i to enhance' the value of paradife with his Arabians, chofe rather to
imitate the indecency of the Magians, than the modefty'of the Chri-
Jiians in this particular, and left his beatified Mo/lems ffiould complain
s. that any thing was wanting, beftows on them wives, as well as the
- other comforts of life; judging, it is to be prefumed, from his own
inclinations, that like Panurgus's a fs ', they would think all other enjoyments
not worth their acceptance if they were to be debarred from
• thi».H
ad Mohammed, after all, intimated to his followers, that what he
had told them of paradife was to be taken, not literally, but in a metaphorical
fenfe, (as it is faid the Magians do the delcription of Zoro-
ajires1) this might, perhaps, make fome atonement; but the contrary
is fo evident from the whole tenor of the Koran, that altho’ fome
Mohammedans, whofe underftandings are too refined to admit fuch
•grols conceptions, look on their prophet’s defcriptions as parabolical,
and are willing to receive them in an allegorical or fpiritual acceptation
3, yet the general and orthodox dodtrine is, that the whole is to
be ftridtly believed in the obvious and literal acceptation; to prove
which I ‘need only urge the oath they exadt from Chrijiians (who
they know abhor fuch fancies) when they would bind them in the
noft ftrong and facred manner ; for in fuch a cafe they make them
fwear that if they falfify their engagement, they will affirm that there
will be black-eyed girls in the next world, and corporeal pleafures +.
’Whether Before we quit this fubjedt, it may not be improper to obferve the
women falfehood. of a vulgar imputation on the Mohammedans, who are by
eluded feveral writers £ reported to hold that women have no fouls, or, if
l paradife. they have, that they will periffi, like thofe of brute beafts, and will not
be rewarded in the next life. But whatever may be the opinion of
fome ignorant people among them, it is certain that Mohammed had
too great a refpe.dt for the fair fex to teach fitch a dodtrine; and there
are feveral paflages in the Koran which affirm that women, in the
next life, will not only be punifhed for their evil adtions, but will alfo
receive the rewards of their good deeds, as well as the men, and
.that in this cafe G o d will make no diftindtion of fexes 6. It is true,
1 V. Rabelais, Pantagr. 1. 5. c. 7. A better authority than this might however be alledged.in fa-
• vour of Mohammed's judgment in this refpeft; Lmean that of Plato, who is faid to have propofed,
in his ideal common-wealth, as the reward of valiant men and confummnte foldiers, the kifles of
hoys and beauteous damfels. V. Gell. Noft. Att. 1. 18. c. 2. 2 V. Hyde, de rel. vet. Perf. p.
266. 3 V. Eund. in not ad Bobov. Lit. Turcar. p. 21. 4 Poc. ad port. Mof. p. 30c. * Hoinbek,
Sum. Contr. p. 16. Grelot, Voyage de Conftant. p. 275. Ricaufs Prefent ftate or the Ottoman
• empire, 1. 2. c. 21. 6 See Kor. c. 3. p. 58. c. 4. p. 76. And alfo c.’ 13, 16, 40, 48, 57, V.
vctiam Reland. de.ReLMoh. 1. 2. §. 18.-& Hyde, iu.not. ad Bobov, de Viiit. agr. p. 21.
the general notion is, that they will DQf be admitted into the fame
abode as the men are, becaufe their places w ill be fupplied by the
naradifiacal females, (tho’ fome allow that a man w ill there alfo have
the company o f thofe who were his wives in this world, or at leaft
fuch o f them as he ffiall defire '; ) but that good women will go into a
feparate place o f happinefs, where they w ill enjoy all forts o f delights 2;
but whether one o f thofe delights will be the enjoyment o f agreeable
paramours Created for them, to compleat the deconomy o f the Mohammedan
fyftem, is w h at I have no where found decided. One circum-
ftance relating to thefe beatified females, conformable to what he had
nfferted o f the men, he acquainted his followers w ith in the anfwer
he returned to an old w om a n ; w h o defiring him to intercede with
G o d , that ffie m ight be admitted into paradife, he told her that no
old woman would enter that p la c e ;.w h ic h fetting the poor woman a
crying, he explained h im felf by faying, that G o d would then make
her young again 3.,
The fixth- great point o f faith, which the Mohammedans are taught
by the Koran to believe,, is G o d ’s abfolute decree, and predeftination
both of good and evil.!. For the orthodox dodtrine is, that whatever
hath or ffiall come to pafs in this world, whether it he good, or whether
it be bad, proceeded* entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably
fixed and recorded/ from all eternity in the preferred table 4 *;
G o d having fecretly predetermined not only the adyprfe and prof-
perouS fortune of every perfon in this .world, in the moft minute particulars,
but alfo his faith or infidelity, his obedience or djfobedience,
and confequently his everlafting happinefs or mifery after death;,
which fate or predeftination it is not poffible, by any forefight or
wifdom, to avoid.
O f this dodtrine Mohammed makes great ufe in his Koran for the
advancement o f his defigns; encouraging his followers to fight w ith out
fear, and even defperately, fo r the propagation o f their faith, b y
reprefenting to them that all their caution could not avert their inevitable
deftiny, or prolong their lives for a moment and deterring
them from difobeying or rejecting him as an impoftor, by fetting before
them the danger they might thereby incur o f being, by the ju ft
judgment o f G o d , abandoned to fedudtion, hardnefs o f heart, and a
reprobate mind, as a puniffiment for their obftinacy 6.
1 See before, p. 98. * V. Chardin, Voy. Tom. 2. p. 328. & Bayle, Dift. Hift. Art. Maho«
met, Rem. 3 See. .fora», c. 56, and the notes.there. & Gagnier, npt. in Abulftda: vit.. Moh.
p.145. . 4 See before, p. 64. fi Kor. c. 3. p. 52, 54. and c. 4. p. 70,.fetor....': c. 4. p ..’
67, and. 79. And c. 2. p. 2, & a paffim.
As.