encompass both men and women. The meaning is also general: a person follows what he worshipped because he worshipped it in this world, and this reason applies to both groups.

Then there is his statement, “This nation will remain, including its hypocrites.” Women belong to this nation, both its believing women and its hypocritical women. The words, “When He comes, we shall recognize Him,” together with his statement, “He will then come to them in His form which they recognize and say, ‘I am your Lord.’ They will say, ‘You are our Lord.’ Then He will call them,” explain what we mentioned at the beginning of the hadith: that they will see their Lord as they see the sun and the moon.

It has been established that the pronoun in his statement, “He will then come to them in His form which they recognize and say, ‘I am your Lord.’ They will say, ‘You are our Lord,’” refers back to the nation, which includes men and women; to those who worshipped Him, which includes men and women; and to the people other than the polytheists, which encompasses men and women. This is too clear to require further explanation.

Then his statement in the hadith of Abū Saʿīd, “They will then raise their heads, and He will have taken the form in which they saw Him the first time,” explicitly establishes that the women among those who prostrate and raise their heads have seen Him at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. Concerning those who prostrate, he said, “Everyone who used to prostrate to Allah of his own accord will be permitted by Allah to prostrate.” The word “whoever” encompasses both men and women. Thus, everyone who has prostrated sincerely to Allah, whether man or woman, will have prostrated to Allah and seen Him on these three occasions.

This is not the place to explain matters relating to the repeated prostration, the change of form, or other matters one might seek to understand. Our purpose here is simply to establish the point we set out to address. Both hadiths also tell of their crossing the Bridge and of some people falling into the Fire