are Gabriel, to whom they give feveral titles, particularly thofe of the
■ holy fpirit (, and the angel o f revelations % fuppofing him to be honoured
by G o d with a greater confidence than any other, and to be employed
in writing down the divine decrees 3; Michael, the friend and
protector of the f e rws ; Azrdel, the angel o f deaths who feparates
mens fouls from their bodies3-; and Ifrafil, whofe office it will be to
found the trumpet at the refurredtion 5. The Mohammedans alfo believe
that two guardian angels attend on every man, to obferve and
write down his actions 1, being changed every day, and therefore called
al Moakkibdt, or the angels who continually faceted one another.
This whole dodtrine concerning angels Mohammed and his difciples
have borrowed from the Jews, who learned the names and offices of
thofe beings from the Perfans, as themfelves confefs 8. The ancient
Perfans firmly believed the miniftry of angels, and their fuperinten-
dence over the affairs -of this world, (as the Miagians ftill do) and
therefore affigned them diftindt charges and provinces, giving their
names Jto their months and the days of their months. Gabriel they
sailed Sorufh .and Revdn hakhjh, or the giver o f fouls, in oppofition to
sthe contrary office of the angel of death, to whom among other names
they gave that of Morddd, or the giver o f death-, Michael they called
Bejhter, who according to them provides fuftenance for mankind |
T he Jews teach that the angels were created of fire10 ; that they
.have leveral offices11; that they intercede for men **, and attend
them ‘3. The angel of death they name Duma, and fay he calls dying
perfans by their refpeaive names at their laft hour to
The devil, whom Mohammed names Eblts from his defpair, was
once one of thofe angels who are neareft to G o d’s prefence, called
jlz a z il '5, and fell, according to the dodtrine o f the Koran, for refuting
to pay homage to Adam at the command of G od iS.
Befides angels and devils, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran
to believe an intermediate order of creatures, which they call Jin
or Genii, created alfo o f fire '7, but of a groffer fabric than angels;
1 Koran, c. 2. p. K * See the notes, ib. p. 13. 3 V. Hyde, Hift. Rel. vet. Perf. p. z6z.
* v ib p. 271: & not. in Kor. p. 13. ’ V. not. ib. p. 4. 6 Kor. e. 6,13, and S6. The offices
o f thefe four angels are deferibed almoft in, the feme manner in the apocryphal gofpel of Barnahasi
■ where it is faid thurGahriel reveals the fecrets of G od, Michael combates.againft his.enemies, Raphael
receives the fouls of thofe who die, and Uriel is to call every one to judgment on the ’laft day.
■ See the Mtnagiana, "Tom. 4. p. 333. 3 Kor. c. to. 8 Talmud Hierof,in Roflt nalhana.
9 V. Hyde, ubi fup. c. 19, and zo. 10 Gemar. in Hagig. & Bereljiit rabbah. &c. V. Pfalm civ.
■ 1 Yalkut hadalh. 11 Gemar. in Shebet, & Bava Bathra, &c. 13 Midralh, Yidktit
Shemuni. u Gemar. Berachoth. 13 V. Reland, de Rel. Moh. p .^ 9 , &c. 16 Koran, c.
J r 5. See alfo c. 7 ,38, &c. j , f 7 Kor.0. 55. Seethe notes there. ,
fince
fince they eat and drink, and propagate their fpecies, and ate fubjedt
to death \ Some of thefe are fuppofed to be good, and others bad, andca-
pableof future falvation or damnation, as men are; whence Mohammed
pretended to be fent for the converfion o f Genii as well as men \ The
Orientals pretend that thefe Genii inhabited the world for many ages
before Adam was created, under the government of feveral fucceffive
princes, who all bore.the common name of Solomon-, but falling at
length into an almoll: general corruption, Eblis was fent to drive them
into a remote part of the earth there to be confined: that fome of
that generation ftill remaining, were by Pahmurath, one o f the ancient
kings o f P e rf a, who waged war againft them, forced to retreat into ■
the famous mountains of K d f O f which fucceffions and wars they
have many fabulous and romantic ftories. They alfo make different
ranks and degrees among thefe being-s (if they be not rather fuppofed
to be of a different fpecies) fome being called abfolutely Jin, fome
Peri or fairies, fome D iv or giants, others Pacwtns or fates K
The Mohammedan notions concerning thefe Genii, agree almoft ex-
adtly with what the Jews write of a fort o f dasmons, called Shedtm,
whom .fome fancy to have been begotten by two angels named Aza
and Azael, on Naamah the daughter of Lamech, before the flood S.
However the Shedtm, they tell us, agree in three things with the mi-
niftring angel§; for that like them, they have wings, and fly from one
end o f ,the world to the other, and have fome knowledge o f futurity
; and in three things they agree with men, like whom they eat and
drink, are propagated, and die They alfo fay that fome o f them
believe in the law of Mofes, and are confequently good, and that
others of them are infidels and reprobates 6.
As to the feriptures, the Mohammedans are taught by the Koran O f the
that G od, in divers ages o f the world, gave revelations of his willfcriPtttres-
in writing to feveral prophets, the whole and every word o f which it is
abfolutely neceffary for a good Mofem to believe. The number o f thefe fa-
cred books, were, according to them, 104. O f which ten were given to
Adam, fifty to Seth, thirty to Edrts or Enoch, ten to Abraham; and
the other four, being the Pentateuch, the Pfzlms, the Gojpel, and the
Koran, were fucceffively delivered to Mofes, David, Jefus, and Moham-
mtd; which laft being the feal of the prophets, thofe revelations are
now clofed, and no more are to be expe<3:ed. All thefe divine books,
1 JallaloMdin, in Kor. c. 2, & 18. 2 V. Koran, c. 55, 72, & 74. 3 See D’ Herbelot,
Bibl. Orient, p. 369, 8io, &c. 4 In libro Zohar. s Gemara, in Hagiga. 6 Igrat Baalc
hayyim. c. 15.