A00271 - Book of the Year for 2024: The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri: Jahannam

 I recently finished reading Dante's Inferno portion of The Divine Comedy.  


Dante's The Divine Comedy is said to be influenced by the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. 


but it also appears to have been greatly influenced by the Kitab al-Mi'raj -- the Book of the Ascension -- which describes the Prophet Muhammad's ascension to Heaven following his one-night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. This is what Wikipedia says about the Kitab al-Mi'raj

*****

The Kitab al-Mi'raj (Arabic: كتاب المعراج "Book of the Ascension") is a book by al-Qushayri (died 1072) concerning the Miraj, that is, Muhammad's ascension into Heaven following his miraculous one-night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. The book is divided into seven chapters, and was written in Arabic using the Naskh script.

In the second half of the 13th century, the book was translated into Latin (as Liber scalae Machometi) and Spanish (by Abraham of Toledo), and soon thereafter (in 1264 CE) into Old French.[1] Its Islamic depictions of Hell are believed by some scholars to have been a major influence on Dante's Divine Comedy (completed in 1320), including Miguel Asín Palacios, and Enrico Cerulli .

*****

For those who have read The Inferno, I encourage you to read about the Islamic depictions of Hell -- to read about Jahannam

Jahannam - Wikipedia



and to consider how much of what many believe to be Hell originated from Islamic theology.

Peace,

Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
May 28, 2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A00245 - Must See TV for the Month of March 2024: PBS: "Dante" and Book of the Year for 2024: Dante's "The Divine Comedy": The Inferno

  By some "divine" coincidence, the following was the quote from the Monday, March 18, 2024, page of "A Year of Zen" calendar; "The mountain of release is such that the      ascent's most painful at the start, below;     the more you rise, the milder it will be. "And when the slope feels gentle to the point that     climbing up sheer rock is effortless      as though you were gliding downstream in a boat, "then you will have arrived where this path ends." Dante ***** I do not know where this Dante quote comes from, but what I do know is that the Monday, March 18, 2024, episode of PBS's "Dante" covered the life of Dante through the year 1306 and covered Dante's Divine Comedy through The Inferno.  The program has been insightful and profound.   I highly recommend that everyone watch the program and ponder on Dante's motivation for writing this monumental work.  Both the watching and the pondering could pr...
Read more

A00143 - Hot off the press: Manhattan Beach apologizes!

Image
I received an email a few moments ago from my Amherst College classmate, Peter Alfvin, who is a resident of Manhattan Beach ... and who has been keeping me informed of the City discussions concerning the return of the Bruce Beach property to my Bruce Family relatives and the compensation paid along with the protracted process of the Bruce Family receiving an apology for what was done to the family one hundred years ago.  Peter's email title says it all and the attached newspaper article says it all.   At long last, the City of Manhattan Beach has apologized to the Bruce Family.  Now, finally, ... maybe ... the reconciliation can begin. Peter, lunch is on me when next I come down your way.  We have much to talk about my friend. Peace, Everett "Skip" Jenkins  Barcelona, Spain April 5, 2023 88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888 Manhattan Beach Off...
Read more

A00244 - Fatima Bernawi, The First Female Palestinian Resistance Organizer

  March is Women's History Month Women's History Month - Wikipedia and on March 11, Ramadan began Ramadan (calendar month) - Wikipedia Ramadan was the time when it was hoped that the Israel-Hamas War would be paused for humanitarian reasons  Israel–Hamas war - Wikipedia but it was not.  In a previous email (see below), I discuss the legacy of the 1948 Deir Yassin Massacre which gave rise to the Nakba. Sadly, the 75th-year anniversary of the Nakba has predictably proven to be woefully tragic. As a student of history, I sense that the result of this latest episode of the Nakba will not bring peace but will produce a generation of young Palestinians who are committed to resist. One example of such historical resistance fighters created by the Nakba was Fatima Bernawi    Fatima Bernawi - Wikipedia I encourage everyone to become aware of her story.  I found it intriguing not just because she was the first Palestinian woman to organize a resistance attack in Isra...
Read more