Note 94 — PART I THE LEGEND OF THE NOCTURNAL JOURNEY AND ASCENSION OF MAHOMET COMPARED WITH THE DIVINE COMEDY

One detail in the description calls for mention. Over the gate of paradise Mahomet sees an inscription extolling the virtues of almsgiving and lending free of interest (Ghiti, 86, and Dardir, 20). It will be remembered that in the version of Cycle 3 Mahomet hears a voice from hell describing the torments prepared and calling upon God to deliver up the sinners. In addition, there is the inscription branded on the forehead of the sodomite and the murderer in the Moslem hell, saying that they have “despaired of God’s mercy” (Corra, 31, and Kanz, VII, 2,086, No. 3,173), which is similar to the “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate.” If Dante was indeed acquainted with these features, it would be easy for him to combine and embody them in his inscription over the gate of hell; for the spiritual conception of his paradise precluded all idea of material gates and inscriptions.