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What prompted me to write this was that, some time ago, a jurist asked me on behalf of the women of his household: “Will believing women see Allah in the Hereafter?”

I answered with what came to mind at the time: that the apparent meaning of the evidence is that they will see Him. I mentioned that Abū Bakr had narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās that they would see Him on the Eids; that the hadiths concerning seeing Allah encompass all believers, men and women alike, as do the scholars’ statements; and that the reasoning underlying the matter supports this, according to my examination of the evidence. I also mentioned other points that do not come to mind at present.

It had occurred to me, concerning the report from Ibn ʿAbbās, that the reason for this was that the regular, communal occasions of “seeing Allah” in the Hereafter correspond to the regular congregational prayers. Since men have been prescribed to gather every Friday in this world to remember Allah, converse intimately with Him, behold Him with their hearts, and delight in meeting Him in prayer, He has appointed for them a gathering every Friday in the Hereafter to converse intimately with Him, behold Him directly, and enjoy meeting Him.

Likewise, since the established Sunnah directs women to go out for Eid—even young maidens and menstruating women—and believing women generally used to go out for Eid during the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, their Eid of seeing Allah in the Hereafter was made to correspond to their Eid in this world.