And in every
palace two-and-seventy lovely houris will smile upon him--young virgins
of an immortal loveliness--whose faces will never grow old or wrinkled,
and who are a hundred times more affectionate than the women of this
world."
Halil listened with the utmost composure till greybeard Vuodi had
delivered his discourse concerning the joys of Paradise.
"All that you say is very pretty and very true no doubt, but let your
mind also dwell upon what the Prophet has revealed to us concerning the
distribution of rewards and punishments. When the angel Azrael has
gently separated our souls from our bodies, and we have been buried with
the double tombstone at our heads, on which is written: 'Dame Allah huti
ale Remaeti,'[10] then will come to us the two Angels of Judgment,
Monker and Nakir. And they will ask us if we have fulfilled the precepts
of the Prophet. What shall our trembling lips reply to them? And when
they ask us whether we have defended the true faith, whether we have
defended our Fatherland against the Infidels, what shall we then reply
to them? Blessed, indeed, will be those who can answer: 'I have done all
which it was commanded me to do,' their spirits will await the final
judgment in the cool abodes of the Well of Ishmael. But as for those who
shall answer: 'I saw the danger which threatened the Osmanli nation, it
was in my power to help and I did it not,' their bodies will be scourged
by the angels with iron rods and their souls will be thrust into the
abyss of Morhut there to await the judgment-day.
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