walled circles around a conical mountain, one within the other and one above the other from its foot to the summit, the circles are one over the other and look to one another, but do not prevent any of the others seeing the sun. There are also various narrations of Hadiths indicating that the way the Paradises are situated is close to this.

Question

QUESTION: It is said in Hadiths: “Although the houris are clothed in seventy garments, the marrow of their leg-bones may be seen.” [^4] What does this mean? What sort of meaning can it have? What sort of beauty is this?

[^4]:Muslim, Janna, 14, 17; Tirmidhī, Qiyāma, 60; Janna, 5; Dārimī, Riqāq, 71; Musnad, ii, 345; iii, 16.

THE ANSWER: Its meaning is truly beautiful and its beauty is most lovely. It is like this: in this world, which is ugly, inanimate, lifeless, and for the most part just a husk, beauty and loveliness only appear beautiful to the eye, and so long as familiarity is not an obstacle, that is sufficient. Whereas in Paradise, which is beautiful, living, brilliant, and entirely the essence without the husk and the kernel without the shell, all the human senses and subtle faculties will want to receive their different pleasures and various delights from the houris, the gentle sex, and from the women of this world, who will be like houris and even more beautiful, the same as the eye. That is to say, the Hadith indicates that from the beauty of their top garments to the marrow of their bones, each layer will be a source of pleasure for a sense and a subtle faculty. Yes, by saying, “The houris wear seventy garments and the marrow of their leg-bones can be seen,” the Hadith points out that however many senses, feeling, powers, and faculties human beings possess which are enamoured of beauty, worship pleasure, are captivated by ornament, and yearn for loveliness, the houris comprise all of them – every sort of adornment and exquisite loveliness, physical and spiritual and immaterial, which will please and satisfy all of them, and gratify them and make them all happy.

That is to say, just as the houris are clothed in seventy of the varieties of Paradisiacal adornment, and not one sort, none of which conceal the others; so they display beauty and loveliness perhaps seventy times greater than their own bodies and beings, all of different sorts and varieties. They demonstrate the truth indicated by the verse:

There will be there all that the souls could desire and all that the eyes could delight in.(43:71)

There is also a Hadith that states that since in Paradise there are no unnecessary, extraneous, waste matters, the people of Paradise will not excrete