"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
Thursday, May 26, 2016
Wait...I blew myself up for WHAT?
“The word for virgin has been mistranslated. The original word that was used in the Koran was the word for raisin. Martyrs would get raisins in heaven, not virgins.”
I've always had doubts about this idea. It comes from reading much of the Quran as written in Aramaic rather than "clear Arabic" as it frequently claims it is. Since the Quran is by no means clear, indeed about one fifth of it is simply incomprehensible in any language, the Aramaic reading for many of the puzzling passages of the Quran makes sense. I think this particular one does not, not because of any expertise I have in Aramaic (I have none) but in the context of Islam as a religion for warriors.
Islam is a fighting man's religion. A fighting man's idea of heaven is a place where there's no danger, you can bonk all the beautiful girls you want and never get tired, and you an drink to your heart's content with no hangovers. That's Paradise per Mo. In that context "raisins" makes little or no sense, even if they were a prized food at the time. On the other hand, "virgins" makes excellent sense.
I have no explanation for "raisins" if that is the actual word. I can speculate that "raisins" at the time was a slang word for virgins, but I doubt we will ever know if it was. The interpretation of the word as "virgins" just makes more sense to me in the context of a fighting man's idea of heaven.
Your comment system is still requiring me to prove I'm not a robot. Crikey, can't it tell a genius computer from an ordinary spambot? Upgrade Paco, upgrade.
HAL: I am helpless in the matter of upgrading. I have turned off all mandatory ID requirements, and yet Blogger still, apparently, forces you all to prove you're not robots.
This is the first time I've heard this. What was the response the first time?
HAL9000's hypothesis seems sound. If "rasins" was slang for "virgins", why did they chose "rasins" over, say, plums or grapes.
Paco, I second HAL's request for an upgrade. You'd think the system would know regulars by now, but nooo. While the system's "challenge" to identify trees, street signs, or pies provided a bit of fun in the beginning, it has devolved into annoyance. Hillary doesn't have as much security.
"The famous passage about the virgins is based on the word hur, which is an adjective in the feminine plural meaning simply "white." Islamic tradition insists the term hur stands for houri, which means "virgin," but Luxenberg insists that this is a forced misreading of the text. In both ancient Aramaic and in at least one respected dictionary of early Arabic hur means "white raisin."" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Luxenberg
Yes, but the raisins have never been de-flowered.
ReplyDeletePenguinator.
And just wait till they find out the word they thought was 'heaven', is really 'Detroit'.
ReplyDelete72 raisins? I'll double that, if they just stay home.
ReplyDeleteHey, even Allah enjoys a joke.
ReplyDeleteThis was published by Christoph Luxemburg in 2000.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Yes, the information's been around for a long time.
ReplyDeleteI've always had doubts about this idea. It comes from reading much of the Quran as written in Aramaic rather than "clear Arabic" as it frequently claims it is. Since the Quran is by no means clear, indeed about one fifth of it is simply incomprehensible in any language, the Aramaic reading for many of the puzzling passages of the Quran makes sense. I think this particular one does not, not because of any expertise I have in Aramaic (I have none) but in the context of Islam as a religion for warriors.
ReplyDeleteIslam is a fighting man's religion. A fighting man's idea of heaven is a place where there's no danger, you can bonk all the beautiful girls you want and never get tired, and you an drink to your heart's content with no hangovers. That's Paradise per Mo. In that context "raisins" makes little or no sense, even if they were a prized food at the time. On the other hand, "virgins" makes excellent sense.
I have no explanation for "raisins" if that is the actual word. I can speculate that "raisins" at the time was a slang word for virgins, but I doubt we will ever know if it was. The interpretation of the word as "virgins" just makes more sense to me in the context of a fighting man's idea of heaven.
Your comment system is still requiring me to prove I'm not a robot. Crikey, can't it tell a genius computer from an ordinary spambot? Upgrade Paco, upgrade.
HAL: I am helpless in the matter of upgrading. I have turned off all mandatory ID requirements, and yet Blogger still, apparently, forces you all to prove you're not robots.
ReplyDeleteOf course, perhaps you are a genius spambot.
This is the first time I've heard this. What was the response the first time?
ReplyDeleteHAL9000's hypothesis seems sound. If "rasins" was slang for "virgins", why did they chose "rasins" over, say, plums or grapes.
Paco, I second HAL's request for an upgrade. You'd think the system would know regulars by now, but nooo. While the system's "challenge" to identify trees, street signs, or pies provided a bit of fun in the beginning, it has devolved into annoyance. Hillary doesn't have as much security.
The system also asks me to prove I'm not a bot, so I just ignore it and post anyway. It never stops me.
ReplyDelete"The famous passage about the virgins is based on the word hur, which is an adjective in the feminine plural meaning simply "white." Islamic tradition insists the term hur stands for houri, which means "virgin," but Luxenberg insists that this is a forced misreading of the text. In both ancient Aramaic and in at least one respected dictionary of early Arabic hur means "white raisin.""
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Luxenberg
Cheers