Debunking the Suicide for 72 Virgins Myth!
One of the biggest Israeli propaganda myths is the invention of 72 virgins as a
Muslim reward for suicide. This has been repeated to the western world so often
that most people accept it as fact. The media wants us to believe that there
cannot be anything wrong about Israelis who must be seen as eternal victims
to cause anyone to commit suicide as a means of striking back at them. Heavens
no! The motivation for suicide bombings in Israel has nothing to do with Jewish
treatment of Palestinians. Instead it has to do with the evilness of the
Palestinians and their religious beliefs. This is the bill of goods they sell
the western mind while at the same time faking most, if not all the Islamic
suicide bombings to blame on Muslims.
It is a sick and despicable mind that feels that it has a right to attack,
steal, murder and cause harm to others but if the others dare fight back they
are wrong and therefore terrorists. This one sentence describes Israeli
thinking and their policies. They believe they are superior and entitled and
they have a right to do anything to other people and those people better not
retaliate. As a result they have done more by way of propaganda to take the
legitimate fight of those who are against their wrongs and demonize them. We
now have this ongoing enormous propaganda campaign to make Palestinians and
anyone belonging to the same religion as Palestinians, to be seen as mindless
terrorists and suicide bombers with no cause other than to do evil. And, of
course, vicariously receiving 72 virgins as a reward in paradise for committing
suicide to kill a few Israelis.
The Quran and valid authentic Hadiths are very clear about what happens to
anyone who commits suicide. According to Hadiths:
Quote:
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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.
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There are many more Hadiths condemning suicide but I would also like to
reference the Quran. Amongst the many verses against suicide here is one that
makes it very clear that the taking of ones life is strongly prohibited and
that there is no reward for anyone who does that.
Quote:
---------------------------------
But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill
(or destroy) yourselves: for verily God hath been to you Most Merciful!
If any do that in rancour and injustice,- soon shall We cast them into the
Fire: And easy it is for God.
Quran 4:29 - 4:30
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So where did the reward of 72 virgins in paradise for suicide come from? Are
there any Islamic teachings we can point to endorsing that?
When we look at the highest authority in Islam, the Quran, we find nothing in
it endorsing rewards for suicide. Instead we find the strongest condemnation
with severe punishments for those who commit suicide. When we look at Hadiths,
which after the Quran is second in authority in Islam, we find nothing in the
authentic Bukhari and Muslim Hadiths endorsing suicide. Instead we find strong
condemnation for it.
Searching what Muslims refer to as Gharib Hadiths (weak or strange Hadiths) we
do find something about 72 wives but not virgins. The Hadith we find is the
following:
Quote:
---------------------------------
Sunan al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2562 says:
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]"
---------------------------------
This is as a weak Hadith that has no Sanad -- line or sequence of narration.
Although listed in an authoritative collection, this particular Hadith has
technical weaknesses in its chain of transmitters and is therefore not
considered impeccable. As a result, Muslims are not required to believe in it.
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.
Muslims know that the description of paradise or heaven in Hadiths and Quran is
allegorical. If not, then Allah would have allowed us to take our bodies with
us when we die. But the vehicle by which we could enjoy the physical things
(especially 72 virgins ) mentioned as being in heaven, is left behind here in
this world to rot and decay away. So we know for a fact that for heavenly
rewards, physical things of this world are used to describe things totally
non-physical. A Hadith to keep in mind is as follows:
Quote:
---------------------------------
The Prophet said, "Nobody who dies and finds good from Allah (in the
Hereafter) would wish to come back to this world even if he were given the
whole world and whatever is in it, except the martyr who, on seeing the
superiority of martyrdom, would like to come back to the world and get killed
again (in Allah's Cause)." (Sahih Bukhari, 4:52:53)
---------------------------------
I am sure that 72 physical virgins are a small part of the whole world to be
given to someone who has experienced paradise to come back to. Yet the prophet
(saaw) has said that the martyr who experiences paradise would not want to come
back to this world even for everything this world has to offer. If he was
getting 72 physical virgins in heaven, then surely he would get more than that
from the world and would be enticed to come back.
On the other hand, martyrdom in war for an Islamic cause is praised extensively
as in the above Hadith. The Quran teaches (3:169): "Do not consider those
killed [while engaging] in Gods cause dead. Rather, they live with their Lord,
who sustains them!" The Quranic idiom, "killed while engaging in Gods cause"
is a reference to martyrdom for acting on being a Muslim, whether as a
persecuted and powerless individual or as a warrior fighting in defense of
Islam, country, justice, freedom and peace. A Hadith in Sunan al-Tirmidhi
states that in contrast to the suicide, the martyr does not even feel the pain
of his death (Fadail al-Jihad, 26:1663). He is also forgiven all his sins and
has the right to intercede on behalf of his own family to enter Heaven. So,
suicide is forbidden, killing of noncombatants is forbidden, but martyrdom is
rewarded with entrance into heaven and, therefore, with great material rewards
in the world to come.
What I wrote about Islam's position on suicide is not secret, esoteric
knowledge. It is common knowledge well known and can easily be discerned by
anyone doing a very elementary study of the religion. Yet what we have today is
the knee jerk, unconscious association of the religion of Islam with suicide
bombings. Even to the point where claims of getting 72 virgins are an Islamic
prize offered for suicide. This is a cruel and ugly lie about Islam that has
been so widely perpetuated that it is accepted as fact. Corrections to the
association of Islam with suicide and the killing of innocents are not made in
the media. Instead it is glued even tighter by reporting that NOT a person
disobeying Islam, but a Muslim imbued with Islamic religious fervor committed a
suicide.
We have a media that is too eager to enlighten and spread the word about crazy
Muslims killing themselves for 72 virgins. We read and hear everyday about
suicide bombers in Iraq killing themselves and other Iraqis with them. We are
to believe that a religion that strongly condemns suicide, promises severe
punishment in hell for those who commit it and has never had a strategy of
using suicide to fight wars until recent contact with Israelis -- somehow has
spawned the most suicide killers on earth. I dont believe for a minute that
the reports about suicide killings in Iraq are true. Many independent
journalists and eye witnesses have reported how Mossad and US occupational
forces have staged incidents to make them appear to be Iraqi suicide killings.
In fact there are many cases where the perpetrators have been caught.
Oddly enough in this saga about suicide killings we read the following
headlines from Israeli newspapers: Fewer officers to be armed as suicide
becomes IDF's top killer!!! which you can read more about at the following
links:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/657996.html
http://www.warwithoutend.co.uk/zone0/viewtopic.php?t=45975&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=4597e4e2f34898311a77dcb0c3c0f2a7
The leading cause of death for the Israeli Defense Forces is suicide!!! Well,
well it looks like suicide is really an Israeli problem and not a Muslim one.
Their IDF commit far more suicides than what is being blamed on Muslims. We
already know that Israel leads the world in trafficking prostitutes and that
there are hundreds of brothels in Tel Aviv. Who knows, maybe having access to
one prostitute at a time on a soldiers salary was not enough for those IDF
soldiers. Maybe these soldiers believed the lies told about Muslims and were
trying to get their 72 virgins too. See how strong an effect Jewish lies have
on their own people.
"Strive as in a race to achieve the
goal of excellence in all that you do."
For real insights visit:
http://www.geocities.com/mewatch99/
Regards,
Nashid
