Hūr al-‘Ayn in the Quran - Is Whiteness the Islamic Standard of Beauty?

During the Jahiliyyah period, it is known that the term “hūri”, used in the idhafah of hur al-ayn, is a word attributed to the Arab (Jahla) woman.
It originated from the word “hawrā’”, which signified

the contrast of the darkness of the iris to the whites of the eye.
The “hūri” was one with “clear complexion and skin”, who was admired by the by the Marsh Arabs due to her “cleanliness”. It does not necessarily mean “whiteness”. During the Makkan period, after the establishment

of Islam in Madinah with a sufficient number of believers, we see (when reading the Qur’an chronologically), the Qur’an ~never~ uses this term again to depict the companions of Paradise. In fact, they use the term “azwāj” therefore itself displaying the limitations of that term.

This divergence from the term “hūr al-‘ayn” allows us to deduce that there is no singular illustration of beauty and that particular possibilities of Jannah were presented in the Qur’an in order to provide an incentive to the Jahiliyya Arabs.

Furthermore, in Lisān al-Arab, we read the following—1
“إذا قالت العرب فلان أبيض، وفلانة بيضاء، فالمعنى نقاء العرض من الدنس والعيوب لا يريدون به بياض اللون... وإذا قالوا: فلان أبيض الوجه، وفلانة بيضاء الوجه، أرادوا نقاء اللون من الكلف والسواد الشائن”

“If the Arabs say someone is white, they mean that the complexion is free from defects and pure, they do not mean ‘white’ as in the colour. And if they said a man or a woman has a white face, they mean the colour is pure from blemish and/or darkness”.

In Bihār al-‘Anwar, it says;- 2
ج٨ ص ١٩١– "كل شئ من الدنيا سماعه أعظم من عيانه، وكل شئ من الآخرة عيانه أعظم من سماعه. وفي الوحي القديم: أعددت لعبادي ما لا عين رأت، ولا اذن سمعت، ولا خطر بقلب بشر.”

v. 8, p. 191;- “Everything from this world is better to hear than to see and everything in the akhira is better to see than to hear. And in the old Revelation: I prepared for my servants what no eyes have looked upon, no ears have heard, and no danger in the heart of humanity.”

From this we can conclude that whatever we may read about the rewards of Paradise are merely symbols extracted from our limited sensory experiences in this world. The beauty of hūr al-‘ayn will be nothing like we have ever witnessed so to imply they’re just “white” is a

reductionist perspective on the rather profound (and incomprehensible) beauties of the Hereafter.

In Tafsir Nur al-Thaqalayn, it says;- Volume 4, Page 172

قال رسول الله (ص): "[...] ان في الجنة نهرا حافتاه الابكار من كل بيضاء"

Prophet Muhammad (sawa): “In Heaven, the women will be every shade of white.”

In this Tafsir, it is apparent the sheer variety of “shades” which begs the question as to, how can there be multiple shades of the same colour? Clearly here, “بيضاء" is meant to mean something other than an explicit definition of “white” and rather, similar to the root word

of “بيض" (meaning egg), which as we all know, comes in numerous colours. Therefore, the women of the Hereafter will be every shade from white to (dark) brown, the same as eggs are.

In the Seerah of al-Dhahabi;- 3
ج٢، ص ١٦٨
“الحجاز: هي البيضاء بشقرة، وهذا نادر فيهم، [...] ثم ومن إن العرب إذا قالت: فلان أبيض، فإنهم يريدون الحنطي اللون بحلية سوداء، فإن كان في لون أهل الهند، قالوا: أسمر وآدم، وإن كان في سواد التكرور، قالوا: أسود، وكذا كل من غلب عليه السواد."

Al-Hijaz: “She is white with blonde hair, and that is rare for them [...] Then, if the Arabs say: ‘someone white’ they mean they want tanned with a black adornment. If it was with the colour of the Indians; they said: “tanned and brown” and it was with the repetition of blackness

They said: ‘black, and those who were surpassed typical blackness.’”
(Volume 2, Page 168)

This offers and alternative explanation towards the use of “ابيض" in ahadith to glorify whiteness. It connotes the idea that, what is rare to the people, will be more attractive to them as it is more “unattainable”. In addition, when the Arabs say “someone white”, they typically

mean tanned and brown (as many Arabs were dark skin at the time, and “ابيض" could have meant white ~in comparison~ to the majority). This use of the term “ابيض" contrasts the the idea of whiteness we are accustomed to and is specific to that particular context within Arabia.

And if the People of Colour (such as the Indians) used the term “tanned”, they mean exceptionally black. Here we begin to understand that the definitions of descriptive language/adjectives isn’t singular and actually is very comparative & contextual to the specific person.

In Tafsir al-Mizan, the following riwayah is found:- 5
ج٣، ص ٢١٧
في العيون عن الرضا عليه‌ السلام: ”أنه سئل لم سمي الحواريون الحواريين ؟ قال : أما عند الناس فإنهم سموا حواريين لأنهم كانوا قصارين يخلصون الثياب من الوسخ بالغسل ، وهو اسم مشتق من الخبز الحوار."

He (a.s.) said: ‘With the people, they were bleachers, and they were termed as the ‘Al-Hawareen’ because they were bleachers who spared no effort in purifying their clothes from the dirt with the washing, and it is a name derived from the (white) bread of ‘Al-Hawaar’.

Here, a form of the root word “hūr” is used to describe purified apostles, implying that the “hūr al-‘ayn” are not white but rather, pure of sin and fassad, same as in the following riwayah found in Mustadrak Safeenat al-Bihar;-

ج٢، ص ٤٦٤

الكافي: “عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: إن حواري عيسى كانوا شيعته، وإن شيعتنا حواريونا”

Al Kafi: Abi Abdillah (as) said: The apostles of Jesus (a) were his Shi’ites, and that our Shi’ites are our apostles.” 1

Again, we see a form of the root word “hāwra’” being used in a context of positive attributes, where the “hawari” of Jesus were his Shi’ites i.e;- his loyal followers (who were purified from sin).

Additionally, in Arabic, the word for pale isn’t actually "مبيض" but rather “مصفر" (musfar), originating from the word “اصفر" (yellow).

Consequently, we can wholly establish that the hūr al-ayn are not esteemed due to their white colour but rather, their purity (from sin).