Ml 
MAHOMETANISM. 
metans ; who, after having there been punifhed according 
to their demerits, will at length be releafed. The fecond, 
named Ladha, they affign to the Jews ; the third, named 
al Hotama, to the Chriftians; the fourth, named al Sair, 
to the Sabians ; the fifth, named Sahar, to the Magians ; 
the fixth, named al Jahim, to the idolaters ; and the fe- 
venth, which is the lowelt and worft of all, and is called 
al Hawyat, to the hypocrites, or thofe who outwardly pro- 
fefl'ed f'ome religion, but in their hearts were of none. 
Over each of thefe apartments they believe there will be 
fet a guard of angels, nineteen in number; to whom the 
damned will coniefs the juft judgment of God, and beg 
them to intercede with him for fome alleviation of their 
pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated. 
Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been veiy 
exaft in defcribing the various torments of hell, which, 
accordin' 1 tp him, the wicked will fufter, both from in- 
tenfe heat and excefiive cold. We fliall, however, enter 
into no detail of them here ; but only obferve, that the 
degrees of thefe nains will alfo vary in proportion to the 
crimes of the fufferer, and the apartment he is condemned 
to ; and that he who is punifhed the moft lightly of all 
will be fliod with (hoes of fire, the fervour of which will 
caufe his fkull to boil like a cauldron. The condition of 
thefe unhappy wretches, as the fame prophet teaches, can¬ 
not be properly called either li/e or death ; and their mi- 
fiery will be greatly increafed by their defpair of being ever 
delivered from that place, fince, according to that fre¬ 
quent expreffion in the Koran, they muji remain therein for 
ever. It mult be remarked, however, that the infidels 
alone will be liable to eternity of damnation; for the 
Modems, or thofe who have embraced the true religion, 
and have been guilty of heinous fins, will be delivered 
thence after they fhall have expiated their crimes by their 
fufierings. The time which thefe believers fhall be de¬ 
tained there, according to a tradition handed down from 
their prophet, will not be lefs than 900 years, nor more 
than 7000. And, as to themanner of their delivery, they 
fay that they fliall be diftinguifhed by the marks of prol- 
tration on thofe parts of their bodies with which they ufed 
to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the fire 
will therefore have no power ; and that, being known by 
this charafleriltic, they will be releafed by the mercy of 
God, at the interceffion of Mahomet and the blefled ; 
whereupon thofe who fliall have been dead will be reftored 
to life, as has been faid ; and thofe whofe bodies (hall 
have contracted any footinefs or filth from the flames and 
firnoke of hell, will be immerfed in one of the rivers of 
paradife, called the river of life , which will wafh them 
whiter than pearls. 
The righteous, as the Mahometans are taught to be¬ 
lieve, having furmounted the difficulties, and paffed the 
fharp bridge above mentioned, before they enter paradife, 
will be refreflied by drinking at the pond of their prophet, 
who deferibes it to be an exaft fquare of a month’s jour¬ 
ney in compafs ; its water, which is fupplied by two pipes 
from Al Cawthar, one of the rivers of paradife, being 
whiter than milk or filver, and more odoriferous than 
mulk, with as many cups fet around it as there are liars in 
the firmament; of which water whoever drinks will thirft 
no more for ever. This is the firft tafte which the blefled 
will have of their future and now near-approaching fe¬ 
licity. 
Though paradife be fo very frequently mentioned in 
the Koran, yet it is a difpute among the Mahometans 
whether it be already created, or to be created hereafter; 
the Motazalites and fome other feclaries aflerting, that 
there is not at prefent any fuch place in nature, and that 
the paradife which the righteous will inhabit in the next 
life will be different from that from which Adam was ex¬ 
pelled. However, the orthodox profefs the contrary, 
maintaining that it was created even before the world, 
and deferibe it, from their prophet’s traditions, in the fol¬ 
lowing manner: They fay it is fituated above the feven 
heavens, (or in the feventh heaven,) and next under the 
Vol. XIV. No. 962. 
throne of God ; and, to exprefs the amenity of the place, 
tell us, that the earth of it is of the fineft wheat-flour, or 
of the pureft mufk, or, as others will have it, of faff'ron ; 
that its ftones are pearis and jacinths, the walls of its 
buildings enriched vvjth gold and filver; and that the 
trunks of all its trees are of gold, among which-the moft 
remarkable is the tree cal! t.-uba, or the tree of happinefs. 
Concerning this tree, they fable, that it Hands in the pa¬ 
lace of Mahomet, though a branch of it will reach to the 
honfe of every true believer; that it will be laden with 
pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits, of furpriiing 
bignefs, and of taftes unknown to mortals. So that, if a 
man defire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will 
immediately be prefented him ; or, if he clioofe flefli, birds 
ready dreffed will be fet before him, according to his wi(1k 
T hey add, that the boughs of this tree will fiporitaneoufly 
bend down to the hand of the perfon who would gather- 
of its fruits, and that it will lupply the blefled not only 
with food, but alio with filken garments, and beafts to 
ride on ready faddled and bridled, and adorned with rich 
trappings, which will burft forth from its fruits; and that 
this tree is fo large, that a perfon, mounted on the fleetell 
horfe, would not be able to gallop from one end of its 
fhade to the other in 100 years. 
As plenty of water is one of the greateft additions to 
the pleafantnefs of any place, the Koran often fpeaks of 
the rivers of paradife as a principal ornament thereof; 
fome of thefe rivers, they fay, flow with water, fome with 
niiik, fome with wine, and others with honey; all taking 
their rife from the root of the tree tuba. 
But all thefe glories will be eclipfed by the refplendent 
and ravifhing girls of paradife, called from their large 
black eyes Hur al oyun, the enjoyment of whofe company 
will be a principal felicity of the faithful. Thefe, they 
fay, are created, not of clay, as mortal women are, but 
of pure mulk ; being, as their prophet often affirms in his 
Koran, free from all natural impurities, defeifis, and in¬ 
conveniences incident to the lex, of the ftricleft modefty., 
and fecluded from public view in pavilions of hollow 
pearls. 
The name which the Mahometans ufually give to this 
happy manfion, is al Jannat, or The Garden ; and fome- 
times they call it, with an addition, Jannat al Ferdazos , 
the Garden of Paradife ; Jannat Aden, the Garden of Eden, 
(though they generally interpret the word Eden, not ac¬ 
cording to its acceptation in Hebrew, but according to 
its meaning in their own tongue, wherein it fignifies “ a 
fettled or perpetual habitation ;”) Jannat al Mazoa, the. 
Garden of Abode; Jannat al Naim, the Garden of Plea- 
fure ; and the like ; by which feveral appellations lome 
underftand fo many different gardens, or at leaft places of 
different degrees of felicity, (for they reckon no lefs than 
one hundred fuch in all,) the very meaneft whereof will 
afford its inhabitants fo many pleafures and delights, that 
one would conclude they mull even fink under them, had 
not Mahomet declared, that, in order to qualify the blefled 
for a fuil enjoyment of them, GoJ will give to every one 
the abilities of a hundred men. 
The poor, fays Mahomet, will enter paradife five hun¬ 
dred years before the rich ; nor is this the only privilege 
they will enjoy; for the prophet has declared, that, when 
he took a view of paradife, he faw the majority of its in¬ 
habitants to be the poor; and, when he looked down into 
hell, he faw the greateft part of the wretches confined to 
be women! The meaneft inhabitants of paradife will have 
80,000 fervants, feventy-two wives of the girls of para¬ 
dife, befides the wives he had in this world, and a large 
tent erefled for him of pearls, emeralds. See. He wiil be 
ferved in dillies of gold, whereof three hundred fhall be 
fet before him at once, containing each a different kind 
of food, the laft morfel of which will be as grateful as the 
firft; and will alfo be fupplied with as many forts of li¬ 
quors; and, to complete the entertainment, there will be 
no want of wine, which may be drunk without danger, 
as it will not inebriate. The inhabitants of paradife wiil 
^ 0 enjoy 
