Note 2 — DICTIONARY OF ISLĀM. (continued 13)

The seven heavens and the seven earths which are held in the Talmud, have found their way into the Qurʾān.2 During the creation, God’s glorious throne was placed in the air upon the water.3 According to the Talmud, “the world is the sixtieth part of the garden, the garden is the sixtieth part of Eden”; and Muḥammad states that the breadth of the garden is that of heaven and earth.4 Both in the Qurʾān and Talmud we find seven hells as the appointed abode for the damned, and each hell has seven gates in both documents.5 The entrance of Jahannam is marked, according to the Sukkah, by two date-trees, between which smoke issues; and the Qurʾān speaks of a tree in hell [ZAQQUM] of which the damned are to eat, and of which many terrible things are related.6 In the Talmud the prince of hell demands supply for his domain, and a similar request is made in the Qurʾān.7 Between the seven heavens and the seven hells is an intermediate place [AʿRAF], for those who are too good to be cast into hell and too imperfect to be admitted into heaven.8 This intermediate abode is, however, so narrow, that the conversations of the blessed and the damned on either side may be overheard. Again, the happiness of Paradise [PARADISE] is similarly described in both Talmud and Qurʾān;9 also the difficulty of attaining it. The Talmud declares that it is as easy for an elephant to enter through the eye of a needle; the Qurʾān substituting a camel for an elephant.10 That the dead live in the sight of God is stated in both documents in the same terms, and that there is no admission to the actual presence of the Almighty before the Day of Judgment and the resurrection of the dead.11 The signs of the last day as given in the Qurʾān are borrowed equally from the Scriptures and the Talmud.12 [RESURRECTION.]