Tafsir of Al-Waqi'ah 56:37

(ʿUruban): Those who show affection to their husbands. It is the plural of ʿArub (عَرُوب), like Sabur (صَبُور) [patient] and Subur (صُبُر) [plural]. This has been narrated from a group of the predecessors. Another group interpreted it as those who are flirtatious/coquettish (ghunjāt), and it is not hidden that flirtatiousness is a means of showing affection.

From Zayd ibn Aslam, the ʿArub is one who is pleasant in speech. In a narration from Ibn Abbas, al-Hasan, Ibn Jubayr, and Mujahid, they are those who are passionately loving (ʿawāshi) toward their husbands. From this, as it is said, is the statement of Labid: "And in the chambers, a beloved [ʿarūb] who is not indecent, full-hipped, at whom the gaze is dazzled."

In another narration from Mujahid, they are the lustful/passionate (al-ghulmān) who desire their husbands. Ibn ʿAdi recorded with a weak chain from Anas in a marfuʿ (elevated) report: "The best of your women is the chaste and passionate one."

Ishaq ibn Abd Allah ibn al-Harith al-Nawfali said: The ʿArub is the shy one who is intimate/devoted (mubtadhala) to her husband. He recited: "They are intimate when with their husbands if they are in seclusion, and when they [the husbands] go out, they are shy/modest." This returns to the meaning of showing affection.

Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Ja'far ibn Muhammad from his father, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said regarding the Almighty’s statement (ʿuruban): "Their speech is Arabic." I do not think this is authentic. The interpretation as "those showing affection" is the one held by the majority.

Hamza and a group—among them Abbas and al-Asma'i from Abu ʿAmr, another from Kharijah and Kardam from Nafi', and another from Hammad, Abu Bakr, and Aban from ʿAsim—read it as (ʿurban) with the ra quiescent (sukūn). This is a dialect of Tamim. Many said: It is for the sake of lightening the pronunciation, as in ʿunuq and ʿunq (neck).

(Atraba): Equal in age, as stated by Anas, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, al-Hasan, ʿIkrimah, Qatadah, and others. It is as if they were likened in equality to the tarā'ib (ribs), which are the bones of the chest, or as if they came upon the turāb (earth) together. They are thirty-three years of age, and their husbands are the same.

Al-Tirmidhi recorded from Mu'adh in a marfuʿ report: "The people of Paradise will enter Paradise hairless, beardless, and with Kohl-lined eyes, aged thirty or thirty-three." The intent of this is the perfection of youth.