Lurking inequality
Yeah, yeah, we know: seventy-two virgins. That’s part of the reward for a suicide bomber, along with, among other things, a Crown of Honor and a Get Out Of Jahannam Free card.
If the bomber is male, that is. The rewards for women who sacrifice themselves in this manner are not so clear:
The Quran itself describes little about the specifics of the afterlife, but it does note that believers will find huris, or maidens “of modest gaze, whom neither man nor jinni will have touched before them.” (Every believer can end up in heaven; martyrs just get there faster.) Respected commentator Al-Tirmidhi said in a hadith that every man will have six dozen huris in heaven, but very few commentators enumerated the rewards for women. Ninth-century scholar Al-Tabarani did argue that women will be reunited with their husbands in the next world, and those who had multiple husbands can pick the best one to be their eternal spouse. (Other commentators added that a woman who never married can marry any man she wants in paradise.)
This doesn’t sit well with contemporary Western concepts of equality, though:
After all, a contract is a contract and ten pounds of Semtex are ten pounds of Semtex, no matter who is thumbing that button.
I believe that, for the sake of fairness, the number of males provided to the female martyr should be the same. Only one minor correction, though: I would suggest to dispense with the notion of providing 72 virgin males. I mean, who needs the hassle?
Then again, what woman wants six dozen men of any description?
HeatherRadish »
24 February 2010 · 3:46 pm
Then again, what woman wants six dozen men of any description?
If they can work a snow shovel, you might find some takers.
CGHill »
24 February 2010 · 4:00 pm
Maybe some of the year.
fillyjonk »
24 February 2010 · 6:58 pm
Yeah, I was gonna say, if some of ‘em are good cooks, and some of ‘em like to clean house, and some of ‘em know how to fix plumbing, and some of ‘em are good at changing the oil on a car….
I guess “what women want” and “what men want” may actually be different, after all…
though it wouldn’t hurt if some of ‘em looked like Mike Rowe.
Brett »
25 February 2010 · 9:41 am
I suspect that Paradise for the woman may be that her husband is off slobbering over six dozen women and not bothering her.
Or it could be that Jahannam for hubby is that he heads to paradise, gets his reward and then his wife finds out…
hatless in hattiesburg »
25 February 2010 · 12:29 pm
to expand on previous comments, i’d think that being free from the society of raving misogynists that drove her to suicide might be reward enough…
Lynn »
25 February 2010 · 7:10 pm
I’ll take the 72 female virgins. They can scrub the marble floors in my heavenly mansion.
SnoopyTheGoon »
10 March 2010 · 3:00 pm
Thanks for the link.
Cheers.