I find it ironic that while christians have their children sing… "Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you…" then turn around and confine the Lord of the Universe to a "little white box" and the 300-3000 people they go to church with.  I’m really poking fun at myself here because my faith is christian, but I still see the humor in this whole mentality of bless Father Abraham and curse you his inferior son or daughter. Abraham was holy because he had a relationship with god and I think that is the essential message.  Have a relationship with the creator.

The article and question is little more than propaganda that divides us unfortunately, I think the author of the question surely must realize that this characterization of Islam is exactly such a thing. No, offense to Liz for bringing it to our attention, because this is exactly what we need to do discuss how we really view people of differing faiths. 

I don’t believe our country and the christians, muslims and jews who love it for their freedom to worship are as closed minded as we hear in reports.  The people who are perpetuating our ignorance of one another by saying… "Muslims want twenty carrots when they pass away" or "Christians think others go to hell" are people on the fringes who make the headlines.

May the god of peace heal our lands.

Here is a good discussion on the origins of the notion of the 72 virgins. 

http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.755/article_detail.asp

True that the Quran does NOT literally promise virgins to martyrs, nor is the number 72 specified anywhere.  Those details come from some Islamic scholars’ interpretations, not only of the Quran but also the Hadith and other writings, and are hotly debated by other Islamic scholars.

The Quran describes, as a vision of Paradise, a series of four beautiful gardens with rich pavilions, and "In them will be Maidens, chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched."  Also:  "As to the righteous, they will be… among gardens and springs… and We shall wed them to maidens with beautiful, big, and lustrous eyes."

Sounds great.  So what do the women get, since I am not all that interested in marrying a beautiful maiden?   Nor am I interested in being re-created as one of those maidens (as some suggest), and waiting around for my righteous new husband.  NOT my idea of how to spend eternity.

Interesting.  Apparitions of Mary (mother of God) are described wth that same coloring. Apparently its prized in the Middle East. 

I think this is really a silly subject.

First of all, where are all these virgins coming from?

What happens if they run out of virgins?

Giving away 72 at each shot will eventually cause a shortage. And besides, it won’t take long for each recipient to use up the 72 allotted originally. After about a month their virgins will not be virgins anymore. Then what do they do? Start stealing virgins from their neighbors?

These people are just like any of us. If there’s a shortage of something, they’ll start mooching around to find replacements to fill the gap.

I can see agitated crowds of demonstrators, massed around the gates of paradise, just waiting to grab anything they can from the bus delivering the new supply of virgins.

I don’t think offering 72 virgins is such a super-good deal.

(Not to say that I don’t think virgins are that great and wouldn’t make for a terrific reward. I just mean that maybe if they stop and think about it, the virgin prize may not really be worth as much as they are giving up in order to get that prize.

I can imagine their dilemma. It must be a very difficult decision to make.

Hi Liz,

I have 10 questions with Sheikh Muhammad al-Munajid:

    Only for laughs… 

1) What if one virgin is no good in bed? Does she get replaced  or he

     is stuck with 71?

2) If he’s gay, does he get male virgins?

3) Does he get all the virgins at once, or do they have installment

    plan? 

4) Is he allowed to covet his neighbor’s virgins?

5) If he’s bi, does he get 36 of each?

6) What do you call a relationship with 72 women, a menage-a-soixante-     deux? 

7) Are they like 72 wives or 1 wife and 71 concubines?

8) Is there Viagra in paradise? Ya know, just in case.

9) How does he pick the 72 to begin with? Lottery? Beauty pageant?

10) Is "not tonight, dear, I have a headache" a valid excuse in

      paradise? 

 Lastly where in the hell he got this 72 virgins idea. By the way, 

 it never mentioned anywhere in the Koran.