Tarikh (al-Tabari) 79
The story of Noah (peace be upon him)
نُوحٌ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ إِنَّمَا بَعَثَهُ اللَّهُ تَعَالَى لَمَّا عُبِدَتِ الْأَصْنَامُ وَالطَّوَاغِيتُ، وَشَرَعَ النَّاسُ فِي الضَّلَالَةِ، وَالْكُفْرِ فَبَعْثَهُ اللَّهُ رَحْمَةً لِلْعِبَادِ فَكَانَ أَوَّلَ رَسُولٍ بُعِثَ إِلَى أَهْلِ الْأَرْضِ، كَمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ أَهْلُ الْمَوْقِفِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَكَانَ قَوْمُهُ يُقَالُ لَهُمْ بَنُو رَاسِبٍ فِيمَا ذَكَرَهُ ابْنُ جَرِيرٍ وَغَيْرُهُ. مقدار سن نوح يوم بعث وَاخْتَلَفُوا فِي مِقْدَارِ سِنِّهِ يَوْمَ بُعِثَ . فَقِيلَ: كَانَ ابْنَ خَمْسِينَ سَنَةً. وَقِيلَ: ابْنَ ثَلَاثِمِائَةٍ وَخَمْسِينَ سَنَةً. وَقِيلَ: ابْنَ أَرْبَعِمِائَةٍ وَثَمَانِينَ سَنَةً حَكَاهَا ابْنُ جَرِيرٍ، وَعَزَا الثَّالِثَ مِنْهَا إِلَى ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ. وَرُوِيَ عَنْ جَمَاعَةٍ مِنَ السَّلَفِ أَنَّهُ كَانَ بَيْنَ آدَمَ وَنُوحٍ عَشَرَةُ قُرُونٍ كُلُّهُمْ عَلَى مِلَّةِ الْحَقِّ ، وَأَنَّ الْكُفْرَ بِاللَّهِ حَدَثَ فِي الْقَرْنِ الَّذِي بُعِثَ فِيهِ إِلَيْهِمْ نُوحٌ، فَأَرْسَلَهُ اللَّهُ، وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ نَبِيٍّ بُعِثَ بِالْإِنْذَارِ، وَالدُّعَاءِ إِلَى التَّوْحِيدِ ، وَهُوَ قَوْلُ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ، وَقَتَادَةَ. خبر الملك المسمى بالضحاك خَبَرِ الْمَلِكِ الْمُسَمَّى بِالضَّحَّاكِ وَهُوَ بَيُورَاسِبُ. وَهُوَ الِازْدِهَاقُ الَّذِي يُسَمِّيهِ الْعَرَبُ الضَّحَّاكَ وَأَهْلُ الْيَمَنِ يَدَّعُونَ أَنَّ الضَّحَّاكَ مِنْهُمْ، وَأَنَّهُ أَوَّلُ الْفَرَاعِنَةِ، وَكَانَ مَلِكَ مِصْرَ لَمَّا قَدِمَهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْخَلِيلُ. وَالْفُرْسُ تَذْكُرُ أَنَّهُ مِنْهُمْ وَتَنْسُبُهُ إِلَيْهِمْ، وَأَنَّهُ بِيَوْرَاسِبُ بْنُ أَرُونْدَاسِبَ بْنِ رِينْكَارَ بْنِ وُنْدَرِيشْتِكَ بْنِ يَارِينَ بْنِ فَرُوَالَ بْنِ سِيَامِكَ بْنِ مَيْشَى بْنِ جُيُومَرْثَ، وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْسُبُهُ غَيْرَ هَذِهِ النِّسْبَةِ وَإِنَّمَا ذَكَرْنَا خَبَرَ بِيَوْرَاسِبَ هَهُنَا لِأَنَّ بَعْضَهُمْ يَزْعُمُ أَنَّ نُوحًا كَانَ فِي زَمَانِهِ، وَإِنَّمَا أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِ وَإِلَى أَهْلِ مَمْلَكَتِهِ. وَكَانُوا قَوْمَهُ فَدَعَاهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ تِسْعَمِائَةٍ وَسِتَّةً وَخَمْسِينَ سَنَةً كُلَّمَا مَضَى قَرْنٌ اتَّبَعَهُمْ قَرْنٌ عَلَى مِلَّةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ مِنَ الْكُفْرِ حَتَّى أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْعَذَابَ. وكَانَ الضَّحَّاكُ عَظِيمَ الْمَمْلَكَةِ. وَيُقَالُ: أَنَّ جَمًا الْمَلِكَ زَوَّجَ أُخْتَهُ مِنْ بَعْضِ أَشْرَافِ أَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ، وَمَلَّكَهُ عَلَى الْيَمَنِ، فَوَلَدَتْ لَهُ الضَّحَّاكَ. وَالْيَمَنُ تَدَّعِيهِ وَتَزْعُمُ أَنَّهُ مِنْ أَنْفَسِهَا، وَأَنَّهُ الضَّحَّاكُ بْنُ عُلْوَانَ بْنِ عُبَيْدِ بْنِ عُوَيْجٍ، وَأَنَّهُ مَلَكَ عَلَى مِصْرَ أَخَاهُ سِنَانَ بْنَ عُلْوَانَ، ، وَأَنَّهُ مَلَكَ مِصْرَ [حِينَ] قَدَمِهَا الْخَلِيلُ. وَالْفُرْسُ تَنْسُبُ الضَّحَّاكَ غَيْرَ هَذَا النَّسَبِ، فَتَرْفَعُ نَسَبَهُ إِلَى جِيُومَرْثَ، وَقِيلَ: كَانَ كَثِيرَ الْإِقَامَةِ بِبَابِلَ. وَعَامَّةُ الْمُؤَرِّخِينَ ذَكَرُوا أَنَّهُ مَلَكَ الْأَقَالِيمَ السَّبْعَةَ كُلَّهَا، وَأَنَّهُ كَانَ سَاحِرًا فَاجِرًا. قَالَ هِشَامُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ: مَلَكَ الضَّحَّاكُ بَعْدَ جَمٍ - فِيمَا يَزْعُمُونَ - أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ، وَسَارَ بِالْجَوْرِ وَالْقَتْلِ، وَكَانَ أَوَّلَ مَنْ سَنَّ الصَّلْبَ وَالْقَطْعَ، وَأَوَّلَ مَنْ وَضَعَ الْعُشُورَ وَضَرَبَ الدَّرَاهِمَ، وَأَوَّلَ مَنْ تَغَنَّى وَغُنِّيَ لَهُ . وَيُقَالُ أَنَّهُ خَرَجَ فِي مَنْكِبِهِ سِلْعَتَانِ كَانَتَا تَضْرِبَانِ عَلَيْهِ حَتَّى يُطْلِيَهِمَا بِدِمَاغِ إِنْسَانٍ، وَكَانَ يَقْتُلُ لِذَلِكَ فِي كُلِّ يَوْمٍ رَجُلَيْنِ، وَيُطْلِي سِلْعَتَيْهِ بِدِمَاغَيْهِمَا، فَإِذَا فَعَلَ ذَلِكَ سَكَنَ مَا يَجِدُ. قَالَ الشَّيْخُ الْإِمَامُ أَبُو الْفَرَجِ: وَهَذَا الضَّحَّاكُ هُوَ الَّذِي غَنَّاهُ حَبِيبُ بْنُ أَوْسٍ بِقَوْلِهِ: بَلْ كَانَ كَالضَّحَّاكِ فِي سَطَوَاتِهِ بِالْعَالَمِينَ وَأَنْتَ أَفْرِيدُونُ وَأَفْرِيدُونُ مِنْ نَسْلٍ جَمٍ الْمَلِكِ الَّذِي كَانَ [مِنْ] قَبْلِ الضَّحَّاكِ، ثُمَّ قَدِمَ إِلَى مَنْزِلِ الضَّحَّاكِ فَاحْتَوَى عَلَيْهِ وَأَوْثَقَ الضَّحَّاكَ، وَسُمِّيَ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمُ مَهْرَجَانًا، وَعَلَا أَفْرِيدُونُ سَرِيرَ الْمُلْكِ. وَكَانَ عَرْضُ صَدْرِ الْمَلِكِ أَفْرِيدُونَ أَرْبَعَةَ أَرْمَاحٍ. وَالْفُرْسُ تَزْعُمُ أَنَّ الْمُلْكَ لَمْ يَكُنْ إِلَّا لِلْبَطْنِ الَّذِي مِنْهُ أُوشَهَنْجُ وَجَمٌ وَطَهْمُوَرْثَ، وَأَنَّ الضَّحَّاكَ كَانَ غَاصِبًا، غَصَبَ أَهْلَ الْأَرْضِ بِسِحْرِهِ [وَخُبْثِهِ]. وَكَانَ عَلَى مَنْكِبَيْهِ نَاتِئَتَانِ، كُلُّ وَاحِدَةٍ كَرَأْسِ الثُّعْبَانِ، فَكَانَ يَسْتُرُهُمَا وَيَزْعُمُ أَنَّهُمَا حَيَّتَانِ يَقْتَضِيَانِهِ الطَّعَامَ، وَكَانَتَا تَتَحَرَّكَانِ إِذَا جَاعَ، وَزَعَمَ أَنَّهُ نَبِيٌّ. وَقِيلَ: مَا زَالَ النَّاسُ مَعَهُ فِي جَهْدٍ حَتَّى وَثَبَ رَجُلٌ اسْمُهُ كَابِي مِنْ أَهْلِ أَصْبَهَانَ كَانَ قَدْ قُتِلَ لَهُ ابْنَيْنِ، فَجَمَعَ النَّاسَ لِقِتَالِهِ، فَهَرَبَ الضَّحَّاكُ وَوَلِيَ مَكَانَهُ أَفْرِيدُونُ فَاحْتَوَى عَلَى مُلْكِ الضَّحَّاكِ. وَمَلَكَ أَفْرِيدُونُ خَمْسَمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ، وَكَانَ عُمْرُ الضَّحَّاكِ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ، وَمُلْكُهُ سِتُّمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ، وَقَدْ زَعَمَ بَعْضُ نَسَّابِي الْفُرْسِ أَنَّ أَفْرِيدُونَ هُوَ نُوحٌ الَّذِي قَهَرَ الضَّحَّاكَ وَغَلَبَهُ وَسَلَبَهُ مُلْكَهُ. وَقَالَ قَوْمٌ: أَفْرِيدُونُ هُوَ ذُو الْقَرْنَيْنِ. وَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ: هُوَ سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ دَاوُدَ، وَقَالَ الْفُرْسُ: أَفْرِيدُونُ مِنْ وَلَدِ جَمٍ الْمَلِكِ، وَهُوَ التَّاسِعُ مِنْ وَلَدِهِ. وَكَانَ أَفْرِيدُونُ قَدْ أَمَرَ بِالْعَدْلِ وَرَدِّ الْمَظَالِمِ، وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ مَنْ نَظَرَ فِي النُّجُومِ وَالطِّبِّ، وَأَوَّلُ مَنْ ذَلَّلَ الْفِيَلَةَ وَامْتَطَاهَا وَقَاتَلَ بِهَا الْأَعْدَاءَ، وَاتَّخَذَ الْأَوَزَّ وَالْحَمَامَ . وَكَانَ شَدِيدَ الْقُوَّةِ حَسَنَ الصُّورَةِ، وَعَالَجَ الدِّرْيَاقَ، وَهُوَ أَوَّلُ مَنْ سُمِّيَ بِكَيْ، وَكَانَ يُقَالُ لَهُ "كَيْ أَفْرِيدُونُ" وَهِيَ كَلِمَةُ مَعْنَاهَا التَّنْزِيهُ، أَيْ: هُوَ مُنَزَّهٌ مُتَّصِلٌ بِالرُّوحَانِيَّةِ. وَأَنَّهُ مَلَكَ الْأَرْضَ فَقَسَمَهَا بَيْنَ أَوْلَادٍ لَهُ ثَلَاثَةٍ، فَوَثَبَ اثْنَانِ مِنْهُمْ عَلَى الثَّالِثِ فَقَتَلَاهُ وَاقْتَسَمَا الْأَرْضَ فَمَلَكَاهَا ثَلَاثَمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ. ثُمَّ بَغَى مِنْهُمْ طُوجُ بْنُ أَفْرِيدُونَ، ثُمَّ نَشَأَ لَهُ أَفْرِاسَيَابُ بْنُ تُرْكٍ الَّذِي تُنْسَبُ إِلَيْهِ التُّرْكُ مِنْ وَلَدِ طَوْجٍ. وَيُقَالُ: الضَّحَّاكُ هُوَ نَمْرُودُ الْخَلِيلِ وَأَنَّ الْخَلِيلَ وُلِدَ فِي زَمَانِهِ، وَأَنَّهُ صَاحِبُهُ الَّذِي أَرَادَ إِحْرَاقَهُ. وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ.
Translation
✧ Nūḥ ﷺ was sent by Allah, Exalted is He, only when idols and false deities were worshipped, and people had begun to stray into misguidance and disbelief. So Allah sent him as a mercy to His servants, and he was the first messenger sent to the people of the earth, as the people of the standing place will say to him on the Day of Resurrection. His people were called Banū Rāsib, according to what Ibn Jarīr and others mentioned. Regarding the age of Nūḥ on the day he was sent, they differed. It was said: he was fifty years old. It was said: three hundred and fifty years old. It was said: four hundred and eighty years old. Ibn Jarīr related these, and he attributed the third of them to Ibn ʿAbbās. It was narrated from a group of the Salaf that between Ādam and Nūḥ there were ten generations, all of them upon the religion of truth, and that disbelief in Allah occurred in the generation in which Nūḥ was sent to them. So Allah sent him, and he was the first prophet sent with warning and calling to monotheism. This is the saying of Ibn ʿAbbās and Qatādah. Account of the king called al-Ḍaḥḥāk He is Biyūrāsb. And he is al-Izdahāq whom the Arabs call al-Ḍaḥḥāk. The people of Yemen claim that al-Ḍaḥḥāk was from among them, and that he was the first of the Pharaohs, and that he was the king of Egypt when Ibrāhīm al-Khalīl came to it. The Persians mention that he was from among them and attribute him to themselves, and that he was Biyūrāsb b. Arūndāsb b. Rīnkār b. Wundarīshtk b. Yārīn b. Faruwāl b. Siyāmik b. Mayshā b. Juyūmarth. Among them are those who attribute him to other than this lineage. We have only mentioned the account of Biyūrāsb here because some of them claim that Nūḥ was in his time, and that he was sent to him and to the people of his kingdom. They were his people, so he called them to Allah for nine hundred and fifty-six years; whenever one generation passed, another generation followed them upon one religion of disbelief, until Allah sent down upon them the punishment. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk was of great dominion. It is said that Jam the king married his sister to one of the nobles of his household and made him king over Yemen, and she bore him al-Ḍaḥḥāk. The Yemen claim him and assert that he was one of their own, and that he was al-Ḍaḥḥāk b. ʿUlwān b. ʿUbayd b. ʿUwayj, and that he appointed his brother Sinān b. ʿUlwān as king over Egypt, and that he was king of Egypt [when] al-Khalīl came to it. The Persians attribute al-Ḍaḥḥāk to other than this lineage, and they trace his lineage back to Jīyūmarth. It was said: he resided often in Babylon. The majority of historians mentioned that he ruled over all seven climes, and that he was a sorcerer and a wicked man. Hishām b. Muḥammad said: Al-Ḍaḥḥāk ruled after Jam—as they claim—for a thousand years, and he proceeded with oppression and killing. He was the first to institute crucifixion and amputation, the first to impose tithes and strike dirhams, and the first to sing and have songs sung for him. It is said that two tumors appeared on his shoulders, which throbbed until he anointed them with the brain of a human being. For that reason he killed two men every day and anointed his two tumors with their brains, and when he did that, what he felt subsided. Al-Shaykh al-Imām Abū al-Faraj said: This al-Ḍaḥḥāk is the one whom Ḥabīb b. Aws praised in his saying: Rather he was like al-Ḍaḥḥāk in his assaults upon the worlds, and you are Afrīdūn. And Afrīdūn was from the progeny of Jam the king, who was [from] before al-Ḍaḥḥāk. Then he came to the dwelling of al-Ḍaḥḥāk and overpowered him and bound al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and that day was named Mihrajān. Afrīdūn ascended the throne of kingship. The width of the chest of King Afrīdūn was four spears. The Persians claim that kingship belonged only to the line from which were Ūshahanj, Jam, and Ṭahmūrath, and that al-Ḍaḥḥāk was a usurper who seized the people of the earth by his sorcery [and wickedness]. On his shoulders were two protrusions, each like the head of a serpent. He would cover them and claim that they were two snakes demanding food from him, and they would move when he was hungry. He claimed that he was a prophet. It was said: The people remained with him in hardship until a man named Kābī from the people of Iṣbahān, who had had two sons killed, rose up and gathered the people to fight him. Al-Ḍaḥḥāk fled and Afrīdūn took his place and seized the dominion of al-Ḍaḥḥāk. Afrīdūn ruled for five hundred years, and the lifespan of al-Ḍaḥḥāk was a thousand years, and his rule was six hundred years. Some genealogists of the Persians have claimed that Afrīdūn is Nūḥ, who subdued al-Ḍaḥḥāk, overcame him, and stripped him of his kingdom. A group said: Afrīdūn is Dhū al-Qarnayn. Some of them said: he is Sulaymān b. Dāwūd. The Persians said: Afrīdūn was from the descendants of Jam the king, and he was the ninth of his descendants. Afrīdūn had commanded justice and the restitution of grievances. He was the first to study the stars and medicine, the first to tame elephants and ride them and fight enemies with them, and he adopted geese and pigeons. He was of great strength and handsome appearance, and he worked with theriac. He was the first to be called by "Kay," and it was said to him "Kay Afrīdūn," which is a word whose meaning is transcendence, that is: he is transcendent, connected to spirituality. And that he ruled the earth and divided it among three sons of his. Two of them rose against the third, killed him, and divided the earth, and they ruled it for three hundred years. Then Ṭūj b. Afrīdūn transgressed among them. Then Afrāsiyāb b. Turk—to whom the Turks are attributed—arose from the descendants of Ṭawj. It is said: Al-Ḍaḥḥāk is the Nimrūd of al-Khalīl, and that al-Khalīl was born in his time, and that he was his companion who sought to burn him. And Allah knows best.
Grades by grader
No grade is recorded for this wording.