Number 2

Iraqi style
English

Number 2

He said: 'Whoever prays two units of prayer tonight will be given a houri whose body stretches from east to west.' Someone said: 'I won't say that prayer, and I don't want this houri.' They asked, 'Why?' He said: 'Because if her head lies beside me while she's being screwed off in Shiraz and Baghdad, how would I ever know?'
Explanation: A satirical anecdote mocking exaggerated promises of paradise; the houri (heavenly maiden) is comically imagined as so vast that infidelity at one end goes unnoticed at the other.

Original · Persian

شمارهٔ ۲

گفت: «هر کس امشب دو رکعت نماز بگذارد، او را حوری‌ دهند که بالای او از مشرق به مغرب باشد». کسی گفت: «من این نماز نکنم و این حوری را نمی‌خواهم». گفتند: «چرا؟» گفت: «زیرا که اگر سرش در کنار من باشد و در شیراز و بغدادش گایند مرا چه خبر بُوَد؟»