The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Religion
The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume 6 (of 14): Medieval Arabic, Moorish, and Turkish
Oriental literature -- Translations into English
To whomsoever God giveth wealth, and he doth not perform the charity
due from it, his wealth will be made into the shape of a serpent on
the day of resurrection, which shall not have any hair upon its head,
and this is a sign of its poison and long life, and it hath two
black spots upon its eyes, and it will be twisted round his neck like
a chain on the day of resurrection; then the serpent will seize the
man's jaw-bones, and will say, "I am thy wealth, the charity for which
thou didst not give, and I am thy treasure, from which thou didst not
separate any alms."
The Prophet asked us, "Did any one of you dream?" We said, "No." He
said, "But I did. Two men came to me and took hold of my hands, and
carried me to a pure land: and behold, there was a man sitting and
another standing: the first had an iron hook in his hand, and was
hooking the other in the lip, and split it to the back of the neck, and
then did the same with the other lip. While this was doing the first
healed, and the man kept on from one lip to the other. I said, 'What
is this?' They said, 'Move on,' and we did so till we reached a man
sleeping on his back, and another standing at his head with a stone in
his hand, with which he was breaking the other's head, and afterward
rolled the stone about and then followed it, and had not yet returned,
when the man's head was healed and well. Then he broke it again, and
I said, 'What is this?' They said, 'Walk on'; and we walked, till we
came to a hole like an oven, with its top narrow and its bottom wide,
and fire was burning under it, and there were naked men and women in
it; and when the fire burned high the people mounted also, and when the
fire subsided they subsided also. Then I said, 'What is this?' They
said, 'Move on'; and we went on till we came to a river of blood, with
a man standing in the middle of it, and another man on the bank, with
stones in his hands: and when the man in the river attempted to come
out, the other threw stones in his face, and made him return. And I
said, 'What is this'? They said, 'Advance'; and we moved forward, till
we arrived at a green garden, in which was a large tree, and an old man
and children sitting on the roots of it, and near it was a man lighting
a fire. Then I was carried upon the tree, and put into a house which
was in the middle of it—a better house I have never seen: and there
were old men, young men, women, and children. After that they brought
me out of the house and carried me to the top of the tree, and put me
into a better house, where were old men and young men. And I said to my
two conductors, 'Verily ye have shown me a great many things to-night,
then inform me of what I have seen.' They said, 'Yes: as to the man
whom you saw with split lips, he was a liar, and will be treated in
that way till the day of resurrection; and the person you saw getting
his head broken is a man whom God taught the Koran, and he did not
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