It appears to be the case that martyrs of a certain persuasion will be rewarded in the afterlife with the ministrations of seventy-two virgins. It would take a theologian of extraordinary skill to explain why acts of violence should be rewarded with sexual indulgence. I raise a far less knotty question: if the aim is bliss, then why virgins? Why not women of experience and expertise? Benjamin Franklin, the most practical of our Founding Fathers, was dogmatic on this nice point: shun the callow in favor of women who've been around the block, because "every Knack... by Practice [is] capable of improvement." I think that B-Frank would agree that there is something about the virgins-for-martyrs deal that's kind of, how shall I say, impractical or counter-intuitive or even, dare I say, kinky.
Here's a second theological conundrum. What is the reward when the martyr is herself female? I must presume that she will be blessed with seventy-two male virgins -- if not, there's a very serious afterlife asymmetry. Not to reward females who give themselves to the cause would be a statement that the culture of religious martyrdom does not support sexual equality, which I can hardly bring myself to believe. But in the case of female martyrs, the matter of sexual expertise is further exacerbated. Specifically, of what conceivable value are seventy-two knackless male virgins? If we postulate that each male virgin is good for between ten and fifteen seconds of actual intercourse, it follows that they will be consumed at the rate of four to six every minute, which means that on average a martyress, however patient, would enjoy a sum of only twelve or so minutes of pleasure (setting aside time for re-mounting and repositioning), which is surely insufficient exercise to produce a meaningful let alone heavenly experience.
Nor will it be all that great for the male virgin at the end of the queue who has to settle for sloppy seventy-seconds.
Please read entire Quran before speaking of Islam.
1) Women in Islam marry prior having sex, that's how Islam instructed men and women to live. So naturally in Muslim culture, women who marry are virgins. In modern day, it presents benfits such asrevent spread of STDs which are so popular in Weatern Culture.
2) Women are to stay home and not to engage in jihad by sword (war). So there is no such a thing as 72 male virgins...Women will be freed of jealousy in the paradise and therefore they will never mind their husband being with 72 virgins.
3) Enjoy reading Quran, it has plenty of Intresting information.
Posted by: Emma | November 06, 2016 at 08:52 PM
Or maybe 72 white grapes, which would be a more gender-neutral (if less seductive) reward. See The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran
The word huri, universally interpreted by scholars as white-eyed virgins (who will serve the faithful in Paradise; Qur'an 44:54, 52:20, 55:72, 56:22) means, according to Luxenberg, white grapes. He says that many Christian descriptions of Paradise describe it as abounding in pure white grapes. This sparked much joking in the Western press; suicide bombers would be expecting beautiful women and getting grapes.[11]
Posted by: Unbob | November 27, 2009 at 02:56 PM
No comment.
Posted by: ocalipoppy | March 08, 2007 at 06:59 AM