About those '72' virgins.

Ever wondered about those 72 virgins promised in Islam? Curious about where some of the this discussion can be found in the Qur'an about the 72 virgins? Here is an explanation by Shoaib Choundury that helps us out. Think women are 'promised' the same things in 'paradise'? Not even close.

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Anatomy of 72 virgin theory

By Shoaib Choundury

First of all, I am a Muslim Zionist, a practicing Muslim and defender of Israel. I am not an ex-Muslim or infidel. But, I have decided to write this article on the topic of 72-virgins, which Muslim clergies promise to Jihadists for killing innocent people in the name of religion.

I am quite sure, my readers are well aware of this 72-virgin theory. But, whenever I asked many of my friends [Muslim and non-Muslim] to give me exact reference of the verses of Quran, where the description of such virgins are narrated, they in most of the cases, failed!

In Quran, virgins are named ad ‘Hur’ or ‘Hurriyah’, which means splendid companion of equal age, lovely eyed, of “modest gaze”, voluptuous women, pure beings of heaven. In Quran The houri have variously been described as being "restraining their glances [chaste]", "modest gaze", "wide and beautiful/lovely eyes", "like pearls", "spouse", "companions of equal age", "splendid" and much more besides.

Description of virgins is available in the Chapter named ‘Ar Rahman’ [The Most Beneficent] in Quran 55:72:33.

The concept of 72 virgins in Islam refers to an aspect of paradise. In a collection by Imam at-Tirmidhi in his “Sunan” [Volume IV, Chapters on "The Features of Heaven as described by the Messenger of Allah", chapter 21: "About the Smallest Reward for the People of Heaven", Hadith 2687] and also quoted by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir [Quranic Commentary] of Surah Quran 55:72, it is stated that:

"It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham 'Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudhri, who heard Muhammad saying, 'The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy-two Houri, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San’a.

In a Hadith, Muhammad is reported to have said "In Paradise, the believer will be given such and such strength for women that a man can have sexual intercourse with 100 at a time."

Quranic commentator Al-Suyuti [died in 1505] explained more graphically that Muslim men in Paradise experience non-ending arousals and that ever time they have sex with one of the angelic maidens, they find her body reconstituted as "virgin."

"The sensation that you feel each time you make love is utterly delicious and out of this world and were you to experience it in this world you would faint," Al-Suyuti explained. “Each chosen one [Muslim] will marry seventy houris, besides the women he married on earth, and all [will be appetizing]."

Right after the Mumbai massacre in 2008 [we remember the Nariman House massacre, right?], the lone surviving terrorist of the Mumbai terror attack Ajmal Amir Kasab has admitted that he along with his militant partners were lured into the terrorist camps by the Pakistan army officers as they were made to believe that the ‘Jihad’ in which they are going to take part will offer them a chance to put an end to their quest for ‘holy virgins’.

The 10 Pakistan terrorists who attacked Mumbai were indoctrinated by the Pakistan terror establishment.

Jihad-for Virgins Scam was used to cheat teenage Muslims to become terrorists. During the training Pakistan Army officers and Lashkar-e-Taiba commanders repeatedly told the terrorists that “the moment you are killed in the Jihad in Mumbai attack, your body will emit divine glow and an intoxicating fragrance, before the body rises to heaven, to enjoy sex with beautiful virgins waiting for you.”
Kasab now believes that Jihad is an unholy quest for sex with virgins in heaven.

Though most of the people are aware of this 72-virgin theory in heaven, most of them possibly are unaware that, Quran also promises young boys to me in the heaven. I am quote sure; now many of my readers will raise a question, what the Jihadists do with the young boys? Well, the answer is simple! Homosexual acts with those young boys. If you now ask me, does the Allah allows any kind of perversion inside the heaven, I can only say, those believing in such stories of 72-virgins and young boys and getting inclined in killing innocent people in the name of Jihad are people with perverted souls. They surely are worshiping a perverted God and their religion itself is of bad taste.

My loving sister and a novelist named Naomi Ragen wrote about this virgin theory in Jerusalem Post back on July 7 2001. In her article titled – Virgin, sex and paradise, Naomi wrote, “Recently, Bob Simon interviewed Muhammad Abu Wardeh on Sixty Minutes. His remarks in Arabic were translated on the program as: "God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness."”

“Now, Arab Americans are claiming in outrage that this is not only a mistranslation, but absolutely false. Maher Hathout, a Muslim "scholar" with the Islamic Center of Southern California, wrote in the Atlanta Constitution: "There is nothing in the Koran or in Islamic teachings about 70 virgins or sex in paradise. This is ridiculous, and any true Muslim knows that."”

”Oh, really?

”Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, head of the Cultural Institute of the Italian Islamic Community, and a true Islamic scholar, had this to say: "The only ridiculous thing is that someone who claims to be an 'Islamic scholar' makes public declarations which prove beyond any possible doubt that he has never read the Commentary of Ibn Kathir and 'Sunan' of Imam at-Tirmidhi, which are basic books for the knowledge of Islam. Unfortunately, this attribution of chairs to ignoramuses seems to be the rule in American Islamic Centers controlled by the fundamentalist network of the 'Muslim Brotherhood.'"

”According to Islam, Palazzi goes on to say, there are 72 wives for every believer who is admitted to Heaven, and not only for a martyr. The proof is a Hadith which is collected by at-Tirmidhi in "Sunan" [volume IV, chapters on "The Features of Heaven as described by the Messenger of Allah," Chapter 21: "About the Smallest Reward for the People of Heaven," Hadith 2687].

”It is also quoted by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir [Koranic Commentary] of Surah ar-Rahman (55), ayah (verse) 72: "It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham Abdullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa'id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad (Allah's blessings and peace be upon him) saying: 'The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San'a.' Ibn Kathir explained in 'al-Bidayah wa an-Nihayah' that al-Jabiyyah is the name of a suburb of Damascus.

"That those 72 wives are virgin is proved by the ayah 74 of the same Surah: "No man or jinn has ever touched them before."

Muhammad was once heard saying: "from among my followers there will be some who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, to be lawful. Allah will destroy them during the night and will let mountains fall on them. He will transform the rest into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Doom" [Hadith, Volume 7, Book 69, Number 494v].

My friends, here again, I must confess, I wear silk, drink alcohol, play musical instrument [I am a lyricist and composer] and I am yet to become a monkey or a pig. Look at my face!

Giving interpretation of Quran, Iran’s notorious Mullah Ayatollah Khomein said, if a woman is taken political prisoner, and condemned to death, Islamic law prevents her from being executed as long as she is a virgin because Muslim leaders believe virgins go to heaven. But, according to those same leaders, women involved in politics are "ungodly creatures" who do not deserve to go to heaven. To insure that an "ungodly virgin" does not enter heaven, the woman's captors will treat her as a concubine making it legal for her to be systematically raped. The Iranian Mullahs justify raping women prisoners because Muhammad gave permission to Muslim warriors in raping enemy prisoners “except those [captive and slaves] whom your hands possess. This has Allah ordained for you…” [Chapter 4:24].

And most interestingly, Quran does not promise heaven or 'virgins' for women. Because heaven is described in largely male terms, the exact nature of an equivalent reward for women remains unclear.