50.至于本章所论述的对伊斯兰教徒和外邦人或异教徒的审判，情况如下。伊斯兰教徒从他们的地方，就是其聚集的西南部被引出来，通过一条围绕基督徒的路径，从西边，穿过北边到东边，直至南部边界；一路走下来，善人与恶人便分开了。恶人被投入沼泽和湖泊，许多人也被分散到某个遥远的外围荒漠。但善人经东边到了靠近南边的一片广阔地域，在那里有住处赐给他们。被引到那里的人在世上就承认主是最大的先知，是神的儿子，并相信祂被父差遣来教导人类，同时照着他们的宗教信仰原则过着一种道德的属灵生活。
他们当中大多数人当接受教导时，都接受对主的信，承认祂与父为一。他们也被恩准通过来自主的一种流注与基督天堂交流；但不与该天堂混在一起，因为他们的宗教信仰不同。所有伊斯兰教徒进入来世到了自己人当中时，所做的第一件事就是寻找穆罕默德；然而，他并未出现，取而代之的是其他两个自称穆罕默德的人；他们在基督天堂下面朝左之处取得一个中间位置。这两人之所以代替穆罕默德，是因为死后所有人，无论其宗教信仰如何，首先都被带到他们在世上所崇拜的人面前。这是因为每个人的宗教信仰都紧紧依附于他；只有当他们意识到这些人并不能给他们提供任何帮助时，才会离开这些人。你会看到，人们被引离他们的虚假宗教信仰的唯一方法，首先就是被充分带入其中。在解释启示录的那本书中，我会告诉大家穆罕默德本人到底在哪里，他是个什么样的人，以及那两个填补他位置的人来自何处。
50. As for the judgment on Muslims and those of other religions, which we are dealing with in this chapter, it took place as follows.
The Muslims were led from the places where they had been gathered (in the southern part of the west), by a route that took them around the Christians. They went from the west through the north all the way to the southern borders of the east, and along the way the evil were separated from the good.
The evil were thrown into swamps and lakes. 1Many of them were also scattered in a kind of desert on the periphery. The good, though, were led on through the east to a very spacious land toward the south and were given places to live there.
The ones who were led all the way there were those who in the world had recognized the Lord as the greatest prophet and as the Son of God 2and had believed that he was sent by the Father to instruct humankind, and who had also lived lives that were both moral and spiritual in accord with the principles of their religion.
[2] Many of them, once they have been taught, accept faith in the Lord and acknowledge that he is one with the Father. 3They are also granted communication with the Christian heaven through an inflow from the Lord; they do not mix with that heaven, however, because their religious practice differs.
The first thing all adherents of Islam do when they arrive among their own in the other life is to look for Muhammad, but he is nowhere to be seen. However, in his stead there are two others who call themselves Muhammads. They have obtained a central seat at the border of the Christian heaven, toward the left.
The reason there are these two in Muhammad's stead is that after death we all, no matter what our religion, are brought to the people we revered in the world. This is because our religion clings fast to us. Only when we realize that these people cannot do us any good do we leave them. You see, the only way we can be led away from our [false] religious beliefs is first to be brought more fully into them.
In the work that will explain the Book of Revelation I will tell where Muhammad actually is and what he is like, as well as where the two others came from. 4
Footnotes:
1. The “swamps and lakes” mentioned here are not literal bodies of water in which people would drown. Rather, they are visual images representing the character of those consigned to them. As explained in Secrets of Heaven 10194:
Representations presented [in the other world] match a spirit's inner state, because they are correspondential images. Around spirits who possess truth grounded in goodness one sees the most beautiful representations: homes and palaces gleaming with gold and precious stones, and gardens and parks of unutterable beauty. All these exist as a result of correspondence.
Around spirits who possess truth that is not grounded in goodness, on the other hand, one sees nothing but rocky ground, cliffs, and puddles. Now and then there are stands of trees, but only unattractive, barren ones. These representations too exist as a result of correspondence.
But around spirits who possess falsity grounded in evil one sees swamps, latrines, and other repugnant sights. The reason for this is that all representations in that world are outward appearances fashioned to reflect inner states. That is how the spiritual world renders itself visible.
See also Heaven and Hell 488, 585; Revelation Unveiled 835; Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 4788-4790; Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg Revelation Explained 1994-1997a) 659:5. For more on objects appearing in the spiritual world as reflections of the angels and spirits there, see note 12 in Last Judgment 9. [LSW]
2. It is possible that Swedenborg is referring here to some kind of heretic or renegade Muslims. Islam does teach that Jesus was one of many prophets who were precursors to Muhammad, and it could be said that it even teaches that Jesus was the greatest of these pre-Islamic prophets, but Muhammad has a distinct status as the Messenger or apostle of the one God, Allah, and no true Muslim could regard Jesus as a greater prophet than Muhammad. Furthermore, although the Qur'an (in Surah 3:45) teaches that Jesus was conceived miraculously, it explicitly denies that Jesus was the Son of God in many passages, especially Surah 5:75 and following, which not only calls those who believe such things infidels, but offers several arguments against the idea that God could have a son at all. Islam does accept the miracle of the virgin birth as a special sign from God to humankind (Surah 19), but the result of that birth is acknowledged only to be a child without a human father, not necessarily an offspring of God. [GMC]
3. Belief in the absolute oneness of God is central to Islam, making virtually any trinitarian concept of God unacceptable to Muslims. Elsewhere Swedenborg seems to acknowledge that fact with specific reference to Muslims in the spiritual world, when he says that they are unable to grasp the concept that the One God is both the Father and the Son; or, as he puts it there, “I have been told that it is impossible for them to think that God the Father and our Lord are one” (True Christianity 832). [GFD, JSR]
4. There are no references to Muhammad or Islam in the work evidently referred to by Swedenborg here, his unpublished Revelation Explained (= Swedenborg 1994-1997a), on which see note 1 in Last Judgment 42. Some of the promised information can be found in Supplements 68-72, with more detail in the posthumously published draft of the same; for which see Draft of “Supplements” 70-101 [Rogers's numbering] = 69-101 [Potts's numbering] (= Swedenborg 1997a, 85-95). The original accounts on these subjects that Swedenborg wrote but never published may be found in diary entries in Spiritual Experiences (= Swedenborg 1998-2013) 339, 340, 342, 344-347, 403, 407, 447, 477-477 1/2, 480, 509-511 1/2, 512-514, 1558, 2909, 2995-2998, 3030, 3033, 3040, 3494, 4658, 4831, 5060-5064, 5240-5248, 5258-5262, 5268, 5600, 5663-5669[a], 5776, 5809, 5856-5857, 5861, 5952, 6021. [GFD]
50. The judgment on the Mohammedans and heathen, which is the subject of this chapter, took place as follows. The Mohammedans were taken from the places where they had gathered in the west bordering the south, by a route which ran around the Christians from the west passing through the north towards the east, and as far as the border with the south. On the journey the wicked were separated from the good. The wicked were cast into marshes and lakes; many too were scattered in a desert which lay beyond. But the good were guided through the east to a spacious land close to the south, and were there given dwellings. The ones who were taken thus far were those who in the world had acknowledged the Lord as the greatest Prophet and as Son of God, believing him sent by the Father to instruct mankind, and who had also lived a moral spiritual life in accordance with their own religion.
[2] Most of these, when instructed, accept belief in the Lord and acknowledge Him as being one with the Father. They are also in touch with the Christian heaven by means of an inflow from the Lord; but they do not mix because their religion is a barrier. All of that religion immediately on joining their fellows in the other life start by looking for Mohammed. But he is not to be seen, his place being taken by two others who call themselves Mohammeds. They have been given a central position, below the Christian heaven but towards the left.
The reason for the two substitutes for Mohammed is that after death all of them of whatever religion are first taken to those whom they had favoured in the world, for each person s religion clings to him. But when they realise that they can give them no help, they desert them. For no one can be withdrawn from his religious belief except by first being introduced into it. The whereabouts of Mohammed himself and his nature, as well as the origin of his two substitutes will be dealt with in the book explaining Revelation. 1
Footnotes:
1. [This promise was not fulfilled in either the published or the unpublished book on Revelation, but elsewhere; see in particular CONTINUATION ON THE LAST JUDGMENT 68-72.]
50. As regards the judgment upon the Mohammedans and Gentiles, which is treated of in this article, it was thus effected. The Mohammedans were led forth from their places, where they were gathered together in the south-west, by a way round the Christians, from the west, through the north, to the east, as far as its southern boundary; and the good were separated from the evil in the way. The evil were cast into marshes and lakes, many too being scattered about in a certain far desert. But the good were led through the east to a land of great extent near the south, and habitations were there given them. They who were led thither had in the world acknowledged the Lord as the greatest Prophet, and as the Son of God, and had believed that He was sent by the Father to instruct the human race, and at the same time had lived a moral spiritual life according to their religious principles. Most of these, when instructed, receive faith in the Lord, and acknowledge Him to be one with the Father. Communication is also granted them with the Christian heaven, by influx from the Lord; but they are not commingled with it, because religion separates them. All of that religion, as soon as they come into the other life among their own, first seek Mohammed, yet he does not appear, but in his place there are two others, who call themselves Mohammeds, and who have obtained seats in the middle, under the Christian heaven, towards the left part of it. These two are in the place of Mohammed, because all after death, what ever be their religion, are first led to those they had worshiped in the world, for every one's religion adheres to him, but they recede on perceiving that these can render them no assistance. They are thus yielded up into their own religion at first, as the only possible means of effecting their withdrawal from it. Where Mohammed himself is, and what he is, and whence come those two who fill his place, shall be told in the book in which the Apocalypse is explained.
50. Quod judicium super Mahumedanos et Gentes, de quo in hoc articulo, attinet, factum est sicut sequitur. Mahumedani a suis locis, ubi congregati sunt, quae erant juxta meridiem in occidente, deducti sunt per viam circum Christianos, ab occidente, per septentrionem ad orientem usque ad confinium ubi meridies; ac in via separati sunt mali a bonis. Mali conjecti sunt in paludes et stagna; multi etiam dispersi in quoddam desertum quod ultra erat: boni autem ducebantur per orientem ad terram magni spatii prope meridiem, ac ibi datae illis habitationes. Illi, qui huc perducti fuerunt, erant qui in mundo agnoverunt Dominum pro Maximo Propheta, et pro Filio Dei, et crediderunt Ipsum missum a Patre ut informaret genus humanum, et simul vixerunt vitam moralem spiritualem secundum religiosum suum. Plerique ex illis, cum informati, recipiunt fidem in Dominum, et agnoscunt Ipsum esse unum cum Patre: datur etiam illis communicatio cum caelo Christiano per influxum a Domino, sed non commiscentur, quia religio separat. Omnes ex illa religione, ut primum inter suos in alteram vitam veniunt, quaerunt primo Mahumedem, sed ille non apparet, verum loco ejus bini alii, qui se vocant Mahumedes: hi sedem nacti sunt in media sub Christiano caelo, ad sinistrum ibi. Causa, quod illi bini loco Mahumedis sint, est quia omnes, ex quacunque religione sunt, post mortem primum perducuntur ad illos quos coluerunt in mundo, religio enim sua adhaeret unicuique; "sed cum percipiunt quod nihil opis ferre possint, recedunt ab illis; nullus enim aliter abduci a suo religioso potest, quam ut primum in illud immittatur. Ubinam ipse Mahumedes, et qualis ille, tum undenam sunt bini illi, qui loco Mahumedis, in libro, ubi explicabitur Apocalypsis, dicetur.