immortal youths with bowls and ewers and a cup of purest
wine [that will neither pain their heads nor take away their
reason]; with fruits of their own choice and flesh of fowls
that they relish. And theirs shall be the darkeyed houris,
chaste as hidden pearls: a guerdon for their deeds’’ (Sura
56:15–24). The houris are the legendary beautiful virgins
who never lose their virginity, no matter how often they are
ravished. Thus Paradise contains the earthly pleasures that
Muslims are forbidden on earth: rich, abundant wine, all
kinds of fruits and choice foods, and free sexual relations.
Also present in this distinctly maleoriented Paradise are
some of the pleasures of Sodom and Gomorrah: the
‘‘immortal youths’’ in the above passage from Sura 56 are
not in Muslim tradition considered to be waiters only.
A Catholic would say this is a remarkably carnal and
even boring Heaven. While it might be enjoyable for a week
or even a month or year, this type of purely sensual paradise
surely would prove unsatisfying for an eternity. Such a
‘‘heaven’’ would not satisfy the deepest longings of the
human heart — namely, a greater union with and
knowledge of our loving Creator. As Saint Augustine states
in his Confessions: ‘‘Our hearts are restless unless they rest
in Thee.’’
- Do Muslim women experience the same type of
Paradise as men?
The Koran does not say what the afterlife will be like for
women. But Muhammad, meanwhile, does say that Hell will
be filled with more women than men: ‘‘Once Allah’s