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Will Women Outnumber Men In Hell?
The following Hadīth is often presented to support the view that women will outnumber men in Hell:
عَنْ أَبِي سَعِيدٍ الْخُدْرِيِّ قَالَ خَرَجَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فِي أَضْحَى أَوْ فِطْرٍ إِلَى الْمُصَلَّى فَمَرَّ عَلَى النِّسَاءِ فَقَالَ يَا مَعْشَرَ النِّسَاءِ تَصَدَّقْنَ فَإِنِّي أُرِيتُكُنَّ أَكْثَرَ أَهْلِ النَّارِ فَقُلْنَ وَبِمَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ تُكْثِرْنَ اللَّعْنَ وَتَكْفُرْنَ الْعَشِيرَ
Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrīreported: “Allah’s Messenger (sws) went out to the place of prayer on the day of id al-adha or fitr. So he passed by [a group of] women and said to them: ‘O Women! Give charity for I have been shown the majority amongst you as the inmates of Hell.’ They said: ‘Allah’s Messenger, wherefore?’ He said: ‘It is because you curse one another very much and show ungratefulness to your husbands.’”
This inference is incorrect and has arisen by not properly appreciating a particular style of communication used in certain Ahādīth which depict dreams of the Prophet (sws). Such dreams are a source of revelation for the prophets of Allah, and in them they are shown certain images by the Almighty for the purpose of educating the believers. As a principle, all such dreams are not to be interpreted literally; they contain realities which are depicted in symbolic form.
Symbolic representation is a very subtle and powerful way of expression: Facts seem veiled, yet for him who pauses to ponder they are the most evident. They move a person in the manner poetry does. They ignite in a person the spark to look behind the apparent. They urge him to reflect and to meditate and then to discover and to infer. They educate him without rousing his prejudices. The prophets of Allah (sws) have effectively employed this technique of communication. The words and discourses of the Prophets Joseph (sws) and Jesus (sws) for example are full of powerful parables and subtle symbolism. The dream of the Prophet Joseph (sws) and the way he interpreted it is mentioned in the Quran also. If he saw in his dream that the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing before him in prostration, he knew that these heavenly bodies symbolized certain personalities.
The Ahadith which depict more women in Hell should also be interpreted keeping in view this basic principle. These Ahadith do not delineate the population of women in Hell since this would be a literal interpretation; on the contrary, they just caution them that there are certain deeds which they do a lot and which, therefore, could be more instrumental in taking them to Hell; so they should avoid them. In other words, the symbolism is causative in nature. In the above quoted Hadith, the cause has been symbolized to warn women of something which they often do.
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12 Replies
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Will Women Outnumber Men In Hell?
updated 4 years, 4 months ago
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So, Prophet said that women are ungrateful to their husbands and they curse one another very much .. so they should improve this behavior else it could be instrumental in taking them to hell ..
AFAIK, more husbands are ungrateful to their wives and cheat outside, and also men curse each other and abuse each other, and women more than what women do..
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Interestingly, Prophet also commented on their lack of intelligence and lack of religion as well.. strange observation from the messenger of God.
“The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) went out to the musalla (prayer place) on the day of Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Fitr. He passed by the women and said, ‘O women! Give charity, for I have seen that you form the majority of the people of Hell.’ They asked, ‘Why is that, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘You curse frequently and are ungrateful to your husbands. I have not seen anyone more deficient in intelligence and religious commitment than you. A cautious sensible man could be led astray by some of you.’ The women asked, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is deficient in our intelligence and religious commitment?’ He said, ‘Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Is it not true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her religious commitment.’”
(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 304)
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Ghamidi saab is saying that companion of the Prophet inserted his own opinion as Prophet’s word .. is it not a crime ?
He said, ‘Is not the testimony of two women equal to the testimony of one man?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her intelligence. Is it not true that a woman can neither pray nor fast during her menses?’ The women said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘This is the deficiency in her religious commitment.’”
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Please see this to understand what is hadith and how to properly understand and and interpret it.
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I am just presenting Prophet’s quote verbatim.. Ghamidi saab said .. prophet never said something like that, and one companion inserted his own opinion there..
I don’t understand how is it possible.. isn’t it a crime to attribute something to Prophet which he didn’t say ?
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Sameer sahab this discussion is not about hadeeth.
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Yes, but I am not discussing the concept of Hadith, I am quoting direct verbatim words of Prophet.. which he said here.. Ghamidi saab is denying Prophet said anything like that.. but it seems there is confusion.
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That confusion occurs due to misconceptions in understanding the nature of corpus of of hadith. Your questions “how is it possible” and “isn’t it a crime” are questions about understanding the knowledge of hadith. Please see the discussion about hadith at the link I posted above. If you still have any questions on the topic, please don’t hesitate to start another discussion.
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Faisal Bhai,
Can you please in short answer the following questions:
1. Did Prophet say the quote I mentioned above in the hadith ? If yes, why is Ghamidi saab denying it ?
2. If Prophet did not say that, is it attributed to him falsely ? Who attributed a wrong quote to him first time?
These questions have nothing to do with concepts of Hadith, or if some knowledgeable person can analyse this hadith and comment on all the aspects of it ?
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Would appreciate if someone can help answer these questions.
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The question has everything to do with understanding what hadith is, how and why prophet SAW bears no responsibility for what the narrators narrated, reasons why not understanding narrations could lead to wrong conclusions, and what principles we can use to best understand these narrations.
Please go through that material on the hadith link I shared above, and if you still have questions please post in hadith discussions or start a new one.
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