ss over it in the twinkling of an eye, some like a flash
of lightning, others with the speed of a swift horse. The angels will call
out, 'O Lord! save and protect.' Some Muslims will be saved, some will fall
headlong into hell." Bukhari relates a similar Tradition. The infidels will
all fall into hell and there remain for ever. Muslims will be released
after a while.

The Mutazilites deny the existence of such a bridge. "If we admit it," say
they, "it would be a trouble for the believers, and such there is not for
them in the Day of Judgment." To this the orthodox reply that the believers
pass over it to show how they are saved from fire, and that thus they may
be delighted with Paradise, and also that the infidels may feel chagrin at
those who were with them on the bridge being now safe for ever.

Al A'raf is situated between heaven and hell. It is described thus: "On
(the wall) Al A'raf shall be men who know all, by their tokens,[160] and
they shall cry to the inhabitants of Paradise, 'Peace be on you!' but they
shall not yet enter it, although they long to do so. And when their eyes
are turned towards the inmates of the fire, they shall say, 'O our Lord!
place us not with offending people &c.'" (Sura vii. 44, 45). Sale's summary
of the opinions regarding Al A'raf in his Preliminary Discourse is
exceedingly good. It is as follows:--

"They call it Al Orf, and more frequently in the plural, Al Araf, a
word derived from the verb _Arafa_, which signifies to distinguish
between things, or to part them; though some commentators give another
reason for the imposition of this name, because, say they, those who
stand on this partition will _know_ and _distinguish_ the blessed from
the damned, by their respective marks or characteristics: and others
way the word properly intends anything that is _high raised_ or
_elevated_, as such a wall of separation must be supposed to {168} be.
Some imagine it to be a sort of _limbo_ for the patriarchs and
prophets, or for the martyrs and those who have been most eminent for
sanctity. Others place here such whose good and evil works are so equal
that they exactly counterpoise each other, and therefore deserve
neither reward nor punishment; and these, say they, will on the last
day be admitted into Paradise, after they shall have performed an act
of adoration, which will be imputed to them as a merit, and will make
the scale o