Note 380 — PART II THE DIVINE COMEDY COMPARED WITH OTHER MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE (continued 2)

Before entering on this comparison we may be allowed to point out a curious coincidence in the chronology of Dante’s ascension and that assigned in the hadiths to the ascension of the blessed souls to enjoy the Beatific Vision. Dante undertook his ascension “nel mezzo del camin di nostra vita” (Inf. I, 1) or, according to the commentators, “a trenta-cinque anni,” or “dell’età di 32 o 33 anni” (Cf. Scartazzini). A hadith in the Gayangos Coll., MS 105, fol. 140 rᵒ, attributes to Mahomet the statement that the blessed will enter paradise “at Jesus’ age, or the age of thirty-three.” Further, Dante ascends to heaven on Good Friday (cf. Fraticelli, pp. 622-3) and the hadiths state that the Beatific Vision takes place on Friday, the holy day of Islam (cf. Kanz, VII, 232, Nos. 2,572 and 2,641).