ow any one shall be able to stand upon it; for
which reason most of the sect of the Motazalites reject it as a fable;
though the orthodox think it a sufficient proof of the truth of this
article, that it was seriously affirmed by him who never asserted a
falsehood, meaning their prophet, who, to add to the difficulty of the
passage, has likewise declared that this bridge is beset on each side with
briers and hooked thorns, which will, however, be no impediment to the
good; for they shall pass with wonderful ease and swiftness, like
lightning, or the wind, Mahomet, and his Moslems leading the way; whereas
the wicked, what with the slipperiness and extreme narrowness of the path,
the entangling of the thorns, and the extinction of the light which
directed the former to paradise, will soon miss their footing, and fall
down headlong into hell, which is gaping beneath them.

As to the punishment of the wicked, the Mahometans are taught that hell is
divided into seven stories or apartments, one below another, designed for
the reception of as many distinct classes of the damned.

The first, which they call _Jehenan_, they say, will be the receptacle of
those who acknowledged one God, that is, the wicked Mahometans; who, after
having been punished according to their demerits, will at length be
released; the second, named _Ladha_, they assign to the Jews; the third,
named _al Hotama_, to the Christians; the fourth, named _al Sair_, to the
Sabians; the fifth; named _Sakar_, to the Magians; the sixth, named _al
Jahin_, to the idolaters; and the seventh, which is the lowest and worst
of all, and is called _al Howyat_, to the hypocrites, or those who
outwardly professed some religion, but in their hearts were of none. Over
each of these apartments they believe there will be set a guard of angels,
nineteen in number; to whom the damned will confess the just judgment of
God, and beg them to intercede with him for some alleviation of their
pain, or that they may be delivered by being annihilated.

Mahomet has, in his Koran and traditions, been very exact in describing
the various torments of hell, which, according to him, the wicked will
suffer, both from intense heat and excessive cold. The degrees of these
pains will also vary in proportion to the crimes of the sufferer, and the
apartment he is condemned to; and he who is punished the most lightly of
all will be shod with shoes of fire, the fervor of which will cause his
skull to bo