44 THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT.

"The Day of judgment, what is the Day of Judgment?
And what can make thee know what is the Day of judgment?
A day when men shall be like moths scattered abroad:
And the mountains shall be like parti-coloured carded wool.
Then he whose scales are heavy shall be in a happy life:
But he whose scales are light,—his mother (i.e. dwelling) is lowest hell.
And what can make thee know what that is ?—
Burning fire."

So also in Surah LXXXII. :—

"When the sky shall be cleft asunder,
And when the stars shall be scattered,
And when the seas shall be made flow together,
And when the graves shall be rent,
The soul shall know what it hath done first and last.
O Man, what hath seduced thee from thy gracious Lord,
Who created thee and then perfected and made thee rightly disposed?"1

Surah LXXXI. is too long to quote, but it gives even a more striking description of the great and terrible day of the Lord, telling how in that day:—

"When the sun shall be folded up . . . .
And the Books shall be unrolled . . . .
And when Hell shall be kindled,
And when Paradise shall be brought near,
The soul2 shall know what it bath put forward."

Sirat.

After the Resurrection every one has to cross the Bridge3 Sirat ( أَلصّرِاَطُ ) which is finer than a hair

1 Surah lxxxii. 1-7.
2 Surah lxxxi. 1, 10, 12, 13, 14.
3 Surah xxiii. 76[73]; xxxvi. 66[61].
3 But verily thou callest them to the Straight Way; Sura 23:73
"And that ye should worship Me, (for that) this was the 
Straight Way ( َا صِرَاطٌ )? Sura 36:61 Yusufali's translation
[Show us the straight way ( الصِّرَاطَ ), Sura 1:6] 
'Ihdinas-Siraatal-Mustaqiim Sura 1:6 Yusuf Ali's Roman Transliteration of The Holy Qur'an.
مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ فَاهْدُوهُمْ إِلَى صِرَاطِ الْجَحِيمِ Sura 37:23
Besides Allah, then lead them to the way to hell. Sura 37:23 Shakir's translation
Min-duunillaahi fahduuhum 'ilaa Siraatil-Jahiim! Sura 37:23 Yusuf Ali's Roman Transliteration of The Holy Qur'an "Sirat Jahim" means "Bridge of Hell."  Al-Jahim is one of the seven ranks of hell.
This Bridge is described in the ahadiths.  "Then Allah will come to them again and say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say, 'You are our Lord.' Allah will call them, and As-Sirat (a bridge) will be laid across Hell and I (Muhammad) shall be the first amongst the Apostles to cross it with my followers." Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 12, Number 770
"The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone guards a believer from a hypocrite, Allah will send an angel who will guard his flesh on the Day of Resurrection from the fire of Jahannam; but if anyone attacks a Muslim saying something by which he wishes to disgrace him, he will be restrained by Allah on the bridge over Jahannam till he is acquitted of what he said." Sunan Abu Dawud Book 41, Number 4865
THE STRENGTH OF ISLAM. 45

and sharper than a sword and is stretched right across the abyss of Hell. The righteous pass over with ease, and in an instant find themselves welcomed by the angels to share with them the delights of Paradise, where they dwell for ever in the enjoyment of carnal pleasures. Yet some more thoughtful and more pious Muslims try to spiritualise what the Qur'an teaches on this subject, and hold that it is to be figuratively understood. Al Baidhawi for instance says that the wine the just

Mystical
Explanation
of Carnal
Paradise

drink in Paradise is the wine of Purity, so called because its taste purifies the heart from the desire of all things but the yearning to see GOD Himself, and that the Divine1 Vision is the highest and noblest of the delights of Paradise. It would not be fair to represent this as the common and the popular view, nor even as one that may possibly represent the teaching of the Qur'an2 on the subject: but it is most encouraging to find that some among the Muslims deem admission to the immediate Presence of GOD the chief thing required to make them eternally blessed. In the hearts of some of them at least—GOD alone knows how many or how few—there still echoes, half unconsciously,

1 Mishkatu'l Masabih, Kitabu'l Fitan, Babu Ru'yatillah, pp. 492 sqq.
2 The passage of the Qur'an which such commentators as those of whom we are speaking generally quote in support of their view, is Surah lxxv. 22, 23:
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ
إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ
[That day will faces be resplendent,
Looking toward their Lord;
(Translation by Pickthal)]