83 PARADISE AND HOURIES

and Hindus, however, are full of them; and these bear the most extraordinary likeness to what we find in the Qur'an and Tradition. Thus in Paradise we are told of "Houries having fine black eyes," and again of "Houries with large black eyes, resembling pearls hidden in their shells."1 And just so the Zoroastrians speak of Fairies, "Paries" (Pairikan) — spirits in bright array and beautiful, to captivate the heart of man. The name Houry too is derived from an Avesta or Pehlavi Source, as well as Jinn for Genii, and Bihisht (Paradise), signifying in Avestic "the better land."2 We have also very similar tales in the old Hindu writings, of heavenly regions with their boys and girls resembling the Houries and Ghilmân of the Qur'an. The account before given of the Prophet when he beheld Adam rejoicing at the righteous entering Paradise, and weeping at the destruction of the wicked is also given in "The Testament of Abraham"; but with this difference that it relates to the spirits of the dead, and in the other to the spirits of those not yet born. The latter are called by 'the Muslims "existent ants or motes";3 and though the term is Arabic, the idea is no doubt Zoroastrian, and may possibly have been taken by them from the Egyptians; but in any case the Arabs must have gained it from Persia.

1 Surahs lv. 72; lvi. 22.
2 The Author gives an interesting passage on the derivation of the name Houry or Hûry, from the Pehlavi word Hûr, or Sun, the same as Khur, still used in Persia with a similar meaning. The Arabs not knowing this, trace the word to hur, or blackeyed.
3 Zarrât i Kâinât: called in the Avesta Fravashiyo.
THE SOURCES OF ISLAM 84

We have already seen that the "Angel of Death" is a name that must have been borrowed by the Muslims from the Jews, that being his title in Hebrew. There is, however, this difference, that the Jews name him Sammâel, and the Muslims Azrâel:1 neither word is Arabic, but Hebrew. Since, however, the idea nowhere occurs in the Bible, the Jews must have got it elsewhere, and a possible origin we may find in the Avesta, where we are told that if any one falls into the water or fire, his death is not from the fire or water, but it is the Angel of Death that destroys him.

III. Story of Azâzîl coming forth from hell.— Muslims take this name from the Jews, who call the evil Spirit by the same name; but the Arabs have received the story from the Zoroastrians. According to Muslim tradition, God created Azâzîl, who in the Seventh hell worshipped the Almighty for a thousand years; he then ascended, spending a similar term at each stage, till he reached the earth. Elsewhere we read that the Devil (i.e. Azâzîl stayed three thousand years close by the gate of Paradise, with hostile intentions against Adam and Eve, of whom he entertained the utmost jealousy.

In a Zoroastrian book2 we have the following account of the Devil, by name Ahriman: —

He remained in the abyss, dark and ignorant, there to commit hurt and injury, and such mischief and darkness is the place that they term the dark region. Ormazd, who knew all things, was aware of Ahriman's existence and designs....Both remained thus for 3000 years, without change or action. The evil spirit was ignorant of Ormazd's existence; but eventually rising out of the pit, at last beheld the light of Ormazd ....Then, filled with hostility and envy, he set to work to destroy.

1 I.e. Victory of God. 2 The Bûndahishnîh, capp. I. and II.