Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick.

  • Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    63/256 (page 47)
    is a garden in the East, on the top of a ruby moun¬ tain,1 which no one has the power to approach and ascend. Its soil is fertile; its climate of moderate temperature; it enjoys a perpetual spring. Streams innumerable flow on all sides ; trees ever verdant, and laden with ripe fruits, and flowers of various kinds, abound. The animals there are harmless ; and birds with sweet notes, and plumage of varied beauty, sit warbling on the boughs of the trees. Adam and Eve dwelt there in great happiness. The hair on the heads of this pair was very long, hanging down even to their feet, and their bodies were completely veiled by it. This imparted to them much ornament and beauty. They used to roam about with delight among the flower-beds, and along the banks of the streams, eating of the varieties of fruit, and drinking of the water of the streams. All enjoyments were attainable without the slightest labour or effort on their part. Tilling, sowing and reaping, grinding corn, cooking, spinning, weaving cloth, washing,— not one of these labours devolved on them—which in these days their offspring have the misfortue to be in- 1 Mohammedans are by no means agreed as to the situation of Paradise. Some place it in the lowest of the seven heavens, and some on earth, in or near Mesopotamia. The Koran certainly sanctions the belief that it is in heaven. Whence the idea of ruby mountain is obtained, I cannot dis¬ cover. The curious reader will find many interesting particulars on this subject in the Notes to Lane’s Translation of the Thousand and One Nights.