TRACING BACK OUR GLOBAL PAST
Author: Sajid Mahmood Ansari
Creation of Man
Contrary to Darwinism, Islam believes that the first human couple was created especially by the Lord of the Worlds--Allah Almighty in the heavenly Paradise and sent down to the earth thousands of years ago. Scientifically speaking, it was the first couple of Homo sapiens, perfect in all human characteristics, including speaking and walking erectly. Adam (peace be upon him) and his wife Hawa (Eve) constituted the first human couple. They were the Prime ancestors of all the human beings, living today, the deceased and the going to be begotten in future.
Allah Almighty said:
(Remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "Truly, I am going to create man from clay".
So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him (his) soul created by Me, then you fall down prostrate to him." So the angels prostrated themselves, all of them.[1]
This narrative has been dealt in details in Surah Al-Baqarah and Al-a’araf. Surah Al-Baqarah goes this way:
And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "Verily, I am going to appoint a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Will You place therein those who will make mischief therein and shed blood, - while we glorify You with praises and thanks (Exalted be You above all that they associate with You as partners) and sanctify You." He (Allah) said: "I know that which you do not know." And He taught Adam all the names (of everything) , then He showed them to the angels and said, "Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful." They (angels) said: "Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what you have taught us. Verily, it is You, the All-Knower, the All-Wise." He said: "O Adam! Inform them of their names," and when he had informed them of their names, He said: "Did I not tell you that I know the Ghaib (unseen) in the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you have been concealing?" And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam.". And they prostrated except Iblis (Satan), he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers (disobedient to Allah). And We said: "O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimun (wrong-doers)." Then the Shaitan (Satan) made them slip therefrom (the Paradise), and got them out from that in which they were. We said: "Get you down, all, with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment for a time. Then Adam received from his Lord Words . And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance). Verily, He is the One Who forgives (accepts repentance), the Most Merciful. We said: "Get down all of you from this place (the Paradise), then whenever there comes to you Guidance from Me, and whoever follows My Guidance, there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve.[2]
These two accounts of human creation taken from the Holy Qur’an proves that first human couple was sent down from the heaven on the earth. Humans have not been evolved from apes as the Neo-Darwinists believe. The human like species, taken as imperfect humans, were nothing but extinct species of apes, that are wrongly considered humans.
Sources of Human Genealogy
The anthropologists have been trying to link the human races and classifying them on the basis of similarities and differences. No doubt it is not a childish game to classify human beings and tracing back their genealogy. Fortunately, there are five available sources that can help in this regard. Firstly, the recorded human history, folklores and oral traditions provide major raw material to sketch the whole human inheritance. Secondly, the history of languages, their origin and evolution plays important role in linking the races together. Thirdly, geographical distribution of human races is a key to classify the human beings on the basis of similarities and differences. Fourthly, modern scientific data resulting from latest research on human genomes provide the strong and bold colours to paint the human genealogy structure exactly. Last but not the least, archeological discoveries and data collected from archeological sites gives the finest tuning to the human history and finally the human genealogy. We use these sources to construct human genealogy compendium.
The Muslims believe that the Qur’an is the Divine Revelation and the Ultimate Truth. It gives the guiding principles for tracing back and linking human genealogy. Fortunately, the Prophetic explanation of the Qur’an has been preserved in the form of Hadiths collections. In addition to these Islamic sources, the Jewish and Christian scriptures Old Testament and New Testament, serve as a tool for the comparative study.
Progeny of Adam (Peace be upon him)
Allah Almighty said:
O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship) . Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you.[3]
Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Hawa gave birth to forty kids for Adam (Peace be upon him) in twenty deliveries, each of the birth consisted of a set of twin boy and girl. [4]
Adam (Peace be upon him) lived around 1000 years. In his last years of life he moved to northern Arabia and laid the foundation stone of Palestine and constructed Masjid Ala-Aqsa.[5]
Among Adam’s progeny three sons are well known in Abrahamic religions, Shith (Seth), Habil (Abel) and Qabil (Cain). Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that all the humans living today are descendants of Shith (Peace be upon him). Abu Dhar (May Allah be pleased with him) reported from the Messenger of Allah that Shith (Peace be upon him) was the Prophet of Allah like his father and fifty scrolls were revealed to him.[6]
The most reliable report regarding Adam’s grave is narrated by Ibni Jarir At-Tabri that tells that Adam’s grave lies at Palestine in the Baitul Maqdas (Jerusalem).
Prophet Noah (Peace be upon him) and Deluge
After Adam’s death, the most eminent figure that appears in the Qur’an is the Prophet
Noah (Peace be upon him), who was descendant of Shith bin Adam (Peace be upon them).
It is well known that Prophet Noah (Peace be upon him) preached Taoheed (monotheism) for hundreds of years, but only a small number of people (40 to 80) responded to his call positively. Allah Almighty caused the Arabian Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea to raise the ocean level in addition with continuous thunder storm and down pour, resulted in a cataclysm that affected the whole human race, probably, that was confined to Arabian Peninsula at that time. The believers got into the Noah’s Arc and the disbelievers were wiped out from the surface of the earth. When water level returned to its normal position, the believers settled again in northern part of Arabian Peninsula.
The purpose of this paper is not the account of Prophetic stories, so I will mention only the incidents that are directly related to our subject i.e Cradle of Civilization. An overwhelming majority of human beings believe in the Global Deluge, of which a very small number of people survived. They were the forefathers of the next generations. However, it is believed that all living human beings are descendants of Noah’s progeny.
Progeny of Noah
Allah Almighty said:
And indeed Nuh (Noah) invoked Us, and We are the Best of those who answer (the request). And We rescued him and his family from the great distress (i.e. drowning), And, his progeny, them We made the survivors.[7]
This Qur’anic narrative clearly mentions that only Noah’s progeny could survive to the day. In other words all human beings living today are progeny of Noah (Peace be upon him). This Qur’anic narrative is elaborated in a reliable Prophetic tradition as follows:
Samurah bin Jundub (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Sam was the father of Arabs, Ham the father of the Ethiopians (Africans), and Yafith the father of the Romans (Europeans)."[8]
This great Prophetic narrative is a key to sketch the human linage, as well as human history. When we compare this Hadith with recorded human history, fossil record and human genetics, we find that the Arabian Peninsula was the place where earliest human activities have been recorded, and it is the place from where humans migrated to neighbouring lands (Europe and Africa),as Arabian Peninsula lies at the junction of Asia, Europe and Africa. Though the Neo-Darwinist anthropologists claim that Africa was the place where ancestors of modern humans (Homo erectus) originated and then migrated to Arabian Peninsula, but in reality, so called Homo erectus was an African human race, which descended from Yafith (Jafith). The fossil record is still imperfect and more mysteries are buried under the soil, especially under the sands of Arabian desert.
Descendants of Sam
As it has been mentioned in the Prophetic narrative, Sam was the forefather of Arabs. The historians, from ancient times, have been using the term Semite and Semitic people for the earliest Descendants of Sam.
Encyclopaedia Brittanica obersves:
Semite, member of a people speaking any of a group of related languages presumably derived from a common language, Semitic (see Semitic languages). The term came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews, some Ethiopians, and Aramaean tribes. Mesopotamia, the western coast of the Mediterranean, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa have all been proposed as possible sites for the prehistoric origins of Semitic-speaking peoples, but no location has been definitively established.
By 2500 BCE Semitic-speaking peoples had become widely dispersed throughout western Asia. In Phoenicia they became seafarers. In Mesopotamia they blended with the civilization of Sumer.[9]
Famous historian Philip Khuri Hitti observes in The Arabia: A Short History:
The people of Arabia particularly Bedouins, have remained virtually the same throughout all recorded ages. And it was in Arabia that the ancestors of the Semitic peoples—the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, Amorites, Aramaeans, the Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arabians and the Assyrian --- had their origin. Here they lived sometimes as one people.[10]
The Editors of ‘Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the Africa and the Middle East’ observes:
The most generally, but by no means exclusively, accepted hypothesis is that the original homeland of Semites was the Arabian Peninsula. The Semitic traditions, the historical sources, and ethnological data all point to Arabia as being the place from whwere the various Semitic peoples radiated. Arabia also constituted what is known as “Sheltered Area” with limited communication with the outside world and fewer external influences on its language and people than other areas of Semitic region. Hence the Nomadic Beduins’ way of life and the Arabic language remained relatively untouched and preserved in the Arabian Peninsula for long periods of time. It is also considered to be a law of history that people who practice agriculture do not revert to nomadic ways of life.[11]
This is what the majority of historians believe.
Elam the Son of Sam
Elamhas been reported as direct descendant of Sam both in Islamic and Hebrew literature. In, pre-Persia history, Elamite was a dominant culture in Persia, that represents the Sam’s descendants who migrated to Near East, along North-eastern side of the Zagros mountains (modern Iran).
Encyclopaedia Brittanica obersves:
Elam, Elamite Ḥaltami, Akkadian Elamtu, also called Susiana, ancient country in southwestern Iran approximately equivalent to the modern region of Khūzestān. Four prominent geographic names within Elam are mentioned in ancient sources: Awan, Anshan, Simash, and Susa. Susa was Elam’s capital, and in classical sources the name of the country is sometimes Susiana. Throughout the late prehistoric periods, Elam was closely tied culturally to Mesopotamia. [12]
This fact leads us to conclude that the Persian people are originally descendants of Sam.
Imam Hammam bin Munabbih and Sayeed bin al-Musayeb R.A did mention that Persians are descendants of Sam. [13]
So the Semitic peoples migrated from the Arabian Peninsula to inhabit other continents.
Kosh bin Ham
According to the aforementioned Hadith about Descendants of Noah (A.S), Ham was the chief ancestor of the African peoples. The descendants of Kosh bin Ham (a grandson of Noah) are said to be Koshites (also spelled as Cushites). We can prove that the Cushites migrated to Africa and they developed Cushitic language that is said to be a subgroup of Semitic languages, due to its close relationship with Arabic.
The Cushitic peoples (or Cushites) are a grouping of people who are primarily indigenous to Northeast Africa (Nile Valley and Horn of Africa) and speak or have historically spoken Cushitic languages or Ethiosemitic languages of the Afroasiatic language family. Cushitic languages are spoken today primarily in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia), as well as the Nile Valley (Sudan-South Sudan and Egypt), and parts of the African Great Lakes region (Tanzania and Kenya) while the Ethiosemitic languages are spoken in the Horn of Africa and sparsely in the Nile Valley.[14]
Younan bin Yafith
A grandson of Noah (A.S) Younan bin Yafith is known as Yawan (Javan) by the Biblical scholarship. The well-known Jewish historian Yosef ben Matityahu (Titus Flavius Josephus) rightly believed that Younan (Yawan) was the ancestor of the Greeks.
According to Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews I.6):
Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia, as far as the river Tanais (Don), and along Europe to Cadiz; and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called the nations by their own names.[15]
We can conclude from this quote that the descendants of Yafith (Japeth) migrated to the Anatolian region from Arabian Peninsula and inhabited around the Taurus mountain (present Turkey). Later on, they moved to neighbouring islands located in Ionian sea including Greece and Cyprus.
Wikipedia observes:
Greek colonies and communities have been historically established on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea, but the Greek people have always been centered on the Aegean and Ionian seas, where the Greek language has been spoken since the Bronze Age.[16]
It has been recorded that Greeks have used Abjad (Arabic alphabets) that were used to write Northwest Semitic languages, more specifically early Phoenician, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Hebrew and Old Aramaic.
This was a characteristic of the Bronze age. Using Abjad for writing in Greece shows a close relationship between the Arabs and Greece people in the ancient time. The well-known Greek language was derived from the same Abjad.
In Hebrew literature, Younan (Yawan) has been frequently used for Greece. Even the same practice has been recorded in in Ancient Persian and Indian languages like Sanskrit.[17]All these facts prove the truthfulness of the Qur’anic narratives and the Prophetic Traditions.
[1] Al-Qur’an, [38:71-73]
[2] Al-Qur’an, [2:30-38]
[3] Al-Qur’an, [4:1]
[4] Ibni Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah:1/224
[5] Muhammad bin Yousuf Al-Shami, Subulul Huda war Rushad: 1/168
[6] Ibni Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah:1/230
[7] Al-Qur’an, [37:75-77]
[8] Musnad Imam Ahmad:H.20369, Jami at-Tirmidhi:H.3231
[10] Philip Khuri Hitti, The Arabia: A Short History, p.7
[11]Encyclopedia of the Peoples of the Africa and the Middle East, p.621
[12]https://www.britannica.com/place/Elam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elam#/media/File:Pre-Achaemenid_Era.gif
[13] Sunan al-Bayhaqi
