Chapter V: of this “Historia Arabum,” which is entitled “De sublimatione (2)

In the end we find that it is that perennial source of poetry and spirituality, the Divine religion of Christ, that furnishes the real key to the genesis of Dante’s poem and its precursors, both Christian and Moslem. For Islam, be it once more said, is but the bastard offspring of the Gospel and the Mosaic Law, part of whose doctrines on the after-life it adopted. Lacking the restraining influence of an infallible authority whereby the fancy of its believers might have been checked, it assimilated elements from other Eastern sources and thus came to deck and overlay with all the trappings of Oriental fancy the sober picture of the life beyond the grave that is outlined in the Gospel. Dante could, without altering the essence of Christian teaching on that life, draw for the purposes of his poem on the artistic features furnished by the Moslem legends. In so doing he was but reclaiming for Christianity property that was by rights its own, heirlooms that had lain hidden in the religious lore of the East until restored to the stock of Western culture greatly enhanced by the imaginative genius of Islam.

FOOTNOTES

[1] ASÍN PALACIOS has published this summary, under the title of _Historia crítica de una polémica_, simultaneously in four reviews: _Boletín de la Real Academia Española_ (Madrid, 1924); _Il Giornale Dantesco_ (Florence, 1924); _Revue de littérature comparée_ (Paris, 1924); _Litteris_ (Lund, Sweden, 1924).

[2] ASÍN, _Abenmasarra_, p. 120. The complete bibliography of all books consulted will be found in the Appendix.

[3] When making this assertion I was unaware of the works published two years before in Italian reviews by the erudite Dante critic, Bruno Nardi, the first and only writer to attribute a neo-Platonic affiliation to the philosophy of the Florentine poet. We shall refer to the works of Nardi in Part IV, chap. IV, § 7.

[4] Cf. ASÍN, _Abenmasarra_, p. 163.

[5] When writing the third part of my book, dealing with the Moslem elements in the pre-Dante Christian legends, I discovered from TORRACA (_Precursori_, 331) that the influence of the Mahometan ascension over Dante had previously been suspected by Blochet. But, Blochet, in his essay, _Les sources orientales de la Divine Comédie_, failed to state the problem in its real terms and his hypothesis, being unsupported by documentary evidence, remained a mere surmise. Accordingly, Torraca easily disposes of it, saying:—

“Egli ragiona così; Dante conobbe le narrazioni occidentali di altri viaggi al mondo di là; ma queste narrazioni derivano dalla leggenda orientale (i.e. the _Miraj_); dunque essa è la fonte prima della Divina Commedia.”

The difference between this argument and the one on which the present work is based will be readily apparent to the reader.

[6] OZANAM, p. 373.

[7] OZANAM, p. 498 _et seq._

[8] D’ANCONA, _Precursori_, pp. 108 and 113.

[9] Reference to the Divine Comedy will be omitted when the resemblance is one that affects the whole of a scene spread over several pages. For such the reader may consult any of the summaries of Dante’s poem.

[10] _Inf._ I; _Purg._ IV.

[11] _Inf._ III, 26, 28.

[12] Of Version B there are four varieties which, to avoid repetition, are here reduced to one by the elimination of details common to A and B.

[13] _Inf._ V, 4 _et seq._

[14] _Inf._ XXXIV, 114; _Purg._ II, 3.

[15] See Rossi, I, 146, who summarises the _contrapasso_ in the Divine Comedy, and compare with the tortures described in Versions A and B.

[16] _Inf._ V, 31 _et seq._ It should be added that, at the approach to this region, Dante, like Mahomet in Version B, hears the cries of the damned (Ibid. 25 _et seq._).

[17] _Inf._ XII, 46 _et seq._ The coincidence may extend to the crime, for the Arabic text of Version B reads: “those who ate of usury,” while Dante says literally (_Inf._ XII, 104) that “Ei son tiranni, che dier nel sangue e _nell’aver di piglio_.”

[18] _Inf._ XIV and XV.

[19] _Purg._ XXXI, 102. Cf. _Purg._ XXXIII, 138.

[20] Cf. _Koran_, LII, 4.

[21] _Koran_, LIII, 14.

[22] Cf. ROSSI, I, 140, 142, 143; FRATICELLI, 47, n. 8 and PORENA, p. 9.

[23] _Inf._ III, 82-100; V, 4-24.

[24] _Inf._ VII, 1-15.

[25] _Inf._ VIII, 13-24; 82 _et seq._

[26] _Inf._ IX, 79-106.

[27] _Inf._ XII, 11-27.

[28] _Inf._ XXI, 58 _et seq._

[29] _Inf._ III, 133-4.

[30] _Inf._ VIII, 67-75.

[31] _Inf._ IX, 109 _et seq._

[32] _Inf._ VI, 13-33; XXIV, 82 _et seq._; XXV, _passim_.

[33] _Inf._ XXX, 49-57; 81-84; 102; 106-7; 119; 123.

[34] _Inf._ XXIX, 79-87.

[35] _Inf._ XXI, _passim_.

[36] _Inf._ XXVIII, 22-42.

[37] The cock was to some extent revered by the primitive Moslems. Its crowing at dawn announced the time for prayer, and the more pious among the masses were wont to set to its notes words exhorting the faithful to pray. This might have given rise to the belief that the crowing of all the cocks on earth could only be simultaneous by being the echo of the crowing of a celestial cock. Some _hadiths_ indeed attribute an angelic nature to this heavenly cock. Cf. DAMIRI, I, 388-9.

[38] _Koran_, CVIII, 1.

[39] _Koran_, XIII, 28.

[40] See my work, _Abenmasarra_, ch. IV, V and VIII.

[41] Cf. ROSSI, I, 165, 168.

[42] To quote all these passages would be tantamount to writing out the entire _Paradiso_. See mainly Cantos V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVIII, XXII, XXIII, and XXVII-XXXIII.

[43] Compare chiefly the following passages of the _Paradiso_: VII, 1-6; X, 139-144; VIII, 28-31; XII, 7-9, 22-30; XIV, 118-126; XX, 73-75, 142-144; XXI, 139-142; XXIV, 112-114; XXV, 97-99, 130-135; XXVI, 67-69; XXVIII, 94-96; XXXII, 94-99, 133-135.

[44] _Par._ II, 23-24; V, 91-92.

[45] _Par._ VIII, 22-24; XXII, 99.

[46] _Par._ I, 4-9; X, 43-47; XXIII, 55-59; XXX, 19-22; XXXI, 136-138; XXXIII, 55-56, 106.

[47] _Par._ XXXIII, 90, 121-3, 139, 142.

[48] _Par._ III, 128-9.

[49] _Par._ XIV, 77-8; 82.

[50] _Par._ XXV, 118-121.

[51] The quotations on this and the following pages are from the English version by the Rev. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A., “The Temple Classics.” Edit. J. M. Dent, London.

[52] _Par._ XXIII, 28-33.

[53] _Par._ XXIII, 76-84; 118-9.

[54] _Par._ XXVIII, 16-18; XXIX, 8-9.

[55] _Par._ XXX, 46-51.

[56] _Par._ XXX, 55-60.

[57] _Par._ XXXIII, 52-54; 76-84.

[58] _Par._ X, 52-54. Cf. _Par._ II, 29-30.

[59] _Par._ XXXI, XXXIII.

[60] _Par._ XXXI, 58-60.

[61] _Par._ XXIII, 94 _et seq._

[62] _Par._ XXVIII, 94, 98-101, 118-120.

[63] _Par._ XVIII-XX.

[64] _Par._ XVIII, 100-101; 103-108. XIX, 1-6; 34-35; 37-39; 95-97. XX, 73-74. XVIII, 76-77; 85-86; 91, 93. XIX, 10-12; 20-21.

[65] _Par._ XXXI, 13-15.

[66] _Par._ XXII, 133-135; 148-153.

[67] _Par._ XXVIII, 16-18; 25-34; 89-93. XXX, 100-105.

[68] _Par._ XXXIII, 57-63; 93-94; 97-99.

[69] VOSSLER, II, 216.

[70] _Ibid._, 211.

[71] _Purg._ XIX, 7-36; 55-60.

[72] The fable of Ulysses and the syrens.

[73] Cf. FRATICELLI, 310, n. 7. LANDINO, fol. 269. SCARTAZZINI, 536 and 539.

[74] In Moslem oneirology the vision, seen in a dream, of a woman, a prostitute with naked arms, is interpreted as a symbol of the world.

[75] _Purg._ I, 94-99; 124-9.

[76] _Purg._ XXXI, 100-103. XXXIII, 127-129; 142-145.

[77] VICTOR CHAUVIN has compiled a complete list of the biographies of Mahomet in his _Bibliographie des ouvrages arabes ou relatifs aux Arabes_, IX, _passim_. For the special literature of the _Miraj_ v. ibidem, X, 206-8.

[78] Cf. BROCKELMANN, I, 196.

[79] Reference to the works quoted by CHAUVIN shows that of the better-known treatises on the _Miraj_ one is of the 10th century, another of the 13th, two of the 14th, one of the 15th, four of the 16th, two of the 17th, four of the 18th, and one of the 19th. As in all literatures, the more modern drive the older treatises out of circulation. Thus the treatise on the _Miraj_, now printed in Cairo in preference to all others, is that of Ghiti (16th century), which is sometimes published with the glosses of Dardir (18th century). For the purposes of the present work, in addition to the two printed treatises, others as yet unedited and contained in the Gayangos Collection have been consulted, viz. MS 105, fol. 70-93 (16th century), cf. BROCK, II, 304; fol. 94-166 (17th century), cf. BROCK, II, 317; fol. 211-250, dated 1089 Heg.

[80] Indeed, the authors of these works invariably, by the testimony of the oldest traditionists and companions of the Prophet, seek to establish the authenticity of these episodes. The author of the first treatise in MS 105, quoted above (see p. 39, footnote 3), gives in the form of an appendix (fol. 92, recto) a complete list of the thirty-eight companions of the Prophet who are supposed to have narrated the _Miraj_ in whole or in part.

[81] The episodes are taken from the printed and unedited treatises mentioned above. Reference to the actual passages will be made in each case.

[82] Cf. GHITI, 41, and DARDIR, 7. Also MS 105, Gayangos Collection, fol. 120.

[83] _Inf._ XXI, 22-33; 58-105.

[84] GHITI, 44, and DARDIR, 14. Likewise MS 105 of the Gayangos Collection, fol. 123 and 232 vᵒ.

[85] _Par._ XXI, 28-33; 136-7; XXII, 68-9; 100-111.

[86] GHITI, 44 _et seq._; DARDIR, 14 _et seq._

[87] MS 105 Gayangos Coll. fol. 124 vᵒ, line 7.

[88] _Ibid._, fol. 126 vᵒ.

[89] _Ibid._, fol. 127 vᵒ.

[90] _Ibid._, fol. 232 vᵒ.

[91] _Kanz_, VI, 293, No. 5,079.

[92] MS 64 Gayangos Coll. fol. 115 vᵒ.

[93] TABARI, _Tafsir_, XV, 12.

[94] One detail in the description calls for mention. Over the gate of paradise Mahomet sees an inscription extolling the virtues of almsgiving and lending free of interest (GHITI, 86, and DARDIR, 20). It will be remembered that in the version of Cycle 3 Mahomet hears a voice from hell describing the torments prepared and calling upon God to deliver up the sinners. In addition, there is the inscription branded on the forehead of the sodomite and the murderer in the Moslem hell, saying that they have “despaired of God’s mercy” (_Corra_, 31, and _Kanz_, VII, 2,086, No. 3,173), which is similar to the “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.” If Dante was indeed acquainted with these features, it would be easy for him to combine and embody them in his inscription over the gate of hell; for the spiritual conception of his paradise precluded all idea of material gates and inscriptions.

[95] Cf. MS 105 of the Gayangos Coll., fols. 216, 218, 223 vᵒ, 225, 245 and 246, in which fragments in rhymed prose and verse are inserted dealing with the _Miraj_.

[96] _Tadhkira_, 18, and IBN MAKHLUF, I, 51-52. The examination to which the soul is subjected in each heaven in this legend may be compared with Dante’s catechism on the three theological virtues in the eighth heaven (_Par._ XXIV-XXVI). Noteworthy also is the close relation between each heaven and a corresponding virtue peculiar to the souls that succeed in ascending to it; this is what characterises the moral structure of Dante’s paradise. Cf. ROSSI, I, 147.

[97] _Minhaj_ of Algazel, p. 69.

[98] This presumption on the part of the Sufis was regarded as a sin against the faith. Proof of this is furnished (in _Al-Yawaqit_, II, 174) by Ash-Sharani’s denunciation of the Murcian Ibn Arabi who claimed to have visited heaven and hell. Such arrogance may be explained by the Sufi doctrine which admits of the possibility of the saint’s acquiring the dignity of a prophet. Cf. ASÍN, _Abenmasarra_, 82.

[99] Cf. _Tafsir_ of QUMMI, XV, 6. Other Sufi interpreters account for the inclusion of the _Miraj_ in the Divine Scheme by the necessity of Mahomet’s being able to explain the mysteries of the after-life with the authority of one who had been an eye-witness. Cf. MS 105 Gayangos Coll., fol. 213; also AL-HORAYFISH, 104.

[100] Cf. MS 105, fol. 214, line 2 inf.

[101] Avicenna, in his _Risala at-tayr_, pp. 26-32, adapts the _Miraj_ to the flight of birds, symbolising the exaltation of the souls of sinners which, having cast off all worldly ties, fly towards God over eight mountains towering one above the other.

[102] Cf. ASÍN, _Abenmasarra_, 110-115, where other works by the author and his master Ribera on the life and system of Ibn Arabi are quoted.

[103] Extant at the Kgl. Bibliothek, Berlin (Nos. 2,901/2) and at Vienna (No. 1,908), according to BROCKELMANN, I, 443, No. 16. Another copy is in the possession of the author, to whom it was presented by his learned friend Hassen Husny Abdul-Wahab, Professor of History at the Khalduniya of Tunis. The _Book of the Nocturnal Journey_ comprises 108 folios, of which the greater part is commentary. In the prologue, Ibn Arabi states that the theme is a _Miraj_ of the soul written both in verse and prose and in a style combining allegory with literal fact. He begins by saying: “I set out from the land of Alandalus (Spain) in the direction of Jerusalem my steed the faith of Islam, with asceticism as my bed and abnegation as provision for the journey.” He meets a youth of spiritual nature, sent from on high to act as his guide; but in the Ascension from Jerusalem is guided by another, “the envoy of Divine Grace,” with whom he ascends through the celestial spheres into the presence of God.

[104] Similar allegorical and mystical adaptations of the _Miraj_ recur in several of the lesser works of Ibn Arabi. In the _Futuhat_, III, 447-465, he devotes a whole chapter, No. 367, to this subject of the _Miraj_. It contains a brief mystical commentary on the legend of the Prophet; an adaptation of the legend to the Ascensions or spiritual raptures of the Sufis and saints; and a long _Miraj_, in which the author, following the same route as Mahomet, is supposed to have risen to the heavens and to have conversed at length on theological and mystical subjects with all the prophets.

[105] In his _Epistola a Can Grande della Scala_ (_Opere minori_, III, epist. XI, No. 7, p. 514).

[106] Cf. _Monarchia_ (_Opere Minori_, II, 404). Likewise FRATICELLI, pp. 28-31 of Preface to his edition of the Divine Comedy. Also ROSSI, I, 152-157.

[107] _Futuhat_, II, Chap. 167, pp. 356-375. The allegory of the Ascension proper begins on p. 360.

[108] Note the interest this prologue offers for the allegorical interpretation of the prologue to the Divine Comedy.

[109] For the value of these symbols in Ibn Arabi’s system, cf. the author’s _Abenmasarra_, p. 111, _et seq._

[110] The close relation existing between this allegory and that of Ibn Tufayl in his _Self-taught Philosopher_ or _Epistle of Hayy ibn Yaqzan_ is noteworthy.

[111] ROSSI, I, 151.

[112] ROSSI, I, 147.

[113] Ibn Arabi adheres to the astrological principle much more closely than Dante, with whom he disagrees on the relationship between each sphere and its inhabitants.

[114] It is precisely on account of the abstruseness of these discourses that the analysis of the allegory, which is of extraordinary length, has been curtailed above. Ideas from all branches of philosophical and theological lore are developed in them, and allusions are made to the cabbala of numbers and letters, to magic, astrology, alchemy and other occult sciences. In short, Ibn Arabi endeavoured to introduce into his allegory, as Dante did later into his poem, the whole encyclopædia of his age. A precedent for the literary device of the discourses is provided by versions of the _Miraj_, in which, as has been seen, theological discussions are attributed to the prophets and Gabriel.

[115] Abu-l-Ala Ahmed, the son of Abd Allah al-Maarri, was born at Maarrat Alnoman, a village in Syria lying between Hama and Aleppo, in 973 A.D. At the age of four he lost his eyesight as the result of an attack of smallpox; nevertheless his powers were so brilliant that under the sole direction of his father he soon acquired vast learning in the domain of Arabic philology and literature. By intercourse with philosophers he added to his culture and sharpened his critical faculties. After residing only one year at Baghdad, the centre of learning and literature of his time, he returned at the age of thirty-five to his native village, where he died in 1057 A.D. Apart from poetry, he wrote mainly critical works on the Arabic classics. Influenced by Indian philosophical thought, he certainly appears to have been a free-thinker. Cfr. BROCKELMANN, I, 254. Also YAQUT’S Dictionary, pp. 162 _et seq._ ASÍN, _Algazel, Dogmática_, pp. 110 _et seq._

[116] Nicholson described and translated fragments in the JRAS of 1900 to 1902. Cfr. also NICHOLSON, _Hist._ pp. 313-324. The _Risala_ really consists of two parts; the first, to p. 118, contains the miraculous journey to the realms beyond the grave; the second is a piece of literary criticism on the verses and ideas of certain poets who were reputed to be free-thinkers or atheists.

[117] Abu-l-Hasan Ali, the son of Mansur, known as Ibn al-Qarih, was born at Aleppo in 962 and died at Mosul sometime after 1030. A professor of literature in Syria and Egypt, he was also a mediocre poet, cf. YAQUT’S Dictionary, VI, 5, p. 424. Ibn al-Qarih’s epistle, to which the _Risala_ is a reply, has not been preserved.

[118] For particulars about the writers named in the _Risala_ the general reader should consult the histories of Arabic literature by NICHOLSON, BROCKELMANN, or HUART.

[119] One of the poets he consults begs to be excused on the plea that he lost all memory of his poetry in the fright he received at the time of Judgment, when he was in imminent danger of falling into hell. The traveller takes this opportunity to relate his adventures prior to entering paradise. The story is told with so fine an irony, that the reader is continually in doubt as to whether it is to be taken seriously or not. For, after depicting in vivid colours the severity of the Judge and the terror of the souls condemned to fire, the traveller proceeds to relate the artful dodges by which he managed to escape his due reward and enter heaven. After a vain endeavour to suborn the angels at the gates, he appealed to Hamza, an uncle of Mahomet, who referred him to Ali; the latter demands the certificate proving his repentance and this the traveller remembers he must have dropped in the confusion of the judgment scenes when called upon to intercede in favour of a literary master. In vain he offers to provide witnesses in place of the missing document, and he is on the point of being dragged off to hell, when he espies Fatima, the daughter of Mahomet, approaching in a brilliant procession accompanied by Khadija, the Prophet’s spouse and his sons, mounted on steeds of light. Fatima allows him to seize her stirrup and he is carried to the bridge leading to the celestial mansions; this he crosses riding on the back of one of her maidens. A final obstacle remains to be overcome on the other side; the angel janitor refuses to admit him without a ticket, but one of Mahomet’s sons intervenes and drags him inside paradise.

[120] Some of the many miracles attributed to Mahomet consist in his making animals, such as the ass, goat, gazelle and particularly the wolf, preach his Divine mission to the Arabs.

[121] The main differences may here be briefly stated. Naturalism is so pronounced a feature of this journey that at times the imitation sinks to the level of a mere parody of the Mahometan ascension; and, in this respect it clearly bears no resemblance to the Divine Comedy, the solemn earnestness of which is only very rarely interrupted by an introduction of the burlesque element. Nor is there any resemblance in the architecture of the realms, for Abu-l-Ala’s journey is practically effected on one plane and, though hell is laid at the bottom of a volcano, the traveller does not visit its mansions. Other fundamental differences are that the protagonist is not the author of the story; the order of the realms is inversed, heaven being described before hell; and, finally, the story begins _in medias res_, for the incidents of his entrance into heaven are told by the traveller in the course of conversation with the poets he meets in paradise.

[122] Cf. ROSSI, I, 163, 164, 166, 167.

[123] _Inf._ XV.

[124] _Purg._ II.

[125] _Purg._ VI-VIII.

[126] _Purg._ XI.

[127] _Purg._ XXI-XXIII.

[128] _Purg._ XXIV.

[129] _Purg._ XXVI.

[130] _Inf._ IV.

[131] _Purg._ I.

[132] _Par._ X.

[133] _Par._ XX. Cf. _Par._ IX, 31-6, where Cunizza, famous rather for her amorous adventures than her penitence, is placed in heaven.

[134] Cf. ROSSI, I, 163.

[135] _Purg._ V, 133; _Par._ III, 49; IX, 32.

[136] Cf. FRATICELLI, _Della prima e principale allegoria del poema di Dante_ (in _La Divina Commedia_), pp. 18-27. For the bibliography on this point see ROSSI, I, 173.

[137] VOSSLER, II, 169, quotes Jeremiah V, 5, in which the lion, wolf, and leopard are mentioned; but in the story of the Moslem journey the analogy is more complete, for a wolf and a lion are mentioned as _barring the pilgrim’s path to hell_.

[138] Cf. FRANÇOIS MARTIN, _Le Livre d’Henoch_; EUGÈNE TISSERANT, _Ascension d’Isaie_; R. CHARLES, _The Assumption of Moses_; R. CHARLES, _The Apocalypse of Baruch_. For the Judæo-Christian origin of these legends Cf. BATIFFOL, _Anciennes Littératures chrétiennes; La Littérature grecque_, p. 56. HIRSCHFELD, in his _Researches into ... the Qurân_, p. 67, note 64, quotes a rabbinical legend of a journey through hell and paradise and points out certain analogies to a _hadith_ of Bukhari. For the influence of the Persian ascension of Ardâ Virâf, see BLOCHET, _L’Ascension au ciel du prophète Mohammed_, and prior to BLOCHET, CLAIR-TISDALL in _The sources of Islam_, 76-81. Cf. MODI, _Dante papers; Virâf, Adaaman and Dante_, a work I have not been able to consult.

[139] The festivity of the _Miraj_ is celebrated on the 27th day of the month of _Recheb_, the seventh of the Moslem calendar. At Constantinople the Sultan attended with his court at the services held at night in the mosque of the Seraglio. LANE, on p. 430 of his book, _An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians_, describes the processions and festivals held in honour of the _Miraj_ at Cairo. Throughout Morocco, the _Miraj_ is celebrated in the same manner; it is a day of fast and almsgiving for the stricter Moslems, and the Government offices are closed.

[140] _Ihia_, IV, 17-23. Cf. _Ithaf_, VIII, 548 _et seq._

[141] Cf. _De Haeresibus_ (_Opera Omnia_), Paris, vol. I, 110-115, No. 100.

[142] Cf. _Qistas_, p. 60: “Should someone say to thee, ‘Say that there is but one God and that Jesus is His Prophet,’ thy mind would instinctively reject the statement as being proper to a Christian only. But that would but be because thou hast not sufficient understanding to grasp that the statement in itself is true and that _no reproach can be made to the Christian, for this article of his faith, nor for any of the other articles_, save only those two—that God is the third of three, and that Mahomet is not a prophet of God. _Apart from these two all the other articles (of the Christian faith) are true._” For the influence of Christianity on Islam, and particularly on Algazel, cf. ASÍN, _La mystique d’Al-Gazzali_, pp. 67-104, and _Abenmasarra_, pp. 12-16.

[143] _Inf._ IV, 45.

[144] Cf. PETAVIUS, _Dogm. Theolog._ IV (Pars sec.) lib. 3, cap. 18, § 5. The texts DUCANGE refers to in his _Glossarium_ (s.v.) are later than the twelfth century. St. Thomas in the _Summa theologica_ (pars 3, q. 52) calls the limbo of the Patriarchs _infernus_ and _sinus Abrahae_, but in the _Supplementum tertiae partis_ (q. 69) he already adopts the name _limbus_.

[145] _Inf._ III, 34.

[146] _Inf._ III, 38.

[147] _Inf._ IV, 106, 110, 116.

[148] _Inf._ IV, 28, _et seq._

[149] _Inf._ IV, 28, 42, 45. Cf. _Inf._ II, 52.

[150] _Inf._ II, 53, 75.

[151] Cf. St. Thomas, _Summa Theol._ pars 3, q. 52, and _Supplementum_, q. 69. PERRONE, in his _Praelectiones theol._, II, 157, says of the limbo: “Reliqua autem, quae spectant sive ad hunc inferni locum, sive ad poenarum disparitatem ... fidem nullo modo attingunt, cum nullum de his Ecclesiae decretum existat.”

[152] _Tacholarus_, VI, 194, s.v. _Ithaf_, VIII, 564. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, II, 90. Cf. FREYTAG, _Lexicon_, and LANE, _Lexicon_, s.v.

[153] The theological meaning of the word Al Aaraf may be derived from the eschatology of St. Ephrem (_id._ 373), who divided the celestial paradise into the summit, slopes and _border_; in the latter penitent sinners who have been pardoned dwell until the Day of Judgment, when they will ascend to the summit. Cf. TIXERONT, _Hist. des dogmes_, II, 220.

[154] Cf. _Futuhat_, I, 416; III, 567, 577. _Tadhkira_, 88.

[155] _Koran_, VII, 44. Cf. _Ithaf_, VIII, 565; _Kanz_, VII, 213, No. 2,312. The Koran here refers to the dwellers in the limbo and not, as Kasimirski has it on p. 122 of his French translation, to _les réprouvés._ Cf. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, II, 91; also _Tafsir_ of AL-NASAFI and FIRUZABADI in _Tafsir_ of Ibn Abbas, I, 102.

[156] Compare the passages quoted above of the _Ithaf_ and the _Tafsir_ of KHAZIN with _Inf._ II, 52, and IV, 45.

[157] Other less striking features of resemblance might be quoted. Thus the crowd running behind the flag in the Ante-inferno (_Inf._ III, 52) is reminiscent of many Moslem tales of the Day of Judgment, which depict groups led by standard-bearers.

Thus, Moslems will be led by Mahomet bearing the banner of the Glory of God. The prophet Xoaib with a white banner will lead the blessed that are blind; Job, with a green banner, the patient lepers; Joseph, likewise with a green banner, the chaste youths; Aaron, with a yellow banner, the true friends who loved each other in God; Noah, with a many-coloured banner, the god-fearing; John, with a yellow banner, the martyrs; Jesus will be the standard-bearer of the poor in spirit; Solomon, of the rich; the pre-Islamic poet Imru-l-Qays will be the ensign of the poets in hell; and the traitor will bear a banner of shame. Cf. IBN MAKHLUF, I, 154, and II, 8 and 14.

As to the swarms of wasps and flies that plague the inhabitants of the Ante-inferno, the Moslem hell is depicted as “swarming with insects of all kinds, except bees.” Cf. _Al-Laali_, II, 245.

[158] Cf. LANDINO, on the 14th page of the preliminary study.

[159] ROSSI, I, 139-140. Cf. D’ANCONA, _Precursori_, 28-31, 36, _and passim_.

[160] VOSSLER, I, 21.

[161] It is difficult to account for his silence on this point, for evidently any influence the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Phœnicians may have exercised over the Divine Comedy must have been more remote; yet he devotes a separate paragraph to each of these peoples and not a single line to Islam.

[162] Cf. CHANTEPIE, _Hist. des rel._ Reference to the quotations in the index, s.v. _Enfer_, will show that the Moslem hell is superior to all others in wealth of descriptive detail.

[163] Cf. KASIMIRSKI’S translation of the Koran, p. 122, footnote and refer to the index, s.v. _Enfer_.

[164] Cf. _Kanz_, VII, 244, Nos. 2,756 to 2,791.

[165] Cf. ROSSI, I, 140, and see the general plan _Figura universale della D.C._ in FRATICELLI, p. 402. For the Moslem traditions cf. _Kanz_, VI, 102, Nos. 1, 538; 1,546 and 1,601; and VII, 277, Nos. 3,076/7. The belief that the mouth of hell is situated beneath Jerusalem is still held in Islam, for the Moslems believe that below the subterranean chamber underneath the present Mosque or dome of the rock (_Qubbat al-sakhra_) standing in the precincts of the Temple, lies the pit of the souls (_Bir al-arwah_).

[166] This metaphorical interpretation is not justified on philological grounds, for the Arabic lexicons only give the following indirect meanings:—chapter; sum of a calculation; mode, category or condition, etc. LANE in his _Lexicon_ (I, 272), however, suggests that in Egypt the word was applied to a sepulchral chamber, or cave in a mountain, and was derived from the Coptic “bib.”

[167] _Kanz_, VIII, 278, No. 3,079.

[168] Cf. _Kanz_, _ibid._ No. 3,078. Also TABARI, _Tafsir_, XIV, 25, and KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, III, 96. Cf. also MS 234, Gayangos Coll., fol. 100 vᵒ.

“Ibn Abbas says that hell is formed of seven floors, separated one from another by a distance of five hundred years.”

In other _hadiths_ the words _gate_, _floor_, and _step_ are replaced by the word _pit_. Cf. _Kanz_, III, 263, No. 4,235.

[169] A collection of _hadiths_ dealing with this division into seven may be found in _Qisas_, 4-11; on p. 7 is a _hadith_ by Wahb ibn Munabbih, which says:—

“Of almost all things there are seven—seven are the heavens, the earths, the mountains, the seas ... the days of the week, the planets ... the gates and floors of hell....”

[170] Cf. ROSSI, I, 141.

[171] _Hadith_ of Ibn Jurayj in KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, III, 96-97. Cf. MS 64 Gayangos Coll., fol. 22.

[172] THAALABI, _Qisas_, 4. Cf. _Kanz_, III, 218, No. 3,407. Also _Badai az-Zohur_, 8-9.

[173] How popular these descriptions of hell were is shown by the fact that they passed into the Arabian Nights Tales. Thus, Tamim Dari and Boluqiya each visit hell, where the latter finds seven floors of fire, containing: (1) impenitent Moslems; (2) polytheists; (3) Gog and Magog; (4) demons; (5) Moslems forgetful of prayer; (6) Jews and Christians; and (7) hypocrites. The severity of torture increases with the depth; the floors are separated by a distance of a thousand years, and in the first there are hills, valleys, houses, castles and cities to the number of seventy thousand. Cf. CHAUVIN, _Bibliographie_, VII, 48 and 56.

[174] _Inf._ XXXI, 86.

[175] The _Tadhkira_ of the Cordovan, or Memorial of the Future Life, is one of the richest of such collections and was popular in the East and West. It is the one mainly drawn upon for the present purpose.

[176] See the list of such names quoted in the index to Fraticelli’s edition of the Divine Comedy.

[177] _Tadhkira_, 19, 39, 74. Cf. _Kanz_, III, 76, No. 1,436; V, 217, Nos. 4,479 and 4,484; VII, 245, Nos. 2,777 and 2,784. _Corra_, 12. _Al-Laali_, II, 245. TABARI, _Tafsir_, XXIII, 114. Many of the proper names of the mansions of hell are appellative names taken from the Koran.

[178] _Corra_, 12 and 31. _Al-Laali_, II, 196.

[179] St. Thomas finds no precise topography of hell in Christian tradition and can only record the probable opinion of the theologians that “ignis inferni est sub terra,” though formerly he had accepted the statement of St. Augustine: “In qua parte mundi infernus sit, scire neminem arbitror” and of St. Gregory, “Hac de re temere definire nihil audeo” (cf. _Summa Theol._ Supplementum tertiae partis, q. 97, art. 7). St. Isidore of Seville supposed hell to be “in superficie terrae, ex parte opposita terrae nostrae habitabili,” but in the thirteenth century this opinion was no longer common. Thus in a Mapa mundi extant in MS in the Biblioteca Nacional of Madrid and the Biblioteca Escurialense (cf. Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica, vol. L, p. 207) and attributed to St. Isidore though it really belongs to the thirteenth century, hell is described as lying in the middle of the earth “at the lowest and bottommost spot.” Curiously enough, unlike Dante’s and the Islamic picture, hell is here conceived as being narrow at the top and wide at the bottom; this probably is due to the faulty interpretation of Moslem documents.

[180] Not in the Vedas. Cf. CHANTEPIE, _Hist. des rel._ 346 and 382. Also ROESKÉ, _L’enfer cambodgien_ (in _Journal Asiatique_, Nov.-Dec. 1914, 587-606). For the rabbinical hell cf. BUXTORF, _Lexicon chaldaicum_ (Basle, 1639), p. 231 a.

[181] Cf. _supra_, pp. 45-51.

[182] _Futuhat_, I, 387-396; II, 809; III, 8, 557, 575-577. Other picturesque features might be added to those mentioned above; thus, in hell there is both heat and cold; the heads of sects suffer special torture, and Iblis, the Lucifer of Islam, undergoes the severest torture of all; suffering in hell is of two kinds, physical and moral. As in Dante (cf. ROSSI, I, 151), the sufferers may not leave the pit to which they are condemned, but move freely within its limits (_Futuhat_, III, 227). Finally, Ibn Arabi imparts a strong flavour of realism to his pictures by painting them as if he had actually seen the originals in visions. Thus, on p. 389 of vol. I, he says:—

“In this vision I saw of the circles of the damned ... such as God was pleased to show me. And I saw an abode, called the Abode of Darkness, and descended some five of its several steps and I beheld the tortures in each one....”

[183] The theme of the symmetry between the hell and heaven of Islam will be developed further in the discussion of the latter.

[184] Cf. ASÍN, _Abenmasarra_, pp. 111 and 161.

[185] _Futuhat_, I, 388. Cf. _Abenmasarra_, 109. The figure of the serpent he no doubt derived from Ibn Qasi, a disciple of the Masarri school and head of the Muridin, who ruled as sovereign in Southern Portugal until 1151 A.D.

[186] _Futuhat_, III, 557.

[187] It is here reproduced from the Turkish author’s two general plans of the Cosmos given by CARRA DE VAUX in _Fragments d’Eschatologie musulmane_, pp. 27 and 33.

[188] Infernal tortures based on this principle were found in several versions of the _Miraj_, but they recur in far greater number in other traditions depicting the torments of the sinners or the scenes on the Day of Judgment.

In them, thieves suffer amputation of both hands; the liar has his lips torn asunder; the nagging wife and the false witness are shown hanging by their tongues; unjust judges appear blind; the vain, deaf and dumb; hired mourners go about barking like dogs; suicides suffer throughout eternity the torture of their death; the proud are converted into ants and trampled upon by all the other sinners. Some categories of sinners are obliged to bear the _corpus delicti_ as a stigma; thus, the drunkard carries a bottle slung round his neck and a glass or a guitar in his hand; the tradesman who gave short weight carries scales of fire hanging from his neck; and the reader of the Koran who was puffed up with pride at his accomplishment appears with a copy of the holy book nailed to his neck; and so forth.

Cf. _Corra_, 12-25, 31, 37, 43. _Al-Laali_, II, 195. _Kanz_, VII, 2,086, No. 3,173. Gayangos Coll. MS 64, fol. 15 vᵒ; MS 172, fol. 33 v°.

[189] _Inf._ XVIII, 21; XXIX, 53; XXXI, 82. The Koranic texts are LVII, 12, and LXVI, 8, glossed by Ibn Arabi in _Futuhat_, I, 412, line 14.

[190] Cf. _Kharida_, 182.

[191] See index of KASIMIRSKI’S translation, s.v. _Ad._ Cf. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, II, 104, and _Qisas_, 40.

[192] _Inf._ V, 89: “l’aer perso.” In _Convivio_, IV, 20, Dante himself gives a definition: “Perso è un colore misto di purpureo e di nero, ma vince il nero e da lui si denomina.”

[193] Compare _Qisas_, 40, lines 18 and 21; 24; 22; 27 and 33; 32, 34 and 37 with _Inf._ V, 31, 49 and 51; 89; 51; 86; 32, 33, 43 and 49 respectively.

[194] Cf. _supra_, p. 16.

[195] _Corra_, 3 and 20. _Kanz_, VIII, 188, No. 3,288.

[196] _Inf._ XIV, XV and XVI.

[197] _Kanz_, VII, 246, No. 2,800. IBN MAKHLUF, II, 41. Cf. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, IV, 348-9.

[198] _Kanz_, V, 213, No. 4,383; 214, No. 4,415; 217, Nos. 4,479 and 4,484. IBN MAKHLUF, II, 37. _Tadhkira_, 74.

[199] Before leaving the circle in which Dante finds Brunetto, Virgil explains to him the hydrography of hell, the four rivers of which have their common source in the island of Crete. On Mt. Ida stands a monument, in the form of a statue of a Great Old Man, composed of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay; in every part, except the gold, there is a fissure from which drop tears, which flowing downhill form the rivers (_Inf._ XIV, 94 _et seq._). Whatever be the esoteric meaning of Dante’s allegory and however evident the analogy with the statue of Daniel is, it is of interest to note that tales dealing with the common source of the four rivers of paradise were very popular in Islam. According to these tales, the Nile, Euphrates, Jihun and Sihun spring from a monument in the form of a dome, made of gold or emerald, standing on a mountain and having four mouths or fissures. The obscure origin of the sources of the Nile gave rise to similar legends, which describe its waters as flowing from the mouths of eighty-five statues of bronze, or else from a mountain on which stands the figure of an old man, the mythical Khidr. Cf. _Badai az-Zohur_, 21-23.

[200] _Corra_, 8; _Al-Laali_, II, 195. Cf. _Inf._ XVIII, 35.

[201] _Inf._ XVIII, 113.

[202] _Al-Laali_, II, 195. _Tadhkira_, 77. _Corra_, 17. IBN MAKHLUF, II, 83. Cf. _Koran_, XXXVIII, 57; LXXVIII, 25.

[203] _Inf._ XIX. _Corra_, 72. Their peculiar posture is also mentioned in some descriptions of hell attributed to Ibn Abbas. Cf. MS 234, Gayangos Coll., fol. 105.

[204] _Inf._ XX, 11, 23, 37, 39.

[205] _Koran_, IV, 50.

[206] _Tafsir_, V, 77.

[207] Cf. _Qazwini_, I, 373.

[208] _Tadhkira_, 47, line 10.

[209] _Colección de textos aljamiados_ by Gil, Ribera and Sánchez (Saragossa, 1888), pp. 69 and 71. ALGAZEL, _Ihia_, IV, 21-22; _Ithaf_, VIII, 561.

[210] _Inf._ XXIII, 58-72.

[211] _Kanz_, III, 251, No. 4, 013.

[212] _Koran_, XIV, 51. Cf. TABARI, _Tafsir_, XIII, 167-8; _Corra_, 26.

[213] _Inf._ XXIII, 110-126.

[214] MS 234 Gayangos Coll., fol. 100.

[215] _Al-Laali_, II, 195.

[216] _Inf._ XXIV-XXV.

[217] _Corra_, II, 25, 37, 65. _Kanz_, VII, 280, No. 3,087.

[218] _Inf._ XXVIII.

[219] _Corra_, 71.

[220] _Kanz_, VIII, 188, No. 3,288; V, 214, No. 4,415; SUYUTI, _Sudur_, 30 and 121.

[221] _Kanz_, V, 327, No. 5,717. _Corra_, 65.

[222] _Kanz_, VII, 287, No. 3,201. Cf. also Nos. 3,218, 3,220, 3,221, 3,223, 3,224.

[223] _Inf._ XXIX-XXX.

[224] _Kanz_, VII, 247, No. 2,826. MS 172 Gayangos Coll., fol. 34. _Corra_, 12.

[225] _Inf._ XXXI.

[226] _Tadhkira_, 75. Cf. _Kanz_, VII, 212, No. 2,301; 237, Nos. 2,668, 2,671 and 2,801-2,808. Moreover, the existence of giants in hell was traditional in Islam, for the dwellers in Ad, who were condemned to hell by the Koran, were of gigantic stature. In _Qisas_, 39, the head of one of these giants is compared to the dome of a great building. The coincidence in stature of the giants of Dante and those of Islam is also curious. According to the _Tadhkira_ (p. 75, line 4 inf.) the latter measure 42 fathoms; and Landino, basing his calculations on Dante’s text, says of Nimrod: “Adunque questo gigante sarebbe braccia quarantatre o più” (p. 30 of his prologue to the Divine Comedy).

[227] Cf. _supra_, pp. 89-90.

[228] _Ihia_, III, 240, and _Futuhat_, I, 393. Cf. _Al-Laali_, II, 196.

[229] _Inf._ XXXII—XXXIV.

[230] _Futuhat_, I, 387.

[231] _Koran_, LXXVI, 13.

[232] Cf. Gayangos Coll. MS 172, fol. 34, and MS 234, fol. 105.

[233] Jahiz, _Hayawan_ (_Book of Animals_), V, 24. A summary of the life and writings of Jahiz is given in the author’s _Abenmasarra_, Appendix I, 133-137. According to OSCAR COMETTANT, _Civilisations inconnues_ (quoted in LAROUSSE, _Dict. Univ._ s.v. _Purgatoire_), torture by cold also occurs in the Buddhist hell.

[234] _Tadhkira_, 69.

[235] Cf. _Qazwini_, I, 93.

[236] MS 234 Gayangos Coll., fol. 105. Cf. _Inf._ XXXII, 37; XXXIII, 92; XXXIV, 13.

[237] _Tadhkira_, 82; and _Kanz_, VII, 246, No. 2,810. Cf. _Inf._ XXXII, 34; XXXIV, 11.

[238] MS 172 Gayangos Coll., fol. 34. Cf. _Inf._ XXXIV 15.

[239] _Inf._ XXXIV, 28-139.

[240] GRAF, _Demonologia di Dante_, in _Miti_, II, 79-112.

[241] _Futuhat_, I, 391.

[242] MS 64 Gayangos Coll., fols. 1-27.

[243] _Al-Laali_, II, 196.

[244] _Qazwini_, I, 373, gives a _hadith_, telling of the dealings of Solomon with genii and demons, that is of interest for the study of the demonology of Islam, which shows marked resemblance to that of Dante, particularly in the matter of the names. On this point cf. DAMIRI, I, 237; KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, III, 201; and DHARIR, 188.

[245] _Kanz_, II, 109, No. 2,652; _Tadhkira_, 70; Gayangos Coll., MS 64, fol. 24, and MS 234, fol. 94.

[246] _Kharida_, 87 and 95.

[247] Cf. Kasimirski’s translation, _Table des matières_, s.v. _Eblis_.

[248] _Qisas_, 26, ch. 7.

[249] _Supra_, p. 88.

[250] _Koran_, XXI, 31.

[251] _Qisas_, 3, line 10 inf. The immediate purpose of this legend was indeed to explain the stability of the earth in the midst of space, but the adaptation to other purposes of a picturesque description is a common feature in literary imitation.

[252] So great is the wealth of picturesque detail in the descriptions of the Moslem hell that minor features of resemblance to Dante have been omitted as being open to doubt. Thus the Koran repeatedly mentions a tree in hell, called _Az-Zaqum_ (cf. KASIMIRSKI, s.v.), the fruit of which is bitter and repugnant like the heads of demons (cf. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, IV, 18 and 116; _Tacholarus_, VIII, 326; _Ihia_, IV, 381; _Ithaf_, X, 515). In itself this tree bears little resemblance to the human trees into which Dante converts the suicides (_Inf._ XIII), which cry out when their branches are torn and which Dante admits he copied from Virgil’s episode of Polydorus (Aeneid, III). In Arabian tales of miraculous journeys to hell, however, there are frequent descriptions of trees the branches of which resemble human heads and cry out on being torn (cf. CHAUVIN, _Bibliographie_, VII, 33 and 56; _Qisas_, 222; also René Basset’s “Histoire du Roi Sabour et de son fils Abou’n Nazhar” in _Rev. des trad. popul._, XI, 273, 278, and 280).

[253] Cf. TIXERONT, II, 200, 220, 350, 433 and III, 270, 428.

[254] Cf. PERRONE, II, 122: “Omnia igitur quae spectant ad locum, durationem, poenarum qualitatem, ad catholicam fidem minime pertinent, seu definita ab Ecclesia non sunt.”

[255] LANDINO, prologue to _Purg._, fol. 194 vᵒ; also to _Inf._ III, fols. 25 vᵒ and 26.

[256] Cf. _supra_, p. 80.

[257] _Kanz_, VII, 242, Nos. 2,725 and 2,730; VII, 218, No. 2,376.

[258] Cf. _supra_, p. 9.

[259] _Ithaf_, VIII, 566. The _hadith_, attributed to Ibn Abbas, cannot date later than the tenth century.

[260] For a collection of these legends cf. _Tadhkira_, 58 _et seq._; IBN MAKHLUF, II, 25; _Ithaf_, X, 481 _et seq._

[261] It should be borne in mind that Dante’s mount of purgatory rises above the southern hemisphere, which is entirely covered with water, and reaches to the ether, the last sphere of the sublunar world, bordering on heaven; its base stands on the back of hell, the entrance to which is in the northern hemisphere, near Jerusalem.

[262] _Futuhat_, I, 411. Cf. _Ithaf_, X, 482.

[263] _Futuhat_, III, 573.

[264] IBN MAKHLUF, II, 33. Cf. _Kanz_, VII, 237, No. 2,677.

[265] _Futuhat_, I, 403-406.

[266] Thus, the ten purgatorial mansions serve for the expiation successively of: (1) acts forbidden by canonical law; (2) the holding of advanced opinions on questions of faith; (3) disobedience to parents; (4) failure to comply with one’s duties towards children and subordinates in the matter of religious education; (5) harsh treatment of servants and slaves; (6) and (7) non-compliance with duties towards kinsfolk and blood relations, respectively; (8) the vice of envy; (9) deceitfulness; and (10) treachery.

[267] _Purg._ IV, 100-135.

[268] Special books were written on this theme, such as the oft-quoted _Sudur_ by SUYUTI, the _Tadhkira_ of the Cordovan, and the work by IBN MAKHLUF.

[269] _Sudur_, 121.

[270] _Kanz_, III, 252, No. 4,013; VIII, 175, Nos. 3,054, 3,017, 5,736.

[271] _Al-Laali_, II, 196. Blindness, both physical and moral, is a common punishment of infidels. Cf. _Koran_, LXXXII, 6, and _Tadhkira_, 73.

[272] _Koran_, XLIV, 9-10.

[273] KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, IV, 112-113, and _Tadhkira_, 131. Cf. _Purg._ XV, 142-145; XVI, 5-7, 35-36.

[274] _Futuhat_, I, 404-406.

[275] _Kanz_, VII, 246, No. 2,809.

[276] _Corra_, 19. Cf. _Purg._ XIX, 71-72, 94, 97, 120, 123.

[277] _Ihia_, IV, 376.

[278] _Tadhkira_, 80.

[279] The natural consequences of this torture, viz. the violent thirst and bitter weeping of the tortured, are described with true Oriental hyperbole. Cf. _Corra_, 15. “God will give them such thirst as will burn their entrails.” Cf. also _Kanz_, VII, 246, No. 2,811: “The wicked will weep, as they are burnt, until their tears are spent; they will then weep tears of blood, which will wear furrows in their cheeks.”

[280] Cf. _Tadhkira_, 81, for a description of the purgatorial fire: The souls raise their voices to Mahomet in lament and pray for his intercession. God orders his angelic ministers to apportion the torture to the measure of the sin by preserving from the fire such members of the sinner’s body as he had used in His service. “And the fire, which is cognisant of the degree of their guilt, reaches in some to the ankles, in others to the knees, and in others again, to the breast.” When God has wreaked his vengeance, He lends ear to the intercession of Mahomet and the prayers addressed to Him directly by the sinners. Finally Gabriel is ordered to withdraw the sinners from the fire, and, as he does so, he immerses their blackened bodies in the River of Life, which flows by the gate of paradise, and thus completes their purification.

In other tales the intercessor is an ordinary human being.

[281] _Purg._ XXVIII-XXXIII. Cf. ROSSI, I, 150.

[282] GRAF, _Miti_, I, 5.

[283] Ibn Qaim al-Jawziya, of the fourteenth century, in his _Miftah_ (I, 11-34), has left us a record of the various opinions and their chief exponents both in Eastern and Western Islam.

[284] _Koran_, II, 33, 34.

[285] _Rasail_, II, 151. Cf. BROCKELMANN, I, 213.

[286] Cf. D’HERBELOT, _Bibliothèque Orientale_, s.v. _gennat_, pp. 378, 773, 816.

[287] Cf. DIYARBAKRI, _Tarikh al-Khamis_, I, 61.

[288] The Moslem belief was in its turn based upon a Buddhist myth. Cf. RECLUS, _Géogr. Univ._ VIII, 581; and especially GRAF, _Miti_, I, 59-61. GUBERNATIS, in his work _Dante e l’India_, which I have not been able to obtain, identifies Dante’s Mount of Purgatory with the island of Ceylon.

[289] IBN BATUTAH, IV, 170 _et seq._

[290] The belief that the earthly paradise was situated on Adam’s Peak endured in Islam until the sixteenth century. It was in that century that the Oriental mystic Ash-Sharani wrote in his _Mizan_ (II, 193):—

“The paradise in which Adam dwelt is not the supreme paradise ..., but merely the _intermediate_ paradise, which lies on the summit of the Mount of the Hyacinth. This is the garden in which Adam ate of the fruit of the tree. From this paradise he was driven to the earth.... All children of Adam that die at peace with God return in spirit to that paradise. But the sinners first pass through the intermediate fire.”

In his _Al-Yawaqit_, II, 172, Ash-Sharani repeats this passage almost literally and attributes it to a writer, who I infer is the tenth century mathematician Moslema, of Madrid.

[291] The ancients, however, held that Ceylon lay in the antipodes of the northern hemisphere. Cf. RECLUS, _Géogr. Univ._, loc. cit.

[292] Cf. GRAF, _Miti_, I, 5: “Che Dante, ponendo il Paradiso terrestre sulla cima del monte del Purgatorio, fece cosa non caduta in mente a nessuno dei Padri e Dottori della Chiesa, fu notato già da parecchi.”

[293] _Koran_, VII, 41 and XV, 47: “We shall efface all rancour from their breasts.”

[294] _Tadhkira_, 99. Cf. IBN MAKHLUF, II, 60, for different versions of this legend.

[295] IBN MAKHLUF, II, 61. A biography of Shakir ibn Muslim, who lived about 1136 A.D., is given in _Tecmila_ (Appendix to Codera’s edition, biogr., No. 2,686).

[296] Thus, as in Dante, the earthly paradise is the final stage of purgatory. The same position is assigned to it by Ibn Arabi in his _Futuhat_, III, 573. Cf. _supra_, p. 115.

[297] Observe that angels also guide Dante and Virgil, as they leave purgatory.

[298] The resemblance between the garden described here and that of Dante is noteworthy. Cf. the following passages:—

IBN MAKHLUF, II. _Purg._ XXVIII.

P. 61, line 8 inf. Line 7.
P. 62, lines 1, 2, and 12. Lines 120, 14.

[299] Compare the descriptions of the two rivers in IBN MAKHLUF, II, 62, line 8, and _Purg._ XXVIII, 28, 133, and 144.

[300] It should be noted that, as in Dante’s poem, there are two ablutions in two rivers, whereas in the Biblical story the earthly paradise is watered by four rivers. The effects of the double ablution in the Islamic legend are also similar to those experienced by Dante. Cp. the following descriptions: IBN MAKHLUF, II, 62, line 13, and _Purg._ I, 95, 128; XXVIII, 128; XXXIII, 129, 138, and 142.

[301] Cp. this detail of the Arabic text (p. 62, line 20) with the words of Dante (_Purg._ XXXIII, 72) “... ed un chiamar: Sorgi; che fai?” and (_Purg._ XXXIII, 19). “... Ven più tosto.”

[302] Cp. the descriptions of Beatrice and the bride of the Moslem tale in IBN MAKHLUF, II, 63, line 8, and _Purg._ XXX, 31; XXXI, 83, 110 and 136; and XXXII, 1, 3 and 10.

[303] Neither Labitte nor D’Ancona found any trace of such a scene in Christian or classical legend. Ozanam (p. 457) merely quotes the _Vision of the Shepherd of Hermes_, which tells how a maiden, whom the shepherd had once wished to marry, appears to him in a dream as descending from heaven and calling upon him to serve God. According to Batiffol (p. 62), however, this tale was unknown in Europe before the sixteenth century.

[304] Cf. VOSSLER, I, 199, _et seq._

[305] _La Vita Nuova_, XLIII.

[306] Cf. _infra_, Part IV, ch. V, §§ 6, 7, and 8.

[307] _Corra_, 121. Some phrases are also taken from _Dorar_, 40.

[308] IBN MAKHLUF, II, 129.

[309] From the Arabic text it is not clear whether the heavenly bride is reproving her lover or his wife on earth. At all events, the analogy in subject remains very striking. Cf. the words in _Purg._ XXXI, 59: “... o pargoletta, od altra vanità con sì breve uso.”

[310] _Inf._ II, 52 _et seq._

[311] _Purg._ XXX, 73-145; XXXI, 1-63.

[312] For this and the two following tales cf. _Ihia_, IV, 364; also _Ithaf_, X, 434.

[313] IBN MAKHLUF, I, 120.

[314] Cf. _Purg._ XXX, 33.

[315] IBN MAKHLUF, I, 113 and 121-2.

[316] Beatrice’s maidens also tell Dante how God has destined them to serve her. Cf. _Purg._ XXXI, 106.

[317] Just as Dante asks of Matilda (_Purg._ XXXII, 85) “Ov’è Beatrice?”, so the Moslem bridegroom asks of the handmaidens, “Where is the large-eyed maiden?” Compare also the promise by the bride, that they will shortly meet in heaven, with the words of Beatrice to Dante (_Purg._, XXXII, 100).

[318] For this and the following legend see IBN MAKHLUF, I, 112.

[319] Beyond the general fact that both Beatrice and the Moslem bride are ushered in by processions, there is no great resemblance. To describe the procession, Dante availed himself of features in Ezekiel and Revelations, to which he gave an allegorical meaning that is not always clear. VOSSLER (II, 171), however, remarks upon the Oriental colour of the description. Indeed, the maidens and elders that lead in Beatrice are conspicuous rather by their colouring than by their outline, which is barely traced (_Purg._ XXIX, 121-154).

[320] _Hadith_ by Muslim in _Tadhkira_, 85. Cf. _Isaiah_, LXIV, 4, and _First Epistle to Corinthians_, II, 9.

[321] _Tadhkira_, 97. These _hadiths_ were based on two passages in the Koran (II, 274 and XIII, 22), in which the vision of the face of God by the blessed is vaguely referred to.

[322] Cf. KHAZIN, _Tafsir_, IV, 335, for a summary of this polemic; also _Fasl_, III, 2-4.

[323] Cf. ASÍN, _Algazel, Dogmática_, 680, and _Averroismo_, 287.

[324] In _Mizan al-Amal_, p. 5 _et seq._

[325] _Ihia_, IV, 219.

[326] _Futuhat_, II, 809.

[327] _Futuhat_ in ASH-SHARANI, _Al-Yawaqit_, II, 195, and _Al-Kibrit_, II, 194.

[328] This apocryphal passage from the Gospel can only refer to St. Luke, XXIII, 43.

[329] Lull, in _Liber de Gentili_ (_Op. Omn._, Mayence Edit., vol. II, 89) is clear on this point:—

“Dixit Sarracenus: Verum est quod inter nos diversi diversimode credant gloriam Paradisi; nam quidam credunt habere gloriam (secundum quod ego tibi retuli) et hoc intelligunt secundum litteralem expositionem, quam ab Alcora accipiunt, in qua nostra lex continetur, et a proverbiis Mahometi, et etiam a proverbiis et a glosis et expositionibus Sapientum exponentium nostram legem. Aliae tamen gentes sunt inter nos quae intelligunt gloriam moraliter, et spiritualiter exponunt eam, dicentes quod Mahometus metaphorice gentibus absque rationali intellectu et insipientibus loquebatur; et ut eos ad divinum amorem posset trahere, refferebat eis supradictam gloriam; et id circo hi tales, qui credunt hujusmodi gloriam, dicunt quod homo in Paradiso non habebit gloriam comedendi et jacendi cum mulieribus et habendi alias supradictas res; et hujusmodi sunt naturales philosophi et magni clerici....”

The following are passages from Martin’s _Explanatio Simboli_ (Edit. of March, in _Anuari del Institut d’estudis Catalans_, Barcelona, 1910, p. 52):—