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Ann O’Connor |
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Islam in The Inferno |
Dante Alighieri modifies the theme of Prophet Mohamed's historic nocturnal 'mi'raj,' or journey, through Hell and Heaven with Roman Catholic ideology to compose his analogical poem The Inferno. Paralleling this mi'raj, Dante takes his hero, Pilgrim, on an expedition by means of celestial markers, into multi-tiered levels of condemnation and into the centre of Hell to witness the eternal torment of immoral souls. In attempts to detract the author's true source material that sets the foundation for this poem, Dante attacks Mohamed and sentences him to the lowest level of Hell. Perhaps this was a smokescreen to another secret.
Dante displays extensive knowledge of Islam in The Inferno as he demonstrates great respect for three famous Islamic leaders in Canto IV, which is vastly different from the status extended to many of the Roman Catholic leaders in the same Canto. The Inferno merits the contributions made by the Islamic leaders by placing each of them in Limbo amongst great shades like: Socrates, Plato and Hippocrates. It is in Limbo that Pilgrim encounters Avicenna, Averroses, and Saladin while on his journey through the first circle of Hell. Dante notably downgrades these men to Limbo solely for not accepting the Athanasius doctrine during their lifetimes.
The placement of these Islamic leaders in such a high rank far greater than the lower echelons to which he condemns Roman Catholic leaders proves Dante had an extensive knowledge not only of these men, but also of the Islamic doctrine they followed. Though Dante exhibits great admiration for these leaders and their contributions, later in the poem, he brutally censures Islam's greatest leader, Mohamed, for perceived 'heresies' committed against Athanasius Christian doctrine. Here, Mohamed is damned to repetitive slicing with massive blades by demons for all eternity, an odd place for such a crime.
Dante's purpose for the condemnation of Mohamed to this level of Hell is nothing more than an evident smokescreen to avoid the obvious correlation between Pilgrim's journey with Virgil in The Inferno and that of Mohamed's spiritual journey with Gabrielle, as documented in the Qur'an. Dante neglects to cite the real cause of the Great Schism, the Petrian Doctrine in 1054 A.D., by casting Mohamed as an evil entity and one that would not be worthy of emulating, especially in Christian writings. The omission of mentioning Mohamed's journey supports evidence that Dante did not use original thought; and in fact hid this by neglecting to cite factual events as a means to confuse the reader and avoid any questioning of an Islamic correlation. It is impossible that a multitude of similarities found between Mohamed and Pilgrim's journeys could be a mere coincidence. However, upon further examination, it becomes a solid fact that Dante definitely used the mi'raj as a template to write The Inferno.
In the beginning of the poem, Pilgrim, in great mental distress, is assigned a guide, Virgil, to assist him on an imaginary journey to witness sights in hell and beyond as a means of spiritual growth possibly to thwart suicide. Dante writes of Pilgrim accepting Virgil as his guide on this wicked journey:
Then I began: “O poet come to guide me, Tell me if you think my wrath sufficient Before you trust me to this arduous road. (The Inferno 2.1012) Similarly, the Qur'an documents five hundred years earlier the events of Mohamed, in mental anguish, assigned a guide, Gabrielle, to narrate to him on his spiritual journey to view glimpses of a descending Hell, as seen in the Qur'an of the same situation:
(In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful) Glory to (Allah)
Who did take His Servant for a journey by night from the Sacred Mosque To the Farthest Mosque, whose precincts We did bless, in order that we might show him some of our signs: for He is the One who heareth and seeth (all things).
(Qur'an 53.1)
Though the navigational guides are noteworthy, the mi'raj itself as a foundation to The Inferno is of more significance in literary representation for the merging of Roman Catholic ideology into Islamic history. Miguel Asin, Arabic Professor at the University of Madrid, writes how the Qur'an had great influence on mediaeval European literature, specifically Dante's Divine Comedy, which is cited in the 'Introduction to Surat Bani Isra-il' in the English Translated Qur'an with Commentary. Asin states that the mi'raj taken by Mohamed was a form of spiritual growth by way of a journey from Earth to the Heavens that parallels both works. The Inferno and the Qur'an both use celestial markers to begin their spiritual journeys on prescribed paths, as seen in Canto I, as Pilgrim starts his journey, he states:
I raised my head and saw the hilltop shawled in morning rays of light sent from the planet that leads men straight ahead on every road. (The Inferno I. 1518)
Mohamed, with his companion, begins his journey using the stars, as the Qur'an proclaims:
(In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful)
By the Star when it goes down, Your Companion is neither astray nor being misled. (Qur'an 53.1)
There is mention of celestial guidelines with guides in both works during the same time frame of each of their journeys, both with their guides offering a commentary at each stage of their mission. These celestial markers, a form of mysticism, were a common religious practice by Sufi Muslims and Roman Catholic monks at the time of Dante's writings, much of which were taken from the Qur'an (Morris, 1987). There is no significance for Dante to include such celestial markers at the beginning of The Inferno and actually makes no logical sense to mention this. Dante merely maintains the continuity of his poem to emulate that of Mohamed's.
Dante embellishes the journey of Mohamed with his own political turmoil, mixed with Roman Catholic themes to take aim at his enemies. The levels of Hell in The Inferno are used as means to torment and torture his lifelong enemies through varied levels of pain. Surat 53 of the Qur'an elaborates on this journey as Mohamed traverses over a multitude of levels in Hell and Heaven, paralleling Pilgrim's; by witnessing evil spirits and the punishments they receive the view is purged. Dante includes these torments to elevate himself in his poem to render spiritual justice.
The fact that Dante used the mi'raj as his template is interesting. Seeing how Dante extensively copies ideas from Islam, even though he attempts to show a disdain in the writings towards Mohamed, it is fascinating that Dante found comfort rewriting the mi'raj as a means of artistically punishing the Roman Catholic Church. This converging of Islamic religion and Roman Catholic Christian theology into a literary work, as seen in his epic poem, is noteworthy and may possibly be one of the first such Catholic-Islamic works in literary history.
Though highly imaginative, the lack of original thought in The Inferno by Dante is evident. As is common knowledge, writers during Dante's time were well educated in religion, politics and science; this played an intricate role with the societal elite of his time. With the mentioning of Avicenna, Averroes and Saladin, Dante is admitting to us that he held definite knowledge of Mohamed's mi'raj. Dante simply merged Mohamed's journey with Christian ideology and embellished it with his artistic verbiage to create The Inferno.
I imagine the exiled Dante hovering over translations of the Qur'an, spinning his contapasso vengeance against his political and Christian religious enemies and chuckling insanely. Dante's work embarks on a similar literary journey, taken by Mohamed more than 500 years earlier, with modified themes to reflect his own life. The lack of translations and commentaries, in the past, has limited or suppressed a full comparison of the two works. However, with modern translations of both, a full investigation could offer a surprising look into the final religious state of Dante who may have converted to Islam, but hid this secret by placing Mohamed in a seemingly blasphemous ranking as a covert method to hide his final secret. Being that Dante was well read, this theory comes with a knowledge that Dante recognized Islam as an Aryan-Christian religion with a more conforming conservative social stance, an ideology he was searching for in his own Catholic faith. The attack on the Prophet was merely a smokescreen to hide the conflict he may have had with Christianity. Dante definitely used the mi'raj and parts of the Qur'an as the foundation for his poem. In addition, with his disdain for the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church, he may have very well converted to Islam, eventually using the Qur'an as his own foundation in life.
Works Cited The Holy Qur'an. English translation of the meanings and Commentary. The Presidency of Islamic Researches, IFTA. King Fahd Holy Qur-an Printing Complex. 1411 Higarah.
Johnson, Glen. 'Muhammad and Ideology in Medieval Christian Literature.' Islam & Christian-Muslim Relations. 3 (October 2000): 333346.
Morris, James Winston. 'The Spiritual Ascension: Ibn al Arabi and the Mi'raj Part 1'. Journal of the American Oriental Society. 107. 4 (October-December, 1987): 629652.
Musa, Mark. The Portable Dante. New York: Penguin Group. 2003.
(Ann O'Connor is a Middle Eastern Cultural Affairs Consultant, USA)
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