حُورٌ مَّقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ
Key terms: حُورٌ · مَّقْصُورَاتٌ · الْخِيَامِ
Continues the description of the women described in the previous Ayah فِيهِنَّ خَيْرَاتٌ حِسَانٌ.
The singular is حُورة (Hoorah) or حُوراء (Hooraa’).
It refers to a woman characterized by حَوَر (Hawar): the intense contrast between the whiteness of the sclera and the blackness of the iris of the eye.
“Extremely black” could also refer to a deep and rich colour that is not necessarily black, as the Arabs described such colours by likening them to black.
Means “confined, restricted or secluded”.
These female companions are always ready and waiting for their spouses.
Plural of خَيْمَة (Khaimah): “tent or pavilion”.
Not like camping tents but rather places designed to be resided in — a dwelling of beauty and seclusion, not a simple Bedouin tent but a celestial pavilion.
There is a Hadith recorded in Al-Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Musa Al-Ash’ariy that describes the tent of the believer in Jannah and makes clear that it is nothing like the tents of the Dunya: The Prophet ﷺ said: Verily, the believer in Paradise will have a tent made of a single hollow pearl, sixty miles long. The believer will have families therein whom he will visit in turn, and they will not see one another.
Two complementary readings conveyed in the explanation:
Understood to mean they are confined in or restricted to the tents.
Ar-Razi comments how it implies that these female companions are ready, prepared and waiting for their spouses.
This is like other things in Jannah which come to the one being rewarded without him having to make any effort to seek or acquire, just like the food and drink comes to him without having to move.
مَّقْصُورَاتٌ is also understood as a stand‑alone description not attached to the tents.
Their hearts, eyes and persons have restricted themselves to pleasing their spouses.
According to that understanding they are not “secluded and confined to the tents” but rather “restricting themselves to their spouses in the tents”.
Women characterized by حَوَر — intense contrast of the eye.
Singular: حُورة / حُوراء.
“Confined, restricted or secluded”; always ready and waiting for their spouses.
Plural of خَيْمَة — pavilions designed as dwellings of beauty and seclusion.