Hisham al-Kalbi (d. 819) did some work linking Arab genealogy to the Bible. Among his sources was Abu Ya‘qub, a man of Jewish descent from Palmyra.
At stake was the question: did Ma‘add, legendary ancestor of the Arabs, have any biblical forebears? Abu Ya‘qub said yes, he did.
Abu Ya‘qub claimed that the ancestry of Ma‘add was confirmed by Baruch, scribe of the prophet Jeremiah.
The rabbis knew this, said Abu Ya‘qub. It was in their books. Though – he acknowledged – since those were in Hebrew, the names were slightly different.
We have not found Ma‘add in such a text, but we can make an educated guess: he may be talking about Jeremiah 49.
In this chapter, Jeremiah had a vision of the future, when Nebuchadnezzar would attack the palaces of Qedar and the kingdoms of Hasor.
Hisham al-Kalbi and other genealogists believed that Ma‘add was descended from Qedar.
Moreover, al-Kalbi is among those early sources who (allegedly) described Nebuchadnezzar’s attack on “the land of the Arabs”.
According to tradition, a people in the Yemen murdered their prophet, so God sent Nebuchadnezzar to punish them.
The Arabic tradition has garbled the name (حصون، حضور), but the place is clearly Hasor (حصور), as in the vision of Jeremiah (חצור).
The story continues: God wanted to save the young Ma‘add from Nebuchadnezzar’s rampage. So he sent (who else?) Jeremiah to collect him.
Nebuchadnezzar ravaged the “land of the Arabs”, but Ma‘add stayed in Syria (i.e. Palestine) until it was safe to go home to Mecca.
Now here’s where it gets all intertextual and trippy:
Ma‘add is not the only person Jeremiah is meant to have saved from witnessing the fall of his homeland to Nebuchadnezzar.
In Jewish and Christian tradition, that honour was also bestowed on an Ethiopian eunuch called ‘Ebed-Melech.
In Jeremiah 38–39, the prophet Jeremiah was upsetting the people of Jerusalem by predicting the attack of Nebuchadnezzar.
So they left him to starve at the bottom of a cistern.
So they left him to starve at the bottom of a cistern.
‘Ebed-Melech rounded up some volunteers to drag Jeremiah out of the cistern. In return, Jeremiah promised him that he would not be slain or captured when the city fell.
Jewish and Christian tradition understood this to mean that ‘Ebed-Melech did not witness the fall of Jerusalem.
How? HE SLEPT THROUGH IT.
How? HE SLEPT THROUGH IT.
‘Ebed-Melech’s long sleep was described in the Paraleipómena of Jeremiah, which was then adapted into Christian variants:
What happened was: Jeremiah sent ‘Ebed-Melech out of Jerusalem on an errand. ‘Ebed-Melech took a short nap, and woke up 70 years later. The Exile was over and Jerusalem was flourishing again.
Muslim tradition also tells this story, but the sleeper is said to be Jeremiah himself, or his successor, the prophet Ezra.
But Muslim tradition *also* tells the story of a black slave who helped an unnamed prophet who was trapped down a well. He then fell asleep for 7 years and another 7 years.
This is clearly a retelling of the ‘Ebed-Melech story, where the details are forgotten or distorted. But the most interesting thing is the name of the well.
The Qur’an mentions a people called the “companions of al-rass” among the nations that have been destroyed for their wickedness.
“Al-rass” was interpreted to mean “the Well”.
“Al-rass” was interpreted to mean “the Well”.
And guess what else was identified with “al-rass”, in superficially unrelated Arabic texts?
Hasor: the place in the Yemen that Nebuchadnezzar had attacked.
Hasor: the place in the Yemen that Nebuchadnezzar had attacked.
So we have here a cycle of legends where Nebuchadnezzar attacks Jerusalem and/or Arabia, but a single special person is saved by divine intervention.
Sometimes that person is Jeremiah; sometimes Jeremiah is God’s agent in saving the person.
Sometimes that person is Jeremiah; sometimes Jeremiah is God’s agent in saving the person.
Just as ‘Ebed-Melech returns to Jerusalem after its fall to Nebuchadnezzar, so Ma‘add returns to Mecca after its fall to Nebuchadnezzar.
By reading Ma‘add into the Book of Jeremiah and its apocryphal supplements, the Muslim scholars were able to biblicise Arab genealogy and also emphasise its divine favour:
God saved Ma‘add to save the world (through his descendant, Muhammad).
God saved Ma‘add to save the world (through his descendant, Muhammad).
I’ve only found this today, so I’ve not got much else to add, except DAMN this is a great field to study.
