Note 157 — PART II THE DIVINE COMEDY COMPARED WITH OTHER MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE
Harold Sunderland translation
Other less striking features of resemblance might be quoted. Thus the crowd running behind the flag in the Ante-inferno (Inf. III, 52) is reminiscent of many Moslem tales of the Day of Judgment, which depict groups led by standard-bearers.
Thus, Moslems will be led by Mahomet bearing the banner of the Glory of God. The prophet Xoaib with a white banner will lead the blessed that are blind; Job, with a green banner, the patient lepers; Joseph, likewise with a green banner, the chaste youths; Aaron, with a yellow banner, the true friends who loved each other in God; Noah, with a many-coloured banner, the god-fearing; John, with a yellow banner, the martyrs; Jesus will be the standard-bearer of the poor in spirit; Solomon, of the rich; the pre-Islamic poet Imru-l-Qays will be the ensign of the poets in hell; and the traitor will bear a banner of shame. Cf. Ibn Makhluf, I, 154, and II, 8 and 14.
As to the swarms of wasps and flies that plague the inhabitants of the Ante-inferno, the Moslem hell is depicted as “swarming with insects of all kinds, except bees.” Cf. Al-Laali, II, 245.