Paradise see Allah Most High,” and explains by this His words,

“For those who do good is the best reward and more,”

through to His words,

“Those are the people of Paradise; they will abide therein forever,”

he thereby informs us that the people of Paradise will receive the “more,” which is gazing upon Him. We know that righteous women are among the people and inhabitants of Paradise, and that they outnumber men. Suppose he then tells us, for example, that men, but not women, will see Him on Friday, and also tells us that only the highest-ranking inhabitants of Paradise will see Him twice each day; and we suppose that women never see Him under any circumstances—not twice each day, nor on Friday, nor on any other occasion whatsoever.

Anyone who examines this discussion knows that there is no disagreement among scholars—or indeed among rational people—that this does not establish the denial of the vision altogether, nor does it restrict that general wording or qualify that unqualified statement. I have repeated the discussion only because the point has been disputed. It should not be thought that we have discussed it at length because it is obscure, but rather because it has been rejected despite its clarity.

You may express “this answer” in several ways.

You may say: “The hadiths affirming the vision” establish, without qualification, that both men and women will see Him. Denying a qualified instance does not negate the unqualified statement. The unqualified statement therefore remains unnegated, and what it entails may not be denied.

Or you may say: “The hadiths affirming the vision” encompass both men and women, whereas “the hadiths denying it” deny women what is known to be granted to men, or the vision on occasions when it is established to occur; or they deny women the vision on the two occasions on which people have been told it will occur. But this is a negation applying to a particular circumstance. It addresses neither occasion beyond those two, whether by denial or affirmation; and what is denied in that particular case does not contradict the general statement.