Page:Algeria from Within.pdf/140
ALGERIA FROM WITHIN
and as sharp as a knife-blade, across which the souls
of the dead departed must pass to enter heaven. The
sinners slip and fall into hell, while the righteous
cross safely with the aid of the sheep into heaven.
Mankind is divided into three categories-those who
deny Mohammedanism are destined to eternal fire;
those who believe in one God, but who, being sinners,
pass through a state of purgatory before going into
Paradise; those few strict Mohammedans who go direct to heaven. Hell is very hot; there is nothing to eat but dari, the bitter fruit of a thorny desert bush, and only boiling water to drink. Heaven is a glorious garden where youth always remains and where the blessed lie on carpets beside ever-flowing streams beneath the shade of fruit-trees, drinking a delicious wine which does not intoxicate, while young girls, ever virgins, sit beside the water and live in a state of contemplative happiness. In other words, hell is an accentuation of all the hardships of life in the desert, while heaven promises all those things which an Arab has never seen on earth. Quite apart from the Koran, and apparently contrary to its principles, is the belief in saints. The origin of this cult is difficult to find, as the whole basis
of the faith is that there is only one God. It is,
however, generally supposed that it is a relic of other religions which existed prior to the spread of Islam. This theory is rather confirmed by the fact that more saints and marabouts exist in North Africa, where the Carthaginians and the Romans held such long sway, than in any other Mohammedan country. Other people will say that the worship of saints is necessary owing to the inexpressible greatness of God his distance from all things human, which necessitates some kind of intermediary; but this has little founda-
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