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"It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham ‘Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa’id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) saying, ‘The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy two wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San’a."<ref></ref> "It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham ‘Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa’id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) saying, ‘The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy two wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San’a."<ref></ref>
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Nydell<ref>{{cite book|title=Understanding Arabs: A Guide for Modern Times|author=Margaret Kleffner Nydell|pages=109|date=2006|publisher=Intercultural Press|id=ISBN 1931930252}}</ref> criticizes the popularization of this "obscure passage in the Qur'an" by Westerners, saying that the interpretation placed upon the passage is "quaint", "lurid", and "provocative". She notes a brochure produced by the Institute of Islamic Education which states that "The promise of '70 or 72 virgins' is fiction written by some anti-Islam bigots.". She states that mainstream Muslims regard this belief about 72 virgins in the same way that mainstream Christians regard the belief that after death they will be issued with wings and a harp, and walk on clouds.

⚫ One radical new interpretation of the relevant passages of the Qur'an, widely rejected as revisionist scholarship by Muslim scholars, is '']'' written by ]. In respect of this particular point Luxenberg argues that the relevant passage actually translate to a portrayal of paradise as a lush garden with pooling water and trees with rare fruit, including ''white raisins'' (considered to be delicacies at the time that the Qur'an was written), not virgin maidens.<ref>{{cite book|title=Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith|author=Vartan Gregorian|pages=19|date=2003|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|id=ISBN 081573283X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education|author=Doris Sommer|pages=249|date=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|id=ISBN 0822333449}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Alexander Stille|title=Scholars Are Quietly Offering New Theories of the Koran|work=]|date=]|pages=A1}}</ref>

Aziz<ref>{{cite book|title=Islam, Peace and Tolerance|author=Zahid Aziz|pages=55&ndash;57|date=2007|publisher=A.a.i.i.l.|id=ISBN 1906109001}}</ref> notes the widespread use of this saying on web sites and elsewhere for the purposes, in his view, of "ridicule and mockery", to which he makes several counterpoints. First, he notes that the term "virgin" is used symbolically, not literally, in the Qur'an, pointing out that such usage is also common in the texts of Judaism and Christianity. (He notes as examples ] 31 and ] 3 in the Bible, which describe the nation of Israel as a "virgin".) He argues that virgin girls for the sexual pleasure of men is thus "obviously" not meant by the text. Second, he points out that later in the very same text from Tirmidhi there is a discussion of the "seventy and something gates" of faith, and argues that it is those that are represented in the next life as maidens. Third, he points out that whilst the web sites and others talk of "72 virgins", the text actually talks of 72 ''wives''. He makes a further point that elsewhere in the same text from Tirmidhi an explanation of the meaning of "virgins" in paradise, verses 56:35&ndash;37 of the Qur'an talking of "virgins, loving, equals in age"{{fn|1}}, is given by Muhammad, who explains that women enter paradise as "a new creation" and are thus restored to youth and virginity. He states that there is "no question of sexual relations in the next life as that life is not physical life which requires such relations", and that the resurrection of women as virgins is a spiritual representation of purity.


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{{cquote|This means round breasts. They meant by this that the breasts of these girls will be fully rounded and not sagging, because they will be virgins, equal in age...|30px|30px|Tafsir Ibn Kathir|<ref>, also see , </ref>}} {{cquote|This means round breasts. They meant by this that the breasts of these girls will be fully rounded and not sagging, because they will be virgins, equal in age...|30px|30px|Tafsir Ibn Kathir|<ref>, also see , </ref>}}

== Luxenberg's theory ==

⚫ One radical new interpretation of the relevant passages of the Qur'an, widely rejected as revisionist scholarship by Muslim scholars, is '']'' written by ]. In respect of this particular point Luxenberg argues that the relevant passage actually translate to a portrayal of paradise as a lush garden with pooling water and trees with rare fruit, including ''white raisins'' (considered to be delicacies at the time that the Qur'an was written), not virgin maidens.<ref>{{cite book|title=Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith|author=Vartan Gregorian|pages=19|date=2003|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|id=ISBN 081573283X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education|author=Doris Sommer|pages=249|date=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|id=ISBN 0822333449}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Alexander Stille|title=Scholars Are Quietly Offering New Theories of the Koran|work=]|date=]|pages=A1}}</ref>


== Footnotes == == Footnotes ==

Revision as of 16:55, 23 April 2007

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The concept of 72 virigins in Islam refers to an aspect of paradise. In one of the da'if books of ahadith by Al-Tirmidhi, it is said

"It was mentioned by Daraj Ibn Abi Hatim, that Abu al-Haytham ‘Adullah Ibn Wahb narrated from Abu Sa’id al-Khudhri, who heard the Prophet Muhammad (Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) saying, ‘The smallest reward for the people of Heaven is an abode where there are eighty thousand servants and seventy two wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine and ruby, as wide as the distance from al-Jabiyyah to San’a."

Qur'an

The part of the Qur'an that deals with paradise makes several mentions of the mates that inhabit paradise. They are described as "beautiful like rubies, with complexions like diamonds and pearls" and "voluptuous, dark eyed and lovely eyed" houris.

Physical attributes of the virgins

The word Kawa'ib in

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has been translated to mean "voluptous" by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, and Shakir. According to Ibn Kathir, it means "women with round breasts":

This means round breasts. They meant by this that the breasts of these girls will be fully rounded and not sagging, because they will be virgins, equal in age...

— Tafsir Ibn Kathir,

Luxenberg's theory

One radical new interpretation of the relevant passages of the Qur'an, widely rejected as revisionist scholarship by Muslim scholars, is The Syro-Aramaic Reading Of The Qur'an written by Christoph Luxenberg. In respect of this particular point Luxenberg argues that the relevant passage actually translate to a portrayal of paradise as a lush garden with pooling water and trees with rare fruit, including white raisins (considered to be delicacies at the time that the Qur'an was written), not virgin maidens.

Footnotes

References

  1. Houris
  2. Quran
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  3. Quran
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  4. Quran
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    ,
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  5. Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Abridged, Volume 10, Surat At-Tagabun to the end of the Qur'an, pp. 333-334, also see ,
  6. Vartan Gregorian (2003). Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith. Brookings Institution Press. p. 19. ISBN 081573283X.
  7. Doris Sommer (2004). Bilingual Aesthetics: A New Sentimental Education. Duke University Press. p. 249. ISBN 0822333449.
  8. Alexander Stille (2002-03-02). "Scholars Are Quietly Offering New Theories of the Koran". New York Times. pp. A1. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

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