the first entertainment of the blessed on their admission, they fable that the whole earth will then be as one loaf of bread, which GOD will reach to them with his hand, holding it like a cake; and that for meat they will have the ox Balâm, and the fish Nûn, the lobs of whose livers will suffice 70,000 men, being, as some imagine to be set before the principal guests, viz., those who, to that number, will be admitted into paradise without examination;2 though others suppose that a definite number is here put for an indefinite, and that
1 Al Ghazâli, Kenz al Afrâr 2 See before, p. 68.
nothing more is meant thereby, than to express a great multitude of people. From this feast every one will be dismissed to the mansion designed for him, where (as has been said) he will enjoy such a share of felicity as will be proportioned to his merits, but vastly exceed comprehension or expectation; since the very meanest in paradise (as he who, it is pretended, must know best, has declared) will have eighty thousand servants, seventy-two wives of the girls of paradise, besides the wives he had in this world, and a tent erected for him of pearls, jacinths, and emeralds, of a very large extent; and, according to another tradition, will be waited on by three hundred attendants while he eats, will be served in dishes of gold, whereof three hundred shall be set before him at once, containing each a different kind of food, the last morsel of which will be as grateful as the first; and will also be supplied with as many sorts of liquors in vessels of the same metal: and, to complete the entertainment, there will be no want of wine, which, though forbidden in this life, will yet be freely allowed to be drunk in the next, and without danger, since the wine of paradise will not inebriate, as that we drink here. The flavour of this wine we may conceive to be delicious without a description, since the water of Tasnîm and the other fountains which will be used to dilute it, is said to be wonderfully sweet and fragrant. If any object to these pleasures, as an impudent Jew did to Mohammed, that so much eating and drinking must necessarily require proper evacuations, we answer, as the prophets did, that the inhabitants of paradise will not need to ease themselves, nor even to blow their nose, for that all superfluities will be discharged and carried off by perspiration, or a sweat as odoriferous as musk, after which their appetite shall return afresh. The magnificence of the garments and furniture promised by the Korân to the godly in the next life, is answerable to the delicacy of their diet. For they are to be clothed in the richest of silks and brocades, chiefly of green, which will burst forth from the fruits of paradise, and will be also supplied by the leaves of the tree Tûba; they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and silver, and crowns set with pearls of incomparable lustre; and will make use of silken carpets, litters of a prodigious size, couches, pillows, and other rich furniture embroidered with gold and precious stones. That we may the more readily believe what has been mentioned of the extraordinary abilities of the inhabitants of paradise to taste these pleasures in their height, it is said they will enjoy a perpetual youth; that in whatever age they happen to die, they will be raised in their prime and vigour, that is, of about thirty years of age, which age they will never exceed (and the same they say of the damned); and that when they enter paradise they will be of the same stature with Adam, who, as they fable, was no less than sixty cubits high. And to this age and stature their children, if they shall desire any (for otherwise their wives will not conceive), shall immediately attain; according to that saying of their prophet, "If any of the faithful in paradise be desirous of issue, it shall be conceived, born, and grown up within the space of an hour." And in the same manner, if any one shall have a fancy to employ himself in agriculture (which rustic pleasure may suit
the wanton fancy of some), what he shall sow will spring up and come to maturity in a moment. Lest any of the senses should want their proper delight, we are told the ear will there be entertained, not only with the ravishing songs of the angel Israfîl, who has the most melodious voice of all GOD'S creatures, and of the daughters of paradise; but even the trees themselves will celebrate the divine praises with a harmony exceeding whatever mortals have heard; to which will be joined the sound of the bells hanging on the trees, which will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of GOD, so often as the blessed wish for music: nay, the very clashing of the golden-bodied trees, whose fruits are pearls and emeralds, will surpass human imagination; so that the pleasures of this sense will not be the least of the enjoyments of paradise. The delights we have hitherto taken a view of, it is said, will be common to all the inhabitants of paradise, even those of the lowest order. What then, think we, must they enjoy who shall obtain a superior degree of honour and felicity? To these, they say, there are prepared, besides all this, "such things as eye hath not seen, nor hath ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive;" an expression most certainly borrowed from scripture.1 That we may know wherein the felicity of those who shall attain the highest degree will consist, Mohammed is reported to have said, that the meanest of the inhabitants of paradise will see his gardens, wives, servants, furniture, and other possessions take up the space of a thousand years' journey (for so far and farther will the blessed see in the next life); but that he will be in the highest honour with GOD, who shall behold his face morning and evening: and this favour al Ghazâli supposes to be that additional or superabundant recompense, promised in the Korân,2 which will give such exquisite delight, that in respect thereof all the other pleasures of paradise will be forgotten and lightly esteemed; and not without reason, since, as the same author says, every other enjoyment is equally tasted by the very brute beast who is turned loose into luxuriant pasture.3 The reader will observe, by the way, that this is a full confutation of those who pretend that the Mohammedans admit of no spiritual pleasure in the next life, but make the happiness of the blessed to consist wholly in corporeal enjoyments.4 Whence Mohammed took the greatest part of his paradise it is easy to show. The Jews constantly describe the future mansion of the just as a delicious garden, and make it also reach to the seventh heaven.5 They also say it has three gates,6 or, as others will have it, two,7 and four rivers (which last circumstance they copied, to be sure, from those of the garden of Eden8), flowing with milk, wine, balsam, and honey.1 Their Behemoth and Leviathan, which they pretend will be slain for the entertainment of the blessed,2 are so apparently the Balâm and Nûn of Mohammed, that his followers themselves confess he is obliged to them for both.3 The Rabbins likewise mention seven different
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
