George Sale, The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, translated into English immediately from the original Arabic; with Explanatory Notes, taken from the most approved Commentators. To which is prefixed A Preliminary Discource (1734)
of hell, which they say is no broader than a thread; but then they do not tell us that any shall be obliged to pass it, except the idolaters, who will fall thence into perdition 1.
The Mohammedan notions of hell, and its torments.
As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mohammedans are taught that hell is divided into seven stories, or apartments, one below another, designed for the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned 2. The first which they call Jehennam, they say, will be the receptacle of those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mohammedans, who after having there been punished according to their demerits, will at length be released. The second, named Ladhâ, they assign to the Jews; the third, named al Hotama, to the Christians; the fourth, named al Säîr, to the Sabians; the fifth, named Sakar, to the Magians; the sixth, named al Jahîm, to the idolaters; and the seventh which is the lowest and worst of all, and is called al Hâwiyat, to the hypocrites, or those who outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none 3. Over each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels 4, nineteen in number 5; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated 6.
Mohammed has, in his Korân and traditions, been very exact in describing the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will suffer both from intense heat and excessive cold. We shall however enter into no detail of them here, but only observe that the degrees of these pains will also vary, in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the apartment he is condemned to; and that he who is punished the most lightly of all will be shod with shoes of fire, the servor of which will cause his skull to boil like a cauldron. The condition of these unhappy wretches, as the same prophet teaches, cannot be properly called either life or death; and their misery will be greatly encreased by their despair of being ever delivered from that place, since, according to that frequent expression in the Korân, they must remain therein for ever. It must be remarked, however, that the infidels alone
1 Midrash, Yalkut Reubeni, §. Gehinnom.
2 Kor. c. 15.
3 Others fill these apartments with different company. Some place in the second, the idolaters; in the third, Gog and Magog, &c. in the fourth, the devils; in the fifth, those who neglect alms and prayers; and crowd the Jews, Christians, and Magians together in the sixth. Some again will have the first to be prepared for the Dahrians, or those who deny the creation, and believe the eternity of the world; the second, for the Dualists, or Manichees, and the idolatrous Arabs; the third, for the Bramins of the Indies; the fourth, for the Jews; the fifth, for the Christians; and the sixth, for the Magians. But all agree in assigning the seventh to the hypocrites. V. Millium, de Mohammedismo ante Moham. p. 412. D’Herbel. Bibl. Orient. p. 368, &c.
5 Ib. c. 74.
