Thereafter we are told that every soul whose good deeds equalled its evil ones was reckoned neither as one of the saved nor as one of the condemned, but put in a position between the two, like what is told us in the Qur'an already quoted, "Between the two a veil, and men upon al Arāf."

From the above it is clear that what Muhammad mentions about the Balance in the Qur'an was derived from this fictitious "Testament of Abraham," written in Egypt some four hundred years before the Hegira, and of which an account was probably given him by his Coptic concubine Mary.

But what there is mentioned about the Balance belongs to a far earlier source, namely, to a book called "The Book of the Dead." Many copies of this primeval work have been found in the sepulchres of the ancient idolatrous Egyptians, placed there because supposed to have been written by one of their gods called Thoth, and with the notion that they would be read by the dead buried there. In it is a strange picture illustrating the Judgment hall of Osiris, of which our Author has given an interesting copy. There are in it two deities on opposite sides of a Balance. One of these is weighing the heart of a good man placed in a vessel on the scale, and in the corresponding scale opposite is an idol called Mâ or truth. The great god is recording in ancient Egyptian the fate of the departed:— "Osiris the justified is alive; his Balance is equal in the midst of God's

palace; the heart of Osiris the justified is to enter into its place. Let the great god, Lord of Hermopolis, say so." Over some of the idols are their names; and above a savage figure, the words, "Conqueror of his enemies, god of Amenti (Hades)"; several times also are repeated the words, "Life and peace to Osiris." Below we have reproduced a sketch of the "Balance" which stands at one side of this most remarkable picture.

(1) Image of the Goddess of Truth
(2) Vessel with the heart of the deceased

From all this it is clear that what we have in the Qur'an about the "Balance" was learned by the Prophet from such Sources as the above.

As regards the Ascent to heaven, Tradition tells us that Muhammad there saw Father Adam, at times weeping