12. The demolition of the Caaba, or temple o f Mecca by the
Ethiopians'.
13. The fpeaking of hearts and inanimate things.
14. The breaking out of fire in the province of Hejdz ; or, according
to others, in Taman.
15. The appearance of a man of the defcendants of Kahtdn, who
lhall drive men before him with his ftaff.
16. The coming o f the Mohdi, or director ; concerning whom Mohammed
prophefied, that the world fhould not have an end till one
o f his own family fhould govern the Arabians, whofe name fhould
be the fame with his own name, and whofe father’s name fhould al-
fo be the fame with his father’s name; and who fhould fill the earth
with righteoufnefs. This perfon the Shiites believe to be now alive,
and concealed in fome fecret place, till the time of his manifeftation j
for they fuppofe him to be no other than the laft of the twelve
Imams, named Mohammed Abu Ikafim, as their prophet was, and the
‘ -fon of Hajfan al Askeri, the eleventh of that fucceffion. He was
born at Sermdnrai in the 255th year of the Hejra \ From this tradition,
it is to be prefumed, an opinion pretty current among the Cbri-
flians took its rife, that the Mohammedans are in expectation of their
prophet’s return. ,
17. A wind which lhall fweep away the fouls of all who have but a
grain of faith in their hearts, as has been mentioned under the tenth fign.
The three Thefe are the greater figns, which, according to their doCtrine^
the laft a r .e t0 Preced_e the refurreCtion, but ftill leave the hour of it uncer-
trumpet, tain: for the immediate fign of its being come, will be the firft blaft
effefe'ir of the trumPet 5 which they believe will be founded three times. The
firft they call the blaß i f conßemation-, at the hearing of which all
creatures in heaven, and earth lhall be ftruck with terror, except thofe
whom G o d fhall pleafe to exempt from it. The effects attributed to this
firft found o f the trumpet are very wonderful: for they fay, the earth
will be fhaken and not only all buildings, but the very mountains
levelled; that the heavens fhall melt, the fun be darkened, the ftars
fall, on the death of the angels, who, as fome imagine, hold them
fu.fpended between heaven and earth, and the fea fhall be troubled and
dried up, or, according to others, turned into flames, the fun, moon,
and ftars, being thrown into it; the. Koran, to exprefs the o-reat-
nefs of the terror, of that day, adds that women who give fuck fhall
abandon the care of their infants, and even the fhe camels which
1 feflion. . * V. D'Hcrbel. Bibl. Orient, p, j j *
have gone ten months with young (a moft valuable part o f the fub-
ftance of that nation) fhall be utterly neglected. A farther .effeCt of
this blaft will be that concourfe o f beafts mentioned in the Koran',
tho’ fome doubt whether it be to precede the refurreCtion or not.
They who fuppofe it will precede, think that all kinds o f animals
forgetting their refpeCtive natural5 fiercenefs and timidity, will run together
into one place, being terrified by the found of the trumpet
and the fudden fhock of nature.
The Mohammedans believe that this firft blaft, will be followed by
a fecond, which they call the blaß o f exanimation *; when all creatures
both in heaven and earth fhall die or be annihilated, except
thofe which G o d fhall pleafe to exempt from the common fate s;
and this, they fay, fhall happen in the twinkling o f an eye, nay in an
inftant; nothing furviving except G o d alone, with paradife and hell,
and the inhabitants of thofe two places, and the throne o f glory +.
The laft who fhall die, will be the angel o f death.
Forty years after this will be heard the blaß o f refurreSUon, when
the trumpet fhall be founded the third time by Ifrafil, who, together
with Gabriel and Michael, will be previoufly reftored to life, and
ftanding on the rock of the temple of Jerufalem % fhall at G o d ’s
command, call together all the dry and rotten bones, and other dif-
perfed parts o f the bodies, and the very hairs to judgment. This
angel having, by the divine order, fet the trumpet to his mouth, and
called together all the fouls from all parts, will throw them into his
trumpet, from whence, on his giving the laft found, at the command
of G o d , they will fly forth like bees, and fill the whole fpace between
heaven and earth, and then repair to their refpeCtive bodies, which
the opening earth will fuffer to arife; and the firft who fhall fo arife,
according to a tradition of Mohammed, will be himfelf. For this birth
the earth will be prepared by the rain above-mentioned, which is to
fall continually for forty years6, and will refemble the feed of a man,
and be fupplied from the water under the throne of G od, which is
called living water-, by-the efficacy and virtue of which the dead bo-
1 Chap. Si. 2 Several writers however make n6 diftin&ion beeween this blaft and the firft,
fuppoling- the trumpet will found but twice. See the notes to Kor. chap. 39; 3 Kor. chip. 39.
4 To thefe fome -add the fpirit who bears the waters on which the throne is placed, the preserved
Table^ wherein the decrees of G od are regiftred,. and the pen wherewith they are written;
all which things the Mohammedans imagine were created before the world. I In this circumftance
the Mohammedans followthe Jews, who alio agree that the trumpet will found more than once. V. R„>
Bechai in Biur hattorah, & Otioth Ihel R/Akiba. 6 El'fewhere (fee before, p. 79.) this rain is faid
to continue only forty days; but it rather feems that it is to fall during the whole interval between
the fecond and third blafts.