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)
without danger, since the wine of paradise will not inebriate, as that we drink here. The flavour of this wine we may conceive to be delicious without a description, since the water of Tansim and the other fountains which will be used to dilute it, is said to be wonderfully sweet and fragrant. If any object to these pleasures, as an impudent Jew did to Mohammed, that so much eating and drinking must necessarily require proper evacuations, we answer, as the prophet did, that the inhabitants of paradise will not need to ease themselves, nor even to blow their nose, for that all superfluities will be discharged and carried off by perspiration, or a sweat as odoriferous as musk, after which their appetite shall return afresh.
The magnificence of the garments and furniture promised by the Korân to the godly in the next life, is answerable to the delicacy of their diet. For they are to be cloathed in the richest silks and brocades, chiefly of green, which will burst forth from the fruits of paradise, and will be also supplied by the leaves of the tree Tûba; they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and silver, and crowns set with pearls of incomparable lustre; and will make use of silken carpets, litters of a prodigious size, couches, pillows, and other rich furniture embroidered with gold and precious stones.
That we may the more readily believe what has been mentioned of the extraordinary abilities of the inhabitants of paradise to taste these pleasures in their height, it is said they will enjoy a perpetual youth; that in whatever age they happen to die, they will be raised in their prime and vigour, that is, of about thirty years of age, which age they will never exceed, (and the same they say of the damned) and that when they enter paradise they will be of the same stature with Adam, who, as they fable, was no less than sixty cubits high. And to this age and stature their children, if they shall desire any, (for otherwise their wives will not conceive) shall immediately attain; according to that saying of their prophet, If any of the faithful in paradise be desirous of issue, it shall be conceived, born, and grown up within the space of an hour. And in the same manner, if any one shall have a fancy to employ himself in agriculture, (which ruftic pleasure may suit the wanton fancy of some) what he shall sow will spring up and come to maturity in a moment.
Lest any of the senses should want their proper delight, we are told the ear will there be entertained, not only with the ravishing songs of the angel Israfil, who has the most melodious voice of all God’s creatures, and of the daughters of paradise; but even the trees themselves will celebrate the divine praises with a harmony
