سورة الرحمن

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Halabi says: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the saying of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: فِیهِنَّ خَیْراتٌ حِسانٌ [In them are goodly things, beautiful ones]. He said: "These are the good, believing, gnostic women." I said: "Who are meant by حُورٌ مَقْصُوراتٌ فِی الْخِیامِ [Houris confined in pavilions]?" He said: "What is meant are the houris who are constantly kept behind veils, within tents of pearl, ruby and coral. Each tent has four doors, and at every door are seventy full-breasted maidens as guardians for them; and each day, by the honour of Allah — mighty is His remembrance — [gifts] come to them, so that Allah the Mighty and Majestic may give the believers glad tidings through them."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Husayn ibn A'yan, brother of Malik ibn A'yan, says: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "When a person says to another, 'May Allah reward you with khayr,' what is meant by khayr?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "Khayr is the name of a river in Paradise whose source is al-Kawthar, and al-Kawthar issues from the leg of the Throne. Upon that river are built the dwellings of the awsiya (successors) and their Shia, and on both banks of this river grow maidens: whenever one of them is plucked, another grows in her place, and they are named after the name of that river [Khayr]. This is the meaning of the verse: فِیهِنَّ خَیْراتٌ حِسانٌ [In them are goodly things, beautiful ones]. And what the speaker means by 'jazak Allahu khayran' are those very dwellings which Allah has prepared for His chosen and righteous servants."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): فِیهِنَّ خَیْراتٌ حِسانٌ [In them are goodly things, beautiful ones] — they are houris who grow on the bank of the river al-Kawthar; whenever one of them is taken, another grows in her place.

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): فِیهِنَّ خَیْراتٌ حِسانٌ [In them are goodly things, beautiful ones] — meaning, they are of good character and beautiful of face.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): الْخَیْرَاتُ الْحِسَانُ [the goodly beautiful ones] are from the women of this world, who are more beautiful than the houris.