MAHOMETAN! S' M. 
140 
time, the Mahometans believe that God will then appear 
to Judge them ; Mahorndt undertaking the office of inter- 
cefl’or, after it ffiall have been declined by Adam, Noah, 
Abraham, and Jefus, who ffiall beg deliverance only for 
their own fouls. They fay, that, on this folemn occafion, 
God will come in the clouds furrounded by angels, and 
will produce the books wherein the actions of every per¬ 
son are recorded by their guardian angels, and will com¬ 
mand the prophets to bear witnefs again!! thofe to whom 
they have been refpeclively fent. Then every one will be 
examined concerning all his words and adlions uttered and 
done by him in this life ; not as if God needed any in¬ 
formation in thefe refpects, but to oblige the perfon to 
make public confeffion and acknowledgment of God’s 
juftice. The particulars of which they ffiall give an ac¬ 
count, as Mahomet himfelf enumerated them, are, of their 
time, how they fpent it; of their wealth, by what means 
they acquired it, and how they employed it; of their 
bodies, wherein they exercifed them; of their knowledge 
and learning, what ufe they made of them. To the queffi 
tions we have mentioned each perfon ffiall anfwer, and 
make his defence in the belt manner he can, endeavouring 
to excufe himfelf by calling the blame of his evil deeds 
on others; fo that a difpute ffiall arife even between the 
foul and the body, to which of them their guilt ought to 
be imputed : the foul faying, “ O Lord, my body 1 re¬ 
ceived from thee ; for thou createdlt me without a hand 
to lay hold with, a foot to walk with, an eye to fee with, 
or an underftanding to apprehend with, till I came and 
entered into this body; therefore puniffi it eternally, but 
deliver me.’’ The body, on the other fide, will make this 
apology : “ O Lord, thou created!! me like a flock of wood, 
having neither hand that I could lay hold with, nor foot 
that I could walk with, till this foul, like a ray of light, 
entered into me, and my tongue began to (peak, my eye 
to fee, and my foot to walk ; therefore puniffi it eternally, 
but deliver me.” But God will propound to them the fol¬ 
lowing parable of the blind man and the lame man, which, 
as well as the preceding dilpute, w’as borrowed by the 
Mahometans from the Jews. A certain king, having a 
pleafant garden, in which were ripe fruits, fet two perfons 
to keep it, one of whom was blind, and the other lame; 
the former not being able to fee the fruit, nor the latter 
to gather it; the lame man, however, leeing the fruit, 
periuaded the blind man to take him upon his ffioulders, 
and by that means he eafily gathered the fruit, which they 
divided between them. The lord of the garden coming 
fome time after, and inquiring after his fruit, each began 
to excufe himfelf; the blind man faid he had no eyes to 
fee with; and the lame man, that he had no feet to ap¬ 
proach the trees. But the king, ordering the lame man 
to be fet on the blind, palled lentence on and punilhed 
them both. And in the fame manner will God deal with 
the body and the foul. As thefe apologies will not avail 
on that day, fo it will be in vain for any one to deny his 
evil aflions ; fince men and angels, and his own members, 
nay, the very earth itfelf, will be ready to bear witnefs 
again!! him. 
At this examination, they alfo believe, that each perfon 
will have the book wherein all the adlions of his life are 
written delivered to him; which books the righteous will 
receive into their right hand, and read with great pleafure 
and fatisfadiion ; but the ungodly will be obliged to take 
them, again!! their wills, in their left, which will be 
bound behind their backs, their right hand being tied up 
to their necks. 
To ffiow the exad! juftice which will be obferved on this 
great d3y of trial, the next thing they deferibe is the ba¬ 
lance, wherein all things ffiall be weighed. They fay it 
will be held by Gabriel; and that it is of fo val! a fize, 
that its two feales, one of which hangs over paradife, and 
the other over hell, are capacious enough to contain both 
heaven and hell. . Though fomeare willing to underltand 
what is laid in till; Koran concerning this balance allego¬ 
rically, and only as a figurative reprefentation of God’s 
equity; yet the more ancient and. orthodox opinion is, 
that they are to be taken literally ; and, fince words and 
actions, being mere accidents, are not capable of being 
themfel ves weighed, they fay that the books wherein they 
are written will be thrown into the feales, and according 
as thofe wherein the good or evil aflions are recorded ffiaft 
preponderate, fentence will be given ; thofe whofe ba¬ 
lances laden with good works lliall be heavy, will be 
faved ; but thofe whofe balances are light will be con¬ 
demned. Nor will any one have caufe to complain that 
God fuffers any good ad!ion to pafs unrewarded, becaufe 
the wicked for the good they do have their reward in this 
life, and therefore can expert no favour in the next. 
The examination being pal!, and every one’s works 
weighed in a juft balance, that mutual retaliation will 
follow, according to which every creature will lake ven¬ 
geance one of another, or have fatisfaftion made them, for 
the injuries which they have fuffered. And, fince there 
will then be no other way of returning like for like, the 
manner of giving this fatisfad!ion will be by taking away 
a proportional part of the good works of him who offered 
the injury, and adding it to thofe of him who fuffered it. 
Which being done, if the angels (by whole miniftry this 
is to be performed) fay, “Lord, we have given to every 
one his due, and there remaineth of this perfon’s good 
works fo much as equalleth the weight of an ant ;” God 
will, of his mercy, caufe it be doubled unto him, that 
lie may be admitted into paradife ; but if, on the contrary, 
his good works be exhaufted, and there remain evil works 
only, and there be any who have not yet received fa- 
tisfad!ion from him, God will order that an equal weight 
of their fins be added unto his, that he may be punilhed 
for them in their ftead, and he will be fent to hell laden 
with both. This will be the method of God’s dealing 
with mankind. As to brutes, after they ffiall have like- 
wife taken vengeance of one another, he will command 
them to be changed into duff; wicked men being referved 
to more grievous punilhment, that fo they ffiall cry out, 
on hearing this fentence paffed on the brutes, “ Would 
to God that we were duff alfo!” As to the genii, many 
Mahometans are of opinion, that fuch of them as are true 
believers will undergo the fame fate as the irrational ani¬ 
mals, and have no other reward than the favour of beino- 
converted into duft ; and for this they quote the autho¬ 
rity of their prophet. 
The trials being over, and the affembly diffolved, the 
Mahometans hold, that thofe who are to be admitted into 
paradife will take the right-hand way, and thofe who are 
deftined to hell-fire will take the left; but both of them 
muff: firl! pafs the bridge called in Arabic al Sirat , which 
they fay is laid over the midi! of hell, and deferibe to be 
finer than a hair, and ffiarper than the edge of a fword; 
fo that it feems very difficult to conceive how any one 
ffiall be able to liand upon it; for which reafon, mol! of 
the fed! of the Motazalites rejed! it as a fable ; though the 
orthodox think it a fufficient proof of the truth of this 
article, that it was ferioull/ affirmed by him who never 
afferted a falfehood, meaning their prophet; who, to add 
to the difficulty of the paffage, has iikewife declared, that 
this bridge is befet on each fide with briars ana hooked 
thorns; which will, however, be no impediment to the 
good; for they ffiall pafs with wonderful eafe and fwift- 
nefs, like lightning, orthe wind, Mahomet and his Modems 
leading the way; whereas the wicked, what with the flio- 
perinefs and extreme narrownefs of the path, the entang¬ 
ling of the thorns, and the extindiion of the light w hich 
directed the former to paradife, will foon mils their foot¬ 
ing, and fall down headlong into hell, which is gaping be¬ 
neath them. 
As to the punilhment of the wicked, the Mahometans 
are taught, that hell is divided into feven ftories or apart¬ 
ments, one below another, defigned for the reception of 
as many diltind! dalles of the damned. The firlt, which 
they call Jehennam, they fay, will be the receptacle of thofe 
who acknowledge one God, that is, the wicked Maho- 
* metansj 
