Arabian Society in the Middle Ages: Studies From The Thousand and One NightsLane, Edward William
Islamic
Arabian Society in the Middle Ages: Studies From The Thousand and One Nights
Lane, Edward William
Arabian nights; Egypt -- Social life and customs; Islamic Empire -- Social life and customs; Social history -- Medieval, 500-1500
The Prophet is related to have said, "The infant children [of the
Muslims] shall assemble at the scene of judgment on the day of the
general resurrection, when all creatures shall appear for the reckoning,
and it will be said to the angels, 'Go ye with these into Paradise:' and
they will halt at the gate of Paradise, and it will be said to them,
'Welcome to the offspring of the Muslims! enter ye Paradise: there is no
reckoning to be made with you:' and they will reply, 'Yea, and our
fathers and our mothers:' but the guardians of Paradise will say,
'Verily your fathers and your mothers are not with you because they have
committed faults and sins for which they must be reckoned with and
inquired of.' Then they will shriek and cry at the gate of Paradise with
a great cry; and God (whose name be exalted, and who is all-knowing
respecting them) will say, 'What is this cry?' It will be answered, 'O
our Lord, the children of the Muslims say, We will not enter Paradise
but with our fathers and our mothers.' Whereupon God (whose name be
exalted) will say, 'Pass among them all, and take the hands of your
parents, and introduce them into Paradise.'" The children who are to
have this power are such as are born of believers, and die without
having attained to the knowledge of sin; and according to one tradition,
one such child will introduce his two parents into Paradise. Such
infants only are to enter Paradise; for of the children who die in
infancy, those of believers alone are they who would believe if they
grew to years of discretion. On the same authority it is said, "When a
child of the servant [of God] dies, God (whose name be exalted) saith to
the angels, 'Have ye taken the child of my servant?' They answer, 'Yea.'
He saith, 'Have ye taken the child of his heart?' They reply, 'Yea.' He
asketh them, 'What did my servant say?' They answer, 'He praised thee,
and said, Verily to God we belong, and verily unto Him we return!' Then
God will say, 'Build for my servant a house in Paradise, and name it the
House of Praise.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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