# About those 72 virgins waiting for you in Paradise... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 2, 2015, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194 "2015-12-02T06:21:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/61 "2015-12-04T10:18:26Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > I’d say, without giving up too much it’s possible to be a practising Christian / Buddhist and Hindu all at the same time. Buddhism and Hinduism are both flexible enough that they can incorporate you being a Christian without a major conflict, and yes there are various Hindu groups that accept those not burn as Hindus. Throw in the occasional ritual to some open minded folk religions and you’re then in with the religions used by almost 4 billion people. > > Hedging your bets its more likely than not you’ll end up in one of the heavens you follow 😃 Hinduism(and also Buddhism) doesn’t really have a heaven or afterlife AFAIK. There is a concept of karma and rebirth, where if you perform good deeds you’re reborn into better circumstances, and the eventual goal is to attain enlightenment so that you can be free of the cycle of rebirth and become one with the universe. Or some such. I don’t think what comes after enlightenment is depicted. Nor (I think) is it strictly necessary to be a Hindu to be a part of this cycle. You can achieve one-ness with the universe in a number of different ways, only one of which is prayer to god. It’s all very scattered. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/62 "2015-12-04T10:41:51Z")
> [@bldysabba](#): > > Hinduism(and also Buddhism) doesn’t really have a heaven or afterlife AFAIK. Tibetan Buddhism does: > **[Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven#According_to_Tibetan_Buddhism)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven without dying. > Heaven is often described as a "hi... And so do most strains of Hinduism: > **[Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven#Hinduism)** > > This is an accepted version of this page > Heaven, or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven without dying. > Heaven is often described as a "hi... Its just that for Buddhism and Hinduism, these heavens are only temporary stops on the way to a greater final destination rather than the end goal. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/63 "2015-12-04T15:24:55Z")
Don’t you have to be born a Hindu? I don’t think they take converts. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/64 "2015-12-04T15:43:44Z")
Heinrich Himmler was a devout hindu; but I doubt if he went through any ceremony — if _you_ decide you are buddhist or hindu they just accept that. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/65 "2015-12-04T16:02:15Z")
Buddhists will accept that. But I’m not so sure about Hindus. I wouldn’t be taking Heinie’s word for gospel on anything. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/66 "2015-12-04T17:17:42Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Buddhists will accept that. But I’m not so sure about Hindus. I wouldn’t be taking Heinie’s word for gospel on anything. Hinduism is very diverse, some disciplines only accept born Hindus and plenty of others accept converts. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/67 "2015-12-04T17:18:43Z")
Huh. Didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/68 "2015-12-05T04:02:35Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You mean every time I kill a skeeter, it goes to Florida? > > Swat! Swat! [Dead mosquitoes get reborn in Florida as bigoted gun dealers.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=777003) ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/69 "2015-12-05T06:09:20Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Won’t they be surprised when they find waiting are 72 middle aged gamers that used to live in their parents’ basements. Or even better, Mother Teresa and 71 more of her ilk. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/70 "2015-12-05T08:08:41Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > The jewish verse you quote describes something lavish but not suggestive in any way. > Here’s some relevant quotes: > "A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent body. The marrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines of pearls and rubies. She looks like red wine in a white glass. She is of white color, and free from the routine physical disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause, urinal and offal discharge, child bearing and the related pollution. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large breasts which are round (pointed), and not inclined to dangle. Houris dwell in palaces of splendid surroundings. That sounds a lot like a sex robot in a futuristic brothel… ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194/71 "2015-12-05T12:50:43Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Is there anything in the Koran saying that those 72 virgins will, um, be willing to change their status once a faithful Muslim arrives? I mean, if not, what male adult would really want to spend eternity with, what, 72 12-14 female middle/junior high school females? It would be hard to take any inference from the Qur’an passages themselves other than that the Houris are there for sexual pleasuring by and with dead believers. If you start throwing in descriptions from the hadith, the specific sexual fantasies get quite a bit more graphic–and bizarre. For example, one guy thinks they will be 90 feet tall, so one has to wonder if that would even be pleasurable (mechanically speaking). Another guy is pretty sure they don’t have any hair on the perineum; others state they don’t menstruate, defecate, urinate or get pregnant. I think the thrust 🙂 is that Houris start out being virgins, and given the culture that created them, I would say the attraction of this is that no other man has gotten any where near the naughty bits, which are sort of preserved unsullied through eternity for the sole purpose of pleasuring that one dead believer. Along with the Houris, you get a bunch of other servants plus a bevy of eternally young boys. Since we cannot say scientifically that Houris are false, I think you can pretty much attach your own fantasies regarding other characteristics at will… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-those-72-virgins-waiting-for-you-in-paradise/739194.md?page=3)