Question Summary:
1. Do women get rewarded for covering them selves and being modest. 2. Can a person say that there is not a 100% guarantee that each and every hadith is correct…

Question Detail:

Do women get rewarded for covering them selves and being modest. I always read and hear about men being rewarded in Jannah with houris for lowering their gazes but nothing about the rewards for women. As you may know in a time like today and living in the west it is sometimes difficult to go out wearing long loose clothes such as the jilbaab because not many people dress like this and they create impressions towards non-muslims that these muslim women must be oppressed. At educational institutions it is difficult to avoid talking to ghair mehrams at times. What are the rewards for a women  in Jannah for staying away from such deeds that are haram.
Can a person say that there is not a 100% guarantee that each and every hadith is correct because my friend says male Jurists put the hadiths together it is so likely they may have easily been influences by their masculine nature and may have included things they like and leave out things they done like. All humans make mistakes even Adam PBUH made a mistake from the beginning.
 For example no where in the Quran does it say that women wont have additional companions in heavan. The hadith only talk about men and exaggerate them with additional companions and sex. Also a scholar told me a houris is something that is pleasing to the eye and in the Quran there is no connotation of sex and houris. Also no where is it made clear in the Quran whether that Houris are not male.

Answer :

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In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Assalaamu `alaykum waRahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
 
1. As for your question “Do women get rewarded for covering themselves and being modest?”, consider the following verses of the Holy Quran:
 
Translation:
 
So their Lord accepted their prayer: That I will not waste the work of a worker among you, whether male or female (Quran 3:195)
 
If any do deeds of righteousness,- be they male or female - and have faith, they will enter Heaven, and not the least injustice will be done to them. (Quran 4:124)
 
Whoever does good whether male or female and he is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did. (Quran 16:97)
 
Whoever does an evil, he shall not be recompensed (with aught) but the like of it, and whoever does good, whether male or female, and he is a believer, these shall enter the garden, in which they shall be given sustenance without measure. (Quran 40:40)
 
Surely Allah does not do injustice to the weight of an atom, and if it is a good deed He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward. (Quran 4:40)
 
 
The gist of the verses above is that a believer – whether male or female -- who does acts of righteousness (including being modest and covering herself from ghair mahram men), will be recompensed in the following ways:
 

 
The above should dispel all doubts of whether a woman will be rewarded or not for observing modesty and the rules of hijaab -- if one considers these to be acts of righteousness (and of course they are acts of righteousness!).   Modesty and observing hijaab from ghair mahram men are a direct means of guarding ones chastity. Guarding ones chastity is something that is greatly desired and aimed by the Shariah. The Quran mentions that the reward of guarding ones chastity is forgiveness of sins and ‘a mighty reward’. What reward can be mightier than what Allah, the Almighty, Himself has called mighty! The verse in reference:
 
Translation:
 
Surely the men who submit to Allah and the women who submit to Allah, and the believing men and the believing women, and the obeying men and the obeying women, and the truthful men and the truthful women, and the patient men and the patient women and the humble men and the humble women, and the almsgiving men and the almsgiving women, and the fasting men and the fasting women, and the men who guard their private parts and the women who guard (their private parts), and the men who remember Allah much and the women who remember -- Allah has prepared for them forgiveness and a mighty reward. (Quran 33:35)
 
Now, imagine that if a Muslim woman will get such huge rewards for being modest and observing the laws of hijaab in normal circumstances i.e. when the environment is one of faith, piety, godliness and righteousness, and when the people generally are conscious of the consequences of ones deeds in the life hereafter; what mighty and huge rewards would there be in stock for a woman who practices these commands in a totally opposite environment, an environment of lewdness, promiscuity, materialism, godlessness and secularism where there is no concept of the life after death and, therefore, no fear of consequences of ones deeds. Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has said, “One who clings on to my sunnah during the time of corruption in my Ummah, will have the reward of a martyr.” (Al-Mu’jam Alawsat of Tabarani, hadith no. 5572).  And a martyr will enter paradise without any questions. If that is the reward of holding fast to the sunnah of Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) at a time of widespread corruption (like today), what will be the reward of holding fast to the compulsory acts of the Shariah!
 
It is true that nowadays in many countries not many women dress according to the dictates of the Shariah and some even laugh at Muslims who dress modestly; however, frequently remind yourself that our success and salvation does not lie in following what others do. Our success lies in pleasing our Creator by following His commandments. And in the life hereafter, it will be the believers who will laugh at the disbelievers. (Quran 83:34).
 
The others may think that the Muslim women are oppressed because they are dressed as they are; however, ask yourself “Am I oppressed? Or am I liberated, because I do not have to worry about what others think of my appearance and figure?” If Muslim women were oppressed then why do the Western women themselves, out of their own free will, choose to embrace Islam and cover themselves? Why do they out of their own free will decide to give up nudity, lewdness and immodesty and adopt the beautiful teachings of Islam? Before embracing Islam, they know many things about Islam including its dress code for women. Some study Islam in detail before embracing it. Why, then, do they proactively decide to give up the western lifestyle and adopt the beautiful teachings of Islam? The answer is simple: because they see enslavement and oppression in the western lifestyle and liberation in the teachings of Islam. Who can be a better judge of the situation than one who has seen and experienced both sides of the picture? This I wrote merely as a reply to present to those who criticise Islam’s dress code and its teachings of modesty; however, for a Muslim, knowing that it is a command of Allah, our Creator and Sustainer, should be sufficient.
 
Studying at an educational institute managed and run by people who are driven by secularism, atheism and materialism and who have no concept of life after death and who are guided merely by their intellect which is overcome and dominated by their whims and desires will undoubtedly present huge problems to one who wants to study therein and at the same time wants to be guided by the precepts of Islam. Instead of asking about the rewards of staying away from haraam acts in such an environment, I would be asking about the rewards of staying away from such an environment in the first place.
 
2. In regards to your question about the ahaadith (plural of hadith), your main concern seems to be the reliability and integrity of the muhadditheen (experts in hadith) who recorded the ahaadith. Your friend seems to have caused some doubt in you by suggesting that (na’uzubillah) the muhadditheen were self-centred and selfish people who only recorded ahaadith that were agreeable to them and that they left out things that they did not like. And because of this, your friend seems to suggest, they (the muhadditheen) left out (and did not record) ahaadith about women having companions in paradise just as men will have companions (the houris).
 
Firstly, I don’t know how much and to which depth your friend has studied Islam in general and the science of Hadith in particular, though, from the question it would seem that she does not even know the word for an expert in the field of hadith. A jurist is the translation of the Arabic word ‘Faqeeh’. A faqeeh is an expert in the field of jurisprudence (Fiqh), not hadith. A muhaddith is an expert in the field of hadith. Islam is not a simpleton’s religion. There are many sciences of knowledge of Shariah. The muhaditheen compile Ahadeeth while the Fuqaha (jurists) deduct rulings of Shariah from the Quran and Ahadeeth. The ulama (scholars) are the inheritors of the Prophets. It is through the ulama and their effort that the deen (religion) of Allah has reached us. Without their untiring effort we would be just in as much darkness as the rest of the world. Does your friend mean to say that the people that Allah Ta’ala chose as a means to pass on His deen down to us were so (na’uzobillah) low and immoral  so as to hide the truth merely for the sake of hiding the truth? What worldly or after-life benefit would this have brought to the muhadditheen that may have made them do this? Does she mean to say that (na’uzobillah) they were all hypocrites? It is utter nonsense. One should be extremely careful of what one utters about the scholars of deen as it could be extremely detrimental to ones iman (faith). How can a Muslim who believes in Allah and the last day denigrate someone that Allah has praised?
 
Translation:
 
Allah will exalt those of you who believe, and those who are given knowledge, in high degrees (Quran 58:11)
 
Say, `Are those who know equal to those who know not ?' Verily, only those endowed with understanding will take heed. (Quran 39:9)
 
Indeed, among His servants, those with knowledge are the ones who really fear Allah (Quran 35:28)
 
It seems as though your friend is a victim of the so called Ahl al-Quran movement who propagate the false notion that the ahaadith of Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) are unreliable and therefore must be rejected and that one must only rely on the Quran for guidance. Such a claim is utter nonsense because of one simple reason: without the ahaadith, the commands of the Quran become meaningless, ambiguous and unpractical. For example, the Quran tells us to offer salaat, give zakaat and to do Hajj etc. But without the ahaadith, one can never know how many rak’aats there are in each salaat, the kinds of postures there are in salaat, what to recite in which posture, the order of these postures and recitals and a countless number of other details. All these details are only to be found in the ahaadith. Same is the case with the details of zakaat, fasting, hajj etc. Hence, it follows that the Quran and ahaadith go hand in hand. Therefore, to say that the ahaadith are unreliable is tantamount to saying that the teachings of the Quran are meaningless, ambiguous and unpractical. Moreover, what would the following verse of the Quran mean if one were to reject the ahaadith:
 
Translation:
 
And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain from it. (Quran 59:7)
 
If your friend had studied the science of hadith and the life of the muhadditheen, she would have known that the level of taqwa and piety of the muhadditheen was such that we can not even imagine. For example, Imam Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) did not buy nor eat goat meat for 30 years after he learnt that a goat had been stolen from someone in his area for fear of eating the meat of the stolen goat. Imam Bukhari (may Allah be pleased with him) would do ghusl and offer nafl salaat before writing each hadith in his book. How many other virtues of these great men shall I enumerate? One only needs to read a book on their life to find out. How truly unlucky one has to be to bad mouth such great and illustrious men. In short, it is a great deviance from the straight path to reject the ahaadith altogether. And those who do so do it due to mere speculation based on their whims and desires and the trick of Satan.
 
As far as the classification of the ahaadith (into different categories based on the chain of narrators of the hadith and its text) is concerned, well that is a different issue altogether. And that in itself shows the beauty, intricacy, depth, uniqueness, accuracy and reliability of the science of hadith and the devotion, passion, integrity, sincerity and untiring effort of the muahadditheen.
 
As for the ‘mistake’ of Adam (Alaihis salaam) referred to in the query, it was not a sin – as all Prophets are protected from committing sins. It was, instead, an error based on misunderstanding or forgetfulness. (See Ma’ariful Quran vol. 1 pg. 179-181 for details).
 
In regards to the queries and speculations in your last paragraph about the Houris of paradise, the following verse of the Quran (along with notes that follow) should be sufficient to answer them:
 
Translation:
 
Thus, and We shall marry them to Houris (Quran 44:54)
 
Note:

 
And Allah Ta'ala Knows Best


Wassalaamu `alaykum


Ml. Faizal Riza
Correspondence Iftaa Student, Australia
 
Checked and Approved by:
 
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Darul Iftaa, Madrassah In'aamiyyah