to blackness, whereas others traced it to whiteness, or to whiteness set against blackness.

Hawar in the eyes is a quality composed of the beauty of their white and black parts, their harmonious proportions, and the beauty each gains from the other. An eye is called hawrā’ when its white is intensely white and its black intensely black. A woman, however, is not called hawrā’ unless her complexion is fair as well as her eyes possessing hawar.

‘Īn is the plural of ‘aynā’, meaning a woman with large eyes. A man with large eyes is called a‘yan, and a woman ‘aynā’; the plural is ‘īn. The correct view is that the ‘īn are women whose eyes combine all the qualities of beauty and charm. Muqātil said: “‘Īn means women with beautiful eyes.” Among a woman’s attractive features are wide, elongated eyes, whereas narrow eyes are considered a flaw.

44:54 “And We will pair them with fair maidens with large, beautiful eyes.”

Abū ‘Ubayda said: “We made them pairs, just as one sandal is paired with another: We made them two by two.” Yūnus said: “We joined them with these women; this does not refer to contracting a marriage.” He explained: “The Arabs do not say tazawwajtu bihā; rather, they say tazawwajtuhā (‘I married her’).” Ibn Nasr said: “That is so, and the revealed text supports what Yūnus said.”

This is Allah’s statement:

33:37 “So when Zayd had no further need of her, We married her to you.”

Had this followed the construction tazawwajtu bihā, He would have said zawwajnāka bihā (‘We married you to her’). Ibn Sallām said: “Tamīm says both tazawwajtu imra’atan and tazawwajtu bihā (‘I married a woman’ and ‘I married her’).” Al-Kisā’ī also reported this usage. Al-Azharī said: “The Arabs say zawwajtuhu imra’atan (‘I married him to a woman’) and tazawwajtu imra’atan (‘I married a woman’). They do not use the expression tazawwajtu bi-imra’atin.”

Allah’s statement, “And We will pair them with fair maidens with large, beautiful eyes,” thus means: “We joined them together.” Al-Farrā’ said: “This is a usage found among Azd Shanū’a.” Al-Wāhidī said: “Abū ‘Ubayda’s explanation here is better, because he understood tazwīj as making something one of a pair, not as contracting a marriage. In this sense, one may say: ‘It was single, so I paired it with another,’ just as one says: ‘I matched it with another.’ Those who disallow the preposition bi- disallow it only when the expression means contracting a marriage.”