I looked into Paradise and found that the majority of its people are the poor, and I looked into the Fire and found that the majority of its people are women

I looked into Paradise and found that the majority of its people are the poor, and I looked into the Fire and found that the majority of its people are women

Ibn ‘Abbās and ‘Imrān ibn al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I looked into Paradise and found that the majority of its people are the poor, and I looked into the Fire and found that the majority of its people are women.”

[Authentic hadith] [Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim]

Explanation

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) relates that he had a look into Paradise and found that the majority of its people are the poor, because they do not have the means to commit transgression, so they are submissive and humble. One thoughtful and deep look into the verses of the Qur'an would reveal that those who deny the messengers are the prestigious and wealthy people, as opposed to the weak who follow the messengers, and hence they constituted the majority of the people of Paradise. The Hadīth by no means implies that each single poor individual is better than each single wealthy person. It rather denotes that the poor, in general, are more in Paradise than the wealthy. It is not poverty that caused them to enter Paradise, despite the fact that it made their reckoning easier. Instead, it was their righteousness along with poverty. The poor is not at all better than the wealthy if he is not righteous in the first place. Furthermore, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) relates that he also saw Hellfire and found that the majority of its inhabitants are women, because they have some bad habits that dominate their demeanor like being ungrateful to their husbands besides the fact that they curse a lot. Therefore, it is imperative that they preserve their religion to be saved from Hellfire.

Categories

Descriptions of Paradise and Hell