Islam : Sex After Death
ISLAM
Sex & Violence
ANWAR SHAIKH
Chapter 5
Sex After Death
Realising man's weakness for sex, Islam has presented an unusual
theory of carnal gratification, which is most beguiling, blissful
and buffeting. It holds that sexual urge does not perish with
death because the man is Muslim, he will be resurrected and given
a place in paradise where he will enjoy the choicest sex day and
night. Again, sensual pleasures are reserved for man only, and
houris i.e. the most beautiful virgins, who inhabit paradise, are
totally submissive to their male master. This view represents the
Islamic sexual psychology for being consistent with the Prophetic
stand point of "Dominance-urge versus Feminine Charm"
because here woman surrenders herself completely to man along with
her physical, emotional and artful beguilements. Thus, pleasing
man, becomes her only pleasure.
If the reader can remember that Adam (the Biblical genitor of
humankind) defied God to gain the favour of his woman (Eve), it is
not difficult to understand that a virile man shall live and die
for Islam, which promises the choicest sex-after-death in the form
of paradise, dwelt in by the most beautiful damsels and the
prettiest boys. Here is a short description of paradise, which
Islam presents proudly and solemnly:
"This is the similitude of Paradise,
which the Godfearing have been promised:
Therein are rivers of water unstaling,
rivers of milk unchanging in flavour,
and rivers of wine - a delight to the drinkers,
rivers too, of honey purified;
and therein for them is every fruit "
(Muhammad XLVII: 15)
Here the "similitude" does not mean a "metaphorical
description" as the Muslim scholars pretend, but a true
statement of paradise. The following quotations from the Koran
will leave the reader in no doubt to this effect:
" for them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite
provision, fruit and a great honour in the Gardens of
Bliss reclining upon couches arranged face to face,
a cup from a fountain being passed round
to them, white, a pleasure to the drinkers .....
and with them wide-eyed maidens flexing
their glances as if they were slightly
concealed pearls." ( The Rangers 40: 45 )
Whereas Chinese have preferred flat-chested women, the Arabs are
fond of rising bosoms. So, in keeping with the Arab taste, the
Koran declares:
"Surely for the God-fearing
awaits a place of security,
gardens and vineyards
and maidens with swelling bosoms."
( The Tidings 30 )
The attraction of paradise is made more impelling when wine is
made a part of paradisiac living:
"Surely the pious shall be in bliss,
upon couches gazing:
You find in their faces the shining bliss
as they are offered to drink of wine sealed,
whose seal is musk and whose mixture
is Tasnim, a fountain at which to drink
those brought nigh."
( The Stinters 20: 25 )
For better illustration of the point under discussion, I may refer
to Hadith Tirmzi, volume two (p 35-40) which gives details of
houris, the ever-young virgins of paradise:
1. A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent
body. The marrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines
of pearls and rubies. She looks like a red wine in a white glass.
2. She is of white colour, and free from the routine physical
disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause,
urinal and offal discharge, child-bearing, and the related
pollution.
3. She is a woman characterized by modesty and flexing glances;
she never looks at any man except her husband, and feels grateful
for being the wife of her husband.
4. A houri is a young woman, free from odium and animosity.
Besides, she knows the meaning of love and has the ability to put
it into practice.
5. A houri is an immortal woman, who does not age. She speaks
softly and does not raise voice at her man; she is always
reconciled with him. Having been brought up in luxury, she is a
luxury herself.
6. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large upright breasts.
Houris dwell in palaces of splendid surroundings.
Now, add to this description of houris, what Mishkat, volume three
says on pages 83-97:
7. If a houri looks down from her abode in heaven onto the earth,
the whole distance shall be filled with light and fragrance
8. A houri's face is more radiant than a mirror, and one can see
one's image in her cheek. The marrow of her shins is visible to
the eyes.
9. Every man who enters paradise shall be given seventy-two houris;
no matter at what age he had died, when he enters paradise, he
will become a thirty-year-old, and he will not age any further.
10. Tirmzi, volume 2 states on page 138:
A man in paradise shall be given virility equal to that of one
hundred men!
It should be noted that men who are so potent, shall not be
inclined to anything except love-making. This is the reason that,
according to Islam, sexual gratification is the ultimate goal of
life, and thus, the behaviour of Muslims becomes sexually
oriented.
Also remember that Islam does not forget the fact that
hetrosexuality is not the complete source of carnal gratification
because some people have different tastes. So, it adds a stunning
dimension to the paradisiac pleasures. The Koran says:
" God has……. provided them radiancy
and delight
and recompensed them for their (Muslim's) patience
With a Garden, and silk;
therein they shall see neither sun nor
bitter cold;
near them shall be its shades, and its clusters
hung meekly down,
and there shall be passed around them
vessels of silver, and large drinking
cups of crystal,
crystal of silver measure
very exactly.
And therein they shall be given to
drink a cup whose ingredient is ginger;
therein a spring whose name is Salsabil
Immortal youths shall go about them;
When thou seest them, thou supposest them
dispersed pearls,
When you see them you see the divine
happiness and a great kingdom.
Upon them shall be clothing of silk
and brocade; they are embellished with
bracelets of silver, and their Lord shall
give them to drink a pure draught.
(Man 76: 10-25)
This coaxing description of the unageing lads is also found in
Mount LII: 20:
"While they hand therein a cup one to another
Wherein is no idle talk, no cause of sin,
and there go around youths, their own, as
if they were concealed pearls."
It is quite clear that besides the most beautiful virgins, there
are also boys in paradise, who
1. are as pretty as pearls,
2. are ever-young because they do not age,
3. wear clothes of silk, and
4. are embellished with silver bracelets.
What is the purpose of these unusually attractive boys, who dwell
in paradise, which is constructed in such a way that every brick
of gold is followed by a brick of silver; instead of mud or
cement, saffron is used to hold them together; even its pebbles
are diamonds and rubies. He who enters paradise, shall be free
from grief; he will live there for ever, remain eternally young
and will never die.
The presence of intoxicating youths in such a luxurious
environment must have some unusual purpose though the Muslim
scholars claim that they are ordinary servants, who render their
services to the lucky Muslims.
But what kind of services? An ordinary does not have to be
ever-young, pretty-like-pearls, used to drinking wine (i.e. pure
draught) and habitually wearing silken dresses and silver
bracelets?
These boys cannot be ordinary servants. What are they? If I come
straight to the point, the Muslims will charge me with blasphemy
and call me an "Insultor of the Prophet" but I am
nothing of the kind. I hold the Prophet in high regard and think
of him as a great national hero, who bestowed an unusually high
dignity on the Arabs. In fact, I wish he was born in India to
raise its stature compatible with the natural bounties that this
land possessses.
I may, therefore, give a short sketch of the sexual fascination
that "boys" have displayed throughout history:
Homosexuality, also known as sexual inversion, means sexual
attraction of a person to one of the same sex i.e. man to man and
woman to woman. The latter is called lesbianism for its
association with the Aegean island of Lesbos.
This deliberation is, however, concerned with male homosexuality
only. Those who practice it, think of it as a delight but its
opponents find it disgusting. The writer is neither its
practitioner nor its advocate, yet it is a real issue because it
has influenced the course of history, and therefore, requires a
frank discussion whether one likes it or not. This is why the
modern legal thinking holds it as no crime if the act takes place
in private between consenting adults.
Is it a genetic condition or an acquired habit? Though one cannot
give an exclusive opinion on the subject, one can refer to certain
facts, leaving the final conclusion to the reader:
The huge systematic surveys of homosexuality that A. C. Kinsey
conducted in 1948 and 1953 showed that 37 per cent of U.S. males
had indulged in this activity. Again, the American anthropologist,
C. S. Ford, and psychologist, F. A. Bench, studied primitive
societies during 1951. In 76 communities, it was found that 64 per
cent accepted it as a normal practice.
Homosexuality has been observed in certain animals such as apes;
cows in heat are known to mount other cows, and so are cats, dogs,
rabbits, lions and horses.
Amongst humans, it is more prevalent, and is especially noticeable
in societies where sex-segregation is observed. The boys are
stimulated by the boys and resort to this practice for sexual
gratification. This may not be desirable owing to its effects on
mental and physical development of boys before reaching
adolescence. On the other hand, girls' passions are unduly
suppressed to make them pious, pure and perfect. They are taught
and subjected to a discipline of high morality. Thus value of
virginity is raised sky-high, and men want to marry virgins only,
even though they may have lost their own chastity during the early
stage of their life. It may tame the sexual outlook of women but
it certainly distorts the emotional view of boys, leading to the
growth of a male-dominant society, which develops such vices as
dowry and legal disparities regarding inheritance and matrimonial
rights of the spouses.
A law of Physics states that dissimilar poles attract and similar
poles repel. This rule applies, not only to inanimate objects but
also humans, and its operation starts right from babyhood. Male
infants are inclined towards their mothers, and females to their
fathers for this reason, and not owing to any unresolved sexual
emotions. Of course, both genders are born with a sexual blue
print but it takes many years to mature; until this happens carnal
drive does not count for anything, and requires no resolution. If
this were not true, seeing babes copulate would be a common
spectacle. However, exceptions are always there: some children may
mature earlier and possess varying degrees of sexual intensity.
Regarding homosexuality, one may say that the said law of Physics
breaks down, and as a result, the similars begin to attract.
The paradox is resolved when we realise that virility is a part of
the dominance-urge: more virile a person, the greater the desire
to have a harem or indulge in promiscuity: lek behaviour, which
impels animals to possess numerous females for proving their
dominance, establishes this fact firmly. Physically, man is no
different from other primates: his urge of dominance is even
greater: men like Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler, who would
slaughter a million men just to look superior, support this point
of view.
One may add that homosexuality, an age-old experience, is an
epiphenomenon, which has always existed besides hetrosexuality. It
defies the physical law of the opposites, yet it is governed by
the enormity of sexual drive the same way as the brute might of
atomic force equally applies to the negative and positive charges
irrespective of their dissimilarity.
Sexual desires is one of compelling drives of man; he may commit
any crime or sin to satisfy it: the Biblical story, which shows
that Adam rebelled against God to please Eve, seeks to illustrate
this point. Man's greatest drive is what I have termed as
dominance-urge; sexual drive, being a part of it, is likely to
transgress the normal patterns of behaviour for its gratification.
However, there is one difference between man's and animal's
behaviour; he wants to justify his action on moral or spiritual
ground, no matter how fake, fictitious or fraudulent it may be. He
uses both religion (God) and reason for this purpose to relieve
his conscience from the burden of guilt. A persistent desire to
satisfy conscience shows that humanity is destined to achieve
moral perfection, and the day is approaching when all political
and economic barriers, which stand in its way, shall be broken
down.
Man's story for giving homosexuality religious sanctity is really
interesting. Though Greece is not the origin of sexual inversion,
it is certainly the Greek ingenuity, which lent it the spiritual
grace:
According to a Greek legend, Ganymede, the son of Tros, King of
Troy, was so beautiful that Zeus, the king of gods, became
enamoured of him. Disguised as an eagle, he swooped down on this
young lad affectionately, and carried him off to be his cup bearer
i.e., to serve the God intoxicating drinks.
The Greek legend has been frank and honest about the
interpretation of this incident. It is not like the Muslim
scholars, who pretend that G(h)ilman i.e., the ever-young,
bride-like boys of paradise are there to serve drinks to the
faithful, and nothing else. On the contrary, the Greeks believed
that Zeus, the Chief God, had a homosexual passion for Ganymede.
In Rome, he (Ganymede) appears as Catamitus i.e., Catamite, which
means a young lad kept for sexual purposes. In pursuance of the
Greek tradition, this practice became so rife amongst the Romans
that some historians believe it to be the cause of their moral
ruination, which eventually led to the decline of their political
grandeur.
"Homosexuality seems to have been popularised by Socrates,
the great Greek philosopher." Plato speaks of Socrates and
Alcibiades as lovers, and describes the philosopher "in chase
of the fair youth."
Writing further about Socrates, Will Durant adds, "he was not
above giving advice to homosexuals and hetairai on how to attract
lovers."
Repeating opinion about the greatness of Socrates, Will Durant
says: "Or as Plato put it, with moving simplicity, 'he was
truly the wisest, and justest, and best of all the men whom I have
ever known."'
From the above, it is clear that homosexuality was not looked down
upon in Greece, otherwise, Plato would not have showered such
praise on Socrates, who had a homosexual relationship with
Alcibiades.
Will Durant is a highly respected historian of the 20th century.
His statement is confirmed by an account in the
"International Library of Famous Literature, Volume 2 (P.
693): He (Alcibiades) was brought up in the house of Pericles, and
lived on terms of intimacy with Socrates."
Socrates was not only a great philosopher but also a soldier of
high stature. "At Potidaea he saved both the life and the
arms of the young Alcibiades, and gave up in the youth's favour
his claim to the prize of velour."
Pederasty, which denotes sexual relationship between an older man
and a young lad, seems to have been initiated by Socrates, who
also happened to be a mystic. Though mystical principles practiced
throughout the world are of Vedic origin, mysticism entered Persia
through Greece, and then returned to India as Sufism.
As the mystical model, Socrates, had only one shabby garment,
which he wore throughout the year; he was fully reconciled with
his poverty, and felt rich without possessing anything at all.
Bearing extreme hardships was one of his great virtues. He could
drink to his heart's content without ever getting drunk. He had
made himself immune to the effects of cold and heat: when his
fellow-soldiers "wrapped themselves up carefully, and put
fleeces under their feet (in intolerably severe weather), Socrates
went out only with the same cloak on that he usually wore, and
walked barefoot upon the ice. He was also known for meditation
from dawn to dusk, and whenever he did it, he was fully absorbed
in himself. "
When we look into these Socratic qualities, it transpires that the
Islamic mysticism (tasawwaf) has been built around the Socratic
model. I have no doubt that the metaphoric eulogy of wine that the
Muslim Sufi saints habitually sing in their poetry, is a legacy of
the Socratic drinking habit, and so is their love of boys,
poverty, Stoic contentment and meditation.
Socrates was an open book but Plato, who adopted his several
views, has not demonstrated his frankness in stating some of them.
One of the issues has come to be known as Platonic love, which
emanates from the Socratic discourses:
According to Plato, man is composed of two part -eternal and
mortal: the former is termed as soul, which is divine, whereas the
mortal side being passionate and vegetative, is profane, because
it has been assigned to man by the inferior gods, though at the
behest of the supreme deity. When these appetitive passions are
pursued, release of soul from the body becomes difficult, and man
suffers from a very long cycle of reincarnations.
Plato states that the release of soul is possible through
knowledge only; this happens when mind is led by Eros, the Greek
love-god (the Indian Kama), also known as sexual desire, which is
the source of affection, leading to knowledge. However, all love
is not productive because it can lead in either direction - reason
or passion, vice or virtue. These divisions, he is said to have
inherited from the prevailing dualistic views.
Platonic love, which is essentially homosexual, was encouraged by
the excessive Greek fear of over-population. It is for this reason
that there was only one household in a hundred that brought up
more than one girl; most daughters at birth were exposed to die.
This caused a shortage of women, accelerating the need for
homosexuality.
Apart from the social influence, Plato was guided by his
philosophical vision, and did not support heterosexual love, whose
purpose is procreation, which leads to the imprisonment of soul in
the body. He held that people indulged in this kind of love
because they wanted to live through the memories of their
children. But those who have creative desire for soul, shun woman.
Secretof spiritual begetting is,
therefore, love of man by man. In other words, love of the leads
to trouble but love of the similar gender guarantees immortality.
This is the way of releasing the mind (soul) from the grip of the
matter (body). Yet, he did not think that love between man and man
implied carnal intercourse. This is a deliberate ambiguity because
it evidently contradicts the function of Eros, which concerns
gratification of sexual desire.
What was, then, Platonic love all about? It was a relationship
between two males - one called Erastes, the lover, and another
Eromenos, the beloved. Again, this relationship was between the
socially equals, and thus defied the universal law of love, which
acknowledges no barrier of caste, colour or creed. It is a
philosophical attempt to invent a new type of pederasty, which
inflates erotic desire but forbids sexual gratification in a vain
hope to transform the carnal excitement into imaginative and
intellectual energy.
This view is simply absurd for being opposed to practical
realities of life. However, this theory holds that as a beloved
looks a model of beauty to the lover, he inspires love and
reverence in the soul of latter. Initially, it is Eros, the sexual
desire, which stirs the soul through the beauty of the youth
(beloved); the beauty of the boy as perceived by his lover, is
reflected back, arousing him (the youth), too. Thus, lover Eros
(passion) evokes a counter-Eros, which is a reflection of the
inspired love. Therefore, Eros both inspires and is inspired in
turn. As a result, beauty of the lover and the beloved becomes a
mutual reflection in each other's soul, leading them to march in
tandem towards eternity. What a manipulation of erotic love it is!
This mutual relationship between the two males assumes that the
lover is a teacher (as Socrates was) to the beloved, but as far as
knowledge is concerned, the latter is a student. The lover as a
teacher looks upward in his own right whereas the beloved looks up
by reflection, thus both climb the "ladder of love," but
the lover is always ahead of the beloved in search of eternity.
Socrates, the originator of the above theory (modified by Plato)
was the lover of Alcibiades, who became a celebrated Athenian
politician and general. As a youth, he lived on terms of intimacy
with Socrates for a long time. Socrates, the great Greek
philosopher was a man of many virtues, and rose to become a mentor
of some immortal mystical traditions, still followed in the east.
But the truth is that he was tired on a charge of corrupting young
boys, and sentenced to death. His greatness is marked by his
fearleshasness: he did not escape from the prison when he was
provided with such an opportunity, he preferred to drink hemlock
(poison) and left this world as a brave man of integrity.
Alexander, the Great, though a Macedonian, proved to be the
ambassador of the Greek culture, which had been imbued with
homosexuality, having an intoxicating Divine flavour. He was not
only a rare military genius but also possessed some great
political and administrative qualities. He fell in love with
eastern manners; he wore eastern dress and had two eastern queens,
but his heterosexuality was just a cover-up for the eastern
politics. He was a homosexual like the Greeks, whose culture he
loved and practised. Hephaestion and Bago are two of his
well-known catamites. Through him, and afterwards his generals,
the Greek culture known as hellenism, flourished in the Middle
Eastern countries. It was given an extra ictus by the fact that
Alexander claimed to be a god and was acknowledged and worshipped
as such throughout his eastern dominious. The habits of god are
bound to have a quick and lasting influence on the character of
ordinary mortals. It penetrated the guts of the Persian poetry so
deeply that it has become living eroticism in the mystical form of
versification and has spread to all the Muslim countries where the
Persian language has flourished. .
The Arabian peninsula was no exception. Not only the South
worshipped female deities connected with the Greek tradition but
hellenism also reached the North, the land of the Prophet
Muhammad. We find the name of Alexander, the Great, mentioned in
the Koran as Dhool Karnain:
"They will question thee (Muhammad) concerning Dhool Karnain.
Say: I will recite to you a mention of him ....."
One ought to note that the name of Alexander the Great was not
unheard of in the Hijaz (the Prophet's country) because people
were curious to know more about him. Again, the Koran depicts
Alexander, the Great, as a righteous man to whom Allah spoke and
also left the making of vital decisions:
We (Allah) said, "O Dhool Karnain,
either thou shalt chastise them,
Or thou shalt take towards them
a way of kindness " (The Cave XVIII: 85)
It is quite clear that the Koran has not condemned Alexander, the
Great. Instead, he has been displayed as a righteous man, whose
judgement Allah trusted and respected! Obviously, his
homosexuality had no bearing on piety. This fact is supported in
the already quoted Mount LII: 20, which states:
"While they (boys) hand therein (paradise) a cup One to
another wherein is no idle talk, no cause of sin, and there go
around youths, own, as if they were concealed pearls."
These verses describe two facts clearly:
1. All Muslim men shall have "their own" boys who are
pretty like pearls, and
2. there will be "no cause of sin;" it means that so
liberal shall be the laws of paradise that lasciviousness shall
not count as a sin.
That this interpretation of the above Koranic verse is correct and
honest, is corroborated by the facts of history. About the high
society of Arabia during its heyday, Professor Philip K. Hitti
wrties in his famous "History of the Arabs" (10th
edition, p. 341):
"The servants were almost all slaves recruited from
non-Muslim peoples and captured by force, taken prisoners in time
of war or purchased in time of peace The white slaves ( Mamluk )
were mainly Greeks and Slavs, Armenaisn and Berbers. Certain
slaves were eunuchs (Khisvan) attached to the service of the
harem. Others termed Ghilman, who might also be eunuchs, were the
recipients of special favour from their masters, wore rich and
attractive uniforms and often beautified and perfumed their bodies
in effeminate fashion. We read that Ghilman in the reign of al-Rashid,
but it was evidently al-Amin who, following the Persian precedent,
established in the Arabic world the Ghilman institution for the
practice of unnatural sexual relations. A judge under al-Mamun
used four hundred such youths. Poets like abu-Nuiwas did not
disdain to give public expression to their perverted passions and
to address amorous pieces of their composition to beardless young
boys."
These historical facts conform to the highly erotic Koranic
description of the paradisiac boys, who are ever-young, pretty
like pearls, dressed in silk and brocades, and wear bracelets.
Above all, like Ganymede they serve wine in cups of crystal. These
boys are not servants as the Muslim scholars pretend because a
servant can be old, ugly and poorly dressed.
The Persians (Iranians) had acquired love of homosexuality from
their conquering master, Alexander the Great and his Greek
soldiers. This practice was made lawful among the Arabs by the
Koranic description of the beautiful boys: al-Rashid and al-Amin
were prominent rulers and leaders of the Muslim world, which
treated them as the Model of Behaviour. This is the reason that
the Qazis (Muslim judges) who were expected to live, and dispense
justice according to the principles of Islam, kept harems of boys
unashamedly.
Not only history testifies to what I have stated, the Koran and
hadith (the sayings and life precedents of the Prophet) allude to
even greater sexual freedom, and this is done through a maze of
ambiguity and self-contradictions:
Islam apparently forbids anal intercourse with women. There are
several hadiths to this effect on page 89 of Mishkat' volume 2.
One hadith says that the man who sodomises his woman is accursed
but another says:
"Your women are your tillage. Come to your tillage from back
or front but avoid the ones who suffer miqad or
menstruation."
"Miqad" means anus. The mullahs have deliberately tried
to misinterpret it by saying that Islam forbids anal intercourse
with women. In this hadith, it implies that a man must not use the
back of his woman during her monthly period, otherwise it is
permitted.
Look at the following hadith on page 87 of Mishkat, volume 2.
Jabir, quoting the Prophet said: "The Jews used to say when
one sodomises one's wife, the children are born with squinted
eyes, but Allah sent this verse which says: "Your wives are
your tillage, come to your tillage from any side you like."
For the satisfaction of readers, I may add that the verse referred
to in the above quoted hadith is to be found in the Koran (The
Cow, 2: 220).
This discussion explains how Islam exploits the psychological
weakness of man for sex, and prescribes Jehad as the sure way of
getting into paradise, the abode of the most luxurious sex. Yet it
claims to be the Divine code of enforcing virtue and forbidding
vice!
Sex-after-death, which is a speciality of Islam, requires an
investigation into the concept of Jehad, which is fundamentally
connected with carnal delights.
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