282 THE KORAN. 



gaged the doctors of oriental theology ; fables better 

 suited for the amusement of children than for the 

 academy or the mosque. 



The precise time of the resurrection, Mohammed, 

 wiser than many Christian fanatics, has not pre- 

 sumed to determine. It is a secret known to God 

 only; and even Gabriel, when interrogated on that 

 point, did not blush to confess his ignorance. But 

 signs, both in heaven and earth, will darkly an- 

 nounce that awful catastrophe, when the material 

 universe shall be destroyed, and the order of crea- 

 tion confounded in the primitive chaos. Eight lesser 

 and seventeen greater phenomena will precede this 

 general dissolution. The faith of men shall decay ; 

 the meanest shall be advanced to eminent dignities ; 

 and the maid-servant shall become the mother of her 

 master. Among the greater signs are enumerated 

 the sun's rising in the west ; an eclipse of the moon ; 

 the appearance of a huge beast compounded of vari- 

 ous species, more grotesque than the horned monster 

 of the Apocalypse, which shall imprint her mark on 

 the faces of all mankind, and demonstrate in the 

 Arabic tongue the vanity of every religion except 

 Islam ; the coming of Antichrist, and the irruption 

 of Gog and Magog, whose vast armies, in their 

 career of slaughter and desolation, will drink the 

 rivers dry, and whose bows, arrows, and quivers 

 will serve the believers seven years to burn ; the 

 descent of Jesus on earth near the White Tower of 

 Damascus, under whose reign the nations shall 

 enjoy security and abundance. The relapse of 

 the Arabs to their ancient idolatries, — the demoli- 

 tion of the Kaaba, — the speaking of beasts, birds, 

 and inanimate things, — a smoke enveloping the 

 whole earth, and a wind that shall sweep away the 

 souls of all who have but one grain of faith in their 

 hearts, — sum up the catalogue of these indications. 



Still the hour of resurrection is left uncertain. 

 Three blasts of the trumpet (the Koran mentions 



