Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/738

* MOHAMMEDANISM. 660 MOHAMMEDANISM. like the toriiier. ina_v l>e traced l)ack ilirectly to Jewish ami christian and in a sniallir ilrgiee to Tersian inlliicmin. Created of lire and endowed with a kind of incorporeal l)ody. anf^els stand be- tween (■(h1 and man. There are four chief angels: Gabriel, the angel of revelation; ilidiael, the special protector and guardian of the Jews; Azrael, the angel of death; Isratil (L'riel), whose oflice it will be to sound the trumpet at the resur- rection. Besides angels there are good and evil genii (jinns, q.v.), of a grosser fabric than the former and subject to death. They have dillereiil names and offices {pirls, fairies; dcrcs, giants; lalcic'uis, fates, etc.), and are much like the slirdim in the Talmud and Jlidrash and the de- mons of other peoi)les. The chief of the evil genii is Iblis (q.v.), once called Azazil, who, refusing to pay homage to Adam, was rejected by God. A third belief is that in certain divinely given scriphircs, revealed successively to the different propluts. Originally there were 104 sacred books, but only four have survived, viz.: the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Koran, and the fir.st three are in a nnitilated and falsified condi- tion. The numl>er of ])r(>phets sent at ditfcrent times, is stated variously at between :200.000 and 300,000. Among them 313 were apostles, and six were specially commissioned to proclaim new laws and dispensations, which abrogated the preceding ones. These were Adam, Noah. .Aliraham, Moses. Jesus, and Mohammed — the last the greatest of them all. and the propagator of the final dis- pensation. Tile belief in the rcxiirrcrl iiiii and the final judf/niriit is an important article of faith, which in the theological writings, later than JIo- hammed. is elaborately developed. The condition of the dead in the future world and the punish- ment of the wicked are pictured with a great multiplicity of details. The dead are received in their graves by an angel announcing the coming of the two examiners, Munkar ('Unknown') and Xakir ( ■Uepmliating") . who, ilocrilied as two black angels with blue eyes, put cpiestions to the dead respecting his belief in God and llohammed, and in accordance with the answers, either tor- ture or comfort him. The soul, awaiting a gen- eral resurrection, is treated according to its rank; prophets enter immediately into Paradise; mar- tyrs, in the shape of a green bird, partake of the delights of the abode of bliss; common believers either stay nc:ir the grave, or are with .dani in the lowest heaven, or remain in the well Zem- zem or in the trumpet of the re.-.urn'clion, or rest in the shape of a wliite I>iril under the throne of God. The sotils of intidels dwell in a certain well in the province of Hadraniaut (interpreted as Chamber of Death), or, being first ofTered to heaven, then to earth, and rejected by both, are subject to unspeakable tortures until the day of resurrection. Concerning the latter, considerable discrepancy ri'igns among the Mohammedan the- ologians. Alohanimcd himself seems to have held that both soul and body will be raised, and it is saiil that the rump-bone will remain un<'orrupted till the last day, and from it the whole body will spring anew, after a forty days' rain, .mong the signs by which the approach of the last day tiiay be known are the decay of faith among men. the advancing of the meanest persons to the high- est dignities, wars, seditions, and tunuiUs, and onnserpient dire distress. Certain provinces shall revolt, and the buildings of Medina shall reach to Mecca. These are the eight 'lesser' signs; of 'greater' signs therc arc no less than 17; the sun will rise in the west, the Beast will a]ipear. Con- stantinople will be taken by the descendants of Isaac, the Antichrist will come and be killed by Jesus at Lud (Lydda). Further there will come a war with the Jews, Gog and Jlagog's ( Yujuj and iliijuj) eruption, a great smoke, an eclipse, the Mohannnedans will return to i<h)latry, a great treasure will be found in the I'Aiphrates, the Kaaba will be destroyed by tlic KMiiopians, beasts and inanimate things will speak, and final- ly, a wind will sweep away tli<' souls of those who have faith, even if equal only to a grain of mustard .seed, so that the world shall be left in ignorance. The time of the resurrection even mystery. Three blasts will announce it; that of consternation, of such terrible ])ower that moth- ers will neglect the baln's on their breasts, and heaven and earth will melt; that of examination, which will annihilate all things and beings, even the angel of death, save p,'iradise and hell and their inhabitants; and, forty years later, that of resurrection, when all men. Mohammed first, sliall have their souls breathed into their restored bodies, and will sleep in their sepulchres until the final doom has been passed upon them. The day of judgment, lasting from one thousand to i fifty thousand years, will call up angels, genii, men. and animals. The trial over, the righteous will enter [)aradise, to the right hand, and the wicked will pass to the left, into hell; both, how- ever have first to go over the bridge AlSiiat, laid over the midst of hell, finer than a hair, sharper than the edge of a sword, and beset with thorns on either side. The righteous will pro- ceed on their path with ease and swiftness, but the wicked will fall headlong. Hill is divided into seven stories or apartments, respectively as- signed to Mohammedans. .Jews.Christ ians, Saliians. ^lagians, idolaters, and — the lowest of all — to the hypocrites, who, outwardly professing a religion, in reality had none. The degrees of pain — chief- ly consisting in intense heat and cold — vary: but the Mohammedans, and all those who professed the unity of God. will finally be released, while unbelievers and idolaters will be condemned to eternal punishment. Paradise is divided from hell by a partition (Uirf) in which a certain number of half-saints will find place. The blessed, destined for the abode of eternal delight (Al-Jannah. Heh. Clan-Eden), will first drink of the pond of the Prophet, which is supplied from the rivers of Paradise, whiter than milk, anlievers acceptal)lc in the eyes of God; and (3) tho.se who creep, the unbelievers. The various felicities which await the pious represent a conglomeration of .Jew- ish, Christian, Zoroastrian, and other fancies to which the Prophet's own scnsu;il imagination has aiMed very considerably. Feasting in the most gorgeous and delicious variety, the most costly and lirilliant garments, odors, and music of the most ravishing nature, and, above all, the cnio.v- inent of the Hiir ah'wjfin, the black-eyed daugh-
 * Iohammed could not learn from Gabriel ; it is a