al-Ṣaffāt

وَعِندَهُمْ قَاصِرَاتُ الطَّرْفِ عِينٌ

كَأَنَّهُنَّ بَيْضٌ مَكْنُونٌ

48. “And with them will be chaste women; restraining their glances,”

49. “As if they were (as white as) eggs (secured) hidden.”

Among the characteristics of the women in Paradise is that they restrain their eyes from other than their husbands. The women in Paradise are not only beautiful and charming, but also chaste and covered. And finally, in the sixth stage, the Qur’an points to the chaste women in Paradise, who do not make love to anyone save their husbands, and do not look at anybody except them. They have beautiful large eyes. It says:

The Arabic word /tarf/ originally means eyelids, and since at the time of looking the eyelids move, this word ironically refers to the act of looking. Thus, the Qur’anic phrase /qasirat-ut-tarf/ means the women who have a short glance; and in commenting it, there have been delivered different numerous probabilities of meaning which, at the meanwhile, can be gathered with together. The first meaning is that: they look only at their husbands, and restraining their eyes from anything, they look at them alone.

The second meaning is that: this application canonically shows that they make love only to their husbands, and except their love, they have no other love in their hearts. This is one of the greatest privileges of a wife that she does not think of anyone but her husband and makes love to none but to him. The Arabic word /‘iyn/ is the plural form of /‘iyna’/ in the sense of ‘a large-eyed woman’. The next verse explains these very women in Paradise in another form of statement, and introduces their chastity and the sanctity of their bodies as follow:

Indicating that: from the point of intense of purity, delicacy, whiteness, and serenity, their bodies are like some eggs that neither the hand of a man has touched, nor has any dust covered them, but they have been as if covered and hidden under the wing and feather of a hen. The Arabic word /bayd/ is the plural form of /baydah/ with the sense of ‘egg’, (the egg of any bird); and the term /maknun/ is derived from /kin/ in the sense of ‘covered’. This resemblance of the Qur’an will exactly be made clear when a person sees closely the egg of a hen at the time when it separates from the hen and no man’s hand has still touched it and it is under the wing and feather of the hen. At this time, it has a wonderful transparency and pleasantness.

Some commentators have taken the Qur’anic term /maknun/ in the sense of the content of an egg which is concealed under the egg-shell and, in fact, the above resemblance refers to the time when the egg has been cooked and its shell has been entirely separated. In that state, besides its whiteness and its brightness, it has a special delicacy and smoothness. However, the Qur’anic meanings in stating the facts are so deep and comprehensive that in a short and tender expression it conveys a lot of matters with a particular delicacy.