The Tidings
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[78:33]
and splendid companions well-matched,

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* v.33 : For the above rendering of atrāb, see sūrah 56, note 15. As regards my rendering of kawā‘ib as “splendid companions,” it is to be remembered that the term ka‘b – from which the participle kā‘ib is derived – has many meanings, and that one of these meanings is “prominence,” “eminence,” or “glory” (Lisān al-‘Arab); thus, the verb ka‘ba, when applied to a person, signifies “he made [another person] prominent,” “glorious,” or “splendid” (ibid.) Based on this tropical meaning of both the verb ka‘ba and the noun ka‘b, the participle kā‘ib has often been used, in popular parlance, to denote “a girl whose breasts are becoming prominent” or “are budding”: hence, many commentators see in it an allusion to some sort of youthful “female companions” who would entertain the (presumably male) inmates of paradise. But quite apart from the fact that all Qur’anic allegories of the joys of paradise invariably apply to men and women alike, this interpretation of kawā‘ib overlooks the purely derivative origin of the above popular usage – which is based on the tropical connotation of “prominence” inherent in the noun ka‘b – and substitutes for this obvious tropism the literal meaning of something that is physically prominent: and this, in my opinion, is utterly unjustified. If we bear in mind that the Qur’anic descriptions of the blessings of paradise are always allegorical, we realize that in the above context the term kawā‘ib can have no other meaning than “glorious [or “splendid”] beings,” without any definition of sex; and that, in combination with the term atrāb, it denotes, “splendid companions well-matched” – thus alluding to the relations of the blest with one another, and stressing the absolute mutual compatibility and equal dignity of all of them. See also note 13 on 56:34.