Hadith and the Idea of Women Majority in Hell

format_quote Originally Posted by 'Abdullah

Christians & Jews often use a Hadith to malign Islam that women are not given equal rights and are condemn to remain in the hell fire. While they lie they try to make some issue out of the following Hadith.



The very first thing that is a must to be kept in mind when going through the Islamic Sources is that you cannot pick up a verse or a Hadith, take it in isolation from the rest of Islamic rubric and run to races with it. This is an intellectual & moral crime and a means of deceiving oneself and others. Indeed one has to consider all the various hadiths pertaining to an issue one way or the other, consider the context of each of them and then draw some conclusion. Unfortunately most of the Christian & Jewish readers of Quran and Hadith fail on this account.

Now clearly we see that at the time this was said, Holy Prophet – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was not actually dwelling on the point if men or women will form the majority in the Hell and Paradise, he was only asking women to mend their ways and was pointing to a common problem in the attitude of the women. This was his duty being Al-Nazir (the Warner).
One needs to understand that women do not go to hell for being women. The Hadith does not say they go to hell for being women, it actually points out to a wrong behavior on women’s part.

The real misunderstanding comes with the notion that women outnumber men in hell because of their womanhood. This is indeed wrong, there is nothing like that in the Hadith, not even in the least. Secondly, most probably either men or women will be more in the hell. It’s very difficult that they number exactly the same. Whoever will do more wrong deeds will be punished for that. It’s about deeds not gender and that’s where people take a wrong turn and are lead astray.

In fact there is another Hadith which tells us that there will be more women in the Paradise then the men. It is recorded in Sahih Muslim.


Ibn Kathir commenting on this Hadith said:
The same is mentioned by Hafiz Zainuddin al-Iraqi.
Hafiz al-Ayni has also mentioned that it refers to the women of this world.
Ibn Hajr while discussing the issue says:

This brings us to the next question - is there any contradiction between the two hadiths?

Let me first clarify another thing about the hadiths that say women were in majority in the Hell. There are hadiths that contain the words ‘I was shown the Hell-fire’ and we know from other hadiths that Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was shown the Hell-Fire on his journey during the miraculous Night of Ascension. So we can easily conclude that hadiths indicating women being in majority in the hell refer to the time when the Holy Prophet actually saw it and they do not mention if same is the case even now.

There is a narration that seemingly contradicts the above.



But this narration does not mean women will always form the majority in the hell. Zainuddin Muhammad al-Manawi explained this Hadith saying:
Hafiz Ibn Hajr and Hafiz al-‘Ayni have explained it the same way.

We also ought to keep in mind that women today outnumber men. Even if more males are born, their mortality rate is higher then female babies and we learn in Hadith that near the End of Times women will outnumber men greatly so if equal ratio of men and women goes to hell and the paradise even then it is quite possible that women remain in majority in both.

Let me make clear another point that the Hadith does not ask woman to bear with her husband even when he is wrong and refrain from complaining. No, this is not the case as we know that there is complete Surah (chapter) in the Quran i.e. Surah Mujadila (No. 58) which is about a woman who came to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) to complain against her husband and the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not say that she was going to hell for complaining and in fact he listened to her and Allah also revealed verses addressing the issue and condemning the unacceptable behavior of the husband.

Thus the conclusion is that Holy Prophet –may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- stated only what he had seen during his Miraculous Journey which is not bound to remain the same for ever. And that women will be fewer in the Paradise only initially and eventually women will form the majority in the Paradise as more and more of the people are taken out of Hell and admitted into Paradise. Other traditions plainly establish that in the Paradise women will be much larger in number compared to men. And the particular tradition that Christians/Jews dwell upon only asks women not to complain and be ungrateful to their husbands without reason.

And Allah knows the best!

But you also missed out another point. Let us say for argument sake (and this is argument sake and nothing more and the case scenario I am putting is not true and will not happen) that the majority of women who commit the crime other than abusing their husbands or been bad of character are of destructive crime. Again for argument sake, let us say the majority of women left fold of Islam and became Atheist, Christians, Jewish or even feminist (since feminist is a religion in itself and must be announced so people know the truth) and nothing can be done to bring them back to Islam and they died a disbeliever. Let us say that number in percentage is destructively high we throw a number as say 70% to be dramatic (again all this is false and will not happen, Insha'Allah). Still then, the majority of paradise are women. You ask yourself, how could that be? Will simple put. Right now there is not a single human being in paradise. Nope. Not one yet. Not man, not woman (at least not human woman). However, right now as I am breathing and typing this text message paradise is filled with more men and women combined and those women are called "Hoor Al-Eain" and do not forget they have servant woman too so already by default even IF only men entered paradise there are more women than men BY ENORMOUS amount in paradise as it is. So then you ask yourself the question if already paradise are filled with women before even human women enter it what would then be the amount of women in paradise when human women enter it after leaving hellfire?

In paradise it is impossible to have equal number of men and women in paradise and it is impossible in paradise for men to outnumber women because Allah did not decreed it that way. Allah (Subhanau Wa Talaa) designed paradise by default (before even creating human and paradise) to have women in enormous number before putting human being in it and he created it so that there will be more women than men in it.

Does that mean men will not have fun and communicate with other brothers and always have female energy in paradise, nope not at all. He will have fun with his brothers and do all male bounding there and also get to meet and talk with the prophets too...but he will have lots of female companions for pleasure in paradise. Think of it that way, if one man can have seventy wives if he died a marter then you should know that there have to be more women than men? Even if there are equal number of men and women in paradise, Allah promised seventy wives so he will create seventy wives for the men who died in the cause of Allah which will eventually make more women than men.


So I think this whole concept of men vs women in paradise and hellfire is irrelevant. What I want to post here is what have YOU, the man, what have YOU the woman done to be with the people of paradise and not the people of eternal hellfire. What do I care if all the men end up in paradise and I end up in hellfire? Do I go and say with a smile in my face at least the men are in paradise even though I am in hellfire therefore I am happy? NO! THAT IS stupid....I want us to focus outside the globe of women vs men mentality..something that is very much a tool of the shaitaan used against us and actually focus on ourselves first before focusing on helping others and not because that person is my gender the other person is my enemy because of been opposing gender.

Allah did not create the male and female to be enemies of each other, instead we are garments of each other and we are each other's opposing wings. For women to think if all men are destroyed they will be successful and happy think again. Destroying men is destroying women and same the other way around.

I do hope the sisters who read this ahadith change their ways and do a march with other sisters to help other sisters change their waves before it is too late instead of joining this false religion called feminist.

Personally, I pray all Muslim men and women enter paradise and not die disbeliever including myself. Let us all hold hands brothers and sisters and help each other achieve the goal of success, the goal of paradise.

format_quote Originally Posted by 'Abdullah

Christians & Jews often use a Hadith to malign Islam that women are not given equal rights and are condemn to remain in the hell fire. While they lie they try to make some issue out of the following Hadith.



The very first thing that is a must to be kept in mind when going through the Islamic Sources is that you cannot pick up a verse or a Hadith, take it in isolation from the rest of Islamic rubric and run to races with it. This is an intellectual & moral crime and a means of deceiving oneself and others. Indeed one has to consider all the various hadiths pertaining to an issue one way or the other, consider the context of each of them and then draw some conclusion. Unfortunately most of the Christian & Jewish readers of Quran and Hadith fail on this account.

Now clearly we see that at the time this was said, Holy Prophet – peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- was not actually dwelling on the point if men or women will form the majority in the Hell and Paradise, he was only asking women to mend their ways and was pointing to a common problem in the attitude of the women. This was his duty being Al-Nazir (the Warner).
One needs to understand that women do not go to hell for being women. The Hadith does not say they go to hell for being women, it actually points out to a wrong behavior on women’s part.

The real misunderstanding comes with the notion that women outnumber men in hell because of their womanhood. This is indeed wrong, there is nothing like that in the Hadith, not even in the least. Secondly, most probably either men or women will be more in the hell. It’s very difficult that they number exactly the same. Whoever will do more wrong deeds will be punished for that. It’s about deeds not gender and that’s where people take a wrong turn and are lead astray.

In fact there is another Hadith which tells us that there will be more women in the Paradise then the men. It is recorded in Sahih Muslim.


Ibn Kathir commenting on this Hadith said:
The same is mentioned by Hafiz Zainuddin al-Iraqi.
Hafiz al-Ayni has also mentioned that it refers to the women of this world.
Ibn Hajr while discussing the issue says:

This brings us to the next question - is there any contradiction between the two hadiths?

Let me first clarify another thing about the hadiths that say women were in majority in the Hell. There are hadiths that contain the words ‘I was shown the Hell-fire’ and we know from other hadiths that Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) was shown the Hell-Fire on his journey during the miraculous Night of Ascension. So we can easily conclude that hadiths indicating women being in majority in the hell refer to the time when the Holy Prophet actually saw it and they do not mention if same is the case even now.

There is a narration that seemingly contradicts the above.



But this narration does not mean women will always form the majority in the hell. Zainuddin Muhammad al-Manawi explained this Hadith saying:
Hafiz Ibn Hajr and Hafiz al-‘Ayni have explained it the same way.

We also ought to keep in mind that women today outnumber men. Even if more males are born, their mortality rate is higher then female babies and we learn in Hadith that near the End of Times women will outnumber men greatly so if equal ratio of men and women goes to hell and the paradise even then it is quite possible that women remain in majority in both.

Let me make clear another point that the Hadith does not ask woman to bear with her husband even when he is wrong and refrain from complaining. No, this is not the case as we know that there is complete Surah (chapter) in the Quran i.e. Surah Mujadila (No. 58) which is about a woman who came to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) to complain against her husband and the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not say that she was going to hell for complaining and in fact he listened to her and Allah also revealed verses addressing the issue and condemning the unacceptable behavior of the husband.

Thus the conclusion is that Holy Prophet –may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him- stated only what he had seen during his Miraculous Journey which is not bound to remain the same for ever. And that women will be fewer in the Paradise only initially and eventually women will form the majority in the Paradise as more and more of the people are taken out of Hell and admitted into Paradise. Other traditions plainly establish that in the Paradise women will be much larger in number compared to men. And the particular tradition that Christians/Jews dwell upon only asks women not to complain and be ungrateful to their husbands without reason.

And Allah knows the best!

No no. Actually only the Christians do that and not the Jews, because personally I don't see any Jew that does what you say, the only people whom I see doung that are only Christians.

This hadith simply means that the reason women enter Hellfire is because of their polytheism and adultery. And they are in large those women who do that(e.g. open polytheism and atheism) more than men, because the devils play with their minds and he twist their minds horribly and make them do polytheism and atheism and openly as well. That is the reason more women enter Hellfire than men. But also men do enter Hellfire but their number is not greater just as the number of women are.

format_quote Originally Posted by Nitro Zeus

No no. Actually only the Christians do that and not the Jews, because personally I don't see any Jew that does what you say, the only people whom I see doung that are only Christians.

This hadith simply means that the reason women enter Hellfire is because of their polytheism and adultery. And they are in large those women who do that(e.g. open polytheism and atheism) more than men, because the devils play with their minds and he twist their minds horribly and make them do polytheism and atheism and openly as well. That is the reason more women enter Hellfire than men. But also men do enter Hellfire but their number is not greater just as the number of women are.

Did you even read the entire post?

@xboxisdead
I agree that it is about deeds not gender and May Allah help us to get into jannah and help us focus on doing right deeds instead of focusing on other non important issues such as who will have majority in jannah ( men or women)? The main reason for this thread to answer critics of hadiths and hoping this thread will help some non Muslims who are looking into Islam.

I also want to clarify that al-hoor al-iyn are the creation of Allah as a reward in Paradise - they are not the women of this world. With regard to the differences between the women of this world and al-hoor al-‘iyn in Paradise, in terms of status and beauty, the scholars differed concerning this issue and there are two views. Some of them said that al-hoor al-‘iyn are superior, and some of them said that the women of this world are superior. There are hadeeths and reports concerning that, but none of them are saheeh; if there were any saheeh reports, that would definitively settle the dispute on this matter.

What appears to be the case – and Allah knows best – is that the situation of the believing woman in Paradise will be superior to that of al-hoor al-‘iyn, and she will be higher in status and more beautiful. If a righteous woman from among the people of this world enters Paradise, she will enter it as a reward for righteous deeds and as an honour to her from Allah for her religious commitment and righteousness. As for the hoori, who is one of the delights of Paradise, she was only created in Paradise for the sake of someone else, and she is made as a reward for the believer for his righteous deeds. There is a great difference between the one who enters Paradise as a reward for her righteous deeds and the one who was created to be a reward for the man who does righteous deeds. The former is like a queen with power and authority, whereas the latter – no matter how great her status and beauty – is of a lesser status than a queen; she is subject to her master, the believer for whom Allah created her as a reward.

See: Tafseer al-Qurtubi (16/154); at-Tadhkirah fi Ahwaal al-Mawtaa wa Umoor al-Aakhirah (3/985)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Do the descriptions of al-hoor al-‘iyn also include the women of this world?

He replied:

What appears to be to be the case is that the women of this world will be better than al-hoor al-‘iyn, even in terms of outward appearance.

And Allah knows best!

format_quote Originally Posted by 'Abdullah

@xboxisdead
I agree that it is about deeds not gender and May Allah help us to get into jannah and help us focus on doing right deeds instead of focusing on other non important issues such as who will have majority in jannah ( men or women)? The main reason for this thread to answer critics of hadiths and hoping this thread will help some non Muslims who are looking into Islam.

I also want to clarify that al-hoor al-iyn are the creation of Allah as a reward in Paradise - they are not the women of this world. With regard to the differences between the women of this world and al-hoor al-‘iyn in Paradise, in terms of status and beauty, the scholars differed concerning this issue and there are two views. Some of them said that al-hoor al-‘iyn are superior, and some of them said that the women of this world are superior. There are hadeeths and reports concerning that, but none of them are saheeh; if there were any saheeh reports, that would definitively settle the dispute on this matter.

What appears to be the case – and Allah knows best – is that the situation of the believing woman in Paradise will be superior to that of al-hoor al-‘iyn, and she will be higher in status and more beautiful. If a righteous woman from among the people of this world enters Paradise, she will enter it as a reward for righteous deeds and as an honour to her from Allah for her religious commitment and righteousness. As for the hoori, who is one of the delights of Paradise, she was only created in Paradise for the sake of someone else, and she is made as a reward for the believer for his righteous deeds. There is a great difference between the one who enters Paradise as a reward for her righteous deeds and the one who was created to be a reward for the man who does righteous deeds. The former is like a queen with power and authority, whereas the latter – no matter how great her status and beauty – is of a lesser status than a queen; she is subject to her master, the believer for whom Allah created her as a reward.

See: Tafseer al-Qurtubi (16/154); at-Tadhkirah fi Ahwaal al-Mawtaa wa Umoor al-Aakhirah (3/985)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: Do the descriptions of al-hoor al-‘iyn also include the women of this world?

He replied:
And Allah knows best!

Yes, but that applies to the women Allah described in Qura'an. Loud, rude, mistreat their husband, family member, do fasaat, go outside without hijaab,object at every page of Qura'an, go gender war, do haraam things, not pray or pray little...and still end up superior over Al-Hoor Alayn? NO! You got it wrong. You need to explain to the sisters what they need to do to be superior over Al-Hoor Alayn and not just because they are Muslim female. Otherwise, they can just disbelieve in Allah period and still be superior and we all know that is not true. Just because you are born female you get ticket to be superior? I doubt it. Just because you are female and Muslim you are superior by default without working hard to achieve it? That means a Muslim woman can go out naked, be the most abusive person, most evil person on Earth and even commit murder and just because she is born female and Muslim she is superior over Al-Hoor Al-iyn. What incentive for a person to even work hard and be good. Fasaat will be top of the mountain and unjust will be the hallmark. Brothers need to clear things better before pasting quote here and there.