Sunday, February 17, 2013

Never Mind the 72 Virgins. Author Claims Suicide Bombers (You Know, the Jihadis) Aren't Looking for Posthumous Hook Ups, But are Genuinely Suicidal

Well, if you ignore the triumphalism, supersessionism and supremacism embedded in core Islamic texts, as well as a long history of bloodshed and conquest culminating in the wannabe caliphate of our time, the OIC, you can make such absurd and misleading claims. Doesn't make 'em true, though.

Update: Re the question of that promised martyr party post-splodiation, website onIslam, an authoritative source on such matters, supplies the following facts:
Yes, there is a hadith that martyrs (not all men) will be wedded to 72 (not 80) houris. These are not humans but a special creation.

As for your statement that men will have nine wives in Paradise, I do not know if that information is correct.

If a man in this world is allowed to have up to four wives (if he treats them equally), what is so wrong with him having more than that in the next life? Remember, our bodies and psychologies will be different and we cannot compare our life here with our life in the hereafter.

There is another hadith that believing women in Paradise will have a higher status than even the houris. The believing women will say, “We shall have eternal life and will never die; we are the gentle ones who will never despair; we have settled down and shall never depart; we are contented and shall never be dissatisfied; blessed are we and blessed are our spouses…” (At-Tabarani, summarized in A Thematic Commentary on the Quran by Shaykh Muhammad Al-Ghazali).

From that we can judge that the believing women will not be dissatisfied if their husbands also have houris. Why should we judge the life in Paradise by the standards of our lives here? 
Words to live--and die--by, notwithstanding the claims of an author who disavows the enduring appeal of the yummy overindulgence in Paradise that's been promised to martyrs.

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