Kawaiba

[wanderer]

That is what Joseph stated in his article.

[wanderer]

So does anyone have a response to my other inquiries?

[Duster]

So does anyone have a response to my other inquiries?

Badgering others for a response again are we Wanderer???..

Read the forum policy!!!!
 

(d)    Please avoid attempting to badger any members into responding especially if they have concluded parting with their perspectives on a matter.
 
(e)    Any form of 'trolling' will be curtailed and the repeated offender banned.

Stop badgering others for a response!!!!!.....》》》

[Nura]

Salam wanderer

why does translating 'kawaiba' as a female entity bother u? How does it bother u? U just said it does but what about this upsets u exactly? If u could elaborate maybe I could give u an answer u might find acceptable.

The point made in the article was that we as in humans, both males and females will be created a new creation. We are not informed in the Quran whether we will have physiological gender representation i.e a male or female body in afterlife. It is said we will have companions.

The companions may not be human, there is an allusion to the fact that the companions of the right hand might not have been humans or were sent to Earth and tested. But we will be able to enjoy the company of humans who were righteous on Earth. But we, humans, won't remain humans in afterlife, we will be a new creation.

Not a lot is said about life in the hereafter because it does not serve much purpose or have much effect on the lives we lead on earth. Allah just uses similitudes to inform us that we will have food and companionship in hereafter. We r not informed about the nature of companionship between dwellers of heaven in detail. We simply do not know what purpose heavenly companions will have in afterlife.

Now, I am not sure whether u r familiar with the concept of intersex/hermaphrodite human beings. They are humans who are not physically a full human male or a full human female. Not much is said about them in the Quran. But they represent the diversity in Allah's creation on Earth. Who is to say we will have two, three genders in afterlife? Or maybe no gender at all? The answer again is we are not informed about these things

The article also mentions that the sun in Arabic, 'shams' is a masculine word and 'qamar' the moon, is feminine. But that does not mean the sun is male and moon is female! Every language has its own rules, and unfortunately the arabic language does not have gender neutral words! Allah talks about Himself in the Quran as a HE, but we are informed, Allah does not have a gender. There are many places in the Quran where we are given examples of living and non-living things and either feminine or masculine words are  used to talk about them, but they might not have genders in reality.

So, eventhough the verses u mentioned make use of feminine and masculine words to describe heavenly companions, the companions may not really be male or female in nature. And even if they do have genders, what purpose the genders will serve in afterlife , we r not informed.

I would also like to request u to be patient, because most of us have other obligations but we take out some time from our real lives whenever we can to help each other out. Sometimes, it is going to take a while to get an answer from us because maybe we are researching them for you, or maybe we do not want to mislead u with a quick answer which might be not well researched. None of us claim to have all the answers, sometimes we wait patiently for Br. Joseph's input, and mostly we do not post in those threads, we wait for him or someone who has knowledge to answer at their convenience, the person who is answering our queries is actually doing us a favor, teaching us, and we never rush our teachers in real life now do we?

[wanderer]

Thank you for your detailed response Nura. I am very sorry if I appeared to be pressuring people  for answers, for that was not my intention! I am merely an eager researcher, looking for answers. I agree that there will be no genders in Heaven, its just thatin his article, Joseph appears to contradict this, saying that there will be male and female entities in heaven (i.e, the kawaiba), which confused me. Hopefully, he will see this thread soon and explain this to all of us.
Regards,
wanderer 

[Nura]

Salam wanderer,

Br. Joseph actually said in the article that the words may have masculine or feminine annotations, but those words are best translated as 'splendid companions'. There is a notes section at the end of the article and he clarified it there.  He actually said that most translators translate kawaiba as a female entity, and they ' might not be wrong' . The point is the companions may have genders or genderless , nobody knows for sure! Just because a feminine or masculine word is used, it does not mean that the subject is a male or female in nature

  " despite the popular understanding of the word ‘Kawaiba’ as a reference to youthful women, it should also to be noted that the root – ‘K-AYN-BA’ has an underlying connotation of prominence, splendour, something which is physically prominent, of nobility, glory or anything elevated. It is also a reference to a square chamber or building. What will come as a surprise to many is that the same root is used in the word ‘KABAH’ in the Masjid Haram, the Holy sanctuary. Hence, some commentators continue to render ‘Kawaib’ as ‘splendid companions’ or ‘companions’. However, given the general usage and feminine plural noun of the word, there is support that this may be a reference to a female entity."

[wanderer]

I just checked, and in the article he says that he believes the term 'kawaiba', is most likely a reference to a "female entity"

[Nura]

He says most likely, which means it is not a sure thing! Nobody knows for sure whether they will have gender or will be genderless, Br. Joseph makes this very clear. Throughout the article he cites multiple verses where he says eventhough the word is masculine or feminine, it might just mean splendid companions. All Arabic words are either feminine or masculine, even non living things are given feminine or masculine  name. There is no concept of gender neutral 'it' in Arabic.

[wanderer]

Yes, I know, but the fact is he believes that it is in fact a reference to a woman, which is what I am confused about. And also young men are also specifically mentioned in a verse.

[Nura]

Ok let's for the sake of argument, we say the companions will be males or females ( may Allah forgive me for saying sth I don't know for sure) what is the problem? No Where in the Quran does Allah say we will have gender or we won't have gender! We are not informed about the physical characteristics of the new being we will become. Br. Joseph never said we will not have genders ( physical) in the hereafter. He said nafs, the human soul seems to not have a gender, but our nafs inhabit our earthly bodies. I have a female body but that does not mean my nafs is female! The soul and the physical body that houses it does not both have to have a gender. Gender is a physiological manifestation of ur genetic makeup. The soul may not have a gender, not that our bodies don't or won't in the future. The point is, if we make it to heaven, we will have appropriate companions, whose companionship we can enjoy! It will be a new world, with new rules! Btw the Quran says we existed prior to the life we have here, so we existed in some form, but we r not told much about the existence we had, similarly because it does not help us in our test here, and we clearly do not remember anything about our previous existence. But we did exist, the Quran talks about two deaths, there are some posts in the forum about it. Pls search for them for more info. 

As far as the companions being male or female, they might be! But God will pair us with appropriate companion(s) ( we are not informed how many companions we each will have) . But if u r specifically asking whether being male or female and having an opposite gender companion will mean there will be marriage like relationship like we have on Earth, with our heavenly companions, we do not know. Whether we will procreate, or procreation will be a possibilty? We do not know! What companionship means exactly, we do not know. We r not told about the rules of interaction betwen the inhabitants of heaven/hell and those who accompany them there.

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam Wanderer,

I think it is not good that you and Duster are having a 'spat' on the forum. I will side with Duster regarding you regularly prompting other members to respond to your query.

I feel that Nura has answered your question in full and with clarity. She even quoted  some paragraphs in the article written by Joseph. Please note again this particular sentence:

Hence, some commentators continue to render ‘Kawaib’ as ‘splendid companions’ or ‘companions’. However, given the general usage and feminine plural noun of the word, there is support that this may be a reference to a female entity."

It says may so you are incorrect when you stated earlier:

I just checked, and in the article he says that he believes the term 'kawaiba', is most likely a reference to a "female entity"

We will be made into a new creation entirely and we could be assigned genders or not or both!

[wanderer]

Thank you for your responses. However, one thing Nura said bothered me. It was my belief that activities like procreation will most definitely not occur in the Hereafter according to the Quran, and we (men and women) will merely have 'companionship' with the other beings. However, Nura seems to be saying it is a possibility.
Also, I don't understand why everyone is ganging up on me here. I just want answers! Is that too much to ask?
P.S. Truth Seeker, I was not incorrect in what I said, joseph stated quite clearly that there is an allusion to a female entity in heaven, although he is not 100% sure.
Regards
wandereer

[wanderer]

Ok guys, I looked back at my past comments, and I see how I could have appeared impatient. It is just that at this point in my life, I am very confused as to matters of faith, and am hungry for answers. My apologies
Regards
wanderer

[Nura]

Wanderer

It seems you find it difficult to understand or accept answers to ur queries which are not a simple yes/no. I did not say there will be procreation, I said it is not known whether there will be procreation or not.
And why does it bother u so much? I said there might/might not be a possibility. I did not know what exactly u wanted to know about the nature of the companionship between dewellers of heaven. What makes u so sure there won't be procreation? What Quranic evidence do u have to support ur belief? Why is it whenever we say things with Quranic evidence about concepts/queries, u find it unacceptable because they don't prove ur preconceived notions about afterlife or any other topic to be true?
What is it u find difficult to accept when the questions u ask are answered in a Quranic silence? I do not understand whether u do not understand that there are things we r not told in the Quran because Allah chose not to inform us or u do not simply want to accept a non-committal answer that of the Quran is silent on the matter!

People on this forum will not give u a yes/no answer when there is a Quranic silence on the matter. It doesn't matter how many times u badger us, we will not speculate. Br. Jospeph's article did not conclusively promote or deny the existence or non-existence of gender among heavenly companions. We do not know whether we r going to have a gender or we are not going to have a gender, same is the case with our companions, hurs, kawaiba whatever u want to call them.

Btw nobody is ganging up on u! I did not comment on the spat u were having with Duster and did not take any sides initially. But it does seem Duster was onto something, age does matter because clearly u r finding it difficult to grasp the concepts we are telling u or u r simply dissmissing them when our answers are not reinforcing ur preconcieved notions about Quran related topics.

[deleted]

Peace. This is for all of us:
 وَاصْبِرُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ
(from 8:46)