Who are these virgins? Does Allah create them ex nihilo for heavenly use only? Or are they deceased Muslim women whose heavenly reward is to share one guy with 71 other women?
This hardly seems fair to the women. I was just curious about this, not as a slam on Islam. Religion in general has not been kind to women, including Judiasm (Deut 22:28-29) and Christianity (1 Tim 2:11-13).
Or do the women get a stud-farm with 72 strapping young men?
Does oral sex count?
Maybe it’s 72 ugly virgins. There’s lot’s of wriggle room here. Maybe it’s 72 old spinster virgins. And like the other comment, maybe it’s 72 guy virgins, old ugly guy virgins.
Why doesn’t this:
http://www.ais.org/~bsb/Herald/Previous/95/science.html
conflict with belief in a Hugh Hefner afterlife the way this http://www.clscc.cc.tn.us/Courses/ngreenwood/scientific_revolution_and_the_en.htm conflicts with a Western belief in a Hugh Hefner afterlife? In a thread called Questions for Moslems and anyone else who knows, I was told that Moslems are just every day people. They just want to bring up their kids and act peacefully. Well, my experience of Egyptian and Afghan people tells me that is correct (as does the first link above) and that’s why I just don’t buy the suicide bomber/Hugh Hefner line. It may be better to try to confront the idea that some (just a few) Islamic people hate Americans/Westerners/Christians to the extent that no incentive is needed for them to sacrifice their lives in a “Holy War”. That’s not bigotry or racism talking. It’s the belief that most Moslems have modern, enlightened minds.
I may have to go ask this is the muslim guy thread but that surprised me. I had always assumed that the Djinn were part of the pre-Muslem Arab tradition. Are they a common part of Muslem Theology? Like something equivalent to angels?
(A) I dunno… I look around myself and I notice an alarming number of highly trained, formally educated people in my industrialized, western world whose access to wireless Internet, bioengineered foods and The Gap does not alter their belief that Charles Darwin was an agent of Satan, ultimately responsible for Marylin Manson, gay rights and the UN (which is the Antichrist), and our tolerance of it all brought down God’s judgement upon us.
(B) YES, Islam’s intellectuals had been explaining for a thousand years that the above-cited passages from the Koran and Hadith are symbolic. Just like it happens with the Judaeo-Christians, the average Joe Muslim is OK with that, a fringe takes offense.
© The question was if the reference to being eternally serviced by nubile maidens did appear literally in the Koran or was a fabrication of orientalist westerners. It has been answered. Opal has been greeted.
(D) However… even if the Other Side IS the hottest, rockingest, most kick-ass eternal party , complete with our own personal galaxy in which to be worshipped by billions, observation tells us that in 99.999% of all cases even the most pious still patiently wait for their naturally-appointed time to go there. So the promise of paradise’s pleasures can’t be it.
(E) Personally, yes, I agree with G. Nome that there’s no need for a supernatural or superstitious explanation of why someone, blinded by murderous hatred and despairing of his own life as worthless, will immolate himself while taking countless innocents along just for the satisfaction of knowing he damaged the “others.” Heck, that can happen even if you don’t believe in an afterlife.
(E) Still, within the sociology that explains it, the unusually high rate of Middle Eastern Muslims among that sample population of suicide bombers will eventually drag the religious motivation in. And it probably will have less to do with a promise of an eternal Playboy Mansion Garden Party, than with radical scholars drumming in a mentality of “eternal struggle” and “purification” all through their religious education
Thank you for your comments JBDelerious. It occurred to me overnight that my last post was not worded particularly well so I was expecting a negative rather than positive response. These sentences make me sound like John Pilger on acid: “It may be better to try to confront the idea that some (just a few) Islamic people hate Americans/Westerners/Christians to the extent that no incentive is needed for them to sacrifice their lives in a “Holy War”. That’s not bigotry or racism talking. It’s the belief that most Moslems have modern, enlightened minds.” It sounds like I’m saying Moslems have a right to bomb America because they are so damn intelligent. Sorry Moslems, I didn’t mean that at all.
How many Americans have heard of John Pilger anyway? If you haven’t you can search for him and his views on the U.S. on the internet. Then, if you care to set a John Pilger link alongside this Bryan Appleyard link: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/09/23/stiusausa01024.html you would have an excellent, well-rounded understanding of America’s place in the world.
December: I appreciate your comments regarding the Bryan Appleyard article. That’s why I thought putting it here as well would be OK.