1 Isaiah lxiv. 4; I Cor. ii. 9. 2 Cap. 10, &c. 3 Vide Poc. in not. ad Port. Mosis, p. 305. 4 Vide Reland, de Rel. Moh. l. 2, § 17. 5 Vide Gemar. Tânith, f. 25, Beracoth, f. 34, and Midrash sabboth, f. 37. 6 Megillah, Amkoth, p. 78. 7 Midrash, Yalkut Shemuni. 8 Gen. ii. 10, &c. 1 Midrash, Yalk. Shem. 2 Gemar. Bava Bathra. f. 78; Rashi, in Job i. 3 Vide Poc. not. in Port. Mosis, p. 298.
degrees of felicity,4 and say that the highest will be of those who perpetually contemplate the face of GOD.5 The Persian Magi had also an idea of the future happy estate of the good, very little different from that of Mohammed. Paradise they called Behisht, and Mînu, which signifies crystal, where they believe the righteous shall enjoy all manner of delights, and particularly the company of the Hurâni behisht, or black-eyed nymphs of paradise,6 the care of whom, they say, committed to the angel Zamiyâd;7 and hence Mohammed seems to have taken the first hint of his paradisiacal ladies. It is not improbable, however, but that he might have been obliged, in some respect, to the Christian accounts of the felicity of the good in the next life. As it is scarce possible to convey, especially to the apprehensions of the generality of mankind, an idea of spiritual pleasures without introducing sensible objects, the scriptures have been obliged to represent the celestial enjoyments by corporeal images; and to describe the mansion of the blessed as a glorious and magnificent city, built of gold and precious stones, with twelve gates; through the streets of which there runs a river of water of life, and having on either side the tree of life, which bears twelve sorts of fruits, and leaves of a healing virtue.8 Our Saviour likewise speaks of the future state of the blessed as of a kingdom where they shall eat and drink at his table.9 But then these descriptions have none of those puerile imaginations10 which reign throughout that of Mohammed, much less any the most distant intimation of sensual delights, which he was so fond of; on the contrary, we are expressly assured, that "in the resurrection they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be as the angels of GOD in heaven."11 Mohammed, however, to enhance the value of paradise with his Arabians, chose rather to imitate the indecency of the Magians than the modesty of the Christians in this particular, and lest his beatified Moslems should complain that anything was wanting, bestows on them wives, as well as the other comforts of life; judging, it is to be presumed, from his own inclinations, that like Panurgus's ass,1 they would think all the other enjoyments not worth their acceptance if they were to be debarred from this. Had Mohammed, after all, intimated to his followers, that what he had told them of paradise was to be taken, not literally, but in a metaphorical sense (as it is said the Magians do the description of Zoroaster's2), this might, perhaps make some atonement; but the contrary is so evident from the whole tenour of the Korân, that although some
4 Nishmat hayim, f. 32. 5 Midrash, Tehillim, fl. II. 6 Sadder, porta 5. 7 Hyde, de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 265. 8 Rev. xxi. 10, &c., and xxii. I, 2. 9 Luke xxii. 29, 30, &c. 10 I would not, however, undertake to defend all the Christian writers in this particular; witness that one passage of Irenæus, wherein he introduces a tradition of St. John that our LORD should say, "The days shall come, in which there shall be vines, which shall have each ten thousand branches, and every of those branches shall have ten thousand lesser branches, and every of these branches shall have ten thousand twigs, and every one of these twigs shall have ten thousand clusters of grapes, and in every one of these clusters there shall be ten thousand grapes, and every one of these grapes being pressed shall yield two hundred and seventy-five gallons of wine; and when a man shall take hold of one of these sacred bunches, another bunch shall cry out, I am a better bunch: take me, and bless the LORD by me," &c. Iren. l. 5, c. 33. 11 Matth. xxii. 30. 1 Vide Rabelais, Pantagr. l. 5, c. 7. A better authority than this might, however, be alleged in favour of Mohammed's judgment in this respect; I mean that of Plato, who is said to have proposed, in his ideal commonwealth, as the reward of valiant men and consummate soldiers, the kisses of boys and beauteous damsels. Vide Gell. Noct. Att. l. 18, c. 2. 2 Vide Hyde. de Rel. Vet. Pers. p. 266.
Mohammedans, whose understandings are too refined to admit such gross conceptions, look on their prophet's descriptions as parabolical, and are willing to receive them in an allegorical or spiritual acceptation,3 yet the general and orthodox doctrine is, that the whole is to be strictly believed in the obvious and literal acceptation; to prove which I need only urge the oath they exact from Christians (who they know abhor such fancies) when they would bind them in the most strong and sacred manner; for in such a case they make them swear that if they falsify their engagement, they will affirm that there will be black-eyed girls in the next world, and corporeal pleasures.4 Before we quite this subject it may not be improper to observe the falsehood of a vulgar imputation on the Mohammedans, who are by several writers5 reported to hold that women have no souls, or, if they have, that they will perish, like those of brute beasts, and will not be rewarded in the next life. But whatever may be the opinion of some ignorant people among them, it is certain that Mohammed had too great a respect for the fair sex to teach such a doctrine; and there are several passages in the Korân which affirm that women, in the next life, will not only be punished for their evil actions, but will also receive the rewards of their good deeds, as well as the men, and that in this case GOD will make no distinction of sexes.6 It is true, the general notion is, that they will not be admitted into the same abode as the men are, because their places will be supplied by the paradisiacal females (though some allow that a man will there also have the company of those who were his wives in this world, or at least such of them as he shall desire1); but that good women will go into a separate place of happiness, where they will enjoy all sorts of delights;2 but whether one of those delights will be the enjoyment of agreeable paramours created for them, to complete the economy of the Mohammedan system, is what I have nowhere found decided. One circumstance relating to these beatified females, conformable to what he had asserted of the men, he acquainted his followers with in the answer he returned to an old woman, who, desiring him to intercede with GOD that she might be admitted into paradise, he told her that no old woman would enter that place; which setting the poor woman a-crying, he explained himself by saying that GOD would then make her young again.3 The sixth great point of faith, which the Mohammedans are taught by the Korân to believe, is GOD'S absolute decree, and predestination both of good and evil. For the orthodox doctrine is, that whether it be bad, proceedeth entirely from the divine will, and is irrevocably fixed and recorded from all eternity in the preserved table;4 GOD having secretly predetermined not only the adverse and prosperous fortune of every person in this world, in the most minute particulars, but also his faith or infidelity, his obedience or disobedience, and con
3 Vide Eund. in not. ad Bobov. Lit. Turcar. p. 21. 4 Poc. ad Port. Mos. P. 305. 5 Hornbek, Sum. Contr. p. 16. Grelot, Voyage de Constant. p. 275. Ricaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire, l. 2, c. 21. 6 See Kor. c. 3, p. 52, c. 4, p. 67; and also c. 13, 16, 40, 48, 57, &c. Vide etiam Reland. de Rel. Moh. l. 2, § 18; and Hyde, in not. ad Bobov. de Visit. ægr. p. 21. 1 See before, p. 77. 2 Vide Chardin, Voy. tom. ii. p. 328, and Bayle, Dict. Hist. Art. Mahomet, Rem. Q. 3 See Kor. c. 56, and the notes there; and Gagnier. not. in Abulfeda Vit. Moh p. 145. 4 See before, p. 50.
sequently his everlasting happiness or misery after death; which fate or predestination it is not possible, by any foresight or wisdom, to avoid. Of this doctrine Mohammed makes great use in his Korân for the advancement of his designs; encouraging his followers to fight without fear, and even desperately, for the propagation of their faith, by representing to them that all their caution could not avert their inevitable destiny, or prolong their lives for a moment;5 and deterring them from disobeying or rejecting him as an impostor,