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Meaning of 'unclothed' in verse 20:118

Question

Assalaamu alaykum. I was wondering, it says in a verse that we will never be naked in Heaven, so if we will never be naked, does that mean that there will be no sex in Heaven between husband and wife and that we cannot take off our clothes and so on? The verse is 20:118.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Allah, The Exalted, says (what means): {Indeed, it is (promised) for you not to be hungry therein or be unclothed.} [Quran 20:118] The verse does not mean that there will be no sexual intimacy between spouses in Paradise; rather, it came in the context of explaining that Allah, The Exalted, relieved Aadam (Adam)  may  Allaah  exalt  his  mention from the need to strive in order to provide food, drink, clothing, and housing, and that he was granted his basic needs in Paradise. In other words, he was promised that he would not suffer hunger or lack of clothing in Paradise.

Al-Khaazin  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him wrote in his Tafseer (exegesis) book:

It means that in Paradise, you shall not be hungry nor be bare of clothing, and you shall not be thirsty nor be harmed by the sun's heat, because there is no sun in Paradise, and its people shall be living in an extended shade. The overall meaning is that food, water, clothing, and shelter are the basic essential needs of man, so Allah, The Exalted, stated that these things are granted in Paradise and that he shall not need to work and earn a living as people do in the worldly life.

Ash-Shawkaani  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him wrote:

Allah, The Exalted, says in this verse that He has sufficed him against the need to work and to strive to earn a living. There is no doubt that the root of hardships in this worldly life is to strive to provide food, water, clothing, and accommodation while everything other than that is complementary and the human being can do without them. Allah, The Exalted, is informing Aadam that if he obeys Him, he shall be granted all these blessings in Paradise, and if he does not obey His commands, he will be cast out of Paradise to the worldly life on Earth to endure the hardships and toil in order to ward off hunger, nakedness, thirst, and heat. The reference to hardship in the verse means the hardship of the worldly life, according to many scholars of Tafseer, and not hardship in the Hereafter.” [Fat-h Al-Qadeer]

Allah knows best.

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