I know a bit. Not much, but I’ve worked with them a lot and we’ve talked, so a bit. Make sure to double check.
72 is a mystical number for them. I don’t know why, except possibly it is part of the base 12 counting system. Muslims tend to work to base 12 if they can, just like Chinese always work in odd numbers.
Virgins represent purity, which is blessed and to be protected. They do revere the idea of purity massively - as I said in another thread, Our Lady Madonna is the only woman mentioned in the Qu’ran and she is mentioned many times.
We got into an argument once about the nature of the virgins. Are they women? Are they Djinn? It was a lively debate, but we had no Imam to give the answer.
I have a Koran in the living room. If you have a chapter and verse I can look it up.
My husband (now deceased) received it as a gift from his Saudi Muslim workers for all his good work. The Koran is considered an "appropriate" gift to expatriates.
Money, cars, watches, etc., were NOT allowed as gifts from the contractors to ARAMCO employees for work given out. TOO easy for bribery...only the Koran.
“If you were a sultan or someone like Hugh Hefner, won’t you be moving down going to 72 virgins?”
Not a Muslim, but am wondering what would cause you to think Hefner ever slept with a virgin?
The only path to an after-life is through Jesus.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
Sorry to disappoint you, but Salvation comes from accepting Jesus as your Savior. It has nothing to do with being or not being a certain kind of person. There are many Muslims who have given up Islam by finding the truth about Jesus.
Islam is a lot less theologically complex than your questions seem to indicate. The whole idea comes from a single line of text in the Koran, and there is no elaboration on the idea after that.
Islamic “scholars” have of course taken it upon themselves to expound on the idea, but mostly they seem to simply debate the exact number of virgins that will be provided, as there is some controversy on that point due to possible copying errors.
Once a virgin has slept with a martyr, do they go on to a productive afterlife, or do they cease to exist?....Ahh, Grasshopper. The virgin loses her hymen after sleeping with the murderous barbarian and he goes on to find the next one. The Holy Koran says only the Martyr goes to Heaven. The despoiled virgin is rejuvenated with a new hymen. The Martyr, poor dumb sap is faced with her again, in the future. “YOU POOR EXCUSE FOR A PIECE OF SKIN”... and from there he has entered Hell and the Jews and Infidels get their licks. So saith Mohammed.
Why 72?
Follow the logic: 72 = 9 x 8 and 6 x 12
9 - 8 = 1 and 8 - 6 = 2
2 - 2 = 00 and 2 x 1 = 11
Put it all together and you get 9/11/2001.
Makes perfect sense to me.
One does have to wonder about the 78 virgins. Imagine this scene, Achmed arrives in Paradise:
[Achmed]: “Praise Allah, I am here, in Paradise, I can hardly believe it!”
[Keeper of the Virgins]: “Ah, Achmed, faithful to Jihad, welcome to Paradise!”
[Achmed]: “Who in the name of Allah are you?”
[Keeper of the Virgins]: “Why Achmed, I am called Keeper of the Virgins”
[Achmed]: “Excellent, excellent, just the person I wanted to talk to. Now…about my 72 Virgins…”
[Keeper of the Virgins]: “ Ah, Achmed…before I introduce you to them… there are some…shall I say…technical details that perhaps you should know beforehand”
[Achmed] [visibly aroused]: “Yes, yes… let’s get on with it…what…WHAT?”
[Keeper of the Virgins]: “Well, Achmed, you know that Islam has been around since the Prophet founded it in 610 A.D. And that there have been well over 100 million who died in Jihad since that time.”
[Achmed] [now in the process of disrobing]: “ Yes, yes whatever, let’s get on with it man!”
[Keeper of the Virgins]: “ Well, the truth is: the Virgins are all 1500 years old and you have to share with all your 100 million brothers who gave themselves in Jihad. Here, Achmed, is your eternal reward”
[Achmed]: ARRRGH!
May all their supposed ‘awaiting virgins’ be all their decimated brethren!
As some have mentioned, the Koran is not specific on this subject. Mostly what you have are interpretations that have become broadly accepted. In that vein, the virgins are described as young & beautiful, with transparent skin. [Right there, that sounds...ugly. But whatever.] They exist only to please the martyr. He is given the strength of twelve men. He will never run out of virgins because their virginity regenerates. There are no children born in these unions, and all the traits normally associated with women—such as a menstrual cycle—are nonexistent.
Women, according to Islam, don’t get much of anything. Probably the only reason Muslim women martyr themselves is to either escape an honor killing [I’m not making this up; I read of such a case] or to escape hell in the afterlife. In Christianity hell is somewhat vague, and believers sometimes debate what it will be like. Islam, sadistic as it is, takes great pains to describe every detail of hell. It’s unspeakable torture All The Time.
Islamic hell is another reason, apart from the virgins, for the martyrs. Islam actually teaches that you cannot know your eternal destiny just from trying to live as a good Muslim. Allah is very tricksy, and he enjoys a good laugh at sending supposedly good Muslims to hell for shortcomings they weren’t even aware of. The only way to be sure of no unpleasant surprises is to martyr. Islamic martyrs are guaranteed paradise. Hence the strong motivation.
To clarify, I believe Islam is demonic to its core. A religion created by Satan himself. I’m just giving some info I have picked up while reading on the subject, fwiw.
One Muslim guy I got into a “discourse” with about this, got irate when I suggested it was sexual in nature, and he insisted that us “sex-obsessed Americans” had it all wrong about the 72 virgins, but I could never get a straight answer out of him what it was all about.
Religion can appeal to your base nature or to your higher nature. The Koran almost never considers the possibility of a higher nature.
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/72_Virgins Muslims explain their answers to your questions, although I don’t find their response reassuring. [Note: Their often used word “Houri” and the English word “Whore” are not related.]
I interpret this as a very simple bribe. They are promising more sex than a teenager with nothing to live for can imagine - if that boy will just follow his Islamic leader’s orders. Since the promise is to be fulfilled in the afterlife, this gift costs nothing at all. The promise has lots of women because then it is pure carnal pleasure with none of the complexities of an actual emotional relationship. The women are virgins because of the appeal to certain people of defiling purity.
Other answers on what they claim are at the link. I hope that helps.
They have to be virgins because the moslem barbarian men can’t take criticism.
(maybe that’s why they like raping poor goats.They can’t criticize, either.)
the whole 72 virgins thing would in my way of thinking be a really good reason the cut their penis’ off after they have been killed ...
From what I’ve read, they aren’t actually humans. No mind, no will, no history. They are not real women who once lived on earth. Just sex slaves.
Which is how women are viewed in Islam.
Ann Barnhardt tells of a town in Afghanistan where the Americans set up a clinic. Women started coming in, complaining about infertility. Subsequent research revealed that their husbands were unaware that anal intercourse would not result in children—and that was all the intercourse they were having. It was the only intercourse they knew about. Muslim boys are raped constantly before puberty, and are taught to despise and hate women.
The whole thing (Islam) is absolutely demonic. It makes war on every aspect of human nature and every kind of human relationship.
Did anyone ever ask why these women are virgins? Could it be because no man ever wanted to be near them. Bow Wow