Houri
In Islamic religious belief, houris are women who will accompany faithful Muslim believers in Paradise. 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. Etymology. In classical Arabic usage, the word "ḥūr" () is the plural of both "ʾaḥwar" () (masculine) and "ḥawrāʾ" () (feminine) which can be translated as "having eyes with an intense contrast of white and black". The word "houri" has entered several European languages from around the 17th and 18th centuries. Descriptions. The houris are mentioned in several passages of the  Quran, always in plural form. No specific number is ever given in the Quran for the number of houris accompanying each believer. Quranic description. In the tafsirs and commentaries on the Quran, Houris are described as: Meaning of the term "kawa'ib". Several translators—like Arberry, Palmer, Rodwell and Sale—have translated the noun "ka'ib" in Quran 78:33 as "with swelling breasts". Ibn Kathir, in his tafsir, writes that the word 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." 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." 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. Others, such as Abdullah Yusuf Ali, translate "ka'ib" as "companions", with Muhammad Asad interpreting the term as being allegorical. Hadith description. In the Hadith, Houris have been described as "transparent to the  marrow of their bones", "eternally young", "hairless except the eyebrows and the head", "pure" and "beautiful". Sunni hadith scholars also relate a number of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad in which the houris are mentioned. Reference to "72 virgins". The Sunni hadith scholar Tirmidhi quotes the prophet Muhammad as having said: However, others object that the narration granting all men seventy-two wives has a weak chain of narrators. Another hadith, also in "Jami at-Tirmidhi" and deemed "good and sound" ("hasan sahih") gives this reward specifically for the martyr: Sexual intercourse in Paradise. In the Quran, there is no  overt mention of sexual intercourse in Paradise. However, its existence has been reported in hadiths, tafsirs and Islamic commentaries. Quranic commentators. Sunni sources mention that like all men and women of Paradise, the houris do not experience urination, defecation or menstruation. Ibn Kathir states that jinn will have female jinn companions in Paradise. Gender and identity. It has traditionally been believed that the houris are beautiful women who are promised as a reward to believing men, with numerous "hadith" and Quranic exegetes describing them as such. 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. The Quran uses feminine as well as gender-neutral adjectives to describe houris, 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. 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. In "The Message of The Qur'an", Muhammad Asad describes the usage of the term "ḥūr" in the verses 44:54 & 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'." 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". Relation to earthly women. 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. 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")." 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." 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". 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. Symbolism. Muhammad Asad believes that the references to houris and other depictions of paradise should be taken to be allegorical rather than literal, citing the "impossibility of man's really 'imagining' paradise". In support of this view he quotes Quran verse 32:17 and a hadith found in Bukhari and Muslim. Shi'ite 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.