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#REDIRECT ] |
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{{NPOV}}{{Islam}} |
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The concept of '''72 virigins''' in Islam refers to an aspect of ]. In the book of ] by ] called ] it is said that: |
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{{Redirect category shell| |
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<blockquote> |
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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> |
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</blockquote> |
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{{R avoided double redirect|72 virgins}} |
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Dr. Margaret Nydell, a linguist and professor at Georgetown University, 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".<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><ref>{{cite web |url=http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=3751 |title=Professor Explains Complexities of Arab Culture in New Book |publisher=Georgetown University |accessdate=2007-04-25}}</ref> 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. |
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{{R unprintworthy}} |
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}} |
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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> |
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Aziz<ref>{{cite book|title=Islam, Peace and Tolerance|author=Zahid Aziz|pages=55–57|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 56:35–37 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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==Qur'an== |
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The part of the ] that deals with paradise makes several mentions of the mates that inhabit paradise. They are described as "beautiful like ], with complexions like ] and ]<ref>{{Quran|56|22-23}}</ref>" and "voluptuous<ref name=virgin_verse>{{Quran|78|33}}</ref>, dark eyed and lovely eyed<ref>{{Quran|56|22}}, {{Quran|37|40-48}}</ref>" ].{{Or}} In one of the passages of the Koran, it is said the martyrs and virgins shall "delight themselves, reclining on green cushions and beautiful carpets."<ref>{{Quran|55|76}}</ref>. |
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==Physical attributes of the virgins== |
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], in his ], writes that verse {{Quran-usc|78|33}} in the quran describes the physical attributes of women. He says the following about the verse: "''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.'''"<ref>, also see , </ref> |
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==See also== |
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*] |
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*] |
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== Footnotes == |
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* {{fnb|1}} {{Quran|56|35}}, {{Quran|56|36}}, {{Quran|56|37}} |
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==References== |
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<references/> |
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== Further reading == |
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* {{cite news|title=Virgins? What virgins?|date=]|work=]|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,631357,00.html|author=Ibn Warraq|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited}} |
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* {{cite web|title=Does the Koran really promise Islamic martyrs 72 virgins?|date=]|author=Cecil Adams|work=]|url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/011214.html}} |
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==External links== |
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* - Skepdic.com |
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* - Answering-Islam.org |
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* - From ] |
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{{islam-stub}} |
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] |
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