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Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
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FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
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Books: The Koran (without footnotes)

U >> Unknown >> The Koran (without footnotes)








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SECTION IV.

OF THE DOCTRINES AND POSITIVE PRECEPTS OF THE KORAN, WHICH
RELATE TO FAITH AND RELIGIOUS DUTIES.

IT has been already observed more than once, that the fundamental position
on which Mohammed erected the superstructure of his religion was, that
from the beginning to the end of the world there has been, and for ever
will be, but one true orthodox belief; consisting, as to matter of faith, in the
acknowledging of the only true GOD, and the believing in and obeying such
messengers or prophets as he should from time to time send, with proper
credential, to reveal his will to mankind; and as to matter of practice, in the
observance of the immutable and eternal laws of right and wrong, together
with such other precepts and ceremonies as GOD should think fit to order
for the time being, according to the different dispensations in different ages
of the world: for these last he allowed were things indifferent in their own
nature, and became obligatory by GOD'S positive precept only; and were
therefore temporary, and subject to alteration according to his will and
pleasure. And to this religion he gives the name of Islâm, which word signifies
resignation, or submission to the service and commands of GOD; and is used
as the proper name of the Mohammedan religion, which they will also have to
be the same at bottom with that of all the prophets from Adam.
Under pretext that this eternal religion was in his time corrupted, and
professed in its purity by no one sect of men, Mohammed pretended to be a
prophet sent by GOD to reform those abuses which had crept into it, and to
reduce it to its primitive simplicity; with the addition, however, of peculiar
laws and ceremonies, some of which had been used in former times, and
others were now first instituted. And he comprehended the whole substance
of his doctrine under these two propositions, or articles of faith; viz., that
there is but one GOD, and that himself was the apostle of GOD; in consequence
of which latter article, all such ordinances and institutions as he thought fit
to establish must be received as obligatory and of divine authority.
The Mohammedans divide their religion, which, as I just now said, they call
Islâm, into two distinct parts: Imân, i.e., faith, or theory, and Din, i.e., religion,
or practice; and teach that it is built on five fundamental points, one belonging
to faith, and the other four to practice.
The first is that confession of faith which I have already mentioned; that
"there is no god but the true GOD; and that Mohammed is his apostle." Under
which they comprehend six distinct branches; viz., 1. Belief in GOD; 2. In his
angels; 3. In his scriptures; 4. In his prophets; 5. In the resurrection and
day of judgment; and, 6. In GOD'S absolute decree and predetermination both
of good and evil.
The four points relating to practice are: 1. Prayer, under which are
comprehended those washings or purifications which are necessary
preparations required before prayer; 2. Alms; 3. Fasting; and, 4.
The pilgrimage to Mecca. Of each of these I shall speak in their order.
That both Mohammed and those among his followers who are reckoned
orthodox, had and continue to have just and true notions of GOD and his
attributes (always excepting their obstinate and impious rejecting of the
Trinity), appears so plain from the Koran itself and all the Mohammedan
divines, that it would be loss of time to refute those who suppose the GOD
of Mohammed to be different from the true GOD, and only a fictitious deity
or idol of his own creation. Nor shall I enter into any of the Mohammedan
controversies concerning the divine nature and attributes, because I shall
have a more proper opportunity of doing it elsewhere.
The existence of angels and their purity are absolutely required to be
believed in the Koran; and he is reckoned an infidel who denies there are such
beings, or hates any of them, or asserts any distinction of sexes among them.
They believe them to have pure and subtle bodies, created of fire; that they
neither eat nor drink, nor propagate their species; that they have various
forms and offices; some adoring GOD in different postures, others singing
praises to him, or interceding for mankind. They hold that some of them are
employed in writing down the actions of men; others in carrying the throne of
GOD and other services.
The four angels whom they look on as more eminently in GOD'S favour, and
often mention on account of the offices assigned them, are Gabriel, to whom
they give several titles, particularly those of the holy spirit, and the angel of
revelations, supposing him to be honoured by GOD with a greater confidence
than any other, and to be employed in writing down the divine decrees;
Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews; Azrael, the angel of death,
who separates men's souls from their bodies; and Israfil, whose office
it will be to sound the trumpet at the resurrection. The Mohammedans also
believe that two guardian angels attend on every man, to observe and write
down his actions, being changed every day, and therefore called al Moakkibât,
or the angels who continually succeed one another.
This whole doctrine concerning angels Mohammed and his disciples have
borrowed from the Jews, who learned the names and offices of those beings
from the Persians, as themselves confess. The ancient Persians firmly
believed the ministry of angels, and their superintendence over the affairs
of this world (as the Magians still do), and therefore assigned them distinct
charges and provinces, giving their names to their months and the days of
their months. Gabriel they called Sorush and Revân bakhsh, or the giver of
souls, in opposition to the contrary office of the angel of death, to whom
among other names they gave that of Mordâd, or the giver of death; Michael
they called Beshter, who according to them provides sustenance for mankind.
The Jews teach that the angels were created of fire; that they have several
offices; that they intercede for men, and attend them. The angel of death
they name Duma, and say he calls dying persons by their respective names
at their last hour.
The devil, whom Mohammed names Eblis from his despair, was once one
of those angels who are nearest to GOD'S presence, called Azazil, and fell,
according to the doctrine of the Koran, for refusing to pay homage to Adam
at the command of GOD.
Besides angels and devils, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran
to believe an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jin or Genii,
created also of fire, but of a grosser fabric than angels; since they eat and
drink, and propagate their species, and are subject to death. Some of these
are supposed to be good, and others bad, and capable of future salvation or
damnation, as men are; whence Mohammed pretended to be sent for the
conversion of genii as well as men. The orientals pretend that these genii
inhabited the world for many ages before Adam was created, under the
government of several successive princes, who all bore the common name
of Solomon; but falling at length into an almost general corruption, Eblis was
sent to drive them into a remote part of the earth, there to be confined:
that some of that generation still remaining, were by Tahmurath, one of the
ancient kings of Persia, who waged war against them, forced to retreat into
the famous mountains of Kâf. Of which successions and wars they have many
fabulous and romantic stories. They also make different ranks and degrees
among these beings (if they be not rather supposed to be of a different
species), some being called absolutely Jin, some Peri or fairies, some Div or
giants, others Tacwins or fates.
The Mohammedan notions concerning these genii agree almost exactly with
what the Jews write of a sort of demons, called Shedim, whom some fancy
to have been begotten by two angels named Aza and Azael, on Naamah the
daughter of Lamech, before the Flood. However, the Shedim, they tell us,
agree in three things with the ministering angels; for that, like them, they
have wings, and fly from one end of the world to the other, and have some
knowledge of futurity; and in three things they agree with men, like whom
they eat and drink, are propagated, and die. They also say that some of
them believe in the law of Moses, and are consequently good, and that others
of them are infidels and reprobates.
As to the scriptures, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran that GOD,
in divers ages of the world, gave revelations of his will in writing to several
prophets, the whole and every word of which it is absolutely necessary for a
good Moslem to believe. The number of these sacred books were, according to
them, 104. Of which ten were given to Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edris or
Enoch, ten to Abraham; and the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Psalms,
the Gospel, and the Koran, were successively delivered to Moses, David, Jesus,
and Mohammed; which last being the seal of the prophets, those revelations
are now closed, and no more are to be expected. All these divine books,
except the four last, they agree to be now entirely lost, and their contents
unknown; though the Sabians have several books which they attribute to some
of the antediluvian prophets. And of those four the Pentateuch, Psalms, and
Gospel, they say, have undergone so many alterations and corruptions, that
though there may possibly be some part of the true word of GOD therein, yet
no credit is to be given to the present copies in the hands of the Jews and
Christians. The Jews in particular are frequently reflected on in the Koran
for falsifying and corrupting their copies of their law; and some instances
of such pretended corruptions, both in that book and the two others, are
produced by Mohammedan writers, wherein they merely follow their own
prejudices, and the fabulous accounts of spurious legends. Whether they
have any copy of the Pentateuch among them different from that of the
Jews or not, I am not entirely satisfied, since a person who travelled into the
east was told that they had the books of Moses, though very much corrupted;
but I know nobody that has ever seen them. However, they certainly have
and privately read a book which they call the Psalms of David, in Arabic and
Persian, to which are added some prayers of Moses, Jonas, and others. This
Mr. Reland supposes to be a translation from our copies (though no doubt
falsified in more places than one); but M. D'Herbelot says it contains not the
same Psalms which are in our Psalter, being no more than an extract from
thence mixed with other very different pieces. The easiest way to reconcile
these two learned gentlemen, is to presume that they speak of different
copies. The Mohammedans have also a Gospel in Arabic, attributed to St.
Barnabas, wherein the history of Jesus Christ is related in a manner very
different from what we find in the true Gospels, and correspondent to those
traditions which Mohammed has followed in his Koran. Of this Gospel the
Moriscoes in Africa have a translation in Spanish; and there is in the library
of Prince Eugene of Savoy, a manuscript of some antiquity, containing
an Italian translation of the same Gospel, made, it is to be supposed, for
the use of renegades. This book appears to be no original forgery of the
Mohammedans, though they have no doubt interpolated and altered it since,
the better to serve their purpose; and in particular, instead of the Paraclete
or Comforter, they have in this apocryphal gospel inserted the word Periclyte,
that is, the famous or illustrious, by which they pretend their prophet was
foretold by name, that being the signification of Mohammed in Arabic: and this
they say to justify that passage of the Koran, where Jesus Christ is formally
asserted to have foretold his coming, under his other name of Ahmed; which
is derived from the same root as Mohammed, and of the same import. From
these or some other forgeries of the same stamp it is that the Mohammedans
quote several passages, of which there are not the least footsteps in the New
Testament. But after all we must not hence infer that the Mohammedans,
much less all of them, hold these copies of theirs to be the ancient and
genuine scriptures themselves. If any argue, from the corruption which
they insist has happened to the Pentateuch and Gospel, that the Koran may
possibly be corrupted also; they answer, that GOD has promised that he will
take care of the latter, and preserve it from any addition or diminution; but
that he left the two other to the care of men. However, they confess there
are some various readings in the Korân, as has been observed.
Besides the books above mentioned, the Mohammedans also take notice of
the writings of Daniel and several other prophets, and even make quotations
thence; but these they do not believe to be divine scripture, or of any
authority in matters of religion.
The number of the prophets, which have been from time to time sent
by GOD into the world, amounts to no less than 224,000, according to one
Mohammedan tradition, or to 124,000, according to another; among whom
313 were apostles, sent with special commissions to reclaim mankind from
infidelity and superstition; and six of them brought new laws or dispensations,
which successively abrogated the preceding: these were Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. All the prophets in general the
Mohammedans believe to have been free from great sins and errors of
consequence, and professors of one and the same religion, that is Islâm,
notwithstanding the different laws and institutions which they observed.
They allow of degrees among them, and hold some of them to be more
excellent and honourable than others. The first place they give to the
revealers and establishers of new dispensations, and the next to the apostles.
In this great number of prophets, they not only reckon divers patriarchs
and persons named in scripture, but not recorded to have been prophets
(wherein the Jewish and Christian writers have sometimes led the way), as
Adam, Seth, Lot, Ismael, Nun, Joshua, &c., and introduce some of them under
different names, as Enoch, Heber, and Jethro, who are called in the Koran,
Edris, Hud, and Shoaib; but several others whose very names do not appear in
scripture (though they endeavour to find some persons there to fix them on),
as Saleh, Khedr, Dhu'lkefl, &c. Several of their fabulous traditions
concerning these prophets we shall occasionally mention in the notes on
the Koran.
As Mohammed acknowledged the divine authority of the Pentateuch, Psalms,
and Gospel, he often appeals to the consonancy of the Koran with those
writings, and to the prophecies which he pretended were therein concerning
himself, as proofs of his mission; and he frequently charges the Jews and
Christians with stifling the passages which bear witness to him. His followers
also fail not to produce several texts even from our present copies of the Old
and New Testament, to support their master's cause.
The next article of faith required by the Koran is the belief of a general
resurrection and a future judgment. But before we consider the Mohammedan
tenets in those points, it will be proper to mention what they are taught to
believe concerning the intermediate state, both of the body and of the soul,
after death.
When a corpse is laid in the grave, they say he is received by an angel, who
gives him notice of the coming of the two examiners; who are two black livid
angels, of a terrible appearance, named Monker and Nakir. These order the
dead person to sit upright, and examine him concerning his faith, as to the
unity of GOD, and the mission of Mohammed: if he answer rightly, they suffer
the body to rest in peace, and it is refreshed by the air of paradise; but
if not, they beat him on the temples with iron maces, till he roars out for
anguish so loud, that he is heard by all from east to west, except men and
genii. Then they press the earth on the corpse, which is gnawed and stung
till the resurrection by ninety-nine dragons, with seven heads each; or as
others say, their sins will become venomous beasts, the grievous ones
stinging like dragons, the smaller like scorpions, and the others like serpents:
circumstances which some understand in a figurative sense.
The examination of the sepulchre is not only founded on an express
tradition of Mohammed, but is also plainly hinted at, though not directly
taught, in the Koran, as the commentators agree. It is therefore believed by
the orthodox Mohammedans in general, who take care to have their graves
made hollow, that they may sit up with more ease while they are examined by
the angels; but is utterly rejected by the sect of the Mutazalites, and perhaps
by some others.
These notions Mohammed certainly borrowed from the Jews, among whom
they were very anciently received. They say that the angel of death coming
and sitting on the grave, the soul immediately enters the body and raises it on
its feet; that he then examines the departed person, and strikes him with a
chain half of iron and half of fire; at the first blow all his limbs are loosened,
at the second his bones are scattered, which are gathered together again by
the angels, and the third stroke reduces the body to dust and ashes, and it
returns into the grave. This rack or torture they call Hibbut hakkeber, or the
beating of the sepulchre, and pretend that all men in general must undergo it,
except only those who die on the evening of the sabbath, or have dwelt in the
land of Israel.
It it be objected to the Mohammedans that the cry of the persons under
such examination has been never heard; or if they be asked how those can
undergo it whose bodies are burnt or devoured by beasts or birds, or
otherwise consumed without burial; they answer, that it is very possible
notwithstanding, since men are not able to perceive what is transacted on
the other side the grave; and that it is sufficient to restore to life any part
of the body which is capable of understanding the questions put by the angels.
As to the soul, they hold that when it is separated from the body by the
angel of death, who performs his office with ease and gentleness towards the
good, and with violence towards the wicked, it enters into that state which
they call Al Berzakh, or the interval between death and the resurrection. If
the departed person was a believer, they say two angels meet it, who convey
it to heaven, that its place there may be assigned, according to its merit and
degree. For they distinguish the souls of the faithful into three classes:
the first of prophets, whose souls are admitted into paradise immediately;
the second of martyrs; whose spirits, according to a tradition of Mohammed,
rest in the crops of green birds which eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers
of paradise; and the third of other believers, concerning the state of whose
souls before the resurrection there are various opinions. For, I. Some say
they stay near the sepulchres, with liberty, however, of going wherever they
please; which they confirm with Mohammed's manner of saluting them at their
graves, and his affirming that the dead heard those salutations as well as the
living, though they could not answer. Whence perhaps proceeded the custom
of visiting the tombs of relations, so common among the Mohammedans.
2. Others imagine they are with Adam, in the lowest heaven; and also support
their opinion by the authority of their prophet, who gave out that in his return
from the upper heavens in his pretended night journey, he saw there the souls
of those who were destined to paradise on the right hand of Adam, and of
those who were condemned to hell on his left. 3. Others fancy the souls of
believers remain in the well Zemzem, and those of infidels in a certain well in
the province of Hadramaut, called Borhut; but this opinion is branded as
heretical. 4. Others say they stay near the graves for seven days; but that
whither they go afterwards is uncertain. 5. Others that they are all in the
trumpet whose sound is to raise the dead. And, 6. Others that the souls of
the good dwell in the forms of white birds, under the throne of GOD. As to
the condition of the souls of the wicked, besides the opinions that have been
already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are offered by the
angels to heaven, from whence being repulsed as stinking and filthy, they are
offered to the earth, and being also refused a place there, are carried down
to the seventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon, which they call Sajin, under
a green rock, or according to a tradition of Mohammed, under the devil's jaw,
to be there tormented, till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies.
Though some among the Mohammedans have thought that the resurrection
will be merely spiritual, and no more than the returning of the soul to the
place whence it first came (an opinion defended by Ebn Sina, and called by
some the opinion of the philosophers); and others, who allow man to consist
of body only, that it will be merely corporeal; the received opinion is, that
both body and soul will be raised, and their doctors argue strenuously for the
possibility of the resurrection of the body, and dispute with great subtlety
concerning the manner of it. But Mohammed has taken care to preserve one
part of the body, whatever becomes of the rest, to serve for a basis of the
future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mass which is to be joined to it.
For he taught that a man's body was entirely consumed by the earth, except
only the bone called al Ajb, which we name the os coccygis, or rump-bone; and
that as it was the first formed in the human body, it will also remain
uncorrupted till the last day, as a seed from whence the whole is to be
renewed: and this he said would be effected by a forty days' rain which GOD
should send, and which would cover the earth to the height of twelve cubits,
and cause the bodies to sprout forth like plants. Herein also is Mohammed
also beholden to the Jews, who say the same things of the bone Luz, excepting
that what he attributes to a great rain, will be effected according to them by
a dew, impregnating the dust of the earth.
The time of the resurrection the Mohammedans allow to be a perfect secret
to all but GOD alone: the angel Gabriel himself acknowledging his ignorance
on this point when Mohammed asked him about it. However, they say the
approach of that day may be known from certain signs which are to precede
it. These signs they distinguish into two sorts--the lesser and the greater--
which I shall briefly enumerate after Dr. Pocock.
The lesser signs are: I. They decay of faith among men. 2. The advancing
of the meanest persons to eminent dignity. 3. That a maid-servant shall
become the mother of her mistress (or master); by which is meant either
that towards the end of the world men shall be much given to sensuality,
or that the Mohammedans shall then take many captives. 4. Tumults and
seditions. 5. A war with the Turks. 6. Great distress in the world, so that
a man when he passes by another's grave shall say "Would to GOD I were in
his place." 7. That the provinces of Irâk and Syria shall refuse to pay their
tribute. And, 8. That the buildings of Medina shall reach to Ahâb, or Yahâb.
The greater signs are:
1. The sun's rising in the west: which some have imagined it originally did.
2. The appearance of the beast, which shall rise out of the earth, in the
temple of Mecca, or on Mount Safâ, or in the territory of Tâyef, or some
other place. This beast they say is to be sixty cubits high: though others,
not satisfied with so small a size, will have her reach to the clouds and to
heaven when her head only is out; and that she will appear for three days,
but show only a third part of her body. They describe this monster, as to
her form, to be a compound of various species, having the head of a bull,
the eyes of a hog, the ears of an elephant, the horns of a stag, the neck of
an ostrich, the breast of a lion, the colour of a tiger, the back of a cat, the
tail of a ram, the legs of a camel, and the voice of an ass. Some say this
beast is to appear three times in several places, and that she will bring with
her the rod of Moses and the seal of Solomon; and being so swift that none
can overtake or escape her, will with the first strike all the believers on the
face and mark them with the word Mumen, i.e., believer; and with the latter
will mark the unbelievers, on the face likewise, with the word Câfer, i.e.,
infidel, that every person may be known for what he really is. They add that
the same beast is to demonstrate the vanity of all religions except Islâm, and
to speak Arabic. All this stuff seems to be the result of a confused idea of
the beast in the Revelations.
3. War with the Greeks, and the taking of Constantinople by 70,000 of the
posterity of Isaac, who shall not win that city by force of arms, but the walls
shall fall down while they cry out, "There is no god but GOD: GOD is most great!"
As they are dividing the spoil, news will come to them of the appearance of
the Antichrist, whereupon they shall leave all, and return back.
4. The coming of Anti-christ, whom the Mohammedans call al Masih al Dajjâl,
i.e., the false or lying Christ, and simply al Dajjâl. He is to be one-eyed, and
marked on the forehead with the letters C.F.R., signifying Câfer, or infidel.
They say that the Jews give him the name of Messiah Ben David, and pretend
he is to come in the last days and to be lord both of land and sea, and that he
will restore the kingdom to them. According to the traditions of Mohammed,
he is to appear first between Irâk and Syria, or according to others, in the
province of Khorasân; they add that he is to ride on an ass, that he will be
followed by 70,000 Jews of Ispahân, and continue on earth forty days, of
which one will be equal in length to a year, another to a month, another to a
week, and the rest will be common days; that he is to lay waste all places,
but will not enter Mecca or Medina, which are to be guarded by angels; and
that at length he will be slain by Jesus, who is to encounter him at the gate
of Lud. It is said that Mohammed foretold several Anti-christs, to the number
of about thirty, but one of greater note than the rest.
5. The descent of Jesus on earth. They pretend that he is to descend near
the white tower to the east of Damascus, when the people are returned from
the taking of Constantinople; that he is to embrace the Mohammedan religion,
marry a wife, get children, kill Antichrist, and at length die after forty years',
or, according to others, twenty-four years', continuance on earth. Under him
they say there will be great security and plenty in the world, all hatred and
malice being laid aside; when lions and camels, bears and sheep, shall live in
peace, and a child shall play with serpents unhurt.
6. War with the Jews; of whom the Mohammedans are to make a religious
slaughter, the very trees and stones discovering such of them as hide
themselves, except only the tree called Gharkad, which is the tree of the
Jews.
7. The eruption of Gog and Magog, or, as they are called in the east, Yâjuj
and Mâjuj; of whom many things are related in the Koran, and the traditions
of Mohammed. These barbarians, they tell us, having passed the lake of
Tiberias, which the vanguard of their vast army will drink dry, will come to
Jerusalem, and there greatly distress Jesus and his companions; till at his
request GOD will destroy them, and fill the earth with their carcasses, which
after some time GOD will send birds to carry away, at the prayers of Jesus
and his followers. Their bows, arrows, and quivers the Moslems will burn for
seven years together; and at last GOD will send a rain to cleanse the earth,
and to make it fertile.
8. A smoke, which shall fill the whole earth.
9. An eclipse of the moon. Mohammed is reported to have said that there
would be three eclipses before the last hour; one to be seen in the east,
another in the west, and the third in Arabia.
10. The returning of the Arabs to the worship of Allât and al Uzza, and the
rest of their ancient idols; after the decrease of every one in whose heart
there was faith equal to the grain of mustard-seed, none but the very worst
of men being left alive. For GOD, they say, will send a cold odoriferous wind,
blowing from Syria Damascena, which shall sweep away the souls of all the
faithful, and the Koran itself, so that men will remain in the grossest
ignorance for a hundred years.
11. The discovery of a vast heap of gold and silver by the retreating of
the Euphrates, which will be the destruction of many.
12. The demolition of the Caaba, or temple of Mecca, by the Ethiopians.
13. The speaking of beasts and inanimate things.
14. The breaking out of fire in the province of Hejâz; or, according to
others, in Yaman.
15. The appearance of a man of the descendants of Kahtân, who shall drive
men before him with his staff.
16. The coming of the Mohdi, or director; concerning whom Mohammed
prophesied that the world should not have an end till one of his own family
should govern the Arabians, whose name should be the same with his own
name, and whose father's name should also be the same with his father's
name; and who should fill the earth with righteousness. This person the
Shiites believe to be now alive, and concealed in some secret place, till the
time of his manifestation; for they suppose him to be no other than the last
of the twelve Imâms, named Mohammed Abu'lkasem, as their prophet was,
and the son of Hassan al Askeri, the eleventh of that succession. He was
born at Sermanrai in the 255th year of the Hejra. From this tradition, it is
to be presumed, an opinion pretty current among the Christians took its rise,
that the Mohammedans are in expectation of their prophet's return.
17. A wind which shall sweep away the souls of all who have but a grain of
faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth sign.
These are the greater signs, which, according to their doctrine, are to
precede the resurrection, but still leave the hour of it uncertain: for the
immediate sign of its being come will be the first blast of the trumpet; which
they believe will be sounded three times. The first they call the blast of
consternation; at the hearing of which all creatures in heaven and earth shall
be struck with terror, except those whom GOD shall please to exempt from it.
The effects attributed to this first sound of the trumpet are very wonderful:
for they say the earth will be shaken, and not only all buildings, but the
very mountains levelled; that the heavens shall melt, the sun be darkened,
the stars fall, on the death of the angels, who, as some imagine, hold them
suspended between heaven and earth, and the sea shall be troubled and dried
up, or, according ot others, turned into flames, the sun, moon, and stars
being thrown into it: the Koran, to express the greatness of the terror of
that day, adds that women who give suck shall abandon the care of their
infants, and even the she-camels which have gone ten months with young (a
most valuable part of the substance of that nation) shall be utterly neglected.
A farther effect of this blast will be that concourse of beasts mentioned in
the Koran, though some doubt whether it be to precede the resurrection or
not. They who suppose it will precede, think that ll kinds of animals, forgetting
their respective natural fierceness and timidity, will run together into one
place, being terrified by the sound of the trumpet and the sudden shock of
nature.
The Mohammedans believe that this first blast will be followed by a second,
which they call the blast of examination, when all creatures, both in heaven
and earth, shall die or be annihilated, except those which GOD shall please to
exempt from the common fate; and this, they say, shall happen in the
twinkling of an eye, nay, in an instant; nothing surviving except GOD alone,
with paradise and hell, and the inhabitants of those two places, and throne
of glory. The last who shall die will be the angel of death.
Forty years after this will be heard the blast of resurrection, when the
trumpet shall be sounded the third time by Israfil, who, together with Gabriel
and Michael, will be previously restored to life, and standing on the rock of
the temple of Jerusalem, shall, at GOD'S command, call together all the dry
and rotten bones, and other dispersed parts of the bodies, and the very hairs,
to judgment. This angel having, by the divine order, set the trumpet to his
mouth, and called together all the souls from all parts, will throw them into
his trumpet, from whence, on his giving the last sound, at the command of
GOD, they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole space between heaven and
earth, and then repair to their respective bodies, which the opening earth
will suffer to arise; and the first who shall so arise, according to a tradition
of Mohammed, will be himself. For this birth the earth will be prepared by
the rain above mentioned, which is to fall continually for forty years, and will
resemble the seed of a man, and be supplied from the water under the throne
of GOD, which is called living water; by the efficacy and virtue of which the
dead bodies shall spring forth from their graves, as they did in their mother's
womb, or as corn sprouts forth by common rain, till they become perfect;
after which breath will be breathed into them, and they will sleep in their
sepulchres till they are raised to life at the last trump.
As to the length of the last day of judgment the Koran in one place tells
us that it will last 1,000 years, and in another 50,000. To reconcile this
apparent contradiction, the commentators use several shifts: some saying
they know not what measure of time GOD intends in those passages; others,
that these forms of speaking are figurative and not to be strictly taken, and
were designed only to express the terribleness of that day, it being usual for
the Arabs to describe what they dislike as of long continuance, and what they
like, as the contrary; and others suppose them spoken only in reference to
the difficulty of the business of the day, which, if GOD should commit to any
of his creatures, they would not be able to go through it in so many thousand
years; to omit some other opinions which we may take notice of elsewhere.
Having said so much in relation to the time of the resurrection, let us now
see who are to be raised from the dead, in what manner and form they shall
be raised, in what place they shall be assembled, and to what end, according
to the doctrine of the Mohammedans.
That the resurrection will be general, and extend to all creatures both
angels, genii, men, and animals, is the received opinion, which they support
by the authority of the Koran, though that passage which is produced to prove
the resurrection of brutes be otherwise interpreted by some.
The manner of their resurrection will be very different. Those who are
destined to be partakers of eternal happiness will arise in honour and
security; and those who are doomed to misery, in disgrace and under dismal
apprehensions. As to mankind, they say that they will be raised perfect in
all their parts and members, and in the same state as they came out of their
mother's wombs, that is, barefooted, naked, and uncircumcised; which
circumstances when Mohammed was telling his wife Ayesha, she, fearing the
rules of modesty might be thereby violated, objected that it would be very
indecent for men and women to look upon one another in that condition; but he
answered her, that the business of the day would be too weighty and serious
to allow them the making use of that liberty. Others, however, allege the
authority of their prophet for a contrary opinion as to their nakedness, and
pretend he asserted that the dead should arise dressed in the same clothes
in which they died; unless we interpret these words, as some do, not so much
of the outward dress of the body, as the inward clothing of the mind; and
understand thereby that every person will rise again in the same state as
to his faith or infidelity, his knowledge or ignorance, his good or bad works.
Mohammed is also said to have farther taught, by another tradition, that
mankind shall be assembled at the last day, distinguished into three classes.
The first, of those who go on foot; the second, of those who ride; and the
third, of those who creep groveling with their faces on the ground. The first
class is to consist of those believers whose good works have been few; the
second of those who are in greater honour with GOD, and more acceptable
to him; whence Ali affirmed that the pious when they come forth from their
sepulchres, shall find ready prepared for them white-winged camels, with
saddles of gold; wherein are to be observed some footsteps of the doctrine
of the ancient Arabians; and the third class, they say, will be composed of the
infidels, whom GOD shall cause to make their appearance with their faces on
the earth, blind, dumb, and deaf. But the ungodly will not be thus only
distinguished; for, according to a tradition of the prophet, there will be ten
sorts of wicked men on whom GOD shall on that day fix certain discretory
marks. The first will appear in the form of apes; these are the professors of
Zendicism: the second in that of swine; these are they who have been greedy
of filthy lucre, and enriched themselves by public oppression: the third will be
brought with their heads reversed and their feet distorted; these are the
usurers: the fourth will wander about blind; these are unjust judges: the
fifth will be deaf, dumb, and blind, understanding nothing; these are they
who glory in their own works: the sixth will gnaw their tongues, which will
hang down upon their breasts, corrupted blood flowing from their mouths like
spittle, so that everybody shall detest them; these are the learned men and
doctors, whose actions contradict their sayings: the seventh will have their
hands and feet cut off; these are they who have injured their neighbours: the
eighth will be fixed to the trunks of palm trees or stakes of wood; these are
the false accusers and informers: the ninth will stink worse than a corrupted
corpse; these are they who have indulged their passions and voluptuous
appetites, but refused GOD such part of their wealth as was due to him:
the tenth will be clothed with garments daubed with pitch; and these are
the proud, the vainglorious, and the arrogant.
As to the place where they are to be assembled to judgment, the Koran and
the traditions of Mohammed agree that it will be on the earth, but in what
part of the earth it is not agreed. Some say their prophet mentioned Syria
for the place; others, a white and even tract of land, without inhabitants or
any signs of buildings. Al Ghazâli imagines it will be a second earth, which
he supposes to be of silver; and others, an earth which has nothing in common
with ours but the name; having, it is possible, heard something of the new
heavens and new earth mentioned in scripture: whence the Koran has this
expression, "on the day wherein the earth shall be changed into another
earth."
The end of the resurrection the Mohammedans declare to be, that they who
are so raised may give an account of their actions, and receive the reward
thereof. And they believe that not only mankind, but the genii and irrational
animals also, shall be judged on this great day; when the unarmed cattle
shall take vengeance on the horned, till entire satisfaction shall be given
to the injured.
As to mankind, they hold that when they are all assembled together, they
will not be immediately brought to judgment, but the angels will keep them in
their ranks and order while they attend for that purpose; and this attendance
some say is to last forty years, others seventy, others 300, nay, some say
no less than 50,000 years, each of them vouching their prophet's authority.
During this space they will stand looking up to heaven, but without receiving
any information or orders thence, and are to suffer grievous torments, both
the just and the unjust, though with manifest difference. For the limbs of
the former, particularly those parts which they used to wash in making the
ceremonial ablution before prayer, shall shine gloriously, and their sufferings
shall be light in comparison, and shall last no longer than the time necessary
to say the appointed prayers; but the latter will have their faces obscured
with blackness, and disfigured with all the marks of sorrow and deformity.
What will then occasion not the least of their pain, is a wonderful and
incredible sweat, which will even stop their mouths, and in which they will
be immersed in various degrees according to their demerits, some to the
ankles only, some to the knees, some to the middle, some so high as their
mouth, and others as their ears. And this sweat, they say, will be provoked
not only by that vast concourse of all sorts of creatures mutually pressing
and treading on one another's feet, but by the near and unusual approach of
the sun, which will be then no farther from them than the distance of a mile,
or, as some translate the word, the signification of which is ambiguous, than
the length of a bodkin. So that their skulls will boil like a pot, and they will
be all bathed in sweat. From this inconvenience, however, the good will be
protected by the shade of GOD'S throne; but the wicked will be so miserably
tormented with it, and also with hunger, and thirst, and a stifling air, that
they will cry out, "Lord, deliver us from this anguish, though thou send us
into hell fire." What they fable of the extraordinary heat of the sun on this
occasion, the Mohammedans certainly borrowed from the Jews, who say, that
for the punishment of the wicked on the last day, that planet shall be drawn
from its sheath, in which it is now put up, lest it should destroy all things by
its excessive heat.
When those who have risen shall have waited the limited time, the
Mohammedans believe GOD will at length appear to judge them; Mohammed
undertaking the office of intercessor, after it shall have been declined by
Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jesus, who shall beg deliverance only for their own
souls. They say that on this solemn occasion GOD will come in the clouds,
surrounded by angels, and will produce the books wherein the actions of every
person are recorded by their guardian angels, and will command the prophets
to bear witness against those to whom they have been respectively sent.
Then every one will be examined concerning all his words and actions, uttered
and done by him in this life; not as if GOD needed any information in those
respects, but to oblige the person to make public confession and
acknowledgment of GOD'S justice. The particulars of which they shall give
an account, as Mohammed himself enumerated them, are--of their time,
how they spent it; of their wealth, by what means they acquired it, and how
they employed it; of their bodies, wherein they exercised them; of their
knowledge and learning, what use they made of them. It is said, however,
that Mohammed has affirmed that no less than 70,000 of his followers
should be permitted to enter paradise without any previous examination,
which seems to be contradictory to what is said above. To the questions
we have mentioned each person shall answer, and make his defence in the
best manner he can, endeavouring to excuse himself by casting the blame
of his evil deeds on others, so that a dispute shall arise even between the
soul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to be imputed, the
soul saying, "O Lord, my body I received from thee; for thou createdst me
without a hand to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to see with, or
an understanding to apprehend with, till I came and entered into this body;
therefore, punish it eternally, but deliver me." The body, on the other side,
will make this apology: "O Lord, thou createdst me like a stock of wood,
having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot that I could walk with,
till this soul, like a ray of light, entered into me, and my tongue began to
speak, my eye to see, and my foot to walk; therefore, punish it eternally,
but deliver me." But GOD will propound to them the following parable of the
blind man and the lame man, which, as well as the preceding dispute, was
borrowed by the Mohammedans from the Jews: A certain king, having a
pleasant garden, in which were ripe fruits, set two persons to keep it, one
of whom was blind and the other lame, the former not being able to see
the fruit nor the latter to gather it; the lame man, however, seeing the
fruit, persuaded the blind man to take him upon his shoulders; and by that
means he easily gathered the fruit, which they divided between them. The
lord of the garden, coming some time after, and inquiring after his fruit,
each began to excuse himself; the blind man said he had no eyes to see with,
and the lame man that he had no feet to approach the trees. But the king,
ordering the lame man to be set on the blind, passed sentence on and punished
them both. And in the same manner will GOD deal with the body and the soul.
As these apologies will not avail on that day, so will it also be in vain for
any one to deny his evil actions, since men and angels and his own members,
nay, the very earth itself, will be ready to bear witness against him.
Though the Mohammedans assign so long a space for the attendance of
the resuscitated before their trial, yet they tell us the trial itself will be over
in much less time, and, according to an expression of Mohammed, familiar
enough to the Arabs, will last no longer than while one may milk an ewe, or
than the space between the two milkings of a she-camel. Some, explaining
those words so frequently used in the Koran, "GOD will be swift in taking an
account," say that he will judge all creatures in the space of half a day, and
others that it will be done in less time than the twinkling of an eye.
At this examination they also believe that each person will have the book,
wherein all the actions of his life are written, delivered to him; which books
the righteous will receive in their right hand, and read with great pleasure
and satisfaction; but the ungodly will be obliged to take them against their
wills in their left, which will be bound behind their backs, their right hand
being tied up to their necks.
To show the exact justice which will be observed on this great day of
trial, the next thing they describe is the balance, wherein all things shall
be weighted. They say it will be held by Gabriel, and that it is of so vast a
size, that its two scales, one of which hangs over paradise, and the other
over hell, are capacious enough to contain both heaven and earth. Though
some are willing to understand what is said in the Koran concerning this
balance, allegorically, and only as a figurative representation of GOD'S equity,
yet the more ancient and orthodox opinion is that it is to be taken literally;
and since words and actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being
themselves weighed, they say that the books wherein they are written will be
thrown into the scales, and according as those wherein the good or the evil
actions are recorded shall preponderate, sentence will be given; those whose
balance laden with their good works shall be heavy, will be saved, but those
whose balances are light will be condemned. Nor will any one have cause to
complain that GOD suffers any good action to pass unrewarded, because the
wicked for the good they do have their reward in this life, and therefore can
expect no favour in the next.
The old Jewish writers make mention as well of the books to be produced at
the last day, wherein men's actions are registered, as of the balance wherein
they shall be weighed; and the scripture itself seems to have given the first
notion of both. But what the Persian Magi believe of the balance comes
nearest to the Mohammedan opinion. They hold that on the day of judgment
two angels, named Mihr and Sorush, will stand on the bridge we shall describe
by-and-bye, to examine every person as he passes; that the former, who
represents the divine mercy, will hold a balance in his hand, to weigh the
actions of men; that according to the report he shall make thereof to GOD,
sentence will be pronounced, and those whose good works are found more
ponderous, if they turn the scale but by the weight of a hair, will be permitted
to pass forward to paradise; but those whose good works shall be found light,
will be by the other angel, who represents GOD'S justice, precipitated from
the bridge into hell.
This examination being passed, and every one's works weighed in a just
balance, that mutual retaliation will follow, according to which every creature
will take vengeance one of another, or have satisfaction made them for the
injuries which they have suffered. And since there will then be no other way
of returning like for like, the manner of giving this satisfaction will be by
taking away a proportionable part of the good works of him who offered the
injury, and adding it to those of him who suffered it. Which being done, if the
angels (by whose ministry this is to be performed) say, "Lord, we have given
to every one his due; and there remaineth of this person's good works so
much as equalleth the weight of an ant," GOD will of his mercy cause it to
be doubled unto him, that he may be admitted into paradise; but if, on the
contrary, his good works be exhausted, and there remain evil works only, and
there be any who have not yet received satisfaction from him, GOD will order
that an equal weight of their sins be added unto his, that he may be punished
for them in their stead, and he will be sent to hell laden with both. This will
be the method of GOD'S dealing with mankind. As to brutes, after they shall
have likewise taken vengeance of one another, as we have mentioned above,
he will command them to be changed into dust; wicked men being reserved to
more grievous punishment: so that they shall cry out, on hearing this sentence
passed on the brutes, "Would to GOD that we were dust also." As to the genii,
many Mohammedans are of opinion that such of them as are true believers will
undergo the same fate as the irrational animals, and have no other reward
than the favour of being converted into dust; and for this they quote
the authority of their prophet. But this, however, is judged not so very
reasonable, since the genii, being capable of putting themselves in the
state of believers as well as men, must consequently deserve, as it seems,
to be rewarded for their faith, as well as to be punished for infidelity.
Wherefore some entertain a more favourable opinion, and assign the believing
genii a place near the confines of paradise, where they will enjoy sufficient
felicity, though they be not admitted into that delightful mansion. But the
unbelieving genii, it is universally agreed, will be punished eternally, and be
thrown into hell with the infidels of mortal race. It may not be improper to
observe, that under the denomination of unbelieving genii, the Mohammedans
comprehend also the devil and his companions.
The trials being over and the assembly dissolved, the Mohammedans hold
that those who are to be admitted into paradise will take the right-hand way,
and those who are destined to hell fire will take the left; but both of them
must first pass the bridge, called in Arabic al Sirât, which they say is laid over
the midst of hell, and described to be finer than a hair, and sharper than the
edge of a sword: so that it seems very difficult to conceive how any one shall
be able to stand upon it: for which reason most of the sect of the Mutazalites
reject it as a fable, though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the
truth of this article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never
asserted a falsehood, meaning their prophet; who to add to the difficulty of
the passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with
briars and hooked thorns; which will, however, be no impediment to the good,
for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like lightning or the
wind, Mohammed and his Moslems leading the way; whereas the wicked, what
with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path, the entangling of
the thorns, and the extinction of the light, which directed the former to
paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall down headlong into hell, which
is gaping beneath them.
This circumstance Mohammed seems also to have borrowed from the
Magians, who teach that on the last day all mankind will be obliged to pass a
bridge which they call Pul Chinavad, or Chinavar, that is, the straight bridge,
leading directly into the other world; on the midst of which they suppose the
angels, appointed by GOD to perform that office, will stand, who will require
of every one a strict account of his actions, and weigh them in the manner we
have already mentioned. It is true the Jews speak likewise of the bridge of
hell, which they say is no broader than a thread; but then they do not tell us
that any shall be obliged to pass it, except the idolaters, who will fall thence
into perdition.
As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mohammedans are taught that hell
is divided into seven stories, or apartments, one below another, designed for
the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned. The first which they
call Jehennam, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one
GOD, that is, the wicked Mohammedans, who after having there been punished
according to their demerits, will at length be released. The second, named
Ladhâ, they assign to the Jews; the third, named al Hotama, to the Christians;
the fourth named al Sair, to the Sabians; the fifth, named Sakar, to the
Magians; the sixth, named al Jahim, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which
is the lowest and worst of all, and is called al Hâwiyat, to the hypocrites, or
those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of
none. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard
of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just
judgment of GOD, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation
of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.
Mohammed has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing
the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer
both from intense heat and excessive cold. We shall, however, enter into no
detail of them here, but only observe that the degrees of these pains will
also vary, in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he
is condemned to; and that he who is punished the most lightly of all will be
shod with shoes of fire, the fervour of which will cause his skull to boil like
a cauldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet
teaches, cannot be properly called either life or death; and their misery will
be greatly increased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place,
since, according to that frequent expression in the Koran, "they must remain
therein for ever." It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone will
be liable to eternity of damnation, for the Moslems, or those who have
embraced the true religion, and have been guilty of heinous sins, will be
delivered thence after they shall have expiated their crimes by their
sufferings. The contrary of either of these opinions is reckoned heretical;
for it is the constant orthodox doctrine of the Mohammedans that no
unbeliever or idolater will ever be released, nor any person who in his lifetime
professed an believed the unity of GOD be condemned to eternal punishment.
As to the time and manner of the deliverance of those believers whose evil
actions shall outweigh their good, there is a tradition of Mohammed that they
shall be released after they shall have been scorched and their skins burnt
black, and shall afterwards be admitted into paradise; and when the
inhabitants of that place shall, in contempt, call them infernals, GOD will,
on their prayers, take from them that opprobrious appellation. Others say he
taught that while they continue in hell they shall be deprived of life, or (as
his words are otherwise interpreted) be cast into a most profound sleep, that
they may be the less sensible of their torments; and that they shall
afterwards be received into paradise, and there revive on their being washed
with the water of life; though some suppose they will be restored to life
before they come forth from their place of punishment, that at their bidding
farewell to their pains, they may have some little taste of them. The time
which these believers shall be detained there, according to a tradition handed
down from their prophet, will not be less than 900 years, nor more than
7,000. And as to the manner of their delivery, they say that they shall be
distinguished by the marks of prostration on those parts of their bodies with
which they used to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire will,
therefore, have no power; and that being known by this characteristic, they
will be relieved by the mercy of GOD, at the intercession of Mohammed and
the blessed; whereupon those who shall have been dead will be restored to life,
as has been said; and those whose bodies shall have contracted any sootiness
or filth from the flames and smoke of hell, will be immersed in one of the
rivers of paradise, called the river of life, which will wash them whiter than
pearls.
For most of these circumstances relating to hell and the state of the
damned, Mohammed was likewise, in all probability, indebted to the Jews,
and in part to the Magians; both of whom agree in making seven distinct
apartments in hell, though they vary in other particulars. The former place
an angel as a guard over each of these infernal apartments, and suppose he
will intercede for the miserable wretches there imprisoned, who will openly
acknowledge the justice of GOD in their condemnation. They also teach that
the wicked will suffer a diversity of punishments, and that by intolerable cold
as well as heat, and that their faces shall become black; and believe those of
their own religion shall also be punished in hell hereafter, according to their
crimes (for they hold that few or none will be found so exactly righteous as
to deserve no punishment at all), but will soon be delivered thence, when they
shall be sufficiently purged from their sins, by their father Abraham, or at
the intercession of him or some other of the prophets. The Magians allow but
one angel to preside over all the seven hells, who is named by them Vanand
Yezad, and, as they teach, assigns punishments proportionate to each
person's crimes, restraining also the tyranny and excessive cruelty of the
devil, who would, if left to himself, torment the damned beyond their sentence.
Those of this religion do also mention and describe various kinds of torments,
wherewith the wicked will be punished in the next life; among which though
they reckon extreme cold to be one, yet they do not admit fire, out of
respect, as it seems, to that element, which they take to be the
representation of the divine nature; and, therefore, they rather choose to
describe the damned souls as suffering by other kinds of punishments: such
as an intolerable stink, the stinging and biting of serpents and wild beasts, the
cutting and tearing of the flesh by the devils, excessive hunger and thirst,
and the like.
Before we proceed to a description of the Mohammedan paradise, we must
not forget to say something of the wall or partition which they imagine to be
between that place and hell, and seems to be copied from the great gulf of
separation mentioned in scripture. They call it al Orf, and more frequently
in the plural, al Arâf, a word derived from the verb arafa, which signifies to
distinguish between things, or to part them; though some commentators give
another reason for the imposition of this name, because, they say, those who
stand on this partition will know and distinguish the blessed from the damned,
by their respective marks or characteristics: and others say the word
properly intends anything that is high raised or elevated, as such a wall of
separation must be supposed to be. The Mohammedan writers greatly differ
as to the persons who are to be found on al Arâf. Some imagine it to be a
sort of limbo for the patriarchs and prophets, or for the martyrs and those
who have been most eminent for sanctity, among whom, they say, there will
be also angels in the form of men. Others place here such whose good and
evil works are so equal that they exactly counterpoise each other, and,
therefore, deserve neither reward nor punishment; and these, they say, will,
on the last day, be admitted into paradise, after they shall have performed
an act of adoration, which will be imputed to them as a merit, and will
make the scale of their good works to overbalance. Others suppose this
intermediate space will be a receptacle for those who have gone to war
without their parents' leave, and therein suffered martyrdom; being excluded
paradise for their disobedience, and escaping hell because they are martyrs.
The breadth of this partition wall cannot be supposed to be exceeding great,
since not only those who shall stand thereon will hold conference with the
inhabitants both of paradise and of hell, but the blessed and the damned
themselves will also be able to talk to one another.
If Mohammed did not take his notions of the partition we have been
describing from scripture, he must at least have borrowed it at second-hand
from the Jews, who mention a thin wall dividing paradise form hell.
The righteous, as the Mohammedans are taught to believe, having
surmounted the difficulties, and passed the sharp bridge above mentioned,
before they enter paradise will be refreshed by drinking at the pond of their
prophet, who describes it to be an exact square, of a month's journey in
compass: its water, which is supplied by two pipes from al Cawthar, one of
the rivers of paradise, being whiter than milk or silver and more odoriferous
than musk, with as many cups set around it as there are stars in the
firmament, of which water, whoever drinks will thirst no more for ever.
This is the first taste which the blessed will have of their future and now
near-approaching felicity.
Though paradise be so very frequently mentioned in the Koran, yet it is
a dispute among Mohammedans whether it be already created, or be to be
created hereafter: the Mutazalites and some other sectaries asserting that
there is not at present any such place in nature, and that the paradise which
the righteous will inhabit in the next life, will be different form that form
which Adam was expelled. However, the orthodox profess the contrary,
maintaining that it was created even before the world, and describe it, from
their prophet's traditions, in the following manner.
They say it is situate above the seven heavens (or in the seventh heaven)
and next under the throne of GOD: and to express the amenity of the place,
tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest
musk, or, as others will have it, of saffron; that its stones are pearls and
jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and that
the trunks of all its trees are of gold, among which the most remarkable is
the tree called Tuba, or the tree of happiness. Concerning this tree they
fable that it stands in the palace of Mohammed, though a breach of it will
reach to the house of every true believer; that it will be laden with
pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits of surprising bigness, and of
tastes unknown to mortals. So that if a man desire to eat of any particular
kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented him, or if he choose flesh,
birds ready dressed will be set before him according to his wish. They add
that the boughs of this tree will spontaneously bend down to the hand of the
person who would gather of its fruits, and that it will supply the blessed not
only with food, but also with silken garments, and beasts to ride on ready
saddled and bridled, and adorned with rich trappings, which will burst forth
from its fruits; and that this tree is so large, that a person mounted on the
fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the
other in a hundred years.
As plenty of water is one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness
of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as a principal
ornament thereof; some of these rivers, they say, flow with water, some with
milk, some with wine, and others with honey, all taking their rise from the
roof of the tree Tuba: two of which rivers, named al Cawthar and the river of
life, we have already mentioned. And lest these should not be sufficient, we
are told this garden is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and
fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphire,
their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron, the most remarkable among
them being Salsabil and Tasnim.
But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and ravishing girls
of paradise, called, from their large black eyes, Hur al oyun, the enjoyment
of whose company will be a principal felicity of the faithful. These, they say,
are created not of clay, as mortal women are, but of pure musk: being, as
their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all natural impurities,
defects, and inconveniences incident to the sex, of the strictest modesty,
and secluded from public view in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as
some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than four parasangs (or,
as others say, sixty miles) long, and as many broad.
The name which the Mohammedans usually give to this happy mansion, is
al Jannat, or the garden; and sometimes they call it, with an addition, Jannat
al Ferdaws, the garden of paradise, Jannet Aden, the garden of Eden (though
they generally interpret the word Eden, not according to its acceptation in
Hebrew, but according to its meaning in their own tongue, wherein it signifies
a settled or perpetual habitation), Jannat al Mawa, the garden of abode,
Jannat al Naim, the garden of pleasure, and the like; by which several
appellations some understand so many different gardens, or at least places
of different degrees of felicity (for they reckon no less than a hundred such
in all), the very meanest whereof will afford its inhabitants so many pleasures
and delights, that one would conclude they must even sink under them, had
not Mohammed declared, that in order to qualify the blessed for a full
enjoyment of them, GOD will give to every one the abilities of a hundred men.
We have already described Mohammed's pond, whereof the righteous are
to drink before their admission into this delicious seat; besides which some
authors mention two fountains, springing from under a certain tree near the
gate of paradise, and say, that the blessed will also drink of one of them, to
purge their bodies and carry off all excrementitious dregs, and will wash
themselves in the other. When they are arrived at the gate itself, each
person will there be met and saluted by the beautiful youths appointed to
serve and wait upon him, one of them running before, to carry the news of
his arrival to the wives destined for him; and also by two angels, bearing the
presents sent him by GOD, one of whom will invest him with a garment of
paradise, and the other will put a ring on each of his fingers, with inscriptions
on them alluding to the happiness of his condition. By which of the eight
gates (for so many they suppose paradise to have) they are respectively
to enter, is not worth inquiry; but it must be observed that Mohammed has
declared that no person's good works will gain him admittance, and that even
himself shall be saved, not by his merits, but merely by the mercy of GOD.
It is, however, the constant doctrine of the Koran, that the felicity of each
person will be proportioned to this deserts, and that there will be abodes of
different degrees of happiness; the most eminent degree being reserved for
the prophets, the second for the doctors and teachers of GOD's worship, the
next for the martyrs, and the lower for the rest of the righteous, according
to their several merits. There will also some distinction be made in respect
to the time of their admission; Mohammed (to whom, if you will believe him,
the gates will first be opened) having affirmed, that the poor will enter
paradise five hundred years before the rich: nor is this the only privilege
which they will enjoy in the next life; since the same prophet has also declared,
that when he took a view of paradise, he saw the majority of its inhabitants
to be the poor, and when he looked down into hell, he saw the greater part
of the wretches confined there to be women.
For the first entertainment of the blessed on their admission, they fable
that the whole earth will then be as one loaf of bread, which GOD will reach
to them with his hand, holding it like a cake; and that for meat they will
have the ox Balâm, and the fish Nun, the lobs of whose livers will suffice
70,000 men, being, as some imagine to be set before the principal guests,
viz., those who, to that number, will be admitted into paradise without
examination; though others suppose that a definite number is here put for
an indefinite, and that nothing more is meant thereby, than to express a
great multitude of people.
From this feast every one will be dismissed to the mansion designed for
him, where (as has been said) he will enjoy such a share of felicity as will be
proportioned to his merits, but vastly exceed comprehension or expectation;
since the very meanest in paradise (as he who, it is pretended, must know
best, has declared) will have eighty thousand servants, seventy-two wives
of the girls of paradise, besides the wives he had in this world, and a tent
erected for him of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, of a very large extent;
and, according to another tradition, will be waited on by three hundred
attendants while he eats, will be served in dishes of gold, whereof three
hundred shall be set before him at once, containing each a different kind of
food, the last morsel of which will be as grateful as the first; and will also
be supplied with as many sorts of liquors in vessels of the same metal: and,
to complete the entertainment, there will be no want of wine, which, though
forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed to be drunk in the next, and
without danger, since the wine of paradise will not inebriate, as that we
drink here. The flavour of this wine we may conceive to be delicious without
a description, since the water of Tasnim and the other fountains which will be
used to dilute it, is said to be wonderfully sweet and fragrant. If any object
to these pleasures, as an impudent Jew did to Mohammed, that so much
eating and drinking must necessarily require proper evacuations, we answer,
as the prophets did, that the inhabitants of paradise will not need to ease
themselves, nor even to blow their nose, for that all superfluities will be
discharged and carried off by perspiration, or a sweat as odoriferous as
musk, after which their appetite shall return afresh.
The magnificence of the garments and furniture promised by the Koran to
the godly in the next life, is answerable to the delicacy of their diet. For they
are to be clothed in the richest of silks and brocades, chiefly of green, which
will burst forth from the fruits of paradise, and will be also supplied by the
leaves of the tree Tuba; they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and silver,
and crowns set with pearls of incomparable lustre; and will make use of silken
carpets, litters of a prodigious size, couches, pillows, and other rich furniture
embroidered with gold and precious stones.
That we may the more readily believe what has been mentioned of the
extraordinary abilities of the inhabitants of paradise to taste these pleasures
in their height, it is said they will enjoy a perpetual youth; that in whatever
age they happen to die, they will be raised in their prime and vigour, that is,
of about thirty years of age, which age they will never exceed (and the same
they say of the damned); and that when they enter paradise they will be of
the same stature with Adam, who, as they fable, was no less than sixty
cubits high. And to this age and stature their children, if they shall desire
any (for otherwise their wives will not conceive), shall immediately attain;
according to that saying of their prophet, "If any of the faithful in paradise
be desirous of issue, it shall be conceived, born, and grown up within the space
of an hour." And in the same manner, if any one shall have a fancy to employ
himself in agriculture (which rustic pleasure may suit the wanton fancy of
some), what he shall sow will spring up and come to maturity in a moment.
Lest any of the senses should want their proper delight, we are told the
ear will there be entertained, not only with the ravishing songs of the angel
Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all GOD'S creatures, and of the
daughters of paradise; but even the trees themselves will celebrate the divine
praises with a harmony exceeding whatever mortals have heard; to which will
be joined the sound of the bells hanging on the trees, which will be put in
motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of GOD, so often as the
blessed wish for music: nay, the very clashing of the golden-bodied trees,
whose fruits are pearls and emeralds, will surpass human imagination; so
that the pleasures of this sense will not be the least of the enjoyments of
paradise.
The delights we have hitherto taken a view of, it is said, will be common
to all the inhabitants of paradise, even those of the lowest order. What
then, think we, must they enjoy who shall obtain a superior degree of honour
and felicity? To these, they say, there are prepared, besides all this, "such
things as eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the
heart of man to conceive;" an expression most certainly borrowed from
scripture. That we may know wherein the felicity of those who shall attain
the highest degree will consist, Mohammed is reported to have said, that the
meanest of the inhabitants of paradise will see his gardens, wives, servants,
furniture, and other possessions take up the space of a thousand years'
journey (for so far and farther will the blessed see in the next life); but that
he will be in the highest honour with GOD, who shall behold his face morning
and evening: and this favour al Ghazâli supposes to be that additional or
superabundant recompense, promised in the Koran, which will give such
exquisite delight, that in respect thereof all the other pleasures of paradise
will be forgotten and lightly esteemed; and not without reason, since, as the
same author says, every other enjoyment is equally tasted by the very brute
beast who is turned loose into luxuriant pasture. The reader will observe,
by the way, that this is a full confutation of those who pretend that the
Mohammedans admit of no spiritual pleasure in the next life, but make the
happiness of the blessed to consist wholly in corporeal enjoyments.
Whence Mohammed took the greatest part of his paradise it is easy to
show. The Jews constantly describe the future mansion of the just as a
delicious garden, and make it also reach to the seventh heaven. They also
say it has three gates, or, as others will have it, two, and four rivers (which
last circumstance they copied, to be sure, from those of the garden of Eden),
flowing with milk, wine, balsam, and honey. Their Behemoth and Leviathan,
which they pretend will be slain for the entertainment of the blessed, are so
apparently the Balâm and Nun of Mohammed, that his followers themselves
confess he is obliged to them for both. The Rabbins likewise mention seven
different degrees of felicity, and say that the highest will be of those who
perpetually contemplate the face of GOD. The Persian Magi had also an idea
of the future happy estate of the good, very little different from that of
Mohammed. Paradise they called Behisht, and Minu, which signifies crystal,
where they believe the righteous shall enjoy all manner of delights, and
particularly the company of the Hurâni behisht, or black-eyed nymphs of
paradise, the care of whom, they say, committed to the angel Zamiyâd; and
hence Mohammed seems to have taken the first hint of his paradisiacal ladies.
It is not improbable, however, but that he might have been obliged, in some
respect, to the Christian accounts of the felicity of the good in the next
life. As it is scarce possible to convey, especially to the apprehensions of
the generality of mankind, an idea of spiritual pleasures without introducing
sensible objects, the scriptures have been obliged to represent the celestial
enjoyments by corporeal images; and to describe the mansion of the blessed
as a glorious and magnificent city, built of gold and precious stones, with
twelve gates; through the streets of which there runs a river of water of
life, and having on either side the tree of life, which bears twelve sorts of
fruits, and leaves of a healing virtue. Our Saviour likewise speaks of the
future state of the blessed as of a kingdom where they shall eat and drink
at his table. But then these descriptions have none of those puerile
imaginations which reign throughout that of Mohammed, much less any the
most distant intimation of sensual delights, which he was so fond of; on the
contrary, we are expressly assured, that "in the resurrection they will
neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be as the angels of GOD in
heaven." Mohammed, however, to enhance the value of paradise with his
Arabians, chose rather to imitate the indecency of the Magians than the
modesty of the Christians in this particular, and lest his beatified Moslems
should complain that anything was wanting, bestows on them wives, as well
as the other comforts of life; judging, it is to be presumed, from his own
inclinations, that like Panurgus's ass, they would think all the other
enjoyments not worth their acceptance if they were to be debarred from this.
Had Mohammed, after all, intimated to his followers, that what he had told
them of paradise was to be taken, not literally, but in a metaphorical sense
(as it is said the Magians do the description of Zoroaster's), this might,
perhaps make some atonement; but the contrary is so evident from the
whole tenour of the Koran, that although some Mohammedans, whose
understandings are too refined to admit such gross conceptions, look on
their prophet's descriptions as parabolical, and are willing to receive them
in an allegorical or spiritual acceptation, yet the general and orthodox
doctrine is, that the whole is to be strictly believed in the obvious and
literal acceptation; to prove which I need only urge the oath they exact
from Christians (who they know abhor such fancies) when they would bind
them in the most strong and sacred manner; for in such a case they make
them swear that if they falsify their engagement, they will affirm that there
will be black-eyed girls in the next world, and corporeal pleasures.
Before we quite this subject it may not be improper to observe the
falsehood of a vulgar imputation on the Mohammedans, who are by several
writers reported to hold that women have no souls, or, if they have, that
they will perish, like those of brute beasts, and will not be rewarded in the
next life. But whatever may be the opinion of some ignorant people among
them, it is certain that Mohammed had too great a respect for the fair sex
to teach such a doctrine; and there are several passages in the Koran which
affirm that women, in the next life, will not only be punished for their evil
actions, but will also receive the rewards of their good deeds, as well as the
men, and that in this case GOD will make no distinction of sexes. It is true,
the general notion is, that they will not be admitted into the same abode as
the men are, because their places will be supplied by the paradisiacal females
(though some allow that a man will there also have the company of those who
were his wives in this world, or at least such of them as he shall desire); but
that good women will go into a separate place of happiness, where they will
enjoy all sorts of delights; but whether one of those delights will be the
enjoyment of agreeable paramours created for them, to complete the
economy of the Mohammedan system, is what I have nowhere found decided.
One circumstance relating to these beatified females, conformable to what
he had asserted of the men, he acquainted his followers with in the answer
he returned to an old woman, who, desiring him to intercede with GOD that
she might be admitted into paradise, he told her that no old woman would
enter that place; which setting the poor woman a-crying, he explained himself
by saying that GOD would then make her young again.
The sixth great point of faith, which the Mohammedans are taught by the
Koran to believe, is GOD'S absolute decree, and predestination both of good
and evil. For the orthodox doctrine is, that whether it be bad, proceedeth
entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all
eternity in the preserved table; GOD having secretly predetermined not only
the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the
most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or
disobedience, and consequently his everlasting happiness or misery after
death; which fate or predestination it is not possible, by any foresight or
wisdom, to avoid.
Of this doctrine Mohammed makes great use in his Koran for the
advancement of his designs; encouraging his followers to fight without fear,
and even desperately, for the propagation of their faith, by representing to
them that all their caution could not avert their inevitable destiny, or prolong
their lives for a moment; and deterring them from disobeying or rejecting him
as an impostor, by setting before them the danger they might thereby incur
of being, by the just judgment of GOD, abandoned to seduction, hardness of
heart, and a reprobate mind, as a punishment for their obstinacy.
As this doctrine of absolute election and reprobation has been thought
by many of the Mohammedan divines to be derogatory to the goodness and
justice of GOD, and to make GOD the author of evil, several subtle distinctions
have been invented, and disputes raised, to explicate or soften it; and
different sects have been formed, according to their several opinions or
methods of explaining this point: some of them going so far as even to hold
the direct contrary position of absolute free will in man, as we shall see
hereafter.
Of the four fundamental points of religious practice required by the Koran,
the first is prayer, under which, as has been said, are also comprehended
those legal washings or purifications which are necessary preparations
thereto.
Of these purifications there are two degrees, one called Ghosl, being a total
immersion or bathing of the body in water; and the other called Wodu (by the
Persians, Abdest), which is the washing of their faces, hands, and feet, after
a certain manner. The first is required in some extraordinary cases only, as
after having lain with a woman, or been polluted by emission of seed, or by
approaching a dead body; women also being obliged to it after their courses
or childbirth. The latter is the ordinary ablution in common cases and before
prayer, and must necessarily be used by every person before he can enter
upon that duty. It is performed with certain formal ceremonies, which have
been described by some writers, but are much easier apprehended by seeing
them done than by the best description.
These purifications were perhaps borrowed by Mohammed of the Jews; at
least they agree in a great measure with those used by that nation, who in
process of time burdened the precepts of Moses in this point, with so many
traditionary ceremonies, that whole books have been written about them, and
who were so exact and superstitious therein, even in our Saviour's time, that
they are often reproved by him for it. But as it is certain that the pagan
Arabs used lustrations of this kind long before the time of Mohammed, as
most nations did, and still do in the east, where the warmth of the climate
requires a greater nicety and degree of cleanliness than these colder parts;
perhaps Mohammed only recalled his countrymen to a more strict observance
of those purifying rites, which had been probably neglected by them, or at
least performed in a careless and perfunctory manner. The Mohammedans,
however, will have it that they are as ancient as Abraham, who, they say,
was enjoined by GOD to observe them, and was shown the manner of making
the ablution by the angel Gabriel, in the form of a beautiful youth. Nay, some
deduce the matter higher, and imagine that these ceremonies were taught
our first parents by the angels.
That his followers might be the more punctual in this duty, Mohammed is
said to have declared, that "the practice of religion is founded on cleanliness,"
which is the one-half of the faith, and the key of prayer, without which it will
not be heard by GOD. That these expressions may be the better understood,
al Ghazâli reckons four degrees of purification; of which the first is, the
cleansing of the body from all pollution, filth, and excrements; the second,
the cleansing of the members of the body from all wickedness and unjust
actions; the third, the cleansing of the heart from all blamable inclinations
and odious vices; and the fourth, the purging a man's secret thoughts from
all affections which may divert their attendance on GOD: adding, that the body
is but as the outward shell in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel.
And for this reason he highly complains of those who are superstitiously
solicitous in exterior purifications, avoiding those persons as unclean who
are not so scrupulously nice as themselves, and at the same time have their
minds lying waste, and overrun with pride, ignorance, and hypocrisy. Whence
it plainly appears with how little foundation the Mohammedans have been
charged, by some writers, with teaching or imagining that these formal
washings alone cleanse them for their sins.
Lest so necessary a preparation to their devotions should be omitted, either
where water cannot be had, or when it may be of prejudice to a person's
health, they are allowed in such cases to make use of fine sand or dust in
lieu of it; and then they perform this duty by clapping their open hands on
the sand, and passing them over the parts, in the same manner as if they
were dipped in water. But for this expedient Mohammed was not so much
indebted to his own cunning, as to the example of the Jews, or perhaps that
of the Persian Magi, almost as scrupulous as the Jews themselves in their
lustrations, who both of them prescribe the same method in cases of
necessity; and there is a famous instance, in ecclesiastical history, of sand
being used, for the same reason, instead of water, in the administration of
the Christian sacrament of baptism, many years before Mohammed's time.
Neither are the Mohammedans contented with bare washing, but think
themselves obliged to several other necessary points of cleanliness, which
they make also parts of this duty; such as combing the hair, cutting the
beard, paring the nails, pulling out the hairs of their armpits, shaving their
private parts, and circumcision; of which last I will add a word or two, lest
I should not find a more proper place.
Circumcision, though it be not so much as once mentioned in the Koran, is
yet held by the Mohammedans to be an ancient divine institution, confirmed by
the religion of Islâm, and though not so absolutely necessary but that it may
be dispensed with in some cases, yet highly proper and expedient. The Arabs
used this rite for many ages before Mohammed, having probably learned it
from Ismael, though not only his descendants, but the Hamyarites, and other
tribes, practised the same. The Ismaelites, we are told, used to circumcise
their children, not on the eighth day, as is the custom of the Jews, but when
about twelve or thirteen years old, at which age their father underwent that
operation: and the Mohammedans imitate them so far as not to circumcise
children before they be able, at least, distinctly to pronounce that profession
of their faith, "There is no GOD but GOD, Mohammed is the apostle of GOD;"
but pitch on what age they please for the purpose, between six and sixteen
or thereabouts. Though the Moslem doctors are generally of opinion,
conformably to the scripture, that this precept was originally given to
Abraham, yet some have imagined that Adam was taught it by the angel
Gabriel, to satisfy an oath he had made to cut off that flesh which, after his
fall, had rebelled against his spirit; whence an odd argument has been drawn
for the universal obligation of circumcision. Though I cannot say the Jews
led the Mohammedans the way here, yet they seem so unwilling to believe
any of the principal patriarchs or prophets before Abraham were really
uncircumcised, that they pretend several of them, as well as some holy men
who lived after his time, were born ready circumcised, or without a foreskin,
and that Adam, in particular, was so created; whence the Mohammedans
affirm the same thing of their prophet.
Prayer was by Mohammed thought so necessary a duty, that he used to call
it the pillar of religion and the key of paradise; and when the Thakifites, who
dwelt at Tâyef, sending in the ninth year of the Hejra to make their submission
to that prophet, after the keeping of their favourite idol had been denied
them, begged, at least, that they might be dispensed with as to their saying
of the appointed prayers, he answered, "That there could be no good in that
religion wherein was no prayer."
That so important a duty, therefore, might not be neglected, Mohammed
obliged his followers to pray five times every twenty-four hours, at certain
state times; viz., I. In the morning, before sunrise; 2. When noon is past,
and the sun begins to decline form the meridian; 3. In the afternoon, before
sunset; 4. In the evening, after sunset, and before day be shut in; and 5.
After the day is shut in, and before the first watch of the night. For this
institution he pretended to have received the divine command from the throne
of GOD himself, when he took his night journey to heaven; and the observing of
the stated times of prayer is frequently insisted on in the Koran, though they
be not particularly prescribed therein. Accordingly, at the aforesaid times,
of which public notice is given by the Muedhdhins, or Criers, from the
steeples of their mosques (for they use no bell), every conscientious Moslem
prepares himself for prayer, which he performs either in the mosque or any
other place, provided it be clean, after a prescribed form, and with a certain
number of phrases or ejaculations (which the more scrupulous count by a
string of beads) and using certain postures of worship; all which have been
particularly set down and described, though with some few mistakes, by other
writers, and ought not to be abridged, unless in some special cases; as on a
journey, on preparing for battle, &c.
For the regular performance of the duty of prayer among the Mohammedans,
besides the particulars above mentioned, it is also requisite that they turn
their faces, while they pray, towards the temple of Mecca; the quarter where
the same is situate being, for that reason, pointed out within their mosques
by a niche, which they call al Mehrâb, and without, by the situation of the
doors opening into the galleries of the steeples: there are also tables
calculated for the ready finding out their Kebla, or part towards which they
ought to pray, in places where they have no other direction.
But what is principally to be regarded in the discharge of this duty, say the
Moslem doctors, is the inward disposition of the heart, which is the life and
spirit of prayer; the most punctual observance of the external rites and
ceremonies before mentioned being of little or no avail, if performed without
due attention, reverence, devotion, and hope: so that we must not think the
Mohammedans, or the considerate part of them at least, content themselves
with the mere opu. operatum, or imagine their whole religion to be placed
therein.
I had like to have omitted two things which in my mind deserve mention on
this head, and may, perhaps, be better defended than our contrary practice.
One is, that the Mohammedans never address themselves to GOD in sumptuous
apparel, though they are obliged to be decently clothed; but lay aside their
costly habits and pompous ornaments, if they wear any, when they approach
the divine presence, lest they should seem proud and arrogant. The other is,
that they admit not their women to pray with them in public; that sex being
obliged to perform their devotions at home, or if they visit the mosques, it
must be at a time when the men are not there: for the Moslems are of opinion
that their presence inspires a different kind of devotion from that which is
requisite in a place dedicated to the worship of GOD.
The greater part of the particulars comprised in the Mohammedan institution
of prayer, their prophet seems to have copied from others, and especially the
Jews; exceeding their institutions only in the number of daily prayer. The Jews
are directed to pray three times a day, in the morning, in the evening, and
within night; in imitation of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and the practice was
as early, at least, as the time of Daniel. The several postures used by the
Mohammedans in their prayers are also the same with those prescribed by
the Jewish Rabbins, and particularly the most solemn act of adoration, by
prostrating themselves so as to touch the ground with their forehead;
notwithstanding, the latter pretend the practice of the former, in this
respect, to be a relic of their ancient manner of paying their devotions
to Baal-Peor. The Jews likewise constantly pray with their faces turned
towards the temple of Jerusalem, which has been their Kebla from the time
it was first dedicated by Solomon; for which reason Daniel, praying in Chaldea,
had the windows of his chamber open towards that city: and the same was
the Kebla of Mohammed and his followers for six or seven months, and till he
found himself obliged to change it for the Caaba. The Jews, moreover, are
obliged by the precepts of their religion to be careful that the place they
pray in, and the garments they have on when they perform their duty, be
clean: the men and women also among them pray apart (in which particular
they were imitated by the eastern Christians); and several other conformities
might be remarked between the Jewish public worship and that of the
Mohammedans.
The next point of the Mohammedan religion is the giving of alms, which
are of two sorts, legal and voluntary. The legal alms are of indispensable
obligation, being commanded by the law, which directs and determines both
the portion which is to be given, and of what things it ought to be given; but
the voluntary alms are left to every one's liberty, to give more or less, as
he shall see fit. The former kind of alms some think to be properly called
Zacât, and the latter Sadakat; though this name be also frequently given to
the legal alms. They are called Zacât, either because they increase a man's
store, by drawing down a blessing thereon, and produce in his soul the virtue
of liberality, or because they purify the remaining part of one's substance
from pollution, and the soul from the filth of avarice; and Sadakat, because
they are a proof of a man's sincerity in the worship of GOD. Some writers
have called the legal alms tithes, but improperly, since in some cases they
fall short, and in others exceed that proportion.
The giving of alms is frequently commanded in the Koran, and often
recommended therein jointly with prayer; the former being held of great
efficacy in causing the latter to be heard of GOD: for which reason the Khalif
Omar Ebn Abd'alaziz used to say, "that prayer and alms carries us half-way
to GOD, fasting brings us to the door of his palace, and alms procures us
admission." The Mohammedans, therefore, esteem almsdeeds to be highly
meritorious, and many of them have been illustrious for the exercise thereof.
Hasan, the son of Ali, and grandson of Mohammed, in particular is related to
have thrice in his life divided his substance equally between himself and the
poor, and twice to have given away all he had: and the generality are so
addicted to the doing of good, that they extend their charity even to brutes.
Alms, according to the prescriptions of the Mohammedan law, are to be
given of five things--I. Of cattle, that is to say, of camels, kine, and sheep.
2. Of money. 3. Of corn. 4. Of fruits, viz., dates and raisins. And 5. Of
wares sold. Of each of these a certain portion is to be given in alms, usually
one part in forty, or two and a half per cent of the value. But no alms are due
for them, unless they amount to a certain quantity or number; nor until a man
has been in possession of them eleven months, he not being obliged to give
alms thereout before the twelfth month is begun: nor are alms due for cattle
employed in tilling the ground, or in carrying of burdens. In some cases a
much larger portion than the before-mentioned is reckoned due for alms: thus
of what is gotten out of mines, or the sea, or by any art or profession over
and above what is sufficient for the reasonable support of a man's family, and
especially where there is a mixture or suspicion of unjust gain, a fifth part
ought to be given in alms. Moreover, at the end of the fast of Ramadân, every
Moslem is obliged to give in alms for himself and for every one of his family,
if he has any, a measure of wheat, barley, dates, raisins, rice, or other
provisions commonly eaten.
The legal alms were at first collected by Mohammed himself, who employed
them as he thought fit, in the relief of his poor relations and followers, but
chiefly applied them to the maintenance of those who served in his wars, and
fought, as he termed it, in the way of GOD. His successors continued to do
the same, till, in the process of time, other taxes and tributes being imposed
for the support of the government, they seem to have been weary of acting
as almoners to their subjects, and to have left the paying them to their
consciences.
In the foregoing rules concerning alms, we may observe also footsteps of
what the Jews taught and practised in respect thereto. Alms, which they
also call Sedaka, i.e., justice, or righteousness, are greatly recommended
by their Rabbins, and preferred even to sacrifices; as a duty, the frequent
exercise whereof will effectually free a man from hell fire, and merit
everlasting life: wherefore, besides the corners of the field, and the
gleanings of their harvest and vineyard, commanded to be left for the poor
and the stranger by the law of Moses, a certain portion of their corn and
fruits is directed to be set apart for their relief, which portion is called the
tithes of the poor. The Jews likewise were formerly very conspicuous for
their charity. Zaccheus gave the half of his goods to the poor; and we are
told that some gave their whole substance: so that their doctors, at length,
decreed that no man should give above a fifth part of his goods in alms.
There were also persons publicly appointed in every synagogue to collect
and distribute the people's contributions.
The third point of religious practice is fasting; a duty of so great moment,
that Mohammed used to say it was "the gate of religion," and that "the odour
of the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to GOD than that of musk;"
and al Ghazâli reckons fasting one-fourth part of the faith. According to the
Mohammedan divines, there are three degrees of fasting: I. The restraining
the belly and other parts of the body from satisfying their lusts; 2. The
restraining the ears, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and other members from
sin; and 3. The fasting of the heart from worldly cares, and refraining the
thoughts from everything besides GOD.
The Mohammedans are obliged, by the express command of the Koran, to
fast the whole month of Ramadân, from the time the new moon first appears,
till the appearance of the next new moon; during which time they must abstain
from eating, drinking, and women, from daybreak till night, or sunset. And
this injunction they observe so strictly, that while they fast they suffer
nothing to enter their mouths, or other parts of their body, esteeming the
fast broken and null if they smell perfumes, take a clyster or injection, bathe,
or even purposely swallow their spittle; some being so cautious that they will
not open their mouths to speak, lest they should breathe the air too freely:
the fast is also deemed void if a man kiss or touch a woman, or if he vomit
designedly. But after sunset they are allowed to refresh themselves, and to
eat and drink, and enjoy the company of their wives till daybreak; though the
more rigid begin the fast again at midnight. This fast is extremely rigorous
and mortifying when the month of Ramadân happens to fall in summer, for
the Arabian year being lunar, each month runs through all the different
seasons in the course of thirty-three years, the length and heat of the days
making the observance of it much more difficult and uneasy then than
The reason given why the month of Ramadân was pitched on for this purpose
is, that on the month the Koran was sent down from heaven. Some pretend
that Abraham, Moses, and Jesus received their respective revelations in the
same month.
From the fast of Ramadân none are excused, except only travellers and sick
persons (under which last denomination the doctors comprehend all whose
health would manifestly be injured by their keeping the fast; as women with
child and giving suck, ancient people, and young children); but then they are
obliged, as soon as the impediment is removed, to fast an equal number of
other days: and the breaking the fast is ordered to be expiated by giving alms
to the poor.
Mohammed seems to have followed the guidance of the Jews in his
ordinances concerning fasting, no less than in the former particulars. That
nation, when they fast, abstain not only from eating and drinking, but from
women, and from anointing themselves, from daybreak until sunset, and the
stars begin to appear; spending the night in taking what refreshments they
please. And they allow women with child and giving suck, old persons, and
young children to be exempted from keeping most of the public fasts.
Though my design here be briefly to treat of those points only which are
of indispensable obligation on a Moslem, and expressly required by the Koran,
without entering into their practice as to voluntary and supererogatory works;
yet to show how closely Mohammed's institutions follow the Jewish, I shall add
a word or two of the voluntary fasts of the Mohammedans. These are such as
have been recommended either by the example or approbation of their prophet;
and especially certain days of those months which they esteem sacred: there
being a tradition that he used to say, That a fast of one day in a sacred
month was better than a fast of thirty days in another month; and that the
fast of one day in Ramadân was more meritorious than a fast of thirty days in
a sacred month. Among the more commendable days is that of Ashura, the
tenth of Moharram; which, though some writers tell us it was observed by the
Arabs, and particularly the tribe of Koreish, before Mohammed's time, yet, as
others assure us, that prophet borrowed both the name and the fast from
the Jews; it being with them the tenth of the seventh month, or Tisri, and the
great day of expiation commanded to be kept by the law of Moses. Al Kazwini
relates that when Mohammed came to Medina, and found the Jews there
fasted on the day of Ashura, he asked them the reason of it; and they told
him it was because on that day Pharaoh and his people were drowned, Moses
and those who were with him escaping: whereupon he said that he bore a
nearer relation to Moses than they, and ordered his followers to fast on that
day. However, it seems afterwards he was not so well pleased in having
imitated the Jews herein; and therefore declared that, if he lived another
year, he would alter the day, and fast on the ninth, abhorring so near an
agreement with them.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is so necessary a point of practice that, according
to a tradition of Mohammed, he who dies without performing it, may as well
die a Jew or a Christian; and the same is expressly commanded in the Koran.
Before I speak of the time and manner of performing this pilgrimage, it may
be proper to give a short account of the temple of Mecca, the chief scene of
the Mohammedan worship; in doing which I need be the less prolix, because that
edifice has been already described by several writers, though they, following
different relations, have been led into some mistakes, and agree not with one
another in several particulars: nor, indeed, do the Arab authors agree in all
things, one great reason whereof is their speaking of different times.
The temple of Mecca stands in the midst of the city, and is honoured with
the title of Masjad al alharâm, i.e., the sacred or inviolable temple. What is
principally reverenced in this place, and gives sanctity to the whole, is a
square stone building, called the Caaba, as some fancy, from its height, which
surpasses that of the other buildings in Mecca, but more probably from its