MOHAMMEDANISM.
Utter the song, O my soul! the flight and return of Mohammed,
Prophet and priest, who scattered abroad both evil and blessing,
Huge wasteful empires founded, and hallowed slow persecution,
Soul-withering, but crushed the blasphemous rites of the Pagan.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.
The story of the idol worship of the world would not be complete
without having described that system of religion which began as an
opposition to all idolatry. This was the motive that led Mohammed
to start on his career of destroying idols, and compelling their
worshipers, at the sword’s point, to believe in the one God. Add to
this the fact that this religion has extended far beyond the bounds of
its birthplace, and it will be seen to be well worthy of our attention.
EXTENT OF MOHAMMEDANISM.
There are from 150,000,000 to 180,000,000 of Mohammedans, or Moslems
(as they are sometimes called), in the world. These are found in the
south-east corner of Europe, and are scattered over Asia and Africa.
Arabia and Turkey are _the_ Mohammedan countries, though in Egypt
and India, and even in China, they are to be found by the hundreds
of thousands. This system is a proselyting one, and thus has come
to spread so widely. Starting with but a handful of disciples, the
followers of Mohammed include more than one-tenth of the human race.
Its believers are true, strong believers, holding their faith with
firmness and fervor. For hundreds of years they have been trying to
bring the world to the faith embodied in their motto, “God is God, and
Mohammed is His Prophet.” Formerly, in great armies, they swept over
Asia and Africa, making their proselytes at the point of the sword;
to-day they borrow Christian methods, and Moslem missionaries go forth
to preach the Koran (their sacred book), and thus seek to extend the
dominion of Mohammed. In their university at Cairo, 10,000 students
are gathered to-day, preparing to go as the missionaries of the Moslem
faith. A celebrated traveler describes this university thus: “This
university is 900 years old (older than Oxford), and still flourishes
with as much vigor as in the palmy days of the Arabian Conquest.
There I saw collected together 10,000 students. As one expressed it,
‘there were two acres of turbans,’ assembled in a vast inclosure,
with no floor but a pavement, and with a roof over it, supported by
400 columns, and at the foot of every column a teacher, surrounded by
his pupils. As we entered, there rose a hum of thousands of voices,
reciting the Koran. These students are not only from Egypt, but from
all parts of Africa, from Morocco to Zanzibar. They come from far up
the Nile, from Nubia and Soudan; and from Darfour, beyond the great
desert, and from the western coast of Africa. Asia, too, is largely
represented in students from Western Asia, from Turkey, Arabia and
Persia; and from Central Asia, from Khiva, and Bokhara, and Turkistan,
and Afghanistan, and the borders of China. They live on the charities
of the faithful; and when their studies are ended, those who are to
be missionaries mount their camels, and, joining a caravan, cross
the desert, and are lost in the far interior of Africa.” And there,
we should say, they meet our no less faithful and ardent Christian
missionaries, who are laboring to elevate the depraved Africans. These
carry to a happy completion the very imperfect work which Moslem
missionaries are able to perform.
Now let us turn to the story of the man who founded Mohammedanism.
THE ARABIAN CAMEL-DRIVER WHO FOUNDED A GREAT RELIGION.
The descendants of Ishmael and of Abraham have inhabited
uninterruptedly a land inclosed by the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the
Persian Gulf, the Euphrates River and the land of Syria. There are
a few fertile valleys and excellent pastures in Arabia; but a great
part of the country consists of bleak wildernesses, barren hills and
wastes of sandy deserts. There is not one navigable river in the whole
country. Goods are carried on camels, whose drivers travel in groups
called caravans. The Arabs are a simple and temperate race, quick to
revenge, yet exceedingly hospitable. The great majority of the people
in the interior live a tent life; thus they are brought into close
contact with nature, and are reverential and imaginative. From their
out-door life, they were early inclined to worship the sun, moon,
planets and all the hosts of heaven and angels. Desiring a visible
object of worship, something to be seen and felt, they made images
of their deities. The “Black Stone,” in the Temple of the Kaaba, at
Mecca, was an especially honored object of worship. This stone, about
six inches by eight, was one of the precious stones of Paradise, and
fell down to the earth with Adam. At the deluge, it was taken up again,
or otherwise preserved, and afterward brought by Gabriel to Abraham,
when he and Ishmael were building the Kaaba. This temple was placed in
charge of one family. In the year 570 A.D., of this family was born a
child named Mohammed, destined to affect the religious life of hundreds
of millions of his fellow-beings.
[Illustration: TEMPLE OF THE KAABA, AT MECCA, ARABIA.]
THE PROPHET’S YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD.
Miraculous signs were said to have attended his birth. For five years,
he remained away from his mother; at the end of that time, he became
subject to epileptic fits, and returned to his home. He then saw
the multitude of pilgrims, with their camels laden with spices and
beautiful cloths, coming yearly to visit Mecca, and undoubtedly was
impressed with the sights and sounds in the Kaaba.
When he was twelve years old, an event occurred which greatly
influenced his after life. With his uncle’s caravan he journeyed to
Palestine, where he met Jews and Christians. From these he must have
gained that knowledge of the Bible which he used in his teachings in
after years. The Jews, from the day when God cured them of idolatry,
by sending them away to Babylon, had persistently opposed the worship
of idols, and upheld and urged the worship of the one true God. The
Christians were such in name only; for, with their ritual, crosses,
pictures, vestments and images, they were hardly better than the
idolaters around them. But Mohammed gained only a superficial knowledge
of these faiths, and knew almost nothing of their leading features.
When he was twenty-five years old he entered the service of the
Khadija, a rich widow of Mecca, for his family was poor. She appointed
him as a camel-driver, to care for the caravans. The widow soon was
charmed with the noble appearance and energetic manliness of Mohammed,
and in a modest way led him to seek to marry her. The marriage was a
happy one, and Mohammed loved his wife long after her death, even to
his old age. When all the world turned its back upon him in scorn,
she clung to him; and while they called him cheat and impostor, she
recognized him as the prophet of God. During all this time he always
appeared as a very religious and upright person. Often with his wife
he retired to a cave, about three miles from Mecca, to pray and fast.
Here, when in his epileptic fits, it is claimed, he saw visions and
received revelations.
GABRIEL’S MESSAGE TO MOHAMMED.
In his fortieth year, he was spending the sacred month in the cave.
One night, as he said, there appeared “one mighty in power, endued
with understanding,” who stood about two bows’ length from him. It
was the angel Gabriel, who held a silken scroll in his hand, and bade
Mohammed read the writing thereon. He replied that he could not; then
Gabriel said, “Read in the name of the Lord, who hath created all
things. Read by the most beneficent Lord, who taught the use of the
pen; who teacheth man that which he knoweth not.” Then the angel flew
away, leaving Mohammed in perplexity. After a time, when doubt and
despondency filled his mind, the voice of the angel was heard speaking
from a throne midway between heaven and earth, saying: “O Mohammed!
thou art the prophet of God, and I am Gabriel.” This he regards as his
commission, and straightway tells his wife. Secretly he commits the
revelation made him to various persons, and after four years gathers
together thirty or forty converts. Then Gabriel comes again, and brings
from the Lord this message: “O thou covered, arise and preach, and
magnify the Lord, and clean thy garments, and fly every abomination.”
He obeyed this, and in consequence of the changes he urged, was
forced to suffer persecution. Even his relatives turned against him.
He was mocked and scorned, and occasionally abused. His disciples
suffered with him, and so he sent away to Abyssinia eleven of them as
missionaries.
At first his teachings had not been uncompromising; but, so he thought,
in a revelation he was warned that this was wrong, and he proceeded to
burn the bridges behind him. Of some of the idol gods he had said:
“Their intercession may be hoped for with God.” After his vision he
said, “These are no other than empty names, which ye and your fathers
have made gods.” Then the idol worshipers turned on him; he was, said
they, a fool, a fanatic, a forger. Then they ostracized him; he was
shut out from their homes and cut off from their friendship. To escape
personal violence he fled the city, mingling with the pilgrims from
distant lands as they journeyed to Mecca, and preaching to them his
doctrines. Then his wife, Khadija, died. Soon after this he married,
and was betrothed (in his fiftieth year) to a child of seven years, as
it is the custom of the Arabs to allow a man to marry as many wives as
he might wish.
Now came the turn of the tide; his failing fortunes began to rise
again. A few pilgrims from Medina were converted. With zeal they
sought to spread Mohammed’s doctrine on their return home. They met
with astonishing success, and soon the prophet’s name was in every
household in Medina, and the motto, “God is God, and Mohammed is His
Prophet,” was heard on every side. The prophet was invited to go and
live in Medina. After a year, with many companions, his Medina converts
returned to him at Mecca, and again pledged their fidelity.
THE FLIGHT OF MOHAMMED.
On the 20th of June, A.D. 622, the celebrated “Hejira,” or flight, took
place. From this day, the Mohammedans date their era, as Christians
do from the birth of Christ. They regard this as the most momentous
event of their history, for from this time forth, Mohammed’s course
was one of constant progress. After eight days’ journey, they arrived
at Medina, and in great pomp made a triumphal entry into the city. He
waited until his camel voluntarily knelt and there built his house.
Then a temple, 150 feet square, was built; this is called to-day the
Mosque of the Prophet. Here a simple worship was established. Mohammed
was now married to Ayesha, the child to whom he had been betrothed.
As he already had one wife he thus indorsed the custom of having many
wives. This practice and, growing out of it, the enormity of treating
women as really little better than slaves, are the conspicuous blots on
Mohammed’s career.
CONVERTS MADE AT THE SWORD’S POINT.
Mohammed was now established in a secure position. His prosperity
spoiled him. He longed for greater numbers of converts than he could
make by preaching simply, hence, his disordered mind prompted him to
see a vision in which he was directed to take the sword to compel
converts. In one of the sacred months he sent eight of his followers
to waylay a Mecca caravan. One man they killed, two others were taken
prisoners and with their booty the Mohammedans returned to Medina. The
next was the celebrated battle of Badr, when a troop of Meccans came
out to destroy Mohammed and his Medina followers, but were themselves
destroyed. Mohammed asserted that 3,000 angels fought with them, and
that thus they gained the battle. This battle placed Mohammad where
he could command (or rather demand) unhesitating obedience from his
followers. Battle after battle followed, and converts were made by
the thousands. Mecca was subdued, and then the whole of Arabia. To
his followers, he promised Paradise should they fall in the fight.
Said they to him: “It is hot.” He replied: “Hell is hotter.” Mohammed
was made of stern stuff; his indomitable will supported him in his
great undertakings. He was not a true prophet, neither was he an
impostor. His religion was begun, developed and completed under what he
took to be the inspiration of God. To all appearance he was sincere,
though awfully mistaken. He believed firmly in his mission and in the
assistance of God; he never faltered, he never hesitated, he went
straight forward.
[Illustration: MOHAMMEDAN CEMETERY AT MECCA.]
Thus, until his sixty-second year, his religion kept growing, embracing
an increasing territory under its dominion. At this time, he was
attacked with a violent fever, which in less than a month ended his
life. He exclaimed: “Oh, to depart and be near the Lord,” “Eternity of
Paradise!” “Pardon!” and then the Prophet of Mecca was dead.
Mecca and Medina long remained the strongholds, the centres of
Mohammedan influence. Mecca especially became the Holy Place to which
the faithful made their pilgrimages, and in the cemetery of which city
they longed, at last, to lie in death. All Mohammedans turn to Mecca
in saying their prayers, and in all the mosques, by a niche or by some
other means, the direction of Mecca is indicated as a guide to the
devotions of the faithful who assemble there.
MOHAMMED’S SUCCESSORS, THE CALIPHS.
After Mohammed’s death, his bosom friend, Abu Bekr, was elected to
be his successor, called the Caliph. From his attachment to Mohammed
he received the name of “The True.” The name Abu Bekr means “The
Father of the Virgin,” and was given him because Ayesha, his daughter,
was the only virgin bride of Mohammed. The office of Caliph was the
highest that could be held in the Mohammedan world. All the “Faithful”
recognized in the Caliph both the temporal and spiritual head. Abu
Bekr proved a worthy successor to Mohammed. He put down the Bedouin
rebellions, which began immediately after Mohammed’s death, and not
only conquered them, but won them to his cause, and turned their fierce
fanaticism into the service of Mohammedanism. Abu Bekr was a man of the
purest character, and had the firmest faith in Mohammed’s mission. He
died after a reign of about two years and a half, and Omar became the
next Caliph.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A TURKOMAN TENT, IN WESTERN
PERSIA.]
CALIPH OMAR.
[Illustration: MOSQUE OF OMAR, ON THE SITE OF THE JEWISH
TEMPLE, AT JERUSALEM.]
Under Omar, who reigned from 634 to 643 A.D., Mohammedanism spread
northward and westward. Damascus and its neighborhood, then Palestine,
and finally all Syria yielded to him. In 636 A.D., Jerusalem
surrendered to him. “Mounted on his camel, a bag of dates and a skin
of water by his side--ample provision for his simple wants--he made
his entry into the sacred city.” On the site of Solomon’s Temple, he
built the “Dome of the Rock,” the Mosque of Omar, as it is commonly,
but erroneously, called to this day. The Mosque of Omar stands upon an
artificial plateau called the Haram area. This is sparingly ornamented
with cypress and other trees and fountains. The mosque is one of the
most prominent belongings of Jerusalem. It is second in importance
only to the Mosque of the Kaaba at Mecca. It is 170 feet high, and
536 feet around its eight sides. In the interior is a gray limestone
rock, from which the mosque sometimes takes its name, the “Dome of the
Rock.” This stone is believed by the Mohammedans to have “descended
from heaven and to have been suspended in the air; that it attempted to
follow the Prophet on his ascension to Paradise, but was kept back from
its native quarry by the angel Gabriel, who left his large hand-prints
as a permanent memorial of the miracle!”
[Illustration: MOHAMMEDANS PRAYING BEFORE THE MOSQUE OF OMAR.]
Persia soon yielded to Omar, and then Egypt. His empire now extended
from Northern Syria to Southern Arabia, and from Eastern Persia to
Western Egypt. Omar was the first Caliph who was called the “Prince of
the Faithful.” Though his power and honor were so great, “he affected
no regal state, was the friend and companion of the beggar and poor,
and in his mud palace, at Medina, was ready to share his meal with the
humblest brother of the faith.” Omar was killed by a Persian slave. He
was succeeded by the Caliph Othman. He reigned amidst great turbulence
and discontent until the year 654 A.D., when he was murdered. The next
Caliph, Ali, who reigned till 660 A.D., was, likewise, assassinated.
Hassan, the next Caliph, was poisoned by his wife. Several Caliphs,
Muavia and Hosein, occupied the throne before Valid I. reigned. His
reign extended from 705 to 716 A.D. Under him the empire of the “Prince
of the Faithful” attained its greatest extent. It then extended from
India to Spain. Thus, just about one hundred years from the time when
Mohammed had received his call to enter upon his mission as the Prophet
of God, to re-establish His worship and to destroy idolatry, the empire
which he had founded, and the religion he had started, had spread
over Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, Spain, part of Gaul (now France),
Egypt and Northern Africa, and over Persia and Northern India. Soon
after this, reigned a Caliph whose name is a household word among us,
Haroun-al-Raschid, of whom the “Arabian Nights” has so much to say.
The Caliph preceding him had moved his capital to Bagdad. As the first
calendar says, in the “Arabian Nights” story, “Haroun-al-Raschid’s
generosity was renowned through the world.” The stories tell us of his
wandering in disguise among his people to ascertain more accurately
their condition, and thus to be better able to govern them.
Hitherto the Caliphate has been held by Arabians, soon after
Haroun-al-Raschid’s time, it passes into the hands of the Turks. They
have retained it without interruption down to the present day.
THE CRUSADES.
Attempts were often made to roll back the tide of Mohammedan conquest,
but without avail. Rebellions were put down rapidly, and no nation
from without seemed disposed to dispute with the Mohammedans their
possession of the conquered countries. But in the year 1096 A.D., fired
by the desire to recover the land of the birthplace of Christ, and
anxious to revenge the insults and injuries heaped upon the Christian
pilgrims to the Holy Land by the Moslems, led the Christians of Western
Europe to determine to begin a Crusade. The Pope, Urban II., aided
by the preaching of Peter the Hermit, succeeded in inducing an army
to start for the conquest of Palestine. They seemed to succeed, and
yet theirs was a doubtful victory. They reached Jerusalem, and slew
multitudes of the Saracen Moslems. But they could not retain their
hold upon the city. A second Crusade was undertaken in 1148 A.D., but
utterly failed to accomplish its object. St. Bernard, who had urged on
this Crusade, declared that it had failed because of the sinfulness
of the Crusaders, and that none but innocent hands could wrest the
Holy Land from the Moslem hands which held it. So in 1212 began the
Children’s Crusade; 30,000 children, under the boy-leader, Stephen, and
20,000 German boys and girls, under the peasant-lad, Nicholas, started
for the conquest of Palestine, only to perish by sea or land, or to
be carried to the slave markets. Two other Crusades were commenced,
but both failed, and to-day the Holy Land is under the dominion of the
Moslem Turk. The religion of Mohammed is still spreading, though only
in Africa. It obtained a footing in Western China some time ago, and
more lately spread throughout the Indian Archipelago.
We now pass to consider the Mohammedan Bible, known as the Koran, and
give attention to its teachings.
THE WRITING OF THE KORAN.
During the lifetime of Mohammed no attempt was made to collect the
multitudinous revelations constituting the Koran into one book. The
various passages had been written down from his lips, from time to
time at their delivery, by some friend or follower performing the
office of amanuensis; or they had been first committed to memory,
and then at some subsequent period recorded. For this purpose the
rude materials in use among the Arabs were employed, as palm-leaves,
leather, stone tablets, or the shoulder-blades of goats and camels.
There was no systematic arrangement of these materials. There were,
indeed, recognized “Suras,” or chapters; and it seems probable that the
greater part of the revelation was so arranged during the Prophet’s
lifetime, and used in that form for private reading, and also for
recitation at the daily prayers. Some of the Suras were short and
self-contained; others were longer, and from time to time were added
to by the command of Mohammed, who would direct a new revelation to
be “entered in the Sura treating of such and such a subject.” There
was no fixed repository for these materials; but there is reason to
conjecture that the greater portion, or at least the most important
chapters, were laid up in the habitation of one of the Prophet’s wives
(for he had no separate room or dwelling-place of his own), or left in
the custody of the scribes or secretaries who had first recorded them.
They were, moreover, treasured up with pious reverence in the memories
of the people, and transcripts of the several Suras or fragments,
especially of those most frequently in use for meritorious repetition,
or for public and private devotion, were even before the Flight in
the hands of many persons, and so preserved with religious and even
superstitious care. As the Faith extended, teachers were sent forth to
the various tribes throughout Arabia to instruct the new converts in
the requirements of Islam; and these carried with them, either in a
recorded form or indelibly imprinted on the mind (for the Arab memory
was possessed of a marvelous tenacity), the leading portions of the
Mohammedan Revelation.
THE TEACHING OF THE KORAN.
Sir William Muir, one of the first expositors of the Koran, thus
writes: “The teaching of the Koran is very simple. God has revealed
Himself in various ages, under different dispensations, through the
instrumentality of inspired prophets. The dispensations varied in
outward and accidental form; but the great catholic faith in the unity
of God and Islam (that is, submission to His will), underlies them all.
The truth thus successively promulgated was as often lost or distorted
by the ignorance and perversity of mankind. The mission of Mohammed
was to establish the last of these dispensations; and, while at first
professing to hold that his own teaching was simply concurrent with
that of former revelations, in the end he caused it to obliterate and
override them all.
“The first condition of Islam is belief in the creed: ‘There is no God
but the Lord, and Mohammed is His Apostle.’ This at once sweeps away
idolatry, and the ‘association with God’ of other objects of worship;
and it also establishes the Koran as the paramount rule of faith and
practice. There is no priesthood in Islam. Man deals immediately with
the Deity. Mohammed is but a Prophet, himself a sinner needing mercy
and forgiveness. Salvation is promised to the believer; but he is at
the same time bound to abstain from evil, and to do good works, and,
in particular, to observe the ordinances of Islam. These requirements,
though few and simple, pervade the whole life of a Mussulman. The day
opens with prayer at the dawn; with prayer the night closes in; and
the ceremony is repeated three other times, at fixed intervals, during
the day. Each prayer consists of two or more series of prostrations,
accompanied by ejaculatory prayer and the recital of short passages
of the Koran. Then there are the prescribed tithes, or alms; the
fast throughout the whole month of Ramodhān (which, though rigorous
from dawn to sunset, admits of entire relaxation by night); and the
pilgrimage to Mecca, which, although not burdensome to the Arabs for
whom it was first established, is evidently unsuitable for observance
by all mankind.
“That the fate of man, and whatever happens, great or small, has been
fixed by inevitable decrees is unconditionally asserted throughout
the Koran. The doctrine is often intelligibly urged as a ground of
resignation and patience under misfortune, of equanimity in success,
and of calmness in danger; but it is not confined to such innocent and
legitimate purposes. The dogma is constantly obtruded in its most naked
and offensive form: ‘God misleadeth whom He pleaseth, and guideth whom
He pleaseth aright.’ ‘We created man upright, and then caused him to be
the vilest of the vile.’ ‘The fate of every man have we bound about his
neck;’ and so forth. But while there is nothing to be met with in the
Koran expressly of an opposite tenor, there is much that by implication
conveys the sentiment of free will. Prayer is continually enjoined. It
was practiced by Mohammed himself, and deliverance is often ascribed
to its effect. Men are exhorted to believe and do good works. They are
warned against infidelity and sin, ‘lest they cast themselves into
perdition.’ Salvation, indeed, is dependent on faith, and faith upon
the will of God; yet there are not wanting passages which speak of man
as choosing the wrong or choosing the right, and of Paradise or hell as
the consequence. The believer is frequently bid to beware of the wiles
of Satan. Discretion in the following of good or evil is implied in
many parts of the Koran and retribution set forth as the result of its
exercise. Man is responsible for his own sin only. ‘The burdened soul
shall not bear the burthen of another.’ Hereditary taint from the fall
is nowhere admitted. Adam fell, it is true, by eating the forbidden
fruit; but his fall (as it would appear) was the consequence, not the
cause of the proneness of his nature to sin. All men have sinned, but
it has been each his own fault, acting independently, and not because
of anything antecedent.”
SOME SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN.
We first present one of the passages in which reference is made to
Jesus Christ. In the ninth Sura, the Koran says: “Fight against them
who believe not in God, nor in the last day, and forbid not that which
God and His apostle have forbidden, and profess not the true religion,
of those unto whom the Scriptures have been delivered, until they pay
tribute by right of subjection, and they be reduced low. The Jews say
Ezra is the son of God; and the Christians say, Christ is the son of
God. This is their saying in their mouths: they imitate the saying
of those who were unbelievers in former times. May God resist them.
How are they infatuated! They take their priests and their monks for
their lords, besides God, and Christ, the son of Mary; although they
are commanded to worship one God only: there is no God but He; far be
that from Him, which they associate with Him! They seek to extinguish
the light of God with their mouths; but God willeth no other than to
perfect His light, although the infidels be averse thereto. It is He
who hath sent His apostle with the direction and true religion; that
He may cause it to appear superior to every other religion; although
the idolators be averse thereto. O, true believers, verily many of the
priests and monks devour the substance of men in vanity, and obstruct
the way of God. But unto those who treasure up gold and silver, and
employ it not for the advancement of God’s true religion, denounce a
grievous punishment. On the day of judgment their treasures shall be
intensely heated in the fire of hell, and their foreheads, and their
sides, and their backs shall be stigmatized therewith; and their
tormentors shall say, This is what ye have treasured up for your souls;
taste therefore that which ye have treasured up.”
The Koran says of idols: “Omen, a parable is propounded unto you;
wherefore hearken unto it. Verily, the idols which ye invoke, besides
God, can never create a single fly, although they were all assembled
for that purpose: and if the fly snatch anything from them, they cannot
recover the same from it.”
MOHAMMED’S PARADISE.
Sura LVI., of the Koran, says: “These are they who shall approach near
unto God: they shall dwell in gardens of delight. Reposing on couches
adorned with gold and precious stones; sitting opposite to one another
thereon. Youths which shall continue in their bloom for ever, shall go
round about to attend them, with goblets, and beakers, and a cup of
flowing wine: their heads shall not ache by drinking the same, neither
shall their reason be disturbed: and with fruits of the sorts which
they shall choose, and the flesh of birds of the kind which they shall
desire. And there shall accompany them fair damsels having large black
eyes, resembling pearls hidden in their shells, as a reward for that
which they shall have wrought. They shall not hear within any vain
discourse, or any charge of sin; but only the salutation, Peace! Peace!
And the companions of the right hand (how happy shall the companions of
the right hand be!) shall have their abode among lote-trees free from
thorns, and trees of many, loaded regularly with their produce from top
to bottom; under an extended shade, near a flowing water, and amidst
fruits in abundance, which shall not fail, nor shall be forbidden to
be gathered: and they shall repose themselves on lofty beds. Verily,
we have created the damsels of Paradise by a peculiar creation; and
we have made them virgins beloved by their husbands, of equal age
with them; for the delight of the companions of the right hand. There
shall be many of the former religions, and many of the latter. And the
companions of the left hand (how miserable shall the companions of the
left hand be!) shall dwell amidst burning winds and scalding water,
under the shade of a black smoke, neither cool nor agreeable.”
THE KORAN ON THE JUDGMENT.
Sura LXXXI. says: “When the sun shall be folded up; and when the stars
shall fall;[8] and when the mountains shall be made to pass away; and
when the camels ten months gone with young shall be neglected; and when
the wild beasts shall be gathered together; and when the seas shall
boil; and when the souls shall be joined again to their bodies; and
when the girl who hath been buried alive shall be asked for what crime
she was put to death; and when the books shall be laid open; and when
the heavens shall be removed; and when hell shall burn fiercely; and
when Paradise shall be brought near; every soul shall know what it hath
wrought.”