AL-YA\u2018Q\u016aB\u012a\u2019S BIBLICAL NARRATIVES<\/p>\n
Translated from the Arabic text of Ya\u2018q\u016bb\u012b, Ta\u2019r\u012bkh <\/em>(2 vols.; Beirut: D\u0101r \u1e62adir, 1960), 1:5-80, and compared with Ibn W\u0101dih qui dicitur al-Ja\u2018qubi historiae <\/em>(2 vols.; ed. M. T. Houtsma; Leiden: Brill, 1883), 1:2-89.<\/p>\n \u2026 about Adam, and no thing which God, may He be praised and exalted, created disobeyed Him before (the episode in) the Garden.\u00a0When Adam saw how wonderful were the contents of the Garden, he said, \u2018Would that it were possible for me to remain here forever!\u2019\u00a0Ibl\u012bs envied him when he heard this from him, and he began weeping.\u00a0He appeared while he was weeping to Adam and Eve.\u00a0They said to him, \u2018What are you weeping about?\u2019\u00a0He replied, \u2018Because Your Lord has forbidden you this tree only to prevent you from becoming angels or from becoming immortal!\u00a0He swore to them: Most truly I am giving you good advice!<\/em>‘ (Q 7:20-21).<\/p>\n Adam and Eve wore garments composed of light. When they tasted (fruit from) the Tree, their genitals became visible to them.\u00a0The People of the Book maintain that Adam resided on earth for three hours before he entered the Garden, and that he and Eve dwelt in comfort and honor for three hours before they both ate from the Tree and their genitals were revealed to them.\u00a0When Adam\u2019s genitals became visible to him, he plucked a leaf from the Tree and placed it on himself.\u00a0He then cried out, \u2018Behold, O Lord, I am naked!\u00a0I ate from that Tree which You forbade me to eat from!\u2019\u00a0And God said, \u2018Return to the earth from which you were created, and I shall subjugate the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea to you and to your descendants.\u2019\u00a0God expelled Adam and Eve from where they were, and the People of the Book say (it happened) at the ninth hour on Friday.\u00a0They came down to the earth, and they were grieving and weeping, and their place of descent was one of the mountains of the earth that was close to the Garden, which is in the land of India.\u00a0But some people say it was on Ab\u016b Qubays, a mountain near Mecca.\u00a0Adam lodged in a cave on that mountain, naming it the Cave of Treasures, and he called on God so that He might consecrate it.<\/p>\n Some of them report that Adam wept piteously after he had descended (from Paradise), and his grief over his severance from the Garden persisted.\u00a0Then God (may He be praised!) inspired him to say, \u2018There is no god save for You!\u00a0Exaltation and praise are Yours!\u00a0I have acted badly and harmed myself; grant me forgiveness, for You are the Much-Forgiving One, the Merciful One!\u2019\u00a0And Adam received words from his Lord, and He forgave him<\/em> (Q 2:37), and He showed him favor. He caused the black stone which was in the Garden to descend to him, and He commanded him to convey it to Mecca and to build a house for Him.\u00a0Adam brought (it) to Mecca and built the house and circumambulated it.\u00a0 Then God commanded him to offer a sacrifice to Him, pray to Him, and glorify Him.\u00a0 Gabriel came out with him until he reached \u2018Araf\u0101t, and then Gabriel said to him, \u2018This is the place where your Lord commands you to halt for Him!\u2019\u00a0Then he continued with him (back) to Mecca, but Ibl\u012bs (i.e., Satan) opposed him.\u00a0He (Gabriel) said, \u2018Throw (rocks) at him!\u2019\u00a0He thereupon bombarded him with gravel.\u00a0Then he reached the plain, and (there) angels met him, and they said to him, \u2018Honor your pilgrimage, O Adam!\u00a0 We already made the pilgrimage (to) this house two thousand years before you!\u2019<\/p>\n God, may He be praised and exalted, brought down wheat for Adam, and commanded that he would (henceforth) receive nourishment from his labor.\u00a0So he plowed and he planted, then he harvested and threshed, then he ground and kneaded, and finally he baked.\u00a0After perspiration popped out on his forehead, he ate.\u00a0After eating his fill, he was sluggish with what was in his stomach.\u00a0Gabriel came down to him and squeezed him, and after what was in his stomach had come out, he was met with an odor which disgusted him.\u00a0He asked, \u2018What\u2019s this?\u2019\u00a0Gabriel answered him, \u2018The smell of wheat!\u2019<\/p>\n Adam had sexual relations with Eve: she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy and a girl. He named the boy Q\u0101b\u012bl (i.e., Cain) and the girl L\u016bbdh\u0101 (i.e., Lebuda). Then she became pregnant again and gave birth to another boy and girl. He named the boy H\u0101b\u012bl (i.e., Abel) and the girl Iql\u012bm\u0101. And after his children had grown and reached a marriageable age, Adam said to Eve, \u2018Instruct Q\u0101b\u012bl to marry Iql\u012bm\u0101, the one who was born with H\u0101b\u012bl, and instruct H\u0101b\u012bl to marry L\u016bbdh\u0101, the one who was born with Q\u0101b\u012bl.\u2019\u00a0 And Q\u0101b\u012bl was jealous of him, for he was to wed his sister, the one who was born with him. Some of them have reported that God (may He be praised and exalted!) had brought down from Paradise a houri <\/em>to H\u0101b\u012bl for him to marry, whereas He had cast out a she-demon for Q\u0101b\u012bl for him to marry.\u00a0Q\u0101b\u012bl was jealous of his brother on account of the houri<\/em>.<\/p>\n Adam said to them, \u2018Prepare offerings!\u2019 <Q\u0101b\u012bl> offered some figs which he had grown, and <H\u0101b\u012bl> offered the best ram in his flock to God. God accepted the offering of H\u0101b\u012bl, but rejected the sacrifice of Q\u0101b\u012bl. His distemper and envy continued to grow, so that when Satan induced him to kill his brother he smashed him with stones until he had slain him.\u00a0 God was angry with Q\u0101b\u012bl: He cursed him and made him descend from the holy mountain to the land called N\u016bd.<\/p>\n Adam and Eve remained mourning for H\u0101b\u012bl a very long time; so much, it is said, that their tears flowed like a river. Then Adam had sexual relations with Eve: she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy\u2014his (Adam\u2019s) coming to her happened after the passage of 130 years\u2014and they named him Sh\u012bth (i.e., Seth). The son of Adam looked exactly like Adam. Then Adam contracted a marriage for Sh\u012bth, and after 165 years had passed he fathered a son, and they named him An\u016bsh. A boy was fathered by An\u016bsh, and they named him Qayn\u0101n. Then a boy was fathered by Qayn\u0101n, and they named him Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl.\u00a0 These were born during the lifetime of Adam, and they concluded a covenant with him.<\/p>\n When Adam was preparing for death, his son Sh\u012bth along with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren came (to him), and he prayed for them and pronounced a blessing over them.\u00a0He designated Sh\u012bth as his legatee, and instructed him to preserve his corpse and place it after his death in the Cave of Treasures; and to enjoin his sons and grandsons that they should enjoin one another at the time of their (own) deaths that when they (eventually) descended from their mountain to remove his body with decorum (from the Cave) and re-inter it at \u2018the middle of the Earth.\u2019\u00a0He also commanded Sh\u012bth his son to govern their descendants after him and to instruct them in the piety expected by God and (in) the excellence of His religious observances.\u00a0He prohibited them from associating with the cursed Q\u0101b\u012bl and his descendants.\u00a0He prayed for those sons, their children, and their wives, and then he died.\u00a0It was the sixth of Nisan (?), a Friday, and coincidentally at the same hour when he had been created.\u00a0His lifespan was 930 years.<\/p>\n After the death of Adam, his son Sh\u012bth took charge.\u00a0He issued instructions to his people regarding the piety expected by God, (how to effect) His glorification, and the practice of virtue.\u00a0They were glorifying God and worshipping Him.\u00a0Their children and their wives never acted with hostility toward one another, they exhibited no envy, they were neither hateful nor suspicious, they did not lie, and they never quarreled.\u00a0Their sole statement when intending to swear an oath was to say: \u2018No, by the blood of H\u0101b\u012bl!\u2019<\/p>\n When Sh\u012bth was preparing for his death, his sons and grandsons\u2014who at the time were An\u016bsh, Qayn\u0101n, Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl, Yarad, and Akhn\u016bkh\u2014and their wives and their children came (to him). He prayed for them and pronounced a blessing over them. He issued instructions to them and made them swear by the blood of H\u0101b\u012bl that none of them would descend from that holy mountain, nor would they let anyone else from among their descendants to descend from it, and that they would not associate with the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl the accursed. He designated his son An\u016bsh as his legatee, and commanded him to protect the body of Adam and to show reverence to God. He was to instruct his people in the piety expected by God and (in) the excellence of His religious observances. Then he died: it was during the night on a Tuesday, the twenty-seventh of the month Ab, about three hours before daylight. His lifespan totaled 912 years.<\/p>\n After his father (died), An\u016bsh b. Sh\u012bth governed in compliance with the injunction(s) of his father and applied himself diligently (to the task). He demonstrated a mastery of the religious observances expected by God and instructed his people in the excellence of (these) observances. It was during his lifetime that the accursed Q\u0101b\u012bl was slain. Lamak, who was blind, threw a rock at him: it crushed his skull and he died. After he had reached ninety years of age, An\u016bsh had a child\u2014Qayn\u0101n. When An\u016bsh was preparing for his death, his sons and grandsons\u2014Qayn\u0101n, Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl, Yarad, Akhn\u016bkh, and Mat\u016bshalah, along with their wives and children\u2014gathered around him. He prayed for them and pronounced a blessing over them. He forbade them to descend from their holy mountain or to cause a single one of their descendants to associate with the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl the accursed. He designated Qayn\u0101n to take charge of the body of Adam, and enjoined them to pray with him and to glorify God incessantly. He died on the third day of the month Tishr\u012bn I, at the time when the sun was setting. His lifespan totaled 965 years.<\/p>\n Qayn\u0101n b. An\u016bsh assumed leadership. He was a gentle man, pure (and) saintly. He governed his people (modeling) obedience to God and the excellence of His religious observances, and he followed the instructions of Adam and Sh\u012bth. After he had reached seventy years of age, Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl was born to him.<\/p>\n When his death approached, his sons and grandsons\u2014Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl, Yarad, Akhn\u016bkh, Mat\u016bshalah, Lamak, along with their wives and children\u2014gathered around him. He prayed for them and pronounced a blessing over them. He made them swear an oath by the blood of H\u0101b\u012bl that not a single one of them would descend from their holy mountain to the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl the accursed. He designated Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl as his legatee, and enjoined him to protect the body of Adam. Then Qayn\u0101n died. His lifespan totaled 920 years.<\/p>\n Then Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl b. Qayn\u0101n took charge after Qayn\u0101n, and he governed his people (modeling) obedience to God Most High, following the injunction(s) of his father. After he reached sixty-five years of age, Yarad was born to him.<\/p>\n When his death approached, Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl designated his son Yarad as his legatee and put him in charge of the body of Adam.\u00a0Then Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl died on the second night of the month N\u012bs\u0101n, a Sunday, the third hour before daylight.\u00a0His lifespan totaled 895 years.<\/p>\n Then Yarad governed after Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl.\u00a0He was a faithful man, perfect in the execution of practices stipulated by God.\u00a0He offered praise to Him and engaged in His worship, praying most of both the night and the day.\u00a0Hence God increased his lifespan.\u00a0After he reached sixty-two years of age, Akhn\u016bkh was born to him.\u00a0When Yarad was forty years old, the first millennium (from creation) was completed.<\/p>\n After five hundred years of the life of Yarad had passed, the descendants of Sh\u012bth violated the oaths and covenants which they had taken upon themselves, and they began to descend to the land wherein the descendants of Q\u0101b\u012bl dwelt. Their initial fall was occasioned by Satan taking the form of two \u2018human Satans\u2019: the name of one was Y\u016bbal, and the other was named T\u016bbal-qayn. He taught them different sorts of melodies and music. Y\u016bbal made flutes, mandolins, lutes, and horns, while T\u016bbal-qayn made drums, tambourines, and cymbals. The progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl had no work with which to busy themselves or to talk about except for (what) Satan (wanted). They began practicing forbidden acts and committing sins, and they would gather together to engage collectively in acts of moral depravity. Those of their men and women who were older were worse offenders in this than their younger ones. They would assemble together, play their instruments, beat the drums and tambourines, (strum) the lutes, (strike) the cymbals, shout, and laugh. (This ruckus continued) until a few of the descendants of Sh\u012bth\u2014the people of the mountain\u2014heard their voices. One hundred men from among them came together for the purpose of descending to the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl and determining the reason for the noise. When this news reached Yarad, he came to them and implored them\u2014invoking God\u2014to recall the injunction of their forefathers; he (also) adjured them by the blood of H\u0101b\u012bl. Akhn\u016bkh b. Yarad then stood up before them and said, \u2018Know that those of you who defy our father Yarad and violate the oath of our ancestors by descending from our mountain will never again re-ascend (it)!\u2019 But they insisted on descending, and after they had descended, they consorted with the daughters of Q\u0101b\u012bl and as a result committed shameless perversions.<\/p>\n When his death approached, Yarad gathered his sons and grandsons around him, they being Akhn\u016bkh (!), Mat\u016bshala\u1e25, Lamak, and N\u016b\u1e25.\u00a0He prayed for them and pronounced a blessing over them, and forbade them to descend from the holy mountain.\u00a0He said: \u2018If you must descend to the lower world, whomever among you is the last to descend should bring down (with him) the body of our forefather Adam and re-inter it at \u2018the middle of the earth,\u2019 in accordance with what he enjoined upon us.\u2019\u00a0He directed his son Akhn\u016bkh to not fail to pray in the Cave of Treasures. Then he died: it was at night on a Friday in the month Adh\u0101r as the sun was setting.\u00a0His lifespan totaled 962 years.<\/p>\n Then after Yarad there arose Akhn\u016bkh, the son of Yarad, and he was engaged in the worship (and) praise of God.\u00a0When he was 65 years old, he engendered Mat\u016bshala\u1e25.\u00a0He admonished the descendants of Sh\u012bth, together with their wives and children, about descending (from the mountain), for this (behavior) distressed Akhn\u016bkh.\u00a0He summoned his offspring\u2014Mat\u016bshala\u1e25, Lamak, and N\u016b\u1e25\u2014and said to them: \u2018I know that God will inflict a great merciless punishment on this generation!\u2019\u00a0Akhn\u016bkh was the first who wrote with a pen; he is (the same figure as) Idr\u012bs the prophet. He enjoined his offspring to be faithful in the worship of God and to practice righteousness and true religion.\u00a0Then God raised him (to heaven) after three hundred years had passed.<\/p>\n Then Mat\u016bshala\u1e25 b. Akhn\u016bkh took charge of the worship of God Most High and (modeled) obedience to Him.\u00a0After he had reached the age of 187 years, he engendered Lamak.\u00a0 Moreover, during his lifetime, N\u016b\u1e25 experienced a revelation from God wherein He informed him that He was sending a Flood upon humankind.\u00a0He directed him to build a wooden boat.\u00a0When N\u016b\u1e25 was 344 years old, the second millennium (from creation) was completed.<\/p>\n Mat\u016bshala\u1e25 died on the twenty-first day of the month Ayl\u016bl, a Thursday.\u00a0His lifespan totaled 960 years.<\/p>\n After his father (died), Lamak took charge of the religious observances and obedience expected by God.\u00a0He engendered a son after he had attained the age of 182 years. The Giants were very numerous during his lifetime, for this was what had happened when the descendants of Sh\u012bth had sexual relations with the daughters of Q\u0101b\u012bl: the Giants were born from them.<\/p>\n Then the death of Lamak approached, and he summoned N\u016b\u1e25, S\u0101m, \u1e24\u0101m, Y\u0101fith, and their wives.\u00a0Not a single one of the descendants of Sh\u012bth remained on the mountain, apart from these, for they had (all) made their descent to the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl.\u00a0Only these eight individuals remained; they had no children prior to the Flood.\u00a0He prayed for them and invoked a blessing for them.\u00a0Then, while weeping, he said to them, \u2018Only these eight individuals are left from our family!\u00a0I ask of God, He who created Adam and Eve by themselves and then multiplied their posterity, that He deliver you from the punishment which He has prepared for this wicked generation.\u00a0May He multiply your offspring so that they fill the earth, and may He extend to you the blessing enjoyed by our forefather Adam and appoint a ruler from among your descendants!\u00a0I will soon die, and only you, O N\u016b\u1e25, will escape from among those deserving punishment.\u00a0When I am dead, take me and inter me in the Cave of Treasures.\u00a0When God urges you to board the boat, remove the body of our forefather Adam and bring it down with you and place it in the center of the uppermost chamber of the boat.\u00a0Let you and your sons be in the eastern section of the boat, and let your wife and daughters-in-law be in the western section of the boat, so that the body of Adam is between you (and they).\u00a0You will not go to your wives, nor will your wives be permitted to come to you.\u00a0You will not eat or drink with them, nor will you approach them, until you disembark from the boat.\u00a0And when the Flood disappears and you disembark from the boat onto land, you will take the body of Adam and entrust (it) to S\u0101m, your eldest son.\u00a0He will take the body of Adam until he can inter it at “the middle of the earth.”\u00a0 He will take with him a man from his family who will care for it; he will be a learned man of God who during his lifetime has never married, never built a house, never shed blood, and has never participated in a sacrifice involving animals or birds.\u00a0God will send one of His angels to point out to him “the middle of the earth” so that he will recognize it.\u2019<\/p>\n Lamak died during the night on the seventeenth day of the month Adh\u0101r, which was a Sunday.\u00a0It was at the ninth hour prior to daylight.\u00a0His lifespan totaled 777 years.<\/p>\n God\u2014may He be praised and exalted\u2014imparted a revelation to N\u016b\u1e25 during the time of his great-grandfather Akhn\u016bkh, who was Idr\u012bs the prophet, before God had raised Idr\u012bs (to heaven).\u00a0He directed him to warn his people to desist from the sins which they were committing, in which case He would excuse them from punishment.\u00a0He (i.e., N\u016b\u1e25) took charge of the religious observances expected by God Most High and of issuing calls (for repentance) to his people.\u00a0He did not marry during the first five hundred years (of his life).\u00a0 Then God revealed to him that he should wed Haykal, daughter of N\u0101m\u016bs\u0101 b. Akhn\u016bkh. He informed him that He was bringing a Flood upon the earth, and instructed him to build a boat wherein God would rescue him and his family.\u00a0He was to construct it with three chambers: a lower, a middle, and an upper one. He directed him to make its length three hundred cubits, (a cubit being the length) of the forearm of N\u016b\u1e25, its width fifty cubits, and its roof thirty cubits (in height).\u00a0He was to fashion its partitions from wooden planks.\u00a0The lower chamber would be for beasts, wild animals, and predators; the middle chamber would be for birds; and the upper chamber would be a dwelling for N\u016b\u1e25 and his family.\u00a0He was also to construct in the upper chamber tanks for water and places to store food.\u00a0 When he attained the age of five hundred years, he began to engender children.<\/p>\n While N\u016b\u1e25 was completing the construction of the boat, the descendants of Q\u0101b\u012bl and those of Sh\u012bth who had intermarried with them (were engaged in their sinful activities).\u00a0 When they saw him working on the ship, they ridiculed him.\u00a0And when he had finished, he invited them to board it, and he informed them that God was sending a Flood upon the entire earth in order to purge it of sinners.\u00a0But not a single one of them consented (to come aboard).\u00a0So he and his sons climbed up to the Cave of Treasures, carried out the body of Adam, and deposited it in the center of the uppermost chamber of the boat.\u00a0It was a Friday, the evening of the seventeenth day of the month Adh\u0101r.\u00a0He made the birds enter the middle chamber, and made the animals and predators enter the lower chamber.\u00a0He closed it up at the time the sun was setting.<\/p>\n God poured forth water from the sky, and He made terrestrial springs overflow, and the waters came together by command as He had ordained<\/em> (Q 54:12). The water overwhelmed the whole earth and the mountains. The world became dark: sunlight and that of the moon disappeared, so that night and day were the same, (even though) it (the sun) was shining at the time when God Most High sent down the water. Those who do computations say that Cancer, the sun, the moon, Saturn, Mercury, and the ascendant node were all conjoined in the last one-sixtieth degree of the sign Pisces. The heavenly and the terrestrial waters combined together for forty days, until it (the water) was fifteen cubits above the peaks of all the mountains. Then it stopped (rising) after no place remained (intact) on the earth, save for what the waters had immersed and the surface (of the waters) above.<\/p>\n The boat passed over the whole earth until it came to Mecca.\u00a0It circled around (the site of) the sanctuary for a week, and then after five months the water uncovered (the earth).\u00a0This (process) began the evening of the seventeenth of Ayy\u0101r and (continued) to the evening of the thirteenth of Tishr\u012bn I.<\/p>\n Some report that N\u016b\u1e25 boarded the boat on the first day of Rajab, and that he lodged on Mount J\u016bd\u012b during the month of Mu\u1e25arram, resulting in his disembarking it during the first of the months (of the Muslim calendar).\u00a0The People of the Book differ about this (itinerary), and (say) he did not land on Mount J\u016bd\u012b, which is a mountain in the neighborhood of Mosul. God Most High commanded the water of heaven, and it returned from where it had come, and He issued a command to the earth, and it swallowed up its water.\u00a0After the boat stopped moving, N\u016b\u1e25 waited for four months.\u00a0Then he sent out a raven so he might ascertain information about the water.\u00a0It came across corpses floating in the water, alighted on them, and did not return.\u00a0Then he dispatched a dove, and it returned bearing an olive leaf.\u00a0Thus he knew that the water had vanished.\u00a0He disembarked on the twenty-seventh of Ayy\u0101r.\u00a0Consequently, the time between his boarding the boat and his departure from it was one complete year plus ten days.\u00a0And when he had returned to the earth, he and his family built a city which they named Tham\u0101n\u012bn (i.e, \u2018Eighty\u2019).<\/p>\n When N\u016b\u1e25 exited from the boat, he saw the bones of the (drowned) people emerging (from the ground).\u00a0This grieved him and saddened him.\u00a0God revealed to him, \u2018After this I will never again send a Flood upon the earth!\u2019\u00a0After N\u016b\u1e25 had disembarked from the boat, he secured it with a lock and presented the key to his son S\u0101m.\u00a0Then N\u016b\u1e25 sowed seeds, planted a vineyard, and cultivated the earth.<\/p>\n One day N\u016b\u1e25 fell asleep with his clothing open, and his son \u1e24\u0101m saw his genitals and laughed (about it).\u00a0He informed his brothers S\u0101m and Y\u0101fith (about this comic scene).\u00a0 They took hold of a garment as they were approaching him, diverted their faces from him, and spread the garment over him.\u00a0When N\u016b\u1e25 woke up from his sleep and learned the news (about what had happened), he pronounced a curse on Kana\u2018\u0101n b. \u1e24\u0101m, but he did not curse \u1e24\u0101m.\u00a0Among his descendants are the Copts, the Ethiopians, and the inhabitants of India.<\/p>\n Kana\u2018\u0101n was the first of the descendants of N\u016b\u1e25 to behave like one of the progeny of Q\u0101b\u012bl.\u00a0He made musical instruments, songs, flutes, drums, harps, and cymbals, and obeyed Satan with regard to amusements and diversions.<\/p>\n N\u016b\u1e25 divided the earth among his sons.\u00a0S\u0101m\u2019s portion was the center of the earth, and \u1e24\u0101m\u2019s portion was what surrounded it, as well as Yemen and the \u1e24a\u1e0dramawt extending to \u2018Oman and to Ba\u1e25rain and to the \u2018\u0100lij and to the Yabr\u012bn and Wab\u0101r and al-Dauw and al-Dahn\u0101\u2019.\u00a0\u1e24\u0101m was (also) granted the Maghrib and the coastlands. He was the ancestor of K\u016bsh b. \u1e24\u0101m, Kana\u2018\u0101n b. \u1e24\u0101m the Nubian, Zanj (sub-Saharan Africa), and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n Y\u0101fith b. N\u016b\u1e25 took up residence on the land lying between the east and west, and he fathered J\u016bmar, T\u016bbal, M\u0101sh, M\u0101shj (?), and M\u0101j\u016bj.\u00a0J\u016bmar is the ancestor of the Slavs, T\u016bbal is the ancestor of the Bulgarians, M\u0101sh is the ancestor of the Turks and the Khazars, M\u0101shj is the ancestor of ?, and M\u0101j\u016bj is the ancestor of Y\u0101j\u016bj wa-M\u0101j\u016bj, (a people) who dwell in the eastern part of the world on the other side of the Turks.\u00a0The homelands of the Slavs and Bulgarians are in Byzantine territory: this was before it had become (known as) Rome.\u00a0These were the descendants of Y\u0101fith.<\/p>\n After his departure from the boat, N\u016b\u1e25 lived for 360 (sic<\/em>!) years.\u00a0When the time for N\u016b\u1e25\u2019s death approached, his three sons S\u0101m, \u1e24\u0101m, Y\u0101fith, and their children gathered around him, and he communicated to them and instructed them in the worship of God Most High.\u00a0 He commanded that after he had died, S\u0101m was to re-enter the boat\u2014without informing anyone\u2014and remove the body of Adam.\u00a0He was to carry it away accompanied (only) by Malk\u012bzadaq b. Lamak b. S\u0101m, for God had chosen the latter to remain with the body of Adam in the sacred place at “the center of the earth.”\u00a0He said to him: \u2018O S\u0101m!\u00a0 When you and Malk\u012bzadaq depart, God will send an angel with you to guide you on the way and to point out to you “the center of the earth.”\u00a0Do not inform anyone about what you are doing!\u00a0 This command was the testament of Adam which he bequeathed to his son, and each of them in succession has bequeathed it until it has now come to you.\u00a0And when you reach the place which the angel shows you, lay the body of Adam there.\u00a0Malk\u012bzadaq shall continue (to stay) there without leaving it (Adam\u2019s body) unattended, and his sole occupation will consist of the worship of God, may He be praised and exalted!\u00a0Command him not to take a wife, not to construct a building, not to shed blood, not to wear any clothing except for wild animal skins, and not to cut his hair or his nails.\u00a0Instead, he will sit alone and constantly offer praises to God.\u2019<\/p>\n Then he (N\u016b\u1e25) died in the month of Ayy\u0101r; (his day of death) was a Wednesday.\u00a0His lifespan totaled 950 years, thus confirming what God Most High has said: \u2018[N\u016b\u1e25 was among his people] one thousand years less fifty years<\/em>\u2019 (Q 29:14).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AL-YA\u2018Q\u016aB\u012a\u2019S BIBLICAL NARRATIVES Translated from the Arabic text of Ya\u2018q\u016bb\u012b, Ta\u2019r\u012bkh (2 vols.; Beirut: D\u0101r \u1e62adir, 1960), 1:5-80, and compared with Ibn W\u0101dih qui dicitur al-Ja\u2018qubi historiae (2 vols.; ed. M. T. Houtsma; Leiden: Brill, 1883), 1:2-89. Adam \u2026 about Adam, and no thing which God, may He be praised and exalted, created disobeyed Him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":454,"featured_media":0,"parent":106,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-434","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P3kl1F-70","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/434\/revisions\/1618"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/john-reeves\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Adam<\/h4>\n
Sh\u012bth b. Adam<\/h4>\n
An\u016bsh b. Sh\u012bth<\/h4>\n
Qayn\u0101n b. An\u016bsh<\/h4>\n
Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl b. Qayn\u0101n<\/h4>\n
Yarad b. Mah\u0101l\u0101\u2019\u012bl<\/h4>\n
Akhn\u016bkh b. Yarad<\/h4>\n
Mat\u016bshala\u1e25 b. Akhn\u016bkh<\/h4>\n
Lamak b. Mat\u016bshala\u1e25<\/h4>\n
N\u016b\u1e25<\/h4>\n