101 Reasons Why We Left Islam – Chapter 6: Afterlife in Islam – Reason 65
Some people get upset when this is put to them, even though it is quite obvious that this is the main reward for men:
Men are rewarded with virgins:
“[For the Companions of the Right Hand] We have created (their Companions) of special creation. And made them virgin – pure.” Qur’an 56:35-36
These virgins will have firm breasts:
” Verily for the Righteous there will be a fulfilment of (the heart’s) desires; Gardens enclosed, and grapevines; And fully-breasted women of equal age;” Qur’an 78:31-33
The problem with how the Quran presents it is that it is unclear how many ‘companions’ of special creation these men will receive. So, we go to the Hadith for clarification:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: ‘Every man who enters Paradise will have two wives from among the hoor al-ayn (creation), the like of whose beauty has never been seen by any eye, nor heard by any ear, nor conceived by any heart.'” Sahih Muslim 2834 (Graded: Sahih)
So, those creations are celestial beings called ‘Hoor al ayn’ or, as some would abbreviate them as “Hoors”.
Hadith suggests as many as 72 virgins each:
“The least of the people of Paradise in rank is the one who will have eighty thousand servants and seventy-two wives, and a dome will be raised over him of pearls, chrysolite, and rubies, the distance of which is like that between Al-Jabiyah and Sana’a.” – Jami‘ at-Tirmidhi 2562 (Book 41, Hadith 24, Graded: Hasan)
The above two are either Sahih or Hasan, meaning they are ranked authentic or good by scholars because of their chain of narrators’ reliability. The next set of Hadiths is not ranked highly. In fact, they are ranked Weak (Da’if). And while this is good in academic and religious debates, this does not cut much with fundamentalists and religious extremists.
Men will be given the sexual strength of 100 persons:
The Prophet said: ‘The believer will be given such and such strength in Paradise for sexual intercourse. It was questioned: O prophet of Allah! can he do that? He said: “He will be given the strength of one hundred persons. – Mishkat al-Masabih, Book 4, Ch. 42, No. 24 (Graded: Da’if)
A man’s penis will remain ‘ever-erect’:
Abu Umama narrated: “The Messenger of God said, ‘Everyone that God admits into paradise will be married to 72 wives; two of them are houris and seventy of his inheritance of the [female] dwellers of hell. All of them will have libidinous sex organs and he will have an ever-erect penis.’ “- Sunan Ibn Maja, Zuhd (Book of Abstinence, 39, Graded: Da’if).
However, weak does not mean wrong; otherwise, they would have been removed. And in the mind of a Jihadi fighter, that *technically issue* does not matter. Several scholars argue that. For context, this is not what every Muslim man gets, but a select few. That most Muslim men get two virgin hoories and those who die in Allah’s Jihad get 72. And this is why this Islamic teaching becomes very dangerous. This explains the worldview of terrorists and jihadists who want to kill and die because 72 is a better number than 2.
Regardless of how many virgins men get, this approach to selling paradise proved to be extremely successful in getting sexually deprived desert dwellers to give up everything and fight for Islam. And if you have not already started asking questions that have caused many Muslims to leave Islam, here are a few for you to think about. Sexual pleasure involves physical and psychological arousal triggered by stimulation, releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine. As arousal intensifies through touch, pressure, or rhythm, blood flow increases to the genitals, heightening sensitivity. Climax, or orgasm, occurs when sexual tension peaks, causing involuntary muscle contractions and a surge of endorphins, often accompanied by intense pleasure. Now, try to reapply this to a soul and the fact that we shed our bodies when we die. How is that even applicable? Sex is an evolutionary need to reproduce offspring, and that is why it needs to be pleasurable, because child barring and childbirth, including raising children have many challenges that are not considered a pleasant experience. Species that did not enjoy sex struggle to maintain population, such as Giant Pandas, while others went extinct. What about Asexual people? Some people are born with no interest in sex whatsoever. Some studies suggest that 1.7% of people in the USA identify as Asexual, with similar numbers in the UK and Europe. This is not something they develop; this is something they are born with. How does this sex-orgy paradise appeal to them? And if they convert, will Allah ‘install’ sexual desire into their souls? Finally, and if you say this is a small portion, who cares, let’s talk about 50% of the population that the Quran seems to neglect their sexual reward in the afterlife: women! Do they get 72 horny virgin men? The response we get is that women receive paradise’s blessings and what they desire- brilliant, but nothing is stated specifically for them. As if the Quran is man-made for men.