Did houris exist in pre-Islamic Arabian religions?
- posted by: Andrew Grimm on 2011-03-18
- tagged:
death-afterlife, islam, anthropology
- score: 2
Did houris (72 virgins) exist in any pre-Islamic religions in Arabia?
Background: In response to What are debate points that can be used to debunk the 72 virgins argument?, I’m thinking that if houris originated from religions Muslims regard as pagan, that’d be one way to debunk it.
Answer 3206
- posted by: Mudak on 2011-03-19
- score: 0
It doesn’t appear as though this concept existed as long as 10 years ago. The whole 72 virgins thing appears to come from a mistranslation of the word hur’ain (angel) in a 60 minutes episode that aired on August 19, 2001.
source: http://ramadan4u.blogspot.com/2007/09/72-virgins-myth.html
What might be more important to note, though, is the mythological meaning of the number 72. According to the wikipedia entry on this number, all of the following items are religious connotations of the number 72, many of which pre-date Islam:
- The conventional number of scholars translating the Septuagint, according to the legendary account in the “Letter of Aristeas”.
- The conventional number of disciples sent forth by Jesus in Luke 10 in some manuscripts (seventy in others).
- The number of names of God, according to Kabbalah (see names of God in Judaism).
- The Shemhamphorasch related to the number of the names of God.
- The total number of books in the Holy Bible in the Catholic version if the Book of Lamentations is considered part of the Book of Jeremiah.
- The current distribution of the Revelation book is 22 chapters, adopted since the 13th century. But such was not always the case. The oldest known division of the text is that the Greek commentator Andrew of Cesary (6th century) in 72 chapters. Although made with enough accuracy, this structuring could be easily reduced to 70, while putting in the same chapter, the numbers 60, 61 and 62 which constitute a whole, the millennial Reign. Andrew had wanted moreover group these 72 chapters three by three, in order to obtain 24 sections, corresponding to the 24 elders. These 24 sections were completely arbitrary, and divided the texts at the wrong moment. Let us mention that the Codex Amiatinus and the Codex Fuldensis share the book of the Revelation in 25 chapters, and that some Latin handwritten find some from 22 to 44.
- The number of warriors on the Muslim side at the Battle of Badr.
- The number of people martyred along with Imam Hussain at the Battle of Karbala.
- The number of soldiers who will fight alongside Imam Mahdi against the Dajjal, according to Islamic ahadith are 313 not 72.
- The number of devils according to The Lesser Key of Solomon.
- The 72 old men of the synagogue, according to the Zohar.
- The degrees of the Jacob’s ladder were to the number of 72, according to the Zohar.
- The 72 disciples of Confucius.
- The good God Osiris was enclosed in a coffin by 72 evil disciples and accomplices of Set.
- It is the number of the Immortals Taoism.
- At the age of the puberty, the young Parsee received the investiture of the sacred cord Kucti made of 72 linens in symbol of the community.
- The number of virgins a Muslim might get as a reward in Heaven
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