by Thundertaker » Thu Sep 13, 2012 6:20 pm
I actually took some trouble to read a copy of the Qu'ran (as translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali) and it has been, if nothing else, an interesting read.
On the subject of homosexuality and pederasty, it, as with drinking alcohol, is very condemning of the practice. However, Its a whole other story when it comes to describing the pleasures of the afterlife:
Surah 76:19
"And about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness): if thou seest them, thou would think them scattered pearls".
This is just one of several passages describing the erotic pleasures of young boys in paradise for the faithful, in addition to drinking lots of wine as descibed in verse 21 of the same section as well as other sections describing Muslim heaven.
What this tells me is that 'greek practices' have always been very endemic and a well known guilty pleasure in the Arab world, as is drunkeness, and all the prophet Muhammad has done, at best, is basically tried to get his followers to keep control of their lust for boys and alcohol until they get to paradise, which is almost described as if it will be an orgy of previously forbidden earthly delights for the departed faithful, which stands in stark contrast to other concepts of spirituality and paradise I've read about, which have generally been more about the joys of being at peace with God and freed of the burden of sinful desires, rather than having the opportunity to indulge in them without consequence.
And committing mortal sins before doing something 'glorious' in the name of Allah is considered OK by a lot of Islamic extremists, such as those behind 9-11, who infamously visited a titty bar and got slashed in apparent contravention of sharia law shortly before carrying out the hijackings, so I don't see why anyone should be surprised that Islamic extremists from an Arabic culture would anally rape an infidel diplomat of the Great Satan as a way of humiliating them if the rest of their actions are considered to be glorifying their God and his prophet.