I am currently reading The Trouble with Islam by Irshad Manji (thanks to Celestial Blue, who sent me a copy). I will write a review after I am finished, but in the wake of today’s terror attack, I wanted to share with you something interesting that Irshad mentioned.
The Islamic belief that martyrs die and are greeted by 72 virgins is based on a mistranslation of the word “hur”, which actually means “raisin.” (The Guardian had an article on this a few years ago). So rather than killing themselves for young, untouched women, these terrorists are killing themselves over a packet of dried grapes.
I am in no doubt that these terrorists do not even get a pack of raisins in the afterlife. In all likelihood, they are the pack of raisins.
Update: Maybe the word for “Sultan” is also a mistranslation of the word for “sultana.”
