The Sexual Rewards of Jihads' Martyrs

Reformist Saudi Author: Religious Cassettes Advocate Jihad by Emphasizing Martyr's Sexual Rewards

"In a November 15, 2005 article in the Saudi daily Al-Iqtisadiyya, Sa'ad Al-Sowayan, a reformist Saudi researcher and columnist argued that religious cassettes, which are widely available in Saudi Arabia, advocate Jihad by emphasizing the sexual reward awaiting the martyr in Paradise. This is aimed at tempting teenagers who can find no sexual release in conservative Arab society. An English translation of the article was published in the Saudi Gazette on November 17."

The following are excerpts from the translation:

"These cassettes mostly urge people to carry out Jihad through taking up arms, without specifying the zero hour or the Jihad battlefield. As such they advocate Jihad for Jihad's sake. It's a mobilization campaign in which Jihad becomes a state of mind, a mode of living. They want you to give up this foul and mean earthly life, renounce worldly pleasures, devote your life to Jihad, and seek to die in the Jihad battlefield so as to win martyrdom."

"Listen carefully to what these religious cassettes convey and you will find that the mythical supersedes the religious intent. They have converted this world to a filthy and mythical place and the Hereafter into a fabled utopia… They first divide the world into two parts: one belonging to God, which you are for, and the other to Satan, which you are against. The next step is to step up the value of the myth and draw the recipient into a world of mythical thinking in which rational thinking stops and the mind becomes receptive to suggestions and irrationalism."

We've all by now heard of those virgins martyrs are supposed to get by blowing themselves up for the cause, and many in the non-Muslim world find it as irrational as it actually is. But just how irrational is it, to teens raised in a highly religious society?

It's really a shame that religion always ends up being subverted to destruction. I've been noticing many non-Muslims lately, who have taken passages out of the Qur'an, and held them up, along with the actions of some followers, to prove that Islam is a dangerous religion and should be crushed and wipped out.

However, very little if anything has been said about what can be found in the Bible, and in some of it's followers. Just as they make the case against Islam, I could make the same for Christendom. How many Christians do you know of that quote passages from the Old Testament to justify their actions, as opposed to the New Testament? When you hear preachers encouraging warfare, promoting hostile acts, or even assasinations of leaders of foreign governments, do you ask yourself how could alleged Christians promote and condone such acts against other humans? Let's not forget, if you are a Christian, are you not supposed to endevour to lead the life of Christ? If you look at what the Bible says about the way He lead his life, in a very brutal world, a world ruled by the iron grip of the Roman Empire, you see no comparison between Him, and the Christian-hawks.

Where in the Bible does it even remotely suggest that He condoned warefare, brutality, torture, assasination? Where does it state that He supported Roman repression whenever someone attacked the Empire, or even opposed it's rule? Where does it say he took up arms, and encouraged his followers to do the same, in defense of his homeland?

Just as some would try to show that historically, Islam has been a brutal religion bent on world domination, the exact same thing can be said of the Christian religion after it's acceptance within the Roman Empire. As soon as it became powerful, it became subverted, in some cases, extremely so.

Now, understand, I'm not taking sides as far as religion goes, as I'm not religious, but I'm very much affected by the actions of those that are, and am not blinded by any religious fervor to 'believe' my side is the most rightious. I'm just sick and tired of those who seek power of any kind, who use religion, any religion, as a tool to power. I can't help but think that if any of them are right about their God/Gods/Allah, then they'll never even come close to reaping their ultimate rewards. Instead, they'll get their just deserts.