Do martyrs get 72 virgins in Paradise?

The idea that martyrs get 72 virgins in Paradise is one of the most repeated claims about Islam, by its critics and by men who recruit for violence. The Quran does not say it. The Quran promises all believers, women and men, “purified spouses” and the joys of a Garden beyond imagining. The number 72 comes from a single hadith, and the Prophet ﷺ taught that martyrdom belongs to many who never held a weapon: the plague victim, the drowned, the woman who dies in childbirth. Paradise is never a reward for killing the innocent.

Does the Quran mention 72 virgins?

No verse of the Quran mentions the number 72, and no verse promises virgins to martyrs. When the Quran describes the companionship of Paradise for all believers, it uses a word that covers husbands and wives alike:

وَلَهُمۡ فِيهَآ أَزۡوَٰجٞ مُّطَهَّرَةٞۖ وَهُمۡ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ

“And they will have purified spouses there, and they will remain there forever.”

Quran 2:25

The Arabic azwāj, “spouses,” is the plural of zawj, a word the Quran uses for a husband and for a wife. The same promise appears in 3:15 and 4:57.

The Quran also mentions the ḥūr four times (44:54, 52:20, 55:72, 56:22), three of them with the full phrase ḥūr ʿīn. A later passage in Sūrat al-Wāqiʿa speaks of companions whom Allah “created anew” and made “virgin, loving, of equal age” (56:35–37). Many commentators read these verses as describing the believing women of this world, made young again in Paradise.

Where does the number 72 come from?

It comes from a hadith narrated by al-Miqdām ibn Maʿdīkarib, in which the Prophet ﷺ lists six honors the martyr has with Allah:

«لِلشَّهِيدِ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ سِتُّ خِصَالٍ يُغْفَرُ لَهُ فِي أَوَّلِ دَفْعَةٍ وَيَرَى مَقْعَدَهُ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ وَيُجَارُ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ وَيَأْمَنُ مِنَ الْفَزَعِ الأَكْبَرِ»

“The martyr has six things with Allah: he is forgiven at the first flow of his blood, he is shown his place in Paradise, he is protected from the punishment of the grave, he is safe from the Great Terror…”

Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 1663

The list continues with a crown of dignity, marriage to “seventy-two of the ḥūr ʿīn,” and the right to intercede for seventy relatives. Al-Tirmidhi graded the report sahih, as did al-Albani. Two details matter. The same report in Sunan Ibn Majah 2799, through a different narrator, says only that the martyr is married to the ḥūr ʿīn, with no number at all. The only other report with the number, about the lowest rank in Paradise, is graded weak by al-Albani and Ahmad Shakir (Jamiʿ al-Tirmidhi 2562). Numbers like seventy in Arabic speech often express abundance (as in 9:80), and the scholars warned against building a picture of the unseen on one narration. For how hadith are weighed, see Are all hadith authentic?

Who are the ḥūr ʿīn?

The phrase describes beauty of the eyes: ḥūr refers to the striking contrast of white and dark in the eye, and ʿīn to eyes that are wide and lovely. Grammatically, ḥūr is the plural of both aḥwar (masculine) and ḥawrāʾ (feminine). The translator Muhammad Asad (d. 1992) rendered ḥūr ʿīn as “companions pure, most beautiful of eye” and noted that the word applies to both sexes. The Quran compares them to “pearls kept hidden” (56:23), an image of purity and preciousness.

Every joy of Paradise is described in language the human heart can grasp, and every joy is surpassed by something greater: “the good pleasure of Allah is greater still” (9:72). For the full picture, see What is Jannah like?

What do women get in Paradise?

Women receive everything men receive. Allah promised the gardens to “the believing men and the believing women” (Quran 9:72), and Sūrat al-Aḥzāb lists ten virtues of men and women side by side before promising both “forgiveness and a great reward” (33:35). In Paradise every soul has “whatever your souls desire” (41:31). A reading of the afterlife in which only men enjoy companionship has no basis in the Quran (What does the Quran say about women?).

Who is a martyr in Islam?

The Prophet ﷺ widened the meaning of martyrdom (shahāda) far beyond the battlefield:

«الشُّهَدَاءُ خَمْسَةٌ الْمَطْعُونُ، وَالْمَبْطُونُ، وَالْغَرِقُ وَصَاحِبُ الْهَدْمِ، وَالشَّهِيدُ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ»

“The martyrs are five: the one who dies of plague, the one who dies of a disease of the stomach, the one who drowns, the one crushed under a falling building, and the one who dies in the path of Allah.”

Sahih al-Bukhari 2829

Another report adds the one who burns to death and the woman who dies in pregnancy or childbirth (Sunan Abi Dawud 3111, graded sahih by al-Albani). The martyrs of the Sunnah are mostly ordinary people who died in suffering, honored by Allah for what they endured.

Does Islam promise Paradise for violence?

Never for violence against the innocent. The Quran states:

مَن قَتَلَ نَفۡسَۢا بِغَيۡرِ نَفۡسٍ أَوۡ فَسَادٖ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعٗا وَمَنۡ أَحۡيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَآ أَحۡيَا ٱلنَّاسَ جَمِيعٗا

“Whoever kills a soul, except for a soul or for corruption in the land, it is as if he had killed all of humanity; and whoever saves a life, it is as if he had saved all of humanity.”

Quran 5:32

Even in a just war the Quran commands, “Do not transgress; Allah does not love transgressors” (2:190), and the Prophet ﷺ forbade killing women and children (Sahih al-Bukhari 3015). The person who blows himself up in a market has committed murder and has taken his own life. The scholars of Islam have condemned such acts across the world, as explained in What is jihad? and Is ISIS Islamic?

Paradise belongs to those who save lives. May Allah count among His martyrs the doctor who dies tending the sick and the mother who dies giving life, and grant every believer a share of the Garden He prepared for the righteous, women and men alike.