- Houris = Believers!
- Virgins or Grapes? A More Nuanced View
- To Pair or to Marry?
Houris = Believers!
May 9, 2018
The Sadducees were a religious sect of Judaism who did not believe in the Resurrection, angels or spirits (Acts 23:8). After all, the word Resurrection is found nowhere in the Old Testament and it is not explicitly taught. To demonstrate the absurdity of the belief in a bodily Resurrection (as held by the Pharisees), they put forth the scenario of a woman who was married to a succession of husbands who died one after the other (someone call CSI!).
Mahabharata: Book 1: Adi Parva: Sambhava Parva: Section LXXIV
….The husband enjoyth the companionship of the wife both in this and in the other worlds…..
They hope to either stump Jesus and/or prove the Pharisee position wrong. Instead, Jesus squashes the entire argument by pointing out that the institution of marriage will no longer exist. He then goes on to give a brilliant argument in favour of the resurrection (that I’m sure the Pharisees hadn’t thought about either!)
Now the New Testament says a few things about the Resurrection and what it will be like. Jesus, being the first to be resurrected, gives us a pattern that we will one day follow.
Sura 43:61 [Jesus] is a sign of the Hour [of the Resurrection]. Have no doubt about it and follow me. This is the straight path.
However, in reviewing these things in the Bible, it occurred to me that there are parallel statements in the Quran! And instead of referring to a separate entity, that the Quran is describing what will happen to believers! I will admit that some of my linkages might be forced, but I hope to show that all isn’t what it seems as far as the Quran’s statements are concerned.
Keep in mind that the word ḥūrin carries the same root as ‘disciples’ (l-ḥawāriyūna : S.3:52, 61:14) and ‘talking’ (yuḥāwiruhu :S.18:37) and itself is never given in a feminine form when it is referring to “Houris”.
See l-ḥawāriyīna = disciples = S:5:111 = genitive masculine plural noun
versus
44:54 = biḥūrin; 52:20 = biḥūrin; 55:72 = ḥūrun; 56:22 = waḥūrun which are all “indefinite” nouns.
But there are other things that can be viewed differently
Resurrection & Youth
Sura [56.35] Surely We have made them to grow into a (new) growth, [56.36] Then We have made them virgins, [56.37] Loving, equals in age, [56.38] For the sake of the companions of the right hand.
Mark 16:4-5 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
There is a minority opinion among Christian scholars that this ‘young man’ that the women saw in the tomb, may have been none other than Jesus himself. And this may in fact be one of the reasons why the people who knew Him best didn’t recognise Him immediately when they saw Him (even when He is telling them with a straight face and a twinkle in His eye, ‘He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.’ Mark 16:6).
Mahabharata: Bk 3: Vana Parva: Markandeya-Samasya Parva: Section CLXXXII
Vaisampayana said, ‘O descendant of Bharata, while Krishna, the descendant of the Vrishnis and the virtuous king, were thus talking, there appeared then the saint Markandeya, grown grey in the practise of penances. And he had seen many thousand years of life, was of a pious soul, and devoted to great austerities. Signs of old age he had none [🙄?]; and deathless he was, and endued with beauty and generous and many good qualities. And he looked like one only twenty-five years old.
Even if you don’t hold this view about Mark 16:5, you must admit that it would be poor form if we were to be resurrected into our old wrinkly saggy bodies that we just left.
Sura [79.10] They say: Shall we indeed be restored to (our) first state? [79.11] What! when we are rotten bones? [79.12] They said: Then that would be a return occasioning loss.
Surely we would be resurrected into a form most like when we were in the peak of health (and had flat tummies, say twenties or so). And even better – for all those imperfections in body and spirit shall not carry over when we are reborn anew (No acne scars!).
Sura 78.31-36 Surely for those who guard (against evil) is achievement, Gardens and vineyards, And those showing freshness of youth (wakawāʿiba), equals in age, And a pure cup. They shall not hear therein any vain words nor lying. A reward from your Lord, a gift according to a reckoning.
(wakawāʿiba most translations have ‘full-breasted maidens’ –
but related words
kaʿbata – Kaaba 5:95 & 97 and
kaʿbayni – ankles 5:6
note that,
jaybika=bosom 28:32
ṣudūri=breast 8:43 etc.)
But exactly how young are we talking about?
Sura 56:15-18 On thrones decorated, reclining on them, facing each other, There will circulate among them, young boys (wil’dānun) never altering in age, with goblets and ewers and a cup of pure drink.
Are the believers going to become as young as that? Well it appears that someone may have taken these words a tad too literally:
Matthew 18:3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 18:4 “Therefore whoever will humble himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens.”
Gospel of Thomas: These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down …………..Section 22 Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, “These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father’s) domain.” They said to him, “Then shall we enter the (Father’s) domain as babies?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female…………..
Yeah, that makes sooo much sense!
Didymos = Greek = Twin
Thomas = Aramaic = Twin
John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
https://sunnah.com/urn/642800 Narrated Abu Hurairah: that the Prophet said: “A caller will call out: ‘You shall have life and never die; you shall be healthy and never be ill; you shall be young and never grow old; you shall live in favor and never suffer difficult circumstances.’ That is the saying of Allah Most High: This is Paradise, which you have been made to inherit because of your deeds that you used to do (43:72).” [also https://sunnah.com/riyadussaliheen/20/24 https://sunnah.com/muslim/53/26
Resurrection and Virginity
Revelation 14:1&4 Then I looked, and there on Mount Zion stood the Lamb,a and with Him were 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads ……… These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
Sura 55:56 Wherein both will be those (maidens) restraining their glances upon their husbands, whom no man or jinn yatmithhunna (has opened their hymens with sexual intercourse) before them.
Sura 55:56 In them shall be those who restrained their eyes; before them neither man nor jinni shall have touched them. (Shakir)
https://islamqa.info/en/95747 …….It was narrated that Abu Dharr said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, how many Prophets were there? He said: “One hundred and twenty four thousand.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, how many of them were Messengers? He said: “Three hundred and thirteen, a good number.” I said: O Messenger of Allah, who was the first of them? He said: “Adam.”
Matthew 22:30 In the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven. 31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you…
I once heard a lady pastor who admitted to being much grieved over the above verse, because, as she said, “She liked being married.” And all who are currently happily married would no doubt agree (and those currently not happily married will say, “Amen.”) Yet:
https://sunnah.com/urn/1802290
Hasan Basri radiyallahu anhu says that an old woman came to Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam and made a request, O Messenger of Allah make Dua that Allah grants me entrance into Jannah. Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam replied, O Mother, an old woman cannot enter Jannah. That woman started crying and began to leave. Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam said, Say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age, but Allah will make all the women of Jannah young virgins. Allah Ta’ala says, Lo! We have created them a (new) creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age. (Surah Waaqi’ah, 35-37).
Sura [56.35] Surely We have made them to grow into a (new) growth, [56.36] Then We have made them virgins, [56.37] Loving, equals in age, [56.38] For the sake of the companions of the right hand.
If we keep these two New Testament ideas in mind, i.e. no marriage after the resurrection and youthful looking bodies, we can see that the whole ‘made them virgins‘ and ‘equals in age‘ in Sura 56:35-37 takes on a whole new significance.
1 Corinthians 15:35-37&53-54 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else..…. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
What then, you ask, does this mean:
Sura 44:54 Thus (shall it be), and We will wed them (wazawwajnāhum) to Houris (biḥūrin – genitive plural indefinite noun), with beautiful eyes.
And here is where my ideas begin to fall apart. For Jesus clearly says that there is no giving in marriage after the Resurrection. Yet here we have a statement – that there is.
Sura 36.55-56 Surely the dwellers of the garden shall on that day be in an occupation quite happy. They and their wives (wa-azwājuhum) shall be in shades, reclining on raised couches.
Are these wives the houris or are they the spouses from when on earth – who are to become young virgins according to the hadith. Has the meaning of Sura 44:54 been lost in translation? There is no getting around the fact that zawwajnāhum (from the word zawj) means to be paired (whether of animals S.6:143 or people S.78:8).
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.
On the other hand, the word is not from the word nikāḥ – which explicitly refers to the involvement of sexual activity. I pointed out earlier that the word Houris is not given in feminine form. Are Houris a (non-sexual) companion to talk to? Even a fellow believer? And the reason that the form of the word ḥūrin is “indefinite” and hence “gender-neutral” are either because houris could be either male or female, or gender distinctions may become irrelevant!
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Or perhaps maleness & femaleness will then find its expression in a way that is now completely outside of our current experience.
Resurrection & Moral Character
Sura [56.35] Surely We have made them to grow into a (new) growth, [56.36] Then We have made them virgins, [56.37] Loving, equals in age.
John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
1 John 4:20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.
Sura 78.31-36 Surely for those who guard (against evil) is achievement, Gardens and vineyards, And those showing freshness of youth (wakawāʿiba), equals in age, And a pure cup. They shall not hear therein any vain words nor lying. A reward from your Lord, a gift according to a reckoning.
James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the Law and judges it. And if you judge the Law, you are not a practitioner of the Law, but a judge of it.
Sura 55.54 Reclining on beds, the inner coverings of which are of silk brocade…..[55.56] In them shall be those who restrained their eyes; before them neither man nor jinni shall have touched them….[55.58] As though they were rubies and pearls.
Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
qāṣirātu l-ṭarfi – those who restrained their eyes
Sura 27:40 Said one who had knowledge from the Scripture, “I will bring it to you before your glance (ṭarfuka) returns to you.”……..
It would appear that the phrase “before your glance returns to you” is equivalent to the phrase “in the blink of an eye”
Sura 77:32 Indeed, it throws sparks [as huge] as a fortress (qaṣri).
The believers when on earth were commanded to restrain their eyes or reduce their gaze or guard their vision. These are the successful! And they shall recline on beds before which neither jinn nor men had touched. They shall lie nestled within fine silk brocade like a casket of Jewels.
And all of this, i.e. Paradise, its glories, and its pure resurrected bodies are all “For the sake of the companions of the right hand.” (Sura 56:38)
Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Resurrection & Visual Appearance
[56:15-18 & 22-24] On thrones decorated, reclining on them, facing each other, There will circulate (yaṭūfu) among them, young boys (wil’dānun) never altering in age, with goblets and ewers and a cup of pure drink……And companions (Houris) sparkling (ʿīnun) the like of the hidden pearls. A reward for what they used to do.
And the word ʿīnin also translated as ‘beautiful eyes’ can also carry the allusion of springs (maʿīnin: S.37:45; ʿaynin S.88:5). Hence it often leads to translations of “sparkling” or “lustrous” eyes.
Revelation 1:13-15 and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man…………His head and hair were white like wool — white as snow — and His eyes like a fiery flame. His feet were like fine bronze as it is fired in a furnace, and His voice like the sound of cascading waters.
Sura 55.58 As though they were rubies and pearls.
Matthew 17:2 There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
But, you may ask, how do we reconcile the difference between the ordinary but youthful looking man in Mark 16:5 with the shining entity in Revelation 1:13-16? Easy! We do it all the time with our laptop/tablet/phone screens. When it’s dark in the environment, we dim our screens. When it’s light outside, we brighten them. And we do this without having to change monitors or anything. In other words, if the ordinary looking guy in the Gospel according to Mark dialed up the power, then we would see the entity of Revelation.
Philippians 3:21 who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body.
Who or what is circulating?
[56:15-18 & 22-24] On thrones decorated, reclining on them, facing each other, There will circulate (yaṭūfu) among them, young boys never altering in age, with goblets and ewers and a cup of pure drink……And companions (Houris) sparkling (ʿīnun) the like of the hidden pearls. A reward for what they used to do.
[52.23] They shall pass therein from one to another a cup wherein there shall be nothing vain nor any sin. [52.24] And round them shall go boys of theirs as if they were hidden pearls. [52:25] And some of them shall advance towards others questioning each other.
The problem here, is the word translated as “and round them/will circulate” or wayaṭūfu. The word is singular and masculine both in 52:17 and 56:24.
[55:44] In its midst and in the midst of boiling hot water will they wander round (yaṭūfūna – plural, masculine)!
If the verbs in 52.24 and 56:17 are singular, it cannot refer to the boys (plural). Perhaps it refers to the cup (singular) like here:
[37:44] On thrones, facing each other. [37:45] There will be circulated (yuṭāfu – singular masculine) among them a cup from a flowing spring….
The problem with this is that the word “cup” is feminine in all three instances. It won’t carry a masculine verb. Therefore:
[37:44] On thrones, facing each other, [37:45] (He) will circulate among them a cup from a flowing spring….
[52.23] They shall pass therein from one to another a cup wherein there shall be nothing vain nor any sin, [52.24] and (He) will circulate among them (young boys, to them as if they were hidden pearls) [52:25] and some of them shall advance towards others questioning each other.
[56:15-18 & 22-24] On thrones decorated, reclining on them, facing each other, (He) will circulate among them (young boys never altering in age) with goblets and ewers and a cup of pure drink……And the Houris sparkling the like of the hidden pearls. A reward for what they used to do.
Who is the He that will circulate around them?
John 4:14 But whoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Matthew 20:21 “What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.” 22 “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Are you able to drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We are able,” the brothers answered. 23 “You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them.”
[[realise that when Jesus talks about the “cup” in verse 23 He is no longer talking about the cup that He is going to drink, but this one 👇.]]
Revelation 21:6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.
The Coup de Grâce
Now you may still dispute that even though there may be some passing resemblance to various passages in the Bible, that the Quranic verses are still referring to a separate being. My argument on the word “pair” might not be too conclusive. And another may then ask, “Well where does the Islamic idea of seventy-two virgins come from.”
https://sunnah.com/bukhari/59/56 Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger said, “The first group (of people) who will enter Paradise will be (glittering) like the moon when it is full……………. Everyone of them will have two wives; the marrow of the bones of the wives’ legs will be seen through the flesh out of excessive beauty…………”
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/22/46 Narrated Al-Miqdam bin Ma’diykarib: That the Messenger of Allah said: “There are six things with Allah for the martyr. He is forgiven with the first flow of blood (he suffers), he is shown his place in Paradise, he is protected from punishment in the grave, secured from the greatest terror, the crown of dignity is placed upon his head – and its gems are better than the world and what is in it – he is married to seventy two wives along Al-Huril-‘Ayn of Paradise, and he may intercede for seventy of his close relatives.” [Abu ‘Eisa said:] This Hadith is Hasan Sahih.
So after thinking about this for a bit, a verse from the Bible comes to mind. And I go, “Oh S***!” (and worse). Those of you dear friends with better memories that me, may know precisely the verse of which I speak. At the time, I was so horrified (and amused – go figure), that I told myself, that maybe I didn’t remember correctly. Maybe the verse only speaks of seventy and not seventy-two.
Ezekiel 8:11 Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising.
So I opened up an online Bible and typed in the search field, “seventy two”
Luke 10:1 The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.
Amused or horrified?
l-ḥawāriyūna = the disciples
One may rightfully ask then, that if what I have proposed is even remotely correct, how on earth did the prophet of Islam make such a ridiculous mistake.
https://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2009/07/17/theophanes-in-english/
He taught his subjects that he who kills an enemy or is killed by an enemy goes to Paradise; and he said that this paradise was one of carnal eating and drinking and intercourse with women, and had a river of wine, honey, and milk, and that the women were not like the ones down here, but different ones, and that the intercourse was long-lasting and the pleasure continuous; and other things full of profligacy and stupidity; also that men should feel sympathy for one another and help those who are wronged. – Theophanes the Confessor (817/818 AD)
Notice that this is a balanced report. Theophanes could have left out the good things “help those who are wronged” but he doesn’t. So even though he is clearly appalled by some of what he hears, he is still prepared to be objective.
https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.922/page/n417
Dio Chrysostom in Five Volumes (Vol 3)
Accordingly I know of no city that is more favoured by fortune than Celaenae and no people that leads a better existence—save only the people of India. For in India, according to report, there are rivers, not of water as in your land, but one of milk, one of translucent wine, another of honey, and another of olive oil. And these streams spring from hills near by, as if from the breasts of Mother Earth. – Dio Chrysostom (40 – 115 AD)
https://archive.org/details/Vishnupurana-English-MnDutt/page/n130/mode/1up
Vishnu Purana – edited and produced by Manmatha Nath Dutt, MA., M.R.A.S.,
Part II, Section II, pg 116 O twice-born one, the earth consists of seven islands namely Jambu, Plaksha, Salmali, Kusa, Krauncha, Saku and Puskara : and they are severally girt by seven great seas: the sea of salt water (Lavana), of sugar-cane juice (Ikshu), of wine (Sura) of clarified butter (Sarpi), of curds (Dadhi), of milk (Dugdha) and of fresh water (Jala).
[16.103] And certainly We know that they say: Only a mortal teaches him. The tongue of him whom they reproach is foreign, and this is clear Arabic tongue.
[25.5] And they say: The stories of the ancients– he has got them written–so these are read out to him morning and evening.
Note that this isn’t necessarily an issue of translation from whatever ‘foreign’ language the proposed text was originally written in. For I am using the text as given without proposing an error in transmission. If anything, it’s clear that the word wasn’t translated at all – and is simply coming to us in trans-literal form. It is however, a matter of interpretation or perhaps non-acceptance of the text.
For imagine being a man accustomed to many wives, and being told that Paradise is full of virgins. The automatic assumption is that these virgins are all women – perhaps even from those who were once upon earth. It might never occur to him that some of these virgins (approximately half) are male. Hence upon encountering a verse that seems to say that (male) disciples will be made virgins (and young boys) – must seem incredible. Therefore, since it cannot be that males will become virgins, the word must mean something else. And so the concept of a separate virginal being comes into being. And hence, “They will be made virgins” becomes understood to mean, “Virgins will be made for them.” It then becomes necessary to read the verses with this interpretation in the back on one’s mind.
Hence if the prophet of Islam has come across or heard about someone’s sermon that says “The Lord prepared 72 disciples (ḥawāriyūna) to be sent to the believers.” or “The Lord sent the disciples (ḥawāriyūna) to the believers in pairs” – well, I just don’t want to think anymore about how this mistake could have happened and just thank God that he didn’t try to saddle believers with 144,000 virgins instead! (Revelation 14:4)
Now one may argue that I am doing the same thing. That because I can readily accept the concept of male virginity (because my Bible tells me so) as well as historical practice both in Christianity and Judaism of ascetic lifestyles, that I am reading my bias into the text. However, as I have pointed out, derivatives of the word Nikah are never used in this context (at least I didn’t find any). So at minimum, the concept of Houris as sexual beings is unsupported by the Quran. Also keep in mind that I was able to identify topical parallels within the Bible text that are a rough match with all the “metaphorical” concepts in the Quran on this issue. Coincidence? Or was I reading too much into the text?
On a lighter note, it is imminently possible that someone trying to infer symbolic meaning to Luke 10:1 may also have derived this interpretation:
https://sunnah.com/abudawud/42/2 Abu `Amir al-Hawdhani said: Mu`awiyah b. Abi Sufiyan stood among us and said: Beware! The Apostle of Allah stood among us and said: Beware! The people of the Book before were split up into seventy two sects, and this community will be split into seventy three: seventy two of them will go to Hell and one of them will go to Paradise, and it is the majority group. Ibn Yahya and `Amr added in their version : “ There will appear among my community people who will be dominated by desires like rabies which penetrates its patient”, `Amr’s version has: “penetrates its patient. There remains no vein and no joint but it penetrates it.”
Of course, the prophet of Islam must apply his own spin to things.
Luke 20:34 Jesus answered, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to share in the age to come and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage. 36 In fact, they can no longer die, because they are like the angels. And since they are sons of the resurrection, they are sons of God.
https://sunnah.com/ahmad/5/744
It was narrated that ‘Ali said: The Messenger of Allah said: “In Paradise there is a market in which nothing is bought or sold except images of men and women. If a man likes an image he will enter into it (i.e. it will become his).😜And in [Paradise] there is a gathering of al-hoorul-`Een who raise their voices; no created being has ever seen the like of it. They say: “We are the eternal ones who will never die we are the ones who are content and will never be discontent; we are the joyful ones who will never be wretched. Fortunate is he who is for us and we are for him.”…. (daif)
Revelation 14:3 And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Hadith vs Hadith: This is one of at least two situations where I have been baffled by conflicting Hadith.
https://sunnah.com/urn/1802290 ………. Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam said, Say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age, but Allah will make all the women of Jannah young virgins. Allah Ta’ala says, Lo! We have created them a (new) creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age. (Surah Waaqi’ah, 35-37).
https://sunnah.com/bukhari/56/14 …….. And if a houri from Paradise appeared to the people of the earth, she would fill the space between Heaven and the Earth with light and pleasant scent and her head cover is better than the world and whatever is in it.”
Hadith #1 clearly identifies that the virgins of Paradise are (at least some of them) women believers including moms, grandmas, wives. But Hadith #2 and others like it, give no indication that the virgins in heaven and the believing women on earth are ultimately one and the same group of people!
https://sunnah.com/bukhari/67/130 ……. Then I stood at the gate of the Fire and saw that the majority of those who entered it were women.
How can it be that the same “rasool” is making these statements??!!! It is at times like this that I wonder if there were two “rasools” running about at the same time and that somehow, everyone got confused over which was which and their statements got hopelessly muddled.
The other instance is this:
https://sunnah.com/abudawud/36/9 Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas’ud: The Prophet of Allah disliked ten things: Yellow colouring, meaning khaluq, dyeing grey hair, trailing the lower garment, wearing a gold signet-ring, a woman decking herself before people who are not within the prohibited degrees, throwing dice, using spells except with the Mu’awwidhatan, wearing amulets, withdrawing the penis before the semen is discharged, in the case of a woman who is wife or not a wife, and having intercourse with a woman who is suckling a child; but he did not declare them to be prohibited.
Abu Dawud said: Only the transmitters of Basrah have transmitted this tradition.
Sura 24:31 And say to the believing women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty and ornaments (zīnatahunna) except what (must ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their head covers (bikhumurihinna) over their breasts (juyūbihinna) and not display their beauty [ornaments] (zīnatahunna) except to their husband, their fathers, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husbands’ sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their (Muslim) women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden ornaments (zīnatahunna).
The Hadith quoted supports the interpretation that Quran 24:31 is primarily about admonishing women who flaunt their wealth (in the form of jewellery: necklaces and leg bangles) in public. Not about hiding their faces and hair (unless they also happen to be wearing nose rings and head chains)!
Virgins or Grapes? A More Nuanced View
December 10, 2021
I’ve been eating a lot of grapes over this Christmas season.
So this got me to thinking about:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5
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.54; LII.20, LV.72, and LVI.22. 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.
Now:
Bible: Mark 14:25 “Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
and:
Quran 83:25 They will be given to drink pure sealed wine.
In this instance, “sealed wine” meaning a “new” unopened bottle. If we consider Mark 14:25 & Quran 83:25 together then we can see that this next idea fits into context:
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/opinion/martyrs-virgins-and-grapes.html
Some martyrs arriving in paradise may regard a bunch of grapes as a letdown. But the scholar who pioneered this pathbreaking research, using the pseudonym Christoph Luxenberg for security reasons, noted in an e-mail interview that grapes made more sense in context because the Koran compares them to crystal and pearls, and because contemporary accounts have paradise abounding with fruit, especially white grapes.
Now if you have eaten grapes, you will know that the flesh is very translucent. Indeed, if the grapeskin is very thin or green, sometime you can dimly make out the seed inside even without peeling it! It therefore occurs to me that if the text says “white” that this isn’t to be taken as a solid “white as milk” but instead, translucent is the idea that the text is trying to convey. We can then see where this idea might lead to:
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3254
Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “The first batch (of people) who will enter Paradise will be (glittering) like the full moon, and the batch next to them will be (glittering) like the most brilliant star in the sky. Their hearts will be as if the heart of a single man, for they will have neither enmity nor jealousy amongst themselves; everyone will have two wives from the houris, (who will be so beautiful, pure and transparent that) the marrow of the bones of their legs will be seen through the bones and the flesh.”
Now I pointed out in the previous section that:
Quran 56:36 They will be made (into) virgins
https://sunnah.com/urn/1802290
Hasan Basri radiyallahu anhu says that an old woman came to Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam and made a request, O Messenger of Allah make Dua that Allah grants me entrance into Jannah. Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam replied, O Mother, an old woman cannot enter Jannah. That woman started crying and began to leave. Rasoolullah sallallahu alaihe wasallam said, Say to the woman that one will not enter in a state of old age, but Allah will make all the women of Jannah young virgins. Allah Ta’ala says, Lo! We have created them a (new) creation and made them virgins, lovers, equal in age. (Surah Waaqi’ah, 35-37).
Is often understood to mean:
Quran 56:36 Virgins will be made for them
But what if the original intention was also:
Quran 56:36 They will be made translucent (as grapes).
or more specifically:
Quran 56:36 They will be made (into) virgins (whose flesh is translucent as grapes).
But then I wondered, where on earth does the idea of translucent flesh come from and what does this have to do with the resurrection?
Now these hadith were always a bit suspicious to me:
https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3450
[…] Hudhaifa further said, “I also heard him saying, ‘Once there was a man on his death-bed, who, losing every hope of surviving said to his family: When I die, gather for me a large heap of wood and make a fire (to burn me). When the fire eats my meat and reaches my bones, and when the bones burn, take and crush them into powder and wait for a windy day to throw it (i.e. the powder) over the sea. They did so, but Allah collected his particles and asked him: Why did you do so? He replied: For fear of You. So Allah forgave him.” Uqba binAmr said, “I heard him saying that the Israeli used to dig the grave of the dead (to steal their shrouds).
https://sunnah.com/mishkat:3609
Abu Dharr told that God’s Messenger addressed him by name and he replied, “At your service and at your pleasure, Messenger of God.” He said, “How will you do when death 1 smites people and a house, meaning a grave, will cost as much as a slave?” On his replying that God and His apostle knew best, he said, “Show endurance.” Hammad b. [Abu] Sulaiman said that the hand of one who rifles a grave 2 should be cut off because he had entered the deceased’s house.
Abu Dawud transmitted it.
1. Here “death” is used as a figure for a severe pestilence.
2. Mirqat, iv, 59, say this is done to steal the shroud.
I wondered what possible reason could there be for any Jew to defile themselves by digging up dead bodies to steal grave shrouds?
For even in the event of a plague such that grave plots increase in price, then surely, one can be buried in whatever fabric is available if not in their own clothes. While unscrupulous persons might be prepared to dig up a fresh grave to resell the burial shroud 🤢 one would think that the fear of contracting plague from contact with the dead would be a severe deterrent.
So my suspicion was that perhaps the Shroud of Turin was in the vicinity, and in an attempt to “debunk” the image, that academic individuals were hoping to prove that the image was formed naturally from decomposition by digging up and comparing the shrouds of the ordinary deceased. On the other hand, there is no explicit, “I saw the Israeli digging up graves to steal shrouds” so was this a rumor/slander against the Shroud of Turin to discourage people from going on pilgrimage to see it since those displaying it could be accused of “rifling a grave”?
How is The Shroud relevant?
https://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/dr-bill-stiles-the-shroud-of-turin-the-burial-cloth-of-jesus/article_d66fbc84-d5f5-11e7-8936-572465bd99c8.html
Professor Alan Whanger, who has studied The Shroud for some 40 yrs, said, “The image is like an X-ray, revealing the internal structure of the body consistent with some type of radiation. You can see bones in the upper hands, teeth through the lips, roots and all.”
I believe the image was formed instantaneously during the resurrection of Jesus. The image overall, is very light and we have to stand at least 6 to 10 feet back to see it clearly. The image does not penetrate the cloth, but the many stains of blood do penetrate. Where there is blood there is no image; showing the blood got on the cloth before the image was formed. So a bleeding Jesus was covered with the cloth before the radiation occurred. No image beneath the blood.
In other words, the image on the Shroud of Turin graphically demonstrates a body where the flesh is seemingly translucent and where the bones are visible.
Quran 56:36 They will be made (into) virgins (whose flesh is translucent as grapes).
Now if the Shroud is a fraudulent creation then was the intention to fool the public or to frighten the public? Clearly, there is no evidence in the Gospel that Jesus was walking among the disciples with a body whose flesh was translucent and where his bones maybe even his marrow was visible. For all intents and purposes, his appearance was human.
Bible: Acts 1:3 After His suffering, He presented Himself to them with many convincing proofs that He was alive. He appeared to them over a span of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Surely, if he appeared like some otherworldy being such proofs would be entirely unnecessary.
Now modern eyes, with experience in modern technology can surmise that the image formed from:
“And the radiation had to come from within. Had to come from the body.”
But what will a 6th Century observer with 6th Century scientific knowledge think when looking at the Shroud (which might not be as faded as is today) and he too is able to discern:
“You can see bones in the upper hands, teeth through the lips, roots and all”
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi:2533
‘Abdullah bin Mas’ud narrated that the Prophet (s.a.w) said: “Indeed, a woman from the wives of the people of Paradise, the whiteness of her shin is visible through seventy garments until her marrow is seen, and that is because Allah, he Exalted, says: As if they are corundum and Marjan [[see also Quran 55:58]]. So, as for the corundum, it is a stone that if you were to enter a wire through it, then you polished its cloudiness away, you would surely be able to see it through it.”
Another chain reports a similar narration.
To Pair or to Marry?
December 11, 2021
Quran 42:50 Or, He may have the males and the females marry each other (yuzawwijuhum), then render whomever He wills sterile. He is Omniscient, Omnipotent. (Rashad Khalifa)
Is this translated correctly? Let us pull back and look at the context.
Quran 42:49 Allah’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He creates what He pleases; He grants to whom He pleases daughters and grants to whom He pleases sons. [50] Or He makes them of both sorts (yuzawwijuhum), male and female; and He makes whom He pleases barren; surely He is the Knowing, the Powerful. (Shakir)
The context of the above verse is clearly about children, meaning: some have only daughters, some have only sons, some have none :
Or He combines them […] (Ali Bakhtiari Nejad)
Inserting the idea of marriage here becomes thematically problematic. Hence inserting marriage elsewhere might also be incorrect.
Pairs or Kinds?
🤦♂️
Quran 31:10
He created the heavens without pillars as you see them, and put mountains upon the earth lest it might convulse with you, and He spread in it animals of every kind [[zawjin is not in the text]]; and We sent down water from the cloud, then caused to grow therein (vegetation) of every noble kind (zawjin). (Shakir)
He has created the heavens without pillar as you can see, fixed the mountains on earth so that it may not shake you away, and settled therein all types of living creatures. We have sent down water from the sky and made all kinds of plants grow in gracious pairs. (Muhammad Sarwar)
Now the problem with Sarwar’s translation is that the number of plants that are Dioecious (separate male & female plants) is in the minority. Date palms are dioecious, but grain etc posses both male and female flowers. This is why some interpret it like this:
He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature[[not in the text]], in pairs. (Yusuf Ali)
Except that in the Quran, rain is usually associated with growing gardens, so trying to connect rain with animals is inconsistent.
Quran 37:22
[The angels will be ordered], “Gather those who committed wrong, their kinds (wa-azwājahum), and what they used to worship (Sahih International)
(God will command the angels), “Gather together the unjust, their spouses, and what they had worshipped (Muhammad Sarwar)
(It will be said to the angels): “Assemble those who did wrong, together with their companions (from the devils) and what they used to worship. (Mohsin Khan)
In other words:
Quran 36.55-56 Surely the dwellers of the garden shall on that day be in an occupation quite happy. They and their wives [[kinds]] (wa-azwājuhum) shall be in shades, reclining on raised couches.
Markus Gorelli (not that Markus the other one!) 