MUMBAI: While terrorists get to enjoy 72 virgins in paradise after successfully carrying out a terror attack, people who give context, justify, or show the bigger picture around acts of terror too are rewarded for their pious act, an Islamic preacher has claimed.
The preacher Zakir Naeem referred to some old stories of 7th century Arabia and logically proved that not only terrorists, but even the terror apologists were qualified to get virgins in the afterlife, because they had played a crucial role in furthering the cause of Jihad.
“Communal bigots think that friends of Jihad are being paid to write those articles or make those documentaries, but the truth is that they are doing so out of their own free will and goodwill,” Zakir Naeem claimed, using the term “friends of Jihad” for those who are branded terror apologists by the BJP and RSS.
The preacher further claimed that these “friends of Jihad” will be rewarded in the heaven with virgins, ranging from 7 to 22 based on the “quality” and “purity” of their friendship and work.
“Someone like Rana Ayyub will surely get 22 virgins, which is the maximum a friend of Jihad can get,” Zakir Naeem explained, giving example of the former Tehelka journalist, who is currently doing independent publishing. Arundhati Roy was another name the preacher took as an example for someone who deserved the maximum.
“Yes, even women get virgins. Islam is the best when it comes to women’s rights,” he added.
When asked about Barkha Dutt, the Islamic preacher said that in his opinion, she could get anywhere between 15 to 19 virgins. Journalists of The Indian Express could be getting around dozen virgins each according to Zakir, while he calculated a maximum of 9 virgins for Rajdeep Sardesai. Ravish Kumar had earned 10 virgins till now, Zakir claimed.
“He will be one of the virgins,” Zakir said when asked about the prospects of Rahul Kanwal, the colleague of Rajdeep Sardesai and an employee of India Today.
“Allah is merciful and is compassionate. Everyone will be rewarded,” the Islamic preacher concluded.
The claim by Zakir Naeem has become controversial as expected. The named journalists have slammed the preacher for giving a bad name to the good preachers. The journalists have reiterated that they were doing their job to secure human rights for others, not to secure virgins for themselves.
However the terrorists have welcomed the preaching and have said that they were now confident of getting 72 virgins if the terror apologists were with them even after death.
“Burhan is not alone even after his death,” a Kashmiri terrorist said, welcoming the arguments of Zakir Naeem.
