1. The wife of the believer in this world will be his wife in the Hereafter if she is righteous.

When the believer enters Paradise, if his wife is righteous, she will be his wife in Paradise too. Allah (swt) said: “Gardens of ‘And, which they shall enter and also those who act righteously from among their fathers, and their wives, and their offspring.” (Qur’an: 13:23).

2. A woman who was married more than once will be with the last of her husband. In ‘Taareekh ar-Raqqah’, Abu Ali al-Harrani reported from Maymoon ibn Mahran that: “Mu’aawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (ra) proposed to umm ad-Darda’ to marry him, but she refused, saying, ‘I heard Abu ad-Darda say that the Messenger of Allah (saw) said: ‘A woman will be with the last of her husbands.’” For this reason Allah (swt), forbade the wives of the Prophet to remarry after his death, because they will be his wives in the Hereafter.

3. Allah (swt) will marry the believers in Paradise to beautiful women who were not their wives in this world, as Allah, the All-Merciful, said: “So, and We shall marry them to Houris (female fair ones) with wide, lovely eyes.” (Qur’an: 44: 54)

Al-Hoor is the plural of hoora’, which is a woman the white parts of her eyes are intensely white and the black part is intensely black. Al-‘Iyn is the plural of ‘ayna’. The ‘ayna’ is used for the woman whose eyes are wide. The Qur’an describes Al-Hoor al-‘Iyn as being full-breasted. Allah (swt) said: “Verily, for the Muttaqoon, there will be a success (Paradise); gardens and grape-yards, and young full-breasted (mature) maiden of equal age.” (Qur’an 78: 31-33)

Al-Hoor al-‘Iyn are creatures that Allah (swt) has made especially for Paradise, and has made them virgins. Allah (swt) said:” Verily, We have created (their companions) of special creation, and made them virgin-pure, beloved, equal in age.” (Qur’an 56: 35-37). The fact that they are virgins means that no one has ever married them before. Allah (swt) said:” Whom no man or jinn has touched before them.” (Qur’an 55: 56)

The Qur’an also speaks of the beauty of the women of Paradise: “And there will be Houris (fair females) with wide, lovely eyes (as wives for the pious), like unto preserved pearls.” (Qur’an 56: 22-23)

Preserved means hidden or protected, something whose colour is not changed by exposure to sunlight, or by being tampered with. Elsewhere the Qur’an likens them to rubies and coral: “In them will be (maidens) restraining their glances, whom no man or jinn has touched before them. Then which of the favours of your Lord will you both (the jinn and man) deny? Like unto rubies and coral.” ( Qur’an 55: 56-58)

Rubies and coral are two beautiful precious stones. Al-Hoor are also described as restraining their gaze upon their husbands, i.e. they restrict their gaze and don’t let their eyes wander to others. Allah, the All-Merciful, All High, has stated that Al-Hoor al-Iyn are very beautiful, and it is sufficient to know that this has been described by Allah (swt): “In them will be fair (companions) good and beautiful; then which of the favours of your Lord will you both deny? Companions restrained (as to their glances), in goodly pavilions.” (Qur’an 55: 70-72)

The women of Paradise are not like the women of this world. They are free from menstruation, postnatal bleeding, spittle, mucus, urine and stool. This is what referred to in the verse: “And they shall have therein purified mates of wives (having no menses stools, urine, etc), and they shall abide therein forever,” (Qur’an 2: 25)

Look at this beauty that the Prophet (saw) described! Can you find any comparison to it in the world that you know? The Prophet said: “If one of the women of Paradise were to look at the people of this world everything in between them would be lit up and filled with her fragrance. The veil on her head is better than this world and everything in it.” (Bukhari)

The smallest number of wives that any one man will have in Paradise is two. It is reported by Tirmidhi that the Shaheed (martyr) will have seventy wives from among Al-Hoor al-Iyn.

The Prophet (saw) told us that Al-Hoor al-Iyn in Paradise sing with sweet, beautiful and captivating voices: “The wives of the people of Paradise will sing to their husbands in the most beautiful voices that anyone has ever heard. What they will sing is: ‘We are good and beautiful, the wives of a noble people, who look at their husbands content and happy.’ And they will sing: ‘We are eternal and will never die, we are safe and will never fear, we are remaining here and will never go away.’”