Muslim Literature Fact of the Day: The Italian poet, Dante Alighieri's epic poem, Divine Comedy, derived many of its details about the afterlife from Arabic works of Islamic eschatology.
The three main influences were the Hadith, the Kitab al-Miraj, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arab, the Andalusian poet, philosopher, scholar, and mystic.
Some similarities are that both Dante and the Prophet (pbuh) journey through levels of their afterlife destinations, they both encounter famous people, and they are both led by a guide - Dante by Virgil, and the Prophet (pbuh) by the angel Jibreel.
Sources: - P. 200. A History of Philosophy. Vol. 2. London: Continuum. Frederick Copleston (1950). - P. 23, 92-93. Ascent to Heaven in Islamic and Jewish Mysticism by Aligis Uždavinys. - Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. - Sahih-al-Bukhari.