[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:—

[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):—

“Quoniam vero aliqui sapientes sarracenorum ... ponentes beatitudinem hominis tantum in anima....” Ibid. 53: “Quod autem in errorem induxit sapientes sarracenorum ... videtur processisse ex Alcorano; quum ibi contineatur quod post resurrectionem habebunt delectationes corporales, ut delectatio cibi, potus et coitus; que, in veritate, si in alia vita essent, intellectum a cogitatione et dilectione summi boni impedirent. Unde, quia visum est eis hoc esse inconveniens, sicut est in veritate, negaverunt ..., ponentes tamen beatitudinem hominis in anima.” Ibid. 53 (in his explanation of the last article of the symbol, “vitam eternam”): “Preeminentiam autem delectationum spiritualium et divinarum, ad corporales delectationes, necnon et earum comparationem ad invicem, ponit Avicenna in libro de scientia divina, tractatu IX, capite VII de promissione divina, loquens de felicitate animae....” Ibid. 54: “Item, Algazel firmat idem in libro Intentionum physicarum (this should be philosophicarum)....” Ibid. 54: “Eandem etiam sententiam confirmat in libro qui dicitur Vivificatio scientiarum, in demonstratione quod gloriosior et excellentior delectationum, cognitio Dei excelsi, et contemplatio vultus ejus (referring to Ihia, IV, 219). Et in libro qui dicitur Trutina operum, in capitulo probationis, quid sit beatitudo ultima. Hoc idem etiam confirmat Alpharabius in libro de auditu naturali, tractatu II circa finem, et in libro de intellectu. Ex his patet, quod etiam apud philosophos sarracenorum, beatitudo eterna consistit in cognitione et amore Dei, non in delectatione.”

[330] Cf. D’Ancona, Precursori, 29: “Hanno ... tutte queste leggende carattere ingenuo, anzi fanciullesco, che di necessità ce le fa porre fuori della cerchia della vera poesia.” Ibid. 31: “Nè più alto e condegno è il comune concetto della sede celeste....” Ibid. 32: “e per rappresentar le gioie del paradiso abbiano avuto ricorso a raddoppiare di più che mille milia il coro od il refettorio.” Ibid. 88: “Ma questa corte celeste ... diventa la corte plenaria di un signore feudale.” Cf. Ibid. 104-6.

[331] In Part III, Ch. VI, Moslem precedents will be shown for many of these materialistic Christian legends.

[332] Purg. XVI, 40. The hypothesis is D’Ancona’s, who in note 2 to page 108 of his Precursori says: “Si potrebbe in Dante vedere giusto disdegno, anzichè ignoranza dei suoi predecessori.” Cf. Rossi, I, 140: “Con codesta povera concezione ... non è neppure paragonabile la concezione dantesca,” and I, 147: “Mentre i precedenti descrittori non avevano saputo se non trasferire nel soggiorno dei beati i più soavi diletti della vita terrena, per Dante il premio dei buoni è tutto nel intimo godimento che loro procurano la visione e la cognizione di Dio.”

[333] Cf. Rossi, I, 141-2 and 147.

[334] It was also believed in Islam that the blessed meet in the heavenly mansions to converse together and welcome the newly-arrived souls, whom they ask for news of their friends and relations on earth. The hadiths on this subject may be found in Tadhkira, 17; Kanz, VII, 231, Nos. 2,568 and 2,571; and Ibn Makhluf, II, 143. Dante describes many similar conversations of his with the blessed on the events and persons of his time, notably with Piccarda, Cunizza, Costanza, Folcheto, and Cacciaguida.

[335] Cf. Vigouroux, Dict. de la Bible, s.v. ciel.

[336] Tixeront, s.v. eschatologie. Origenes (Ibid. I, 303) and St. Ephrem (II, 221) alone appear to mention the astronomical heavens. Accordingly Perrone says (II, 110, n. 2):—

“Non levis inter aliquot ex antiquis Patribus dissensio occurrit, ubi agitur de statuendo loco, in quem justorum animae abscedentes a corpore deferantur. Alii coelum, alii sinum Abrahae, isti locum quietis, illi paradisum censent sive appellant. Paradisus ipse apud aliquos aut ipsum coelorum regnum significat, aut saltem in coelorum regione situs creditur; apud alios in ignota hujus terrae plaga. Sunt et paucissimi qui sub terra sive in inferis....”

St. Thomas, in explaining the passage in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, V, 12, agrees with St. Augustine that “Merces sanctorum non dicitur esse in corporeis coelis” (Summa theol. 1-2ae, q. 4, a. 7, ad 3). Nor is mediæval art any more precise, for in the French cathedrals Paradise is shown as the bosom of Abraham. Cf. Mâle, 427.

[337] Fraticelli, commenting on the passage of Inf. XXXIV, 112-115, says, “Imagina Dante che Gerusalemme sia posta nel mezzo dell’emisfero boreale”; and to Par. XXX, 124-8, he remarks, “E qui vuolsi notare che, come Gerusalemme (secondo il creder d’allora) è nel mezzo della terra abitata; così Dante imagina il seggio de’beati, la Gerusalemme celeste, soprastare a perpendicolo alla terrena.” Cf. Rossi, I, 141: “una stessa retta ... da Gerusalemme ... prolungata ... sale al centro della mistica rosa”; and I, 142: “così la Gerusalemme terrestre per una linea diritta ... si congiunge colla Gerusalemme celeste.”

[338] MS 105 Gayangos Collection, fol. 117 rᵒ.

[339] Cf. Hamadhani, 94-8. Also Yaqut, VIII, 111, s.v. Bayt al-Muqaddas.

[340] MS 105 Gayangos Collection, fol. 101 vᵒ.

[341] Futuhat, II, 582.

[342] Futuhat, II, 898. On the following page he inserts a geometrical design, in which, taking the five fundamental precepts of Islam by way of example, he shows how the grades of hell correspond symmetrically to the grades of paradise. This design, with a few unimportant omissions, is reproduced below. The dotted lines indicate the vertical projection of the grades of heaven above those of hell.

[343] The actual verses are Par. XXX, 100-132; XXXI, 1-54, 112-117; XXXII, 1-84, and 115-138.

[344] Tadhkira, 99. Gayangos Coll., MS 159, fol. 2 vᵒ; MS 64, fol. 25 vᵒ.

[345] Corra, 132.

[346] Gayangos Coll., MS 64, fol. 25.

[347] Cf. Ibn Makhluf, II, 147. Abu Abd Allah Mohamed ibn Ayshun was a theologian and lawyer who also wrote poetry and compiled several books of hadiths. After being taken captive by the Christians, he was ransomed and died in his native town, Toledo, in 952 A.D.

[348] Cf. Ibn Makhluf, II, 151-154.

[349] Cf. Ibn Makhluf, II, 157.

[350] Tadhkira, 85.

[351] Ibn Makhluf, II, 58. The elaboration of this fantastic picture of glory was continued, more notably by the Spanish and African sufis between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, until about the time the Divine Comedy was produced. Although Ibn Arabi’s is undoubtedly the one that most nearly approaches the Dantean version, the following by Izzu’d-Din ibn Abd as-Salam of the fourteenth century, is also of interest:—

In heaven there are as many grades as there are virtues, and each of these is again subdivided into the lowest, the intermediate, and the highest grades. Thus, for example, the martyrs of Islam occupy the hundred highest grades as a reward for faith; another hundred correspond to each of the other virtues; then come a hundred grades for just rulers; then a hundred for sincere witnesses, and so forth. If two of the elect are equally deserving by reason of faith (whether mystic or theological), both occupy the same grade; but, if there is any difference in either the quantity or the quality of their faith, then they are placed apart. And so it is with the other virtues.

[352] A translation of the principal passages of the Futuhat relating hereto is given in the author’s Mohidín, pp. 7-23.

[353] Futuhat, III, 579, and passim.

[354] Futuhat, I, 416; III, 552 and 567. Cf. Al-Yawaqit, II, 197. Cf. Par. XXX, 103, 125, and 130; XXXI, 67 and 115; XXXII, 26 and 36.

[355] There are really only seven, as the first, being dedicated to Mahomet, must be associated with all the others.

[356] Landino, in discussing Par. XXXII on fol. 433 of his Commentary, arrives at the same number of twelve as that of the main degrees in Dante’s realm of glory: “Onde sono sei differentie e ciascuna ha provetti e parvuli, che fanno dodeci.” For the number of gradins, cf. Par. XXX, 113: “più di mille soglie.”

[357] Corra, 118: “And the Prophet said: In heaven is the tree of happiness whose root is in my dwelling-place and whose branches shelter all the mansions of heaven; nor is there mansion or dwelling-place which holds not one of its branches....” (Ibid. 119). “Each of the blessed has his own branch, with his name inscribed upon it.”

[358] A rough sketch of this Islamic tree is to be found in the illustration from the Maʿrifet Nameh, included by Carra de Vaux in Fragments d’Eschatologie musulmane, pp. 27 and 33. An amplified reproduction is here given (see Fig. 3).

[359] Par. XVIII, 28-33, on which Fraticelli comments:—

“Paragona il sistema de’ cieli ad un albero che si fa più spazioso di grado in grado; e fa che abbia vita dalla cima, in contrario de’ nostri alberi, che l’anno dalle radici, perchè ei la toglie dall’empireo.”

[360] In Graf, Miti, I, 140, note 35. For particulars about Federigo Frezzi, who composed his poem in 1394, cf. Rossi, I, 264.

[361] Futuhat, I, 416 and III, 567. Cf. Par. XXXII, 20 and 39; XXXI, 97.

[362] Futuhat, I, 416 and III, 577. Cf. Par. XXXI, 25, 115, and XXXII, 61.

[363] Futuhat, I, 416 and 417. Cf. Par. XXX, 109, and XXXI, 121.

[364] Futuhat, I, 415. Cf. Par. XXXII, 52-60, and Fraticelli’s comment thereon:—

“In questo così ampio Paradiso non può aver luogo un punto, un seggio, dato a caso.... Poichè quantunque vidi, tutto quello che qui vedi, è stabilito per eterna legge in modo, che ad ogni grado di merito corrisponde un ugual grado di gloria, a quel modo che dall’anello al dito, al dito corrisponde proporzionato anello.”

[365] Cp. Futuhat, I, 414, with Par. XXXII, 42-47 and 73-74. Also Futuhat, I, 415, with Par. XXX, 131-132.

[366] Futuhat, III, 8: “Divine mercy is greater than Divine anger. The damned, then, are punished for the sins they have committed only, but the elect enter heaven through grace and experience such bliss as by their good works alone they would not deserve.” Cf. Par. XXXII, 58-66.

[367] Futuhat, I, 417; II, 111; and III, 577.

[368] Landino, on fol. 432 vᵒ of his Commentary, explains this point very clearly.

[369] Cp. Par. XXXI, 69; XXX, 133 and XXXII, 7; XXXI, 16; XXX, 115 and 132, with the passages of the Futuhat quoted under [367].

[370] In Ibn Arabi, as will shortly be shown, the difference in the intensity of the Beatific Vision depends, as in Dante, on the nature of the faith the elect professed on earth.

[371] Ibn Makhluf, II, 59-60. In Islam Mahomet is regarded as the Prophet who renewed the teaching of the one true religion as revealed by God to Abraham; and, just as Abraham is the patriarch of the Old Testament, so Mahomet may be said to be the patriarch of the new Testament of the Moslems.

[372] Par. XXXII, 19-27.

[373] Futuhat, II, 113, and Par. XXXII, 118.

[374] Futuhat, I, 417-420.

[375] Futuhat, II, 111.

[376] Futuhat, II, 112-113.

[377] This latter thesis was propounded by Averrhoes and adopted by St. Thomas. Cf. Asín, Averroismo, 291 et seq.

[378] Futuhat, III, 578.

[379] Futuhat, III, 577.

[380] Before entering on this comparison we may be allowed to point out a curious coincidence in the chronology of Dante’s ascension and that assigned in the hadiths to the ascension of the blessed souls to enjoy the Beatific Vision. Dante undertook his ascension “nel mezzo del camin di nostra vita” (Inf. I, 1) or, according to the commentators, “a trenta-cinque anni,” or “dell’età di 32 o 33 anni” (Cf. Scartazzini). A hadith in the Gayangos Coll., MS 105, fol. 140 rᵒ, attributes to Mahomet the statement that the blessed will enter paradise “at Jesus’ age, or the age of thirty-three.” Further, Dante ascends to heaven on Good Friday (cf. Fraticelli, pp. 622-3) and the hadiths state that the Beatific Vision takes place on Friday, the holy day of Islam (cf. Kanz, VII, 232, Nos. 2,572 and 2,641).