o f hell, which they fay is no broader than a thread; but then they
do not tell us that any lhall be obliged to pafs it, except the idolaters,
who will fall thence into perdition K
The Mo- As to the punilhment of the wicked, the Mohammedans are taught
fhflt. jie]j ;s divided into feven ftories, or apartments, one below ano-
hen,°and ther, defigned for the reception of as many diftincft claffes of 'the
its tor- damned \ The firft which they call Jehennam, they fay, will be the
Benti' receptacle of thofe who acknowledged one G od, that is, the wicked
Mohammedans., 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 Chrijlians;
the fourth, named al Sair, to the Sabians-, the fifth» named Sakar,
to the Magians -, the fixth, named al Jahim, to the idolaters;. and the
feventh which is the lowed: and wprft of all, and is called al Hdwiyat,
to the hypocrites, or thofe who outwardly profeffed fome religion, but
in their hearts were of none 5. Over each of thefe apartments they
believe there will be fet a guard o f angels +, nineteen in number 1 ;
to whom the damned will confefs the juft judgment o f G od, and
beg them to intercede with him for fome alleviation of their pain, or
that they may be delivered by being annihilated 6.
Mohammed has, in Inis Koran and traditions, been very exaft in defcribing
the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked
will differ both from intenfe heat and exceffive cold.. We fhall however
enter into no detail of them here, bat only obferve that the degrees
o f thele pains will alfo vary, in proportion to the crimes of the fuf-
ferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and that he who is punifhed
the moft lightly of all will be fhod with fhoes of fire, the fervor
o f which will caufe his fkull to boil like a cauldron. The condition
o f thefe unhappy wretches, as the fame prophet teaches, cannot be
properly called either life or death; and their mifery will be greatly
encreafed by their defpair of being ever delivered from that place, fince,
according to that frequent expreffion in the Koran, they mujl remain
therein fo r ever. It muft be remarked, however, that the infidels alone
I MidraOi, Yalkut Reuben), $. Gehinnom. 2 Kor. c. 15. 5 Others,fill thefe apartments
with different company. Some place in the fecond, the idolaters fin the third, Gog and Magog, lie.
Jn the fourth, the devils! in the fifth, thofe who negka alms and prayers ; and crowd the Jems,
Chrifliam, and Magians together in the fixth. Some again will have the firft to be prepared for the
Dabrians, or thofe who deny the creation, and believe the eternity of the world i the fecond, for
the Dstalijls, or Manicbees, and the idolatrous Arabs', rile third, for the Bramins of the Indies?the
fourth, for the Jems; the fifth, for the Cbriftians: and the filth, for the Magians. But all agree
in affigning the feventh to the hypocrites. V. Millium, de Mohammedifmo ante Moharil. p. 412.
D-’Heihel.. Bibl. Qrient.p. 368,. &c. * Kor. chap. 40, 43, 74, &c. 5 lb. c. 74. « lb. c. 40,, 43.
will be liable to eternity of damnation, for the Mojlems, or thofe
who have embraced the true religion, and have been guilty o f heinous
fins, will be delivered thence after they lhall have expiated their
crimes by their fufferings. The contrary of either of thefe opinions
is reckoned heretical; for it is the conftant orthodox doctrine
of the.Mohammedans that no unbeliever or idolater will ever
be releafed, nor any perfon who in his life-time profeffed and believed
the unity of G o D; be condemned to eternal punilhment. As tovthe
time and manner of the deliverance of thofe believers whofe evil actions
lhall outweigh their good, there is a tradition of Mohammed
that they lhall be releafed after they lhall have been fcorched and
their Ikins burnt black, and lhall afterwards be admitted into para-
dife; and when the inhabitants of that place lhall, in contempt, call
them infernals, G od will, on their prayers, take from them that opprobrious
appellation. Others fay he taught that while they continue
in hell, they lhall be deprived of life, or (as his words are o-
therwife interpreted) be call into a moft profound lleep, that they
may be the lefs fenfible of their torments; and that they lhall afterwards
be received into paradife, and there revive on their being walhed
with die water of life ; tho’ fome fuppofe they will be reftored to life
before they, come forth from their place of punilhment, that at their
bidding farewell to their pains, they may have fome little tall of them.
The time which thefe believers lhall be detained there, according to
a; tradition handed down from their prophet, will not be lefs than
poo years, nor more than 7000. And as to the manner of tHeir delivery,
they fay that they lhall be diftinguilhed by the marks o f pro-
ftration 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 charafteriftic, they will be releafed
by the mercy of G od, at the interceflion o f Mohammed and
the bleffed; whereupon thofe who lhall have been dead, will be reftored
to life, as has been faid; and thofe whofe bodies lhall have
contracted any footinefs or filth from the flames and fmoke of hell,
will be immerfed in one. o f the rivers of paradife, called the river
of life, which will walh them whiter than pearls '.
For moft of thefe circumftances relating to hell and the ftate of
the damned, Mohammed was likewife in all probability indebted to the
Je'dis, and in part to the Magians-, both of whom agree in making:
feven diftinCt apartments in hell % tho’ they vary in other parti-
1 Poc. Not. in Port. Mofis, p. 289— 291. 2 * Nifhmat hayira, f. 32,’ Gemar, in-Aruhin, f. 19.
Zohar. ad Exod. xxvi. 2, &c. & Hyde, de rel. vet. Perf. p. 243.