise. They shall all meet him within every seven days. ...’”(Abu al-Shaykh in al-`Azama and al-Bayhaqi in al-Ba`th wal-Nushur)''''Abu Sa`id al-Khudri said, Allah be well-pleased with him: The Messenger of Allah said, upon him blessings and peace: “The humblest of the People of Paradise shall have eighty thousand servants and seventy-two wives. ...''both : http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Authenticity_of_72_Virgins_Hadith

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

After investigation, we have not come across an Islamic text or a statement of the scholars which highlights the types of Houris. There is no doubt that the matters of the Hereafter are matters of the unseen which can only be derived from Islamic texts. As regards the Ahaadeeth which you mentioned in the question, the types of Houris are not clarified in them and they are not defined as being two or three types.

It is established in the authentic Sunnah that each man in Paradise will have two wives and however many Houris Allaah wills. Some marry seventy Houris and Allaah will give some more than seventy. Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “The first group to enter Paradise, their faces will be like the full moon; they do not spit nor blow their noses nor defecate therein. Each one of them has two wives; their marrow can be seen through their flesh from their beauty. There will be neither disagreement nor hatred among them. Their hearts are like the heart of a single man, and they glorify Allaah there morning and evening.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Ad-Daarimi reported with an authentic chain of narrators that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “There is no man in Paradise without two wives, the marrow of their shanks seen glimmering under seventy garments. In all Paradise there is not a single unmarried man.

Al-‘Iraaqi said in his book Tarh At-Tathreeb: “With other narrations, it becomes clear that an inhabitant of Paradise has at least two women of this world, and at least seventy Houris.” [End of quote]

As regards the Hadeeth which reads: “The least of the people of Paradise will have eighty thousand servants, and seventy-two wives…”, Ahmad and At-Tirmithi presented it and Al-Albaani and Al-Arna’oot declared it weak.

With regard to the Hadeeth which reads: “A door of emerald will be opened for him in which there are seventy doors. In each door there will be wives, cushions, and servants…”, it was narrated by Is-haaq ibn Raahawayh, and Al-Busayri said about it in It-haaf Al-Khiyrah Al-Maharah, and Ibn Hajar in Al-Mataalib Al-‘Aaliyah Bi-Zawaa’id Al-Masaaneed Ath-Thamaaniyah, that its chain of narrators is authentic.

In his Fat-h Al-Baari, Ibn Hajar declared the following Hadeeth weak: “Every man from the People of Paradise will be married to four thousand virgins and eight thousand  non-virgin women.” He said: “His saying, each one of them will have two wives, i.e. from among the women of this world … and the best thing I came across in this regard is what Abu Ash-Shaykh reported in Al-‘Athamah and Al-Bayhaqi in Al-Ba'th from a report by ‘Abdullaah ibn Abi Awfa that the Prophet said that a man from the people of Paradise will marry five hundred Houris, or that he will go around to four thousand virgins and eight thousand  non-virgin women – but in its chain of narration, there is a narrator who was not named – and At-Tabaraani reported from a report from Ibn ‘Abbaas that a man from the people of Paradise will go around to one hundred virgins. Ibn Al-Qayyim said, In the authentic Ahaadeeth, there is no mention of more than two wives with the exception of a report from Abu Moosa that in Paradise a believer will have a tent of pearl where he has wives and he goes around to them. I say, Adh-Dhiyaa’ declared the last Hadeeth Saheeh (sound).” [End of quote]

Concerning the boys who go around the believers in Paradise to serve them, as in the words of Allaah (which mean): {There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. When you see them, you would think them [as beautiful as] scattered pearls} [Quran 76:19] and {There will circulate among them [servant] boys [especially] for them, as if they were pearls well-protected} [Quran 52:24] and {There will circulate among them young boys made eternal. With vessels, pitchers and a cup [of wine] from a flowing spring – No headache will they have therefrom, nor will they be intoxicated – And fruit of what they select. And the meat of fowl, from whatever they desire} [Quran 56:17-21] Ibn al-Qayyim said in Haadi Al-Arwaah ila Bilaad Al-Afraah: “The young boys are boys whom Allaah created to serve the people of Paradise.

Allaah Knows best.

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