72 virgins

72 virgins is an Islamophobic myth that states that a shahid (martyr) will get 72 houris in Jannah (heaven). Absent from the Quran, it is in Hadith 1663 of Jami` at-Tirmidhi, and classified by al-Tirmidhi himself as hasan (good).

Radical imams and teachers of Islamic theology, including a Palestinian teacher from Nablus, and extremist Islamic groups, including ISIS, Boko Haram and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have cited this myth as a recruitment strategy. There is a controversial position held by some counterterrorism scholars that Islamic terrorists are enthusiastic about dying in battle because they believe that they will be rewarded with 72 virgins in heaven due to the myth. This is often used to explain suicide attacks, and sometimes cited as the primary motivation over other possible motivations, such as politics or personal circumstances.