Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/114

Rh Apologists for Islám, Carlyle for example, have suggested that the sensual delights of Muhammad's Paradise may after all be taken figuratively, even as the Song of Solomon and the Revelation of St. John. It is quite true that such is the interpretation hinted at in the Akhláq-i-Jaláli; and Mr. Lane in his "Modern Egyptians" says he met a Muslim of learning who considered them figurative; but such is not the view of any Muhammadan commentator. All Mushm theologians have given a literal interpretation of the sensual delights, and it is impossible for any candid mind to read the Qurán and Traditions and arrive to any other conclusion on the subject.

Islám, true to its anti-Christian character, preaches a sensual abode of bliss in opposition to the express teaching of our blessed Lord, who said, "They neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of heaven (St. Matt. xxii. 30).

It is remarkable that with the exception of one passage (Sura i. 25), Muhammad's descriptions of the sensual paradise belong to the later period of his mission, and after he had become a polygamist.