Muslimwoman
Coexistence insha'Allah
Perhaps you may want to look at this paganprophet, it takes a bit of reading but shows both ends of the spectrum.
Houri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You should also read chapter 56 of the Quran, it is called Al-Waqia (The Event)
USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts
The first link explains the hadith that talks about 72 virgins and refers to it as weak (ie a bit of a fib). Please don't just read a little bit and say there you go then, you really have to read it all to understand. It very much depends which scholars and translators you listen to. Opinion goes from "an eternal erection.....deflowering renewable virgins all day, every day" to "having a joyous time listening to music and being happy in the presence of Allah" - bit of a difference considering they are discussing the same thing.
So I think it depends very much how your mind works and how the mind of the translator works. What I can tell you is that most of this comes from the hadiths. I did a few searches of the Quran - are you ready for a quick maths lesson?
I can find the words heaven, paradise and gardens 197 times:
53 = Allah's domain/heavens and earth/sky
24 = Must do good deeds to get in/ believers get in
24 = general swearing by heaven/gates of/heaven sent
16 = descriptions of best home/rivers/lamps/rains etc
20 = joy/bliss/sins forgiven/
11 = Judgement Day
11 = who will not enter
10 = garden of Eden
1 = You will enter with your wives
1= wives (as in us human ones) will have a high place
The rest are all singular references and you will need to just take my word for it that it isn't all virgins and deflowering. The huriyah are mentioned in the Quran where I gave the link above.
So as you see, the Quran talks about heaven in terms of G-d's domain, the good deeds we must do to be able to earn a place there, rivers, milk, fruit, etc. The erections and virgins come from men and personally I think an awful lot of it is just plain wishful thinking on their part.
Houri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
You should also read chapter 56 of the Quran, it is called Al-Waqia (The Event)
USC-MSA Compendium of Muslim Texts
The first link explains the hadith that talks about 72 virgins and refers to it as weak (ie a bit of a fib). Please don't just read a little bit and say there you go then, you really have to read it all to understand. It very much depends which scholars and translators you listen to. Opinion goes from "an eternal erection.....deflowering renewable virgins all day, every day" to "having a joyous time listening to music and being happy in the presence of Allah" - bit of a difference considering they are discussing the same thing.
So I think it depends very much how your mind works and how the mind of the translator works. What I can tell you is that most of this comes from the hadiths. I did a few searches of the Quran - are you ready for a quick maths lesson?
I can find the words heaven, paradise and gardens 197 times:
53 = Allah's domain/heavens and earth/sky
24 = Must do good deeds to get in/ believers get in
24 = general swearing by heaven/gates of/heaven sent
16 = descriptions of best home/rivers/lamps/rains etc
20 = joy/bliss/sins forgiven/
11 = Judgement Day
11 = who will not enter
10 = garden of Eden
1 = You will enter with your wives
1= wives (as in us human ones) will have a high place
The rest are all singular references and you will need to just take my word for it that it isn't all virgins and deflowering. The huriyah are mentioned in the Quran where I gave the link above.
So as you see, the Quran talks about heaven in terms of G-d's domain, the good deeds we must do to be able to earn a place there, rivers, milk, fruit, etc. The erections and virgins come from men and personally I think an awful lot of it is just plain wishful thinking on their part.