Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Abd al-Samad al-Jawzajani informed us; Abu al-Qasim Ali ibn Ahmad al-Khuza'i informed us from al-Haytham ibn Kulayb al-Shashi; Abu Isa al-Tirmidhi informed us; Abd ibn Humayd informed us; Mus'ab ibn al-Miqdam informed us; al-Mubarak ibn Fudalah informed us from al-Hasan, who said:
An old woman came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and said, “O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to admit me into Paradise.” He said, “O mother of so-and-so, no old woman will enter Paradise.” She turned away weeping, so he said, “Tell her that she will not enter it as an old woman. Indeed, Allah Most High says: ‘Indeed, We have brought them into being anew, and made them virgins.’” (1)
Abu Sa'id Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Shurayhi informed us; Abu Ishaq Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Tha'labi informed us; Abu Muhammad Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Khatib informed us; Abu Sa'id Amr ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur informed us; Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn Sulayman ibn al-Harith al-Wasiti informed us in Baghdad; Khallad ibn Yahya ibn Safwan al-Sulami informed us; Sufyan al-Thawri related to us from Yazid ibn Aban, from Anas ibn Malik, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, regarding His saying, “Indeed, We have brought them into being anew.” He said: “They are old women who, in this world, had been bleary-eyed and rheumy; then He made them virgins.” (2)
Al-Musayyab ibn Sharik said: They are the old women of this world, whom Allah Most High brought into being in a new creation. Whenever their husbands come to them, they find them virgins. (3)
Al-Musayyab also related from others that they have been favored over the hur al-'in, the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise, because of their prayers in this world. (4)
Muqatil and others said: They are the hur al-'in, whom Allah brought into being without their having undergone birth. Thus, We made them virgins—maidens—and there is no pain.
“Loving companions, equal in age” (37).
Regarding “loving companions,” Hamzah, Isma'il from Nafi', and Abu Bakr recited it as 'urban, with the raa' unvocalized; the rest recited it with a dammah.