HKB
Arabs, describes[17] the globular form of the earth, and its arctic and antarctic regions, with their day of six months, and night of six months, and their frozen waters, &c.
For ourselves, however, it is necessary that we retain in our minds the opinions first stated, with regard to the form and dimensions of our earth; agreeing with those Muslims who allow not philosophy to trench upon revelation or sacred traditions. It is written, say they, that God hath "spread out the earth,"[18] "as a bed,"[19] and "as a carpet;"[20] and what is round or globular cannot be said to be spread out, nor compared to a bed, or a carpet. It is therefore decided to be an almost plane expanse. The continents and islands of the earth are believed by the Arabs (as they were by the Greeks in the age of Homer and Hesiod) to be surrounded by "the Circumambient Ocean," "el-Baḥr el-Moḥeeṭ;" and this ocean is described as bounded by a chain of mountains called Káf, which encircle the whole as a ring, and confine and strengthen the entire fabric. With respect to the extent of the earth, our faith must at least admit the assertion of the Prophet, that its width (as well as its depth or thickness) is equal to five hundred years' journey: allotting the space of two hundred to the sea, two hundred to uninhabited desert, eighty to the country of Yájooj and Májooj (or Gog and Magog), and the rest to the remaining creatures:[21] nay, vast as these limits are, we must rather extend than contract them, unless we suppose some of the heroes of this work to travel by circuitous routes. Another tradition will suit us better, wherein it is said, that the inhabited portion of the earth is, with respect to the rest, as a tent in the midst of a desert.[22] But even according to the former assertion, it will be remarked, that the countries now commonly known to the Arabs (from the western extremity of Africa to the eastern limits of India, and from the southern confines of Abyssinia to those of Russia,) occupy a comparatively insignificant portion of this expanse. They are situated in the middle; Mekkeh, according to some,--or Jerusalem, according to others,--being exactly in the centre. Adjacent to the tract occupied by these countries are other lands and seas, partially known to the Arabs. On the north-west, with respect to the central point, lies the country of the Christians, or Franks, comprising the principal European nations; on the north, the country of Yájooj and Májooj, before mentioned, occupying, in the maps of the Arabs, large tracts of Asia and Europe; on the north-east, central Asia; on the east, Eṣ-Ṣeen (or China); on the south-east, the sea, or seas, of El-Hind (or India), and Ez-Zinj (or Southern Ethiopia), the waves of which (or of the former of which) mingle with those of the sea of Eṣ-Ṣeen, beyond; on the south, the country of the Zinj; on the south-west, the country of the Soodán, or Blacks: on the west is a portion of the Circumambient Ocean, which surrounds all the countries and seas already mentioned, as well as immense unknown regions adjoining the former, and innumerable islands interspersed in the latter. These terræ incognitæ are the scenes of some of the greatest wonders described in the present work; and are mostly peopled with Jinn, or Genii. On the Moḥeeṭ, or Circumambient Ocean, is the 'Arsh Iblees, or Throne of Iblees: in a map accompanying my copy of the work of Ibn-El-Wardee, a large yellow tract is marked with this name, adjoining Southern Africa. The western portion of the Moḥeeṭ is often called "the Sea of Darkness" (Baḥr eẓ-Ẓulumát, or,--eẓ-Ẓulmeh). Under this name (and the synonymous appellation of el-Baḥr el-Muẓlim) the Atlantic Ocean is described by the author just mentioned; though, in the introduction to his work, he says that the Sea of Darkness surrounds the Moḥeeṭ. The former may be considered either as the western or the more remote portion of the latter. In the dark regions (Eẓ-Ẓulumát, from which, perhaps, the above-mentioned portion of the Moḥeeṭ takes its name),[23] in the south-west quarter of the earth, according to the same author, is the Fountain of Life, of which El-Khiḍr drank, and by virtue of which he still lives, and will live till the day of judgment. This mysterious person, whom the vulgar and some others regard as a prophet, and identify with Ilyás (Elias, or Elijah), and whom some confound with St. George, was, according to the more approved opinion of the learned, a just man, or saint, the Wezeer and counsellor of the first Zu-l-Ḳarneyn, who was a universal conqueror, but an equally doubtful personage, contemporary with the patriarch Ibráheem, or Abraham. El-Khiḍr is said to appear frequently to Muslims in perplexity, and to be generally clad in green garments; whence, according to some, his name. The Prophet Ilyás (or Elias) is also related to have drunk of the Fountain of Life. During the day-time, it is said, El-Khiḍr wanders upon the seas, and directs voyagers who go astray; while Ilyás perambulates the mountains or deserts, and directs persons who chance to be led astray by the Ghools:[24] but at night, they meet together, and guard the rampart of Yájooj and Májooj,[25] to prevent these people from making irruptions upon their neighbours. Both, however, are generally believed by the modern Muslims to assist pious persons in distress in various circumstances, whether travelling by land or by water.--The mountains of Ḳáf, which bound the Circumambient Ocean, and form a circular barrier round the whole of our earth, are described by interpreters of the Ḳur-án as composed of green chrysolite, like the green tint of the sky.[26] It is the colour of these mountains, said the Prophet, that imparts a greenish hue to the sky.[27] It is said, in a tradition, that beyond these mountains are other countries; one of gold, seventy of silver, and seven of musk, all inhabited by angels, and each country ten thousand years' journey in length, and the same in breadth.[28] Some say that beyond it are creatures unknown to any but God:[29] but the general opinion is, that the mountains of Ḳáf terminate our earth, and that no one knows what is beyond them. They are the chief abode of the Jinn, or Genii.--Such is a concise account of the earth which we inhabit, according to the notions of the Arabs.