1. The religious authorities of Islam having at last determined upon a version that was to be regarded as authentic and as the accepted revelation, the legend may be said to have crystallised into a definite form. The imagination of the faithful could now no longer indulge in further inventions or additions. Nevertheless, the loss of new episode thus incurred was amply compensated for by another and more fertile mode of elaboration; in its final form the legend underwent considerable literary alteration.

The glosses originally added in explanation of obscure words and ellipses become merged in the text. The simplicity of the primitive versions is lost in figurative language and other literary adornments. The ascension is the theme of legends in versified prose and even poems, works in which the rich fancy of the East is given full play. The lesser characters, as well as the two protagonists, and even God Himself, engage in lengthy discourses, interspersed with rhyme and replete with metaphors and abstruse conceits. At times inanimate objects, such as the Divine Throne, are represented as living beings; heavenly animals, like the serpent that encircles the Throne and the beast that carries Mahomet, are personified and made to hold long speeches. Again, the abodes of the beyond are described with a wealth of detail taken from the Koran and the hadiths of the Prophet dealing with heaven and hell.⁠[95]

2. This first attempt at elaboration merely expanded the text of the legend. Followed a host of adaptations, allegorical or mystical, in which the ascension—supposed to be an historical fact—is applied to other physical and spiritual beings, that are either real or symbolical and earthly or heavenly. These ascend to the regions of bliss in practically the same stages as Mahomet did in his Miraj. Brief mention can be made of only a few of these tales.

3. The most popular is that of the ascension of the soul at death. On leaving the body, it is led by its guardian angel up through the astronomical heavens to be judged before the Throne of God. The following is a short summary of the ascension:—

At the entrance to each heaven the scene depicted in the Miraj is repeated. The guardian angel is refused entry until the identity of the travellers is disclosed. The soul is then either welcomed or abused according to its conduct during life. In each sphere it undergoes an examination on one of the precepts of Islam, in the following order: Faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage, honour of parents, love of fellow-men, religious zeal and purity of heart. From the Lotus-tree of the Boundary the soul ascends through seas of light, darkness, fire and water and finally of snow and ice—all as in Version C of Cycle 2. When the veils that shroud the Divine Throne are drawn aside the catechism of the soul by God Himself begins.⁠[96]

4. In other similar legends,⁠[97] the guardian angels are portrayed as presenting to God each day the good deeds of the believers entrusted to their care.

In each of the seven heavens the angel at the gate denies admission to the good deed whenever its author is found guilty of any sin. Only those good deeds that have been inspired by Divine love may rise through the seven spheres to the presence of God, Who declares them accepted in His sight.

5. In these early adaptations, the ascension is accredited solely to personified metaphysical conceptions or to the souls of the departed. In each case, moreover, Mahomet himself is made to tell the story, in order to lend greater authority to it. The deep religious respect felt for the Prophet forbade any encroachment. Nevertheless, the Sufis or mystics were not long in arrogating to themselves the role of protagonist that had hitherto been reserved for Mahomet.⁠[98] The pretext for their audacity was provided by the interpretation of the Miraj, that Mahomet had been raised by God to heaven in order that he might experience the supreme delight of the Beatific Vision and his heart be freed from all earthly ties.⁠[99] It was natural, therefore, for the Sufis to generalise this interpretation and apply it to the real or symbolical ascension of the soul, which breaks its worldly bonds and flies towards God, as the essence of spiritual perfection. Indeed, one of the most famous masters of early Moslem mysticism, Abu Yazid al-Bistami, who lived in the ninth century, is credited with an actual ascension to the Divine Throne through the same stages as were traversed by Mahomet in his Miraj.⁠[100]

Thus the legend gradually reaches the climax of its evolution. The Sufi, as a type of humanity capable of perfection by gradual purification from passion, rises to such heights of contemplation that he enjoys a foretaste of eternal bliss in the Beatific Vision.⁠[101]

6. The more interesting of these later adaptations are the work of the Murcian Muhyi ad-Din ibn Arabi, the prince of Hispano-Moslem mystics, who died twenty-five years before the Florentine poet was born.⁠[102] One of these works is based upon the Miraj, in which he seeks to discover a hidden moral. He treats it as an esoteric teaching of the revelations manifested to the soul of the mystic in the course of its ascension to God. This work, which unfortunately has not yet been edited, is entitled “The Book of the Nocturnal Journey towards the Majesty of the Most Magnanimous.”⁠[103] The poetical fragment, of which a rendering is given hereunder, will suffice to indicate its general outline.

The Sufis or mystics are the heirs of the Prophet whose life and doctrine they follow. By devoting all their days to meditation and the practice of the mysteries of the Koran and maintaining the memories of their Beloved, they are at last led into the presence of God. Boraq, the beast of heaven that conveys them swiftly on their journey, is the symbol of divine love. The holy city of Jerusalem, the emblem of light and truth, forms the first stage of the journey. Here, as did the Prophet, they tarry close to the wall, representing purity of heart, that bars access to the profane. Having partaken of milk, the symbol of the true direction of revealed doctrine, they knock at the gate of heaven, allegorical of bodily mortification. Beyond the gate they see paradise and hell. With the right eye they witness the happiness of the blessed; with the left, they weep over the terrors of the infernal fires. They reach the Lotus-tree, the symbol of faith and virtue, and eat their fill of the fruit, whereby the most sublime powers of man become perfected. Thus prepared, they arrive at the final stage of their journey. The veils enshrouding the spirit are drawn aside and the hidden secret of the mystery of mysteries is made manifest to them.⁠[104]

The significance of this subtle poem in its interpretation of Dante’s allegories is apparent. Upon the author’s own showing,⁠[105] three esoteric meanings are conveyed by both the Divine Comedy and the “Convivio”—the first a personal, and the second a moral, allegory; whilst the third is anagogical. Seen in this light, the Divine Comedy is a complex allegory of Dante’s own life and the redemption of mankind. Dante, representing mankind, has been led from the straight path; but, guided by reason, faith and grace, he shakes off the fetters of evil; and the expiation of, and purification from, his sins are symbolised by his journey to hell and purgatory. Having attained moral perfection, he ascends by the path of contemplation to the eternal bliss of the Divine Essence. Thus Dante, like the Moslem Sufis in general and the Murcian Ibn Arabi in particular, availed himself of the alleged historical fact of the ascension of a man to the heavens, in order to represent in symbol the mystical drama of the regeneration of souls by faith and theological virtues.⁠[106]

This further surprising coincidence of the allegorical intentions of the two legends must, therefore, be added to the many other analogies existing between them. As the symbolical character of the Divine Comedy is, in the eyes of all critics, the most forcible proof of its original inspiration, a closer enquiry into these wonderful coincidences will not be amiss. The affinity between another mystical allegory of the Murcian Ibn Arabi and Dante’s poem is obvious.

7. The Ascension in question appears in a voluminous work entitled Al-Futuhat al-makkiya, or the Revelations of Mecca. It is the main theme of an entire chapter, the heading of which, “The Alchemy of Felicity,” in itself implies an esoteric allegory.⁠[107] The narrative is prefaced with a synopsis, of which the following is an abstract.

The aim of the soul, from the day on which the Creator unites it with the body, is to acquire the knowledge of the essence of its principle, God. In their search for the path leading to this end, the souls meet with a messenger sent by God to lead them towards that knowledge of the Creator wherein lies their happiness. Some gratefully accept the heavenly messenger’s guidance⁠[108]; others disdain it on the plea that his powers of cognition can in no way be superior to theirs. The former then follow the direction of the doctrine as revealed by God to His messenger; whilst the latter are merely guided by the light of their own reason.

Here the mystical allegory begins, the protagonists being two travellers, one of each category. Thus, a theologian and a rationalist philosopher set out simultaneously on the path that is to lead them towards God. The first stages of the journey represent the perfection and happiness enjoyed by the soul through restraint of the passions. In these stages the teachings of philosophy and theology practically coincide, so that both travellers succeed in shaking off the fetters that bind them to earth and free themselves from the baneful influence of passion.

At this point begins the actual Ascension to heaven, the plan of which is modelled upon the Miraj. The first seven stages correspond to the astronomical heavens—the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each is visited in succession by the two travellers, who ascend at the same speed, the philosopher mounted on Boraq, the celestial beast that carried the Prophet and the allegorical figure of reason, and the theologian, by means of the Rafraf or shining wreath, representing the light of Divine Grace, which also conveyed Mahomet to the Divine Throne. But, although both reach the gates of the heavens at the same time, their receptions are different. The theologian is welcomed by the prophets inhabiting each sphere, but the philosopher is obliged to stand apart until he is received by the “Intelligences,” who in the neo-Platonic cosmology move the celestial spheres and to whom in this allegory the humble role of servants to the prophets is assigned. The theologian is filled with rejoicing, but his different treatment causes sadness and pain to the philosopher, who from afar witnesses the warm welcome given to his companion and only gleans vague information about the sublime mysteries revealed to the other by the prophets. Not that the philosopher is altogether neglected. The “Intelligence” of each sphere instructs him on problems of physics or cosmology, the solutions of which are dependent upon the natural influence exercised by the planet in question on the phenomena of this lower world. He finds, however, that the prophets explain the significance of these problems to the theologian from a loftier point of view and much more clearly than is done by natural science alone.

By this means the author Ibn Arabi ingeniously introduces many points from his own theological system, and the work becomes a veritable encyclopædia of philosophy, theology, and the occult sciences, set forth in the form of debates or speeches made by the prophets.

Thus in the heaven of the Moon, Adam instructs the theologian on the creative influence of Divine names. These are the prototypes of all creatures and are equivalent to the prime causes of philosophy. The phenomena of the sublunar world; the changes in the material elements; the growth of all living things; the generation of the human body—all are shown to the philosopher by the “Intelligence” to be effects of the direct action of this first astronomical sphere. But the theologian learns their primary and transcendental cause, which lies hidden in the mystic influence of the Divine names.

In the second heaven, whilst the philosopher is received by the Intelligence of Mercury, the theologian meets the two prophets Jesus and John, who discuss with him the subject of miracles, more particularly those performed by the cabbalistic virtue of certain words, the creative mystery of the word “Fiat,” and of the Divine breath that brings beings into existence. Then Jesus, the Spirit of God, reveals to his disciple the esoteric working of the miracles he performed in Israel. All these phenomena of healing, restoration of life, and so forth are derived from this sphere. When effected praeter ordinem naturae, they are miracles due to the supernatural alchemic powers of Jesus; when produced naturally, they are the effect of the virtue possessed by the Intelligence of Mercury. The latter is all that the philosopher learns.

A similar difference between the results obtained by the two travellers holds throughout; and it will suffice to summarise the knowledge acquired in each sphere.

In Venus, the prophet Joseph interprets the mystery of the order, beauty, and harmony of the Cosmos, and expounds the art of poetry and the interpretation of dreams.

In the sphere of the Sun, the prophet Enoch explains the astronomical cause of day and night and its many mystical applications.

The prophet Aaron, in Mars, talks at length on the government of nations, and commends to the theologian’s attention the Revealed Code as a supreme criterion of the Divine policy, based rather on mercy than on wrath.

In the heaven of Jupiter, Moses expounds the pantheism of Ibn Arabi. Starting with the interpretation of the miracle when he transformed the rod into a serpent, he ends with the thesis that all form in the universe is mutable; but the substance is ever the same, namely God in different relations, which are dependent upon the subjective impression produced in the mind of the contemplator.

Lastly, in Saturn, Abraham, reclining upon the wall of the House of Habitation, explains to the theologian the problem of the life hereafter. Meanwhile, the dejected philosopher awaits him in the dark dwelling of the Intelligence. When, repentant of his conduct, he would be converted to Islam and share in the supernatural illumination of the faith, Abraham, the father of the faithful, rejects him and leads the theologian by the hand into the House of Habitation.

Here begins the second part of the ascension. The theologian leaves the temple and ascends again on high; while his companion waits below.

The stages of this second part of the ascension are, with the exception of two astronomical spheres, all scenes of mysticism and theology. The theologian first ascends to the Lotus-tree of the Boundary, the fruit of which are emblems of the good deeds done by the faithful. At its foot run four mystic rivers, representing the Pentateuch, the Book of Psalms, the Gospel and the Koran. The last is the greatest and is the source of the others.

Thence the traveller rises to the sphere of the Fixed Stars, where corruption is unknown and myriads of angelic spirits dwell in a thousand mansions. Each one he visits and tastes the supreme delights of God’s elect.

In the last sphere—the Zodiac—are revealed to him all the marvels of the celestial paradise, which are derived from the virtue of this sphere. Immediately thereafter he arrives at the stool on which rest the feet of the Almighty—the symbols of His mercy and justice—by whose favour he is instructed in the dread problem of the eternity of reward and punishment in the life hereafter.

The ineffable light radiating from the Throne and the sweet harmony of the spheres thrill him to the innermost recesses of his heart. In an ecstasy, he suddenly realises that he has been raised to the Divine Throne, the symbol of God’s infinite mercy. The Throne appears to him held on high by five angels and the three prophets, Adam, Abraham, and Mahomet; and from them he learns of the mystery of the Cosmos, which is inscribed within the sphericity of the body of the universe, which is the Throne of God.

The remaining stages all belong to the spiritual world, or world of Platonic ideas. The traveller is finally wafted into the vapour which is the primitive epiphany or manifestation of God ad extra and the type of the prime matter common to Creator and creature in the pseudo-Empedoclean theosophy of Ibn Arabi.⁠[109] Enraptured, the traveller beholds the ineffable mysteries of the divine essence and its attributes, both the absolute and those relative to the creatures. The sublime vision ending with this apotheosis, the theologian rejoins the philosopher, who becomes converted to the Moslem faith so that he too may participate in the glories of mystical contemplation.⁠[110]

8. The points of contact between this allegorico-mystical journey and Dante’s ascension stand forth plainly. A perusal of the passages in Dante’s Monarchia and Epistola a Can Grande della Scala, in which he outlines the esoteric meaning of his Divine Comedy, will clearly show how his interpretation agrees with that of Ibn Arabi’s allegory. Both thinkers imagine the journey as a symbol of the life of the soul in this world, into which it has been placed by the Creator to prepare for the attainment of its final aim, which is to enjoy the bliss of the Beatific Vision. Both writers hold this to be unattainable without supernatural intervention or theology; for, although philosophic reasoning, alone, can guide man in the first stages of his mystical journey, that is to say, in the practice of the virtues, only the light of grace can raise him to paradise, the symbol of the highest virtues. The main difference between the two allegories lies in the fact that, whereas in Ibn Arabi’s work there are two protagonists, in Dante’s story there is one, who is led successively by two guides, Virgil and Beatrice, representing philosophy and theology. A further difference is that Virgil does not accompany Dante to the astronomical heavens, to which the philosopher of the Moslem allegory ascends. This is due to the fact that in Ibn Arabi’s cosmological system the spheres of the stars, as belonging to the material world, come within the scope of philosophical speculation. On this point Ibn Arabi certainly was more logical than the Florentine poet, who is less interested in Beatrice as a symbol than in her glorification as a real person. The effect of this difference, however, is practically annulled by the fact that when he sets out on his ascension with Beatrice, Dante may be said to be acting in a dual capacity; firstly, as a philosopher, by the experience gained from Virgil’s teaching; and secondly, as a theologian, now taught by Beatrice. Thus in some of the spheres, Dante is seen reasoning as a philosopher independent of the aid of Beatrice or the blessed, who, on the other hand, enlighten him on supernatural or mystical problems. And this is precisely what happens in Ibn Arabi’s story. The philosopher learns in each sphere of the natural phenomena produced in the sublunar world by its physical virtues; whilst the theologian from the prophets receives the same instruction as the philosopher on matters pertaining to nature, supplemented by illumination of mystical and theological subjects.

A few features of resemblance in episode may help to complete the parallel.

9. In Dante’s hell the souls of the damned are seen in the dwellings in which they are destined to remain for all eternity. In paradise, however, the blessed descend from their abode, the Empyrean, and appear to Dante in the various astronomical spheres, welcoming him or making him sensible to the various degrees of bliss. They are, however, supposed to return to the Empyrean, for, in the heaven of the Fixed Stars Dante again sees them assembled in one large body.⁠[111]

This same artifice was used by Ibn Arabi in his allegorical adaptation of the Miraj. The prophets in the various spheres descend to bid him welcome, but in the heaven of the Fixed Stars he beholds all the spirits of the blessed together, and at the Divine Throne he sees Adam and Abraham, whom he had previously seen, the one in the first, and the other in the seventh heaven.

The criterion, in accordance with which the souls as first seen by Dante are distributed, is twofold—astrological and moral. The blessed either appear in the heaven of the star that influenced their lives or in a higher or lower sphere according to the merit of their life.⁠[112] The same principle is discernible in the allegory of Ibn Arabi. The prophets do not appear in chronological order; for, whilst Adam is in the first heaven, Abraham is in the seventh, Moses and Aaron are in different heavens; and Jesus is in the sphere next to Adam. The guiding principle is thus either greater dignity or moral excellence. Moreover, the celestial spheres unlike the preceding versions where they are numbered, bear the name of their star. Thus a relationship, similar to that between each heaven and the souls in the Paradiso, is here established between the spheres and the prophets appearing in them. It is true that the meaning underlying this relationship is nowhere actually expressed. But it is significant that Joseph, celebrated for beauty and chastity, should be assigned to the sphere of Venus; Moses, as law-giver to Israel and victor over Pharaoh, to the sphere of Jupiter, the vanquisher of the Titans; and Jesus, the Living Word of God, to Mercury, the messenger of the gods and himself the god of eloquence.⁠[113]

Lastly, the desire that obsesses Dante to display his learning often at the expense even of artistic effect has a striking parallel in the Moslem tale. Dante made of the Divine Comedy a veritable scientific treatise by attributing to Beatrice and others, for the instruction of the pilgrim, lengthy dissertations on philosophy, theology and the like. Ibn Arabi resorts to a similar device to present his theosophical problems, when he causes these to be discussed in lengthy and complicated discourses by the prophets.⁠[114]

Thus the two works agree in subject-matter, action and allegorical purpose; in their principal and secondary persons; in the architecture of the astronomical heavens; and in the didactic trend of ideas and the use of literary devices to produce in abstract a national cyclopædia. To these features of resemblance must be added the similarity in style; both works are so abstruse and involved at times as to suggest to the reader the mysteriousness of an oracle. In the face of all these reasons it is not too much to say that Ibn Arabi’s work is of all Moslem types the most akin to the Paradiso in particular and the whole Divine Comedy in general, in so far at least as the latter may be regarded as a moral and didactic allegory.