Divine Comedy and Islam

Politics and religion
1

( For those who do not know what “Divine Comedy” is, written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. [ wikipedia definition]).

Right so, for the last few years I have developed an interest in Abrahamic religions, particularly Islam ( given the circumstances today). So, I was looking into it, and found something very,very interesting.

A fundamental aspect of faith in the religion of Islam, ( pronounced Islam, with an emphasis on the “S”, not a “Z” ). Is to believe that the Prophet Muhammad, ascended to heaven with the Archangel Gabriel, through what is now known as the temple mount. From there, he was shown both paradise and hell. A short description of what he saw, in the Qur’an :

“For indeed he saw him at a second descent, Near the Lote-tree beyond which none may pass: Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable) (His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! For truly did he see, of the Signs of his Lord, the Greatest—”
(relating to Gabriel’s descent, near what looks like a lote-tree in paradise).

Then, now the interesting part, Hell. When he desribes hell, he relates it in a way that may sound too familiar, with those who read divine comedy.
Muhammad, is shown all the circles of hell by Gabriel. Here he described it as 7 circles, while heaven is 8.

Details of the things that go on in hell, as Gabriel speaks to Muhammad:

9-The Prophet saw people who were competing to eat some rotten meat–ignoring meat that was sliced and unspoiled. Jibril told the Prophet, "These are people from your nation who leave out that which is permissible I, [/I]and consume that which is forbidden (U. "

11- The Prophet saw people scratching their faces and chests with brass finger nails. Jibril said, "These are the examples of those who commit backbiting (I[/I]. “).”
10- Also, the Prophet saw people who were drinking from the fluid coming from the bodies of the fornicators, (water mixed with blood). Jibril indicated to the Prophet these were the ones who were drinking the alcohol which is prohibited .

Also, the way Dante refers to Muhammad in his work is,somewhat schismatic

“See how I rend myself! How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; In front of me doth Ali weeping go, Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; And all the others whom thou here beholdest, Disseminators of scandal and of schism. While living were, and therefore are cleft thus.”

Qur’an speaks of the punishment of those who deny it;

"96: 16. Nay, if he desist not, We will assuredly, seize and drag him by the forelock."

As I was writing this post, I found this;

In 1919 Professor Miguel Asín Palacios, a Spanish scholar and a Catholic priest, published La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia (“Islamic Eschatology in the Divine Comedy”), an account of parallels between early Islamic philosophy and the Divine Comedy.

Palacios argued that Dante derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi and from the Isra and Mi’raj,Muhammad to heaven. The latter is described in the Hadith and the Kitab al Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before as Liber Scale Machometi, “The Book of Muhammad’s Ladder”), and has some slight similarities to the Paradiso, such as a seven-fold or night journey of division of Paradise.

Dante lived in a Europe of substantial literary and philosophical contact with the Muslim world, encouraged by such factors as Averroism and the patronage of Alfonso X of Castile. Of the twelve wise men Dante meets in Canto X of the Paradiso, Thomas Aquinas and, even more so, Sigier of Brabant were strongly influenced by Arabic commentators on Aristotle. Christian mysticism also shared the Neoplatonic influence of SufisIbn Arabi. Philosopher Frederick Copleston argued in 1950 that Dante’s respectful treatment of Averroes, Avicenna, and Sigier of Brabant such as indicates his acknowledgement of a “considerable debt” to Islamic philosophy. Medieval

Although this philosophical influence is generally acknowledged, many scholars have not been satisfied that Dante was influenced by the Kitab al Miraj. The twentieth century Orientalist Francesco Gabrieli expressed skepticism regarding the claimed similarities, and the lack of evidence of a vehicle through which it could have been transmitted to Dante. Even so, while dismissing the probability of some influences posited in Palacios’ work, Gabrieli recognized that it was “at least possible, if not probable, that Dante may have known the Liber scalae and have taken from it certain images and concepts of Muslim eschatology”. Shortly before her death the Italian philologist Maria Corti pointed out that, during his stay at the court of Alfonso X, Dante’s mentor Brunetto Latini met Bonaventura de Siena, a Tuscan who had translated the Liber scalae from Arabic into Latin. According to Corti, Brunetto may have provided a copy of that work to Dante.

So, I guess my hinch was right. So, what do you think of this “work of art”? A case of plagarism?

2

What is your ‘hinch’, exactly? That Dante ripped off the Qu’ran for ‘The Divine Comedy’?

3

Writer gets inspiration from religious text, writes his own version. Are we going to accuse Milton for plagiarizing the Bible next?

On the other hand, if there is a legitimate link and enough research to back it up, there are more than enough lit departments around the world that would be interested.

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Dante was influenced by many sources. He was certainly familiar with the Koran (Qu’ran if you prefer). He also drew from various legends in Italy. Of course, many of the figures he places in Hell are Italians of various scandals. Mahomet is placed in Hell (as you say) due to being a false prophet, so if your hunch is that Dante was actually Muslim, that hunch is clearly wrong.

5

No there wouldn’t, because it is already known. Check out this random translation of the Koran (chapter 7):

http://www.isgkc.org/translat.htm

Or this article (mentioned in the original post), which says it MIGHT be a coincidence, but could be an influence:

I should add though, in fairness to the OP, that I wasn’t aware of all these connections.

6

True, the case here being that even though, there are texts out there that illustrate the point, and it is very clear to see it, even to individuals that aren’t as familiar with both the poem and the Qur’an, as demonstrated in the OP. This clear “inspiration”( can it be called an inspiration when the individual of whom the said originates, is degraded using his own concept? ) is still disregarded.

Dante wasn’t a Muslim. I didn’t mean that. :)

Yeah, that’s what touched me too. Shouldn’t these connections at least have been aluded?

Exactly. His time of writing his work, the circumstances, the almost ubiquitous presence of Islamic inculcation in southern and mediterranean
Europe. These assurdely, must have added or originated his work.

7

I certainly agree. The fantastical imagery sure seems like it has Islamic influences, or at least Middle-Eastern influences. These kinds of fantastical underground images can be found in Persian myths (and Sumerian), which almost certainly influenced the Koran as well.

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Link me :)

9

See, I didn’t know that. I just didn’t want the OP to think I was being all snarky and unhelpful with his sudden insight. I assume of what little I know about lit departments worldwide that there are tons of articles tracing connections between obscure books to other obscure books. Two famous books would have been pretty well documented. OTOH, interesting links Robert, now I have something read for the night.

10

yeah, Robert, those were very interesting :) and That post was nice of you :)

Although, Equis, if you want a good translation of the Qur’an itself, you should take one authenticated.

http://www.harunyahya.com/Quran_translation/Quran_translation_index.php

Accepted to be sufficient for non-arabic speaking Muslims/ non-Muslims…

PM me, if you need pointers.

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OP, Why do you hate America!!! ???1!

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lol For Funzies

13

Anyone ever read Niven and Pournelle’s Inferno? I rather liked it, although I haven’t read it again as a non-teenager.

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Question, how solid is the claim that the Universe is expanding?

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Pretty solid; what’s less certain is if it will expand forever or eventually collapse in on itself, and the rate of expansion at certain stages. I think they’re currently leaning towards it continuing to expand, at an even faster rate.

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Pretty damn solid, unless general relativity is totally wrong. Originally Einstein refused to accept the notion of an expanding universe, and assumed his theory was fundamentally flawed, which is why he introduced the “cosmological constant” idea. Eventually he conceded that the expansion as predicted by his theory was almost certainly what was being observed by modern astronomers.

The formulation of the so-called “Theory of Everything” could of course completely change what we think we know, of course, but as it stands the evidence for an expanding universe is good.

17

I liked it a lot as a teenager and re-read it as an adult (although not with the last few years) and still liked it. I still think it’s fun and an interesting attempt to wrestle with the idea of Hell.

18

Speaking of plagiarism in a medieval context is impossible. The concept of copyright didn’t exist, and in fact would have thought of as insane.

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Then I’ve just got my mind blown, because I’ve read this in the Qur’an :O

I, “And it is We who have constructed the Universe with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it.”[/I]

20

The translations I’ve found:

[51.47] And the heaven, We raised it high with power, and most surely We are the makers of things ample.
[51.48] And the earth, We have made it a wide extent; how well have We then spread (it) out.

And the heaven,we have built it with might, and, verily, we do surely give it ample space!

47 We have built the heaven with might, and We it is Who make the vast extent (thereof).

And the Heaven–with our hands have we built it up, and given it its expanse;
And the Earth–we have stretched it out like a carpet; and how
smoothly have we spread it forth!

I don’t think it means quite what you think it does, and as mentioned in other threads, any proper scholar of the Qur’an ignores the English translations anyway.