•various opinions. For, i. Some fay they ftay near the fepulchres, with
liberty however of going wherever they pleafe; which they confirm
from Mohammed’s manner of faluting them at their graves, and
his affirming that the dead heard thofe falutations as well as- the living,
tho’ they fcould not anfwer. Whence perhaps proceeded the
cuftom of vifiting the tombs of relations, fo common among the Mohammedans
'. 2. Others imagine they are with Adam, in the lowed:
heaven j and alfo fupport their opinion by the authority o f their
prophet, who gave out that in his return from the upper heavens in
his -pretended night journey, he faw there the fouls of thofe who were
jdeftined to paradife on the right hand of Adam, and of thofe who
were condemned to hell on his left \ 3. Others fancy the fouls of
believers remain in the well Zemzem, and thofe of infidels in a certain
well in the province of Hadramaut, called Borhut-, but this opinion
is branded as heretical. 4. Others fay they ftay near the graves
for feven days; but that whither they go afterwards is uncertain.
5. Others that they are all in the trumpet, whofe found is to raife
the dead. And, 6. Others that the fouls o f the good dwell in the
forms of white birds, under the throne of G o d s. As to the condition
of the fouls of the wicked, befides the opinions that have been
already mentioned, the more orthodox hold that they are offered by
.the angels to heaven, from whence being repulfed as ftinking and
filthy, they are offered to the earth, and being alfo refufed a place
there, are'carried down to the feventh earth, and thrown into a dungeon,
which they call Sajin, under a green rock, or according to a
tradition of Mohammed, under the devil’s jaw 4, to -be there tormented,
till they are called up to be joined again to their bodies
O f -the re- Tho' fome among she. Mohammedans have thought that the refurfurre&
ior. re(^jon wjn be merely fpiritual, and no more than the returning of
the .foul to the place whence it firft came (an opinion defended by
Ebn Sina s, and called by fome the opinion o f the philofophers6,) and
others, who allow man to confift o f body only, that it will be merely
corporeal.; the received opinion is, that both body and foul will be
raifed, and their doctors argue ftrenuoufly for the poffibility of the
refurredion of .the body, and difpute with great fubtilty concerning
the manner o f i t 7. But Mohammed has taken care to preforve one
part of the body, whatever becomes of the reft, to ferve for a balls
1 foe. obi fup. p. 247. * lb. p. '248. Confonant hereto are the JewiJb notions of the fouls
.of the juft being on high, under the throne of glory. V. Ib. p. 156. 3 Xb. p. 250. * A] BeidSwi
in Kor. c. 7Q. V. Poc. ubi fup. p. 252. .? Or, as we corruptly name him, Avianna. ‘ Kenz a!
MW- * y- Ppc. ubi fup. p. 2£4,
of
of the future edifice, or rather a leaven for the mafs which is to bis
joined to it; For he taught, that a man’s body was entirely-con-
fumed by the earth, except only the bone called al Ajb, which we
name the os coccygis, or rump-bone; and that as it was the firft formed
in the human body, it will alfo remain uncorrupted till the laft
day, as a-deed from whence the whole is to be renewed: and this he
laid would be effeded by a forty days rain which G od Ihould fend,
and' which would cover _the earth to the height of twelve cubits, and
caufe the bodies to fprout forth like plants '. Herein alfo is Mohammed
beholden to the Jews; who fay the fame things o f the bone
Luz I excepting that what he attributes to a great rain, will be effed-
ed according to them by a dew, impregnating the dull of. the earth.
The time of the refurredion the Mohammedans allow to be a perfed The figns
fecret to all but G od alone; the angel Gabriel himfelf acknowledg-
ing his ignorance in this point when Mohammed afked him about it.
However they fay the approach of that day may be known from certain
figns which are to precede it. Thefe figns they diftinguilh into
two forts, the leffer, and the greater; which I fhall briefly enumerate
afrer Dr. Pocock 3.
The leffer figns are, i. The decay of faith among men ■ k 2. The
advancing of the meaneft perfons to eminent dignity. 3. That a
maid-fervant fhall become the mother of her miftrefs (or mailer;) by
which is meant either that towards the end of the. world men fhall
be much given- to-fenfuality, or that the Mohammedans fhall then take
many captives. 4. Tumults and feditions. 5. A war with the Turks.
6. Great diftrefs in the world, fo that a man when he paffesby another’s
grave fhall fay, Would to G od Lwere in his place, 7 .'That
the provinces of Irak and Syria fhall refufe to pay their tribute.
And, 8. That the buildings o f Medina fhall reach to Ahdb, or Tahab.
The greater figns are,
■ r. The fun’s riling in the weft. Which fome have imagined is-
originally did s.
2. The appearance off the beaft, which fhall rife out o f the earth,
in the temple of Mecca, or on mount Safd, or in the territory of
Tdyef, or fome other place. This beaft they fay is to be fixty cubits
high; tho’ others not fatisfied with fo fmall a fize, will have her reach
to the clouds and to heaven when her head only is out; and that fhe
will appear for three days, but Ihew only a third part of her body».
1 Idem, ib. p. 255; &c; 1 Berefhit. rabbah, See. V. Poc. ubi fup. p. 117, &c. 3 Ibid, p, 258,
tfcj. ♦ Sec Luke, xviii. 8. 1 See Wbifloris Theory of the earth, Book 2, p.98, &ff.
They