Note 188 — PART II THE DIVINE COMEDY COMPARED WITH OTHER MOSLEM LEGENDS ON THE AFTER-LIFE
Harold Sunderland translation
Infernal tortures based on this principle were found in several versions of the Miraj, but they recur in far greater number in other traditions depicting the torments of the sinners or the scenes on the Day of Judgment.
In them, thieves suffer amputation of both hands; the liar has his lips torn asunder; the nagging wife and the false witness are shown hanging by their tongues; unjust judges appear blind; the vain, deaf and dumb; hired mourners go about barking like dogs; suicides suffer throughout eternity the torture of their death; the proud are converted into ants and trampled upon by all the other sinners. Some categories of sinners are obliged to bear the corpus delicti as a stigma; thus, the drunkard carries a bottle slung round his neck and a glass or a guitar in his hand; the tradesman who gave short weight carries scales of fire hanging from his neck; and the reader of the Koran who was puffed up with pride at his accomplishment appears with a copy of the holy book nailed to his neck; and so forth.
Cf. Corra, 12-25, 31, 37, 43. Al-Laali, II, 195. Kanz, VII, 2,086, No. 3,173. Gayangos Coll. MS 64, fol. 15 vᵒ; MS 172, fol. 33 v°.