Note 173 — PART II THE DIVINE COMEDY COMPARED WITH OTHER MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE

How popular these descriptions of hell were is shown by the fact that they passed into the Arabian Nights Tales. Thus, Tamim Dari and Boluqiya each visit hell, where the latter finds seven floors of fire, containing: (1) impenitent Moslems; (2) polytheists; (3) Gog and Magog; (4) demons; (5) Moslems forgetful of prayer; (6) Jews and Christians; and (7) hypocrites. The severity of torture increases with the depth; the floors are separated by a distance of a thousand years, and in the first there are hills, valleys, houses, castles and cities to the number of seventy thousand. Cf. Chauvin, Bibliographie, VII, 48 and 56.