> the youths of paradise qurnic descriptions of paradise refer twice to immortal boys ( wildn mukhalladn, q 56:17; 76:19) and once to young men ( ghilmn, q 52:24) as attending the blessed as cupbearers. the exegetical literature never imputes a homosexual function to these figures, but literary works occasionally do so, mostly humorously, and some later legal texts discuss it seriously, usually drawing an analogy with the wine (see intoxicants ) they serve  permitted in paradise although forbidden in this world  as well as with the less ambiguous female houris (q.v.; see also sex and sexuality; gender).
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