Muhammad "Sower of Discord" in Dante's Inferno

Dimanche 20 avril 2008 7 20 /04 /Avr /2008 16:31

Muhammad "Sower of Discord" in Dante's Inferno

In the Inferno section of Dante's trilogy The Divine Comedy, Mohammed is described as being one of the "Sowers of Discord," showing his entrails to Dante and Virgil in the Eighth Circle of Hell, while on the left stands his son Ali, his head cleft from chin to forelock.

Inferno XXVIII, 19-42.

Conquered without weapons),—if this combined, enormous
           Heap of hacked and pierced limbs was put on show,
        The ninth bolgia would still be more hideous.

No barrel, not even one where the hoops and staves go
           Every which way, was ever split open like one frayed
        Sinner I saw, ripped from chin to where we fart below.

His guts hung between his legs and displayed
           His vital organs, including that wretched sack
        Which converts to shit whatever gets conveyed.

Down the gullet. As I stared at him he looked back
           And with his hands pulled his chest open,
        Saying, "See how I split open the crack

In myself! See how twisted and broken
           Mohammed is! Before me walks Ali, his face
        Cleft from chin to crown, grief–stricken.

All the others you see in this place
           Sowed scandal and schism when they were alive,
        And thus are now split wide.

Each time we paceAround this sad, painful road we arrive
           Back at the devil who slices us up once more;
        Each one of this mob has just enough time to revive.

(Drawing : Gustave Doré's version of the scene is probably the most well-known. The image is an illustration taken from an 1885 French edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. The original engraving is in the Bibliotheque des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.)

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