Muslim how many virgins

They then indoctrinated those deemed suitable into the clandestine group over 18 months. During that time they were taught "JI-speak.

They learned the "true" JI knowledge of jihad -- that innocents, both Muslim and non-Muslim, could be sacrificed. They were promised martyrdom if they died in the cause of jihad. And anyone who left the group was called an infidel.

Not only did these teachings foster a sense of superiority over outsiders and a strong group mentality that made it difficult to quit, the Singapore report said, but the psychologists interviewing the detainees said many JI members turned to the leaders to find a "no-fuss" path to Heaven. They wanted to be convinced that they had found "true Islam" and free themselves from the endless searching.

Especially since they believed they could not go wrong, as the JI leaders had quoted from holy texts. None of them was found to have suicidal tendencies. Research showed the recruits became so committed to the cause they become perfect jihad machines, looking for an opportunity to sacrifice their lives and avenge the suffering of Muslims in the ultimate devotion in a "defensive" holy war.

Interactive: Hambali - Asia's most wanted. War against terror: Southeast Asia front. A giant potrait of an unidentified Palestinian martyr in Gaza city. Bin Laden has been a large influence on the rising tide of martyrs. House votes to keep U. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. One cannot imagine any of the Church fathers writing ecstatically of heavenly sex as al-Suyuti did, with the possible exception of St Augustine before his conversion.

But surely to call Islam sex-positive is to insult all Muslim women, for sex is seen entirely from the male point of view; women's sexuality is admitted but seen as something to be feared, repressed, and a work of the devil. Scholars have long pointed out that these images are clearly drawn pictures and must have been inspired by the art of painting. Muhammad, or whoever is responsible for the descriptions, may well have seen Christian miniatures or mosaics representing the gardens of paradise and has interpreted the figures of angels rather literally as those of young men and young women.

A further textual influence on the imagery found in the Koran is the work of Ephrem the Syrian [ CE], Hymns on Paradise, written in Syriac, an Aramaic dialect and the language of Eastern Christianity, and a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew and Arabic. This naturally leads to the most fascinating book ever written on the language of the Koran, and if proved to be correct in its main thesis, probably the most important book ever written on the Koran.

Christoph Luxenberg's book, Die Syro-Aramaische Lesart des Koran, available only in German, came out just over a year ago, but has already had an enthusiastic reception, particularly among those scholars with a knowledge of several Semitic languages at Princeton, Yale, Berlin, Potsdam, Erlangen, Aix-en-Provence, and the Oriental Institute in Beirut. Luxenberg tries to show that many obscurities of the Koran disappear if we read certain words as being Syriac and not Arabic.

We cannot go into the technical details of his methodology but it allows Luxenberg, to the probable horror of all Muslim males dreaming of sexual bliss in the Muslim hereafter, to conjure away the wide-eyed houris promised to the faithful in suras XLIV.

Luxenberg 's new analysis, leaning on the Hymns of Ephrem the Syrian, yields "white raisins" of "crystal clarity" rather than doe-eyed, and ever willing virgins - the houris. Luxenberg claims that the context makes it clear that it is food and drink that is being offerred, and not unsullied maidens or houris.

In Syriac, the word hur is a feminine plural adjective meaning white, with the word "raisin" understood implicitly. As Luxenberg's work has only recently been published we must await its scholarly assessment before we can pass any judgements.

But if his analysis is correct then suicide bombers, or rather prospective martyrs, would do well to abandon their culture of death, and instead concentrate on getting laid 72 times in this world, unless of course they would really prefer chilled or white raisins, according to their taste, in the next. What virgins? This notion seems to be particularly attractive to young males who live in otherwise sexually repressive societies e.

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