THE KORAN. 281 



till he receives his final doom, by ninety-nine dra- 

 gons with seven heads each ; which some interpre- 

 ters allegorize into the acute anguish of a guilty 

 conscience. There are sects who reject this notion 

 of a sepulchral examination ; but the more orthodox 

 receive it as founded on the express authority of 

 their Prophet. 



The dissolution of the body by the stroke of death 

 is palpable to the senses ; and the existence of its 

 immortal part is consonant to the wishes of nature 

 and the speculations of the soundest philosophy. 

 There is, however, beyond this separation, an inter- 

 val of doubt and darkness, Avhich neither the wisdom 

 nor the restless curiosity of man has been able to 

 penetrate. 



The learned Moslems have exercised their inge- 

 nuity and their fancy in describing the various 

 occupations and abodes of the soul in this interme- 

 diate condition, which they call Al Barzakh ; but 

 their opinions seem better adapted to corvince the 

 illiterate than to satisfy the doubts of the skeptic or 

 the philosopher. The souls of the faithful they 

 distinguish into three classes. Those of the pro- 

 phets only have immediate admission into paradise. 

 The martyrs undergo a sort of Pythagorean impris- 

 onment in the gizzards of green birds, which feed 

 on the fruits and drink of the waters of those delect- 

 able habitations. As to the disposal of the third 

 class, there is not the same agreement. Some fix 

 their abode near the sepulchres of their earthly 

 companions ; some with Adam in the lowest hea- 

 vens ; others enclose them in the trumpet of the 

 archangel, or in the Zemzemwell; while infidels 

 are to be shut up in a certain pit in the province of 

 Hadramaut ; or hurled by the angels down to a dun- 

 geon in the seventh earth, under a green rock called 

 the Devil's Jaw, there to suffer torment till soul and 

 body are again united at the resurrection. Such 

 are the idle tuad puerile discussions that have en- 



Aa2 



