You asked me about the talk of 72 virgins.

First,
before I answer your question, you can already see who are the source of this informaiton. Source: The Catholic Encyclopedia
They are the ones who spread such propaganda, and say that this is what Islam teaches. They are the one who are teaching it

Secondly,
I just want to say that there is nothing wrong to have good things in heaven.
Allah, promises both male and female that:
Quran Chapter 16:97

Description of paradise in the Quran
Quran chapter 47:15

The Prophet (pbuh) too told us
that within Paradise are things that no eyes have ever seen, nor ears have ever heard, and that things in it are beyond our imagination and comprehension, but we all have our own personal ideas of what eternal bliss would probably be like.

Now to my answer
One of the biggest propaganda in this world that has been invented is of 72 virgins.
This has been amplified in the western countries many times that nowadays, many people accept it as fact and truth.

In fact, the media wants people to believe
that this is a Muslim's reward for suicide.

The Quran and valid authentic Hadiths are very clear about anyone who commits suicide.

See what the Hadiths say Committing Suicide
..is a Major Sin:
Bukhari Volume 2, Book 23, Number 445:
Narrated Jundab the Prophet said, "A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so Allah said:
My slave has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him."

Bukhari Volume 8, Book 73, Number 73: Narrated Thabit bin Ad-Dahhak:
"And if somebody commits suicide with anything in this world, he will be tortured with that very thing on the Day of Resurrection."

These are just a few, but there are more condemning suicide.

What about the Quran?
There are many verses condemning suicide.
One says taking of one’s life is strongly prohibited and that there is no reward for anyone who does that.
Quran 4:29 – 4:30

So where did the reward of 72 virgins in paradise come from?

First,
I have showed that highest authority in Islam, Quran, has nothing endorsing rewards for suicide.
But I have shown you the strongest condemnation with severe punishments for those who commit suicide.

Secondly,
the next authority is the Hadiths, and we find nothing endorsing suicide in the hadiths categorized as authentic: Bukhari and Muslim.
But, again we find them condemning it strongly.

However there are some unreliable hadiths
Referred to as Gharib Hadiths (weak or strange Hadiths), which talk about 72 wives but not virgins.

The inauthentic Hadith is below:
The Prophet Muhammad was heard saying:
"The smallest reward for the people of Paradise is an abode where there are 80,000 servants and 72 wives, over which stands a dome decorated with pearls, aquamarine, and ruby, as wide as the distance from Al-Jabiyyah [a Damascus suburb] to Sana’a [Yemen]"
Narrated by Sunan al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2562

This is as a weak Hadith,
because there is a chance that it may have been fabricated or corrupted along the way.
Therefore, it has been rejected as technically weak in its chain of transmitters and not considered accurate.

As a result
Muslims are not required to believe in it.

IMPORTANT
Even if the Hadith was true, there is nothing about it that says that if someone commits suicide they would get 72 virgins in paradise.

CONCLUSION
The way Islam has condemned suicide, making as grave sin, then it is unthinkable for its followers to regard sex as a reward if they were to take their lives.

Today, the myth of the 72 virgins
remains potent ammunition for those who wish to see their point of view prevail against Islam.
Entities like the media have twisted this alleged saying to suit their fancies and smear Islam with ridicule and humiliation.

@mtu I pity you so much. You don't read what is in the thread, then you start to download what was uploaded to your mind without thinking about them?

If you want us to discuss this, then go to post #51.

That verse you have quoted, John 3:16,
just like all priests worth his cloth would not fail to quote: "the only BEGOTTEN!" when preaching has now been unceremoniously expunged from the Bible by your Bible revisers as a fabrication.

They removed this from the Bible without a word of excuse
They are silent like "church-mice" and would let you as a reader pay attention to this furtive excision.

The blasphemous word "BEGOTTEN"
was one of the many insertions into the "Holy Bible."

You will be surprised also
to realize that Mark chapter 16 ends on verse 8.
Now the Bibles put a foot at the bottom of the page.


If you can lay your hand on the RSV 1952, and compare with newer version.
If you were an honest Christian and admit that you cannot consider a footnote as the Word of God.

@quicksand, you see I'm not even asking them to "get" saved, no. I'm not even asking anyone to become Muslim, no.

All I'm asking them for them to open their eyes and use their God-given mind.

I have to use their own Bible to show them where they got lost.

If I use the Quran, they'll say "oh, but I don't believe in that. Oh, ..."

So I have to use their own witness.

Their own scholars keep misleading them
The scholars keep doing whatever pleases them with the Bible, and since most Christians don't know what was there originally, they just believe.
Even if what they are being asked to follow does not make sense i.e. goes against common sense.

For example:
Did Jesus perform miracles by God's permission or not?

John 5:30
- Mimi siwezi kufanya jambo lo lote peke Yangu.
- Ninavyosikia ndivyo ninavyohukumu,
- nayo hukumu Yangu ni ya haki kwa kuwa sitafuti kufanya mapenzi Yangu mwenyewe,
- bali mapenzi Yake Yeye aliyenituma."

Acts 2:22: The Bible says Jesus is a human being, but you are refusing!!!
- Enyi Waisraeli, sikilizeni maneno haya nisemayo:
- Yesu wa Nazareti alikuwa mtu aliyethibitishwa kwenu na Mungu kwa miujiza, maajabu na ishara,
- ambayo Mungu alitenda miongoni mwenu kwa kupitia yeye, kama ninyi wenyewe mjuavyo. 23Huyu

Quran 3:49: Jesus says:
"And (appoint him) a messenger to the Children of Israel, (with this message):
"'I have come to you, with a Sign from your Lord, ... (I did miracles) by Allah's leave:
And I heal those born blind, and the lepers, and I quicken the dead, by Allah's leave;
and I declare to you what ye eat, and what ye store in your houses.
Surely therein is a Sign for you if ye did believe;

@AlphDoti, I have been hesitant to do two things:

1. To defend the Bible, and Christianity, and

2. To attack Islam.

The reasons for this position are because,

1. I have been reading the Quran with what I may call an 'open mind', nay, 'Submission' to Allah.

2. Subimission can neither be defensive nor offensive.

That the Quran is Allah's word, or that Mohammad is his prophet is undeniable and as I have indicated in some other thread, I have confessed this from my heart.

'From my heart' because the mind, and its reliance on logic cannot be adequate. The inability of the mind and logic has been well shown by Wittgenstein in his 'Tractatus logico philosophicus' but is also enforced by the act of submission.

It is this submission that makes Islam, the religion of peace, and assures one of being on the straight path.

This submission that one must have while studying the Quran, must also apply to any other book proclaimed as holy or noble. Any other attitude does away with submission and peace.

Let us take this thread as an example. It is evident that most people are thinking in terms of Christianity versus Islam. Yet submission excludes contest.

The absence of submission is further shown by how evidence is presented. That is, the Bible is presented at once as unreliable and altered, and at the same time, a source of proof and a tool for the edification of Christians. Such ambivalence creates great complexity, and betrays ulterior motives-something distant from submission, hence Islam.

Either the Bible is valid or not valid, making it both is misleading. If it is valid then the accusations given are invalid.

If the Bible is a fabrication then it can't be used to instruct Christians, and there's no room for conversation.

To find truth then, the holy Scriptures must be embraced as they are, and measured against prevailing human conditions.

@quicksand, you see I'm not even asking them to "get" saved, no. I'm not even asking anyone to become Muslim, no.

All I'm asking them for them to open their eyes and use their God-given mind.

I have to use their own Bible to show them where they got lost.

If I use the Quran, they'll say "oh, but I don't believe in that. Oh, ..."

So I have to use their own witness.

Their own scholars keep misleading them
The scholars keep doing whatever pleases them with the Bible, and since most Christians don't know what was there originally, they just believe.
Even if what they are being asked to follow does not make sense i.e. goes against common sense.


More on the Vatican, below. Very controversial.

RINK