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1 Al Ghazâli, Kenz al Afrâr 2 See before, p.
68.

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 Tasnîm 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 Korân 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 Tûba; 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
Israfîl, 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.1 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 Korân,2 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.3 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.4
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.5 They also say it has
three gates,6 or, as others will have it, two,7 and four rivers (which last
circumstance they copied, to be sure, from those of the garden of Eden8),
flowing with milk, wine, balsam, and honey.1 Their Behemoth and Leviathan,
which they pretend will be slain for the entertainment of the blessed,2 are so
apparently the Balâm and Nûn of Mohammed, that his followers themselves
confess he is obliged to them for both.3 The Rabbins likewise mention seven
different

1 Isaiah lxiv. 4; I Cor. ii. 9. 2 Cap. 10, &c. 3 Vide Poc.
in not. ad Port. Mosis, p. 305.
4 Vide Reland, de Rel. Moh. l. 2, § 17. 5 Vide Gemar. Tânith, f. 25,
Beracoth, f. 34, and Midrash sabboth, f. 37.
6 Megillah, Amkoth, p. 78. 7 Midrash, Yalkut Shemuni.
8 Gen. ii. 10, &c.
1 Midrash, Yalk. Shem. 2 Gemar. Bava Bathra. f. 78; Rashi, in Job i.
3 Vide Poc. not. in Port. Mosis, p. 298.

degrees of felicity,4 and say that the highest will be of those who
perpetually contemplate the face of GOD.5 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 Mînu, 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,6 the care of whom, they say, committed to the angel Zamiyâd;7 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.8 Our Saviour likewise speaks of the
future state of the blessed as of a kingdom where they shall eat and drink at
his table.9 But then these descriptions have none of those puerile
imaginations10 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."11 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,1 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's2), this might,
perhaps make some atonement; but the contrary is so evident from the whole
tenour of the Korân, that although some

4 Nishmat hayim, f. 32. 5 Midrash, Tehillim, fl. II. 6
Sadder, porta 5. 7 Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 265. 8 Rev. xxi.
10, &c., and xxii. I, 2. 9 Luke xxii. 29, 30, &c.
10 I would not, however, undertake to defend all the Christian writers in
this particular; witness that one passage of Irenæus, wherein he introduces a
tradition of St. John that our LORD should say, "The days shall come, in which
there shall be vines, which shall have each ten thousand branches, and every
of those branches shall have ten thousand lesser branches, and every of these
branches shall have ten thousand twigs, and every one of these twigs shall
have ten thousand clusters of grapes, and in every one of these clusters there
shall be ten thousand grapes, and every one of these grapes being pressed
shall yield two hundred and seventy-five gallons of wine; and when a man shall
take hold of one of these sacred bunches, another bunch shall cry out, I am a
better bunch: take me, and bless the LORD by me," &c. Iren. l. 5, c. 33.
11 Matth. xxii. 30. 1 Vide Rabelais, Pantagr. l. 5, c. 7. A
better authority than this might, however, be alleged in favour of Mohammed's
judgment in this respect; I mean that of Plato, who is said to have proposed,
in his ideal commonwealth, as the reward of valiant men and consummate
soldiers, the kisses of boys and beauteous damsels. Vide Gell. Noct. Att. l.
18, c. 2. 2 Vide Hyde. de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 266.

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,3 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.4
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
writers5 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 Korân 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.6 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 desire1); but that good women will go into a separate place of
happiness, where they will enjoy all sorts of delights;2 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.3
The sixth great point of faith, which the Mohammedans are taught by the
Korân 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;4 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 con

3 Vide Eund. in not. ad Bobov. Lit. Turcar. p. 21. 4 Poc. ad
Port. Mos. P. 305. 5 Hornbek, Sum. Contr. p. 16. Grelot,
Voyage de Constant. p. 275. Ricaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire, l.
2, c. 21.
6 See Kor. c. 3, p. 52, c. 4, p. 67; and also c. 13, 16, 40, 48, 57, &c.
Vide etiam Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. 2, § 18; and Hyde, in not. ad Bobov. de
Visit. ægr. p. 21. 1 See before, p. 77. 2 Vide Chardin,
Voy. tom. ii. p. 328, and Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Mahomet, Rem. Q.
3 See Kor. c. 56, and the notes there; and Gagnier. not. in Abulfeda
Vit. Moh p. 145.
4 See before, p. 50.

sequently 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 Korân 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;5 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.6
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.1
Of the four fundamental points of religious practice required by the Korân,
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 Wodû (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.2 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,3 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.4 But as it is certain that the pagan
Arabs used lustrations of this kind5 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.

5 Kor. c. 3, c. 4, &c. 6 Ibid. c. 4, c. 2, &c. passim.
1 Sect. VIII. 2 Kor. c. 4, and c. 5 Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh.
l. i., c. 8. 3 Poc. not in Port. Mosis, p. 356, &c. 4
Mark vii. 3, &c.
5 Vide Herodot. l. 3, c. 198.

The Mohammedans, however, will have it that they are as ancient as Abraham,1
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.2 Nay, some deduce the matter higher, and imagine that these ceremonies
were taught our first parents by the angels.3
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.4 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.5 Whence it plainly appears with how little foundation the
Mohammedans have been charged, by some writers,6 with teaching or imagining
that these formal washings alone cleanse them for their sins.7
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;8 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,1 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;2 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.3
Neither are the Mohammedans contented with bare washing, but

1 Al Jannâbi in Vita Abrah. Vide Poc. Spec. p. 303.
2 Herewith agrees the spurious Gospel of St. Barnabas, the Spanish
translation of which (cap. 29) has these words: Dixo Abraham, Que harè yo para
servir al Dios de los sanctos y prophetas? Respondiò el angel, Ve e aquella
fuente y lavate, porque Dios quiere hablar contigo. Dixo Abraham, Come tengo
de lavarme? Luego el angel se le appareciò como uno bello mancebo, y se lavò
en la fuente, y le dixo, Abraham, haz como yo. Y Abraham se lavò, &c.
3 Al Kessâï. Vide Reland. de Rel. Mohamm. p. 81. 4 Al Ghazâli, Ebn
al Athîr. 5 Vide Poc. Spec. p. 302, &c.
6 Barthol. Edessen, Confut. Hagaren. p. 360. G. Sionita and J. Hesronita, in
Tract. de Urb. and Morib. Orient. ad Calcem Geogr. Nubiens. c. 15. Du Ryer,
dans le Sommaire de la Rel. des Turcs, mis à la tête de sa version de l'Alcor.
St. Olon, Descr. du Royaume de Maroc, c. 2. Hyde, in not. ad Bobov. de Prec.
Moh. p. I; Smith, de Morib. et Instit. Turcar. Ep. I, p. 32. 7
Vide Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. 2, c. II. 8 Kor. c. 3, p. 59 and 5, p.
74. 1 Vide Smith, ubi sup. 2 Gemar. Berachoth. c 2. Vide Poc.
not. ad Port Mosis, p. 380. Sadder, porta 84. 3 Cedren. p. 250.

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;4 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 Korân, 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,5 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,6 and other
tribes, practised the same. The Ismaelites, we are told,7 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:8 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;"9 but pitch on what age they please for the purpose, between six and
sixteen or thereabouts.10 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.1 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;2 whence the Mohammedans affirm the same thing
of their prophet.3
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,4 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."5