بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful
الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله
Allah says:
اَفَلَمۡ یَہۡدِ لَہُمۡ کَمۡ اَہۡلَکۡنَا قَبۡلَہُمۡ مِّنَ الۡقُرُوۡنِ یَمۡشُوۡنَ فِیۡ مَسٰکِنِہِمۡ ؕ اِنَّ فِیۡ ذٰلِکَ لَاٰیٰتٍ لِّاُولِی النُّہٰی
Does it not furnish guidance to them how many a generation We destroyed before them, in whose dwellings they now move about? Therein indeed are Signs for those who are possessed of wisdom
(Surah 20, Ayah 128)
Countless generations were destroyed by Allah, and mankind today walks through their former dwellings. These generations go back perhaps millions of years, and would therefore include the first hominids and later the genus Homo—Homo habilis and Homo erectus for instance. These are not included in our species, nor from the children of Adam, but are they not from the generations that were destroyed by Allah?
The generations destroyed by Allah would also include various archaic humans like Neanderthals and Denisovans.
The existence of creatures similar to modern humans is indicated in the Holy Quran when the Angels question the wisdom of Allah selecting Adam as His vicegerent on Earth:
قَالُوۡۤا اَتَجۡعَلُ فِیۡہَا مَنۡ یُّفۡسِدُ فِیۡہَا وَیَسۡفِکُ الدِّمَآءَ
They said, “Will you place therein one who makes disorder therein and sheds blood?”
(Surah 2, Ayah 30)
The innocent question of the Angels indicates that anatomical humans, or at least species that are anatomically very close to humans, already lived on the Earth before Allah chose Adam as His vicegerent on Earth. The Angels probably asked this question not because Allah necessarily revealed the future of the children of Adam to them, but on the basis of their observation of the humanlike creatures that already inhabited the Earth; creatures that were disorderly, violent and shedding blood of each other. Consider the discovery at Jebel Sahaba in modern day Sudan of dozens of human fossils bearing trauma of injuries from mutual violence. These fossils are over 13 thousand years old, and indicate that humans at that time were quite violent.
So it is useful to deeply contemplate upon the anthropology of the Holy Quran, and refrain from blindly accepting the mythology of the Jews and Christians, based on their understanding of the Bible, that mankind is not older than six thousand years, or that there were no creatures similar to humans before God created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden.
We should explore the question of whether all humans today are descended from Adam, and if they are whether we also have ancestry from some of the archaic humans that preceded the historical Adam. The Holy Quran uses two terms, insan (human) and bani Adam (children of Adam), and many assume they are interchangeable, but are they? It seems to me the term human is broader than children of Adam, for Allah says:
اِنَّ اللّٰہَ اصۡطَفٰۤی اٰدَمَ وَنُوۡحًا وَّاٰلَ اِبۡرٰہِیۡمَ وَاٰلَ عِمۡرٰنَ عَلَی الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ
Verily, Allah chose Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham and the Family of Amram over the worlds
(Surah 3, Ayah 33)
The choosing of Adam implies existence of other options that would necessarily have to possess at least some basic similarity to Adam and his descendants. Elsewhere, Allah explains that the Prophets are from the seed of Adam:
اُولٰٓئِکَ الَّذِیۡنَ اَنۡعَمَ اللّٰہُ عَلَیۡہِمۡ مِّنَ النَّبِیّٖنَ مِنۡ ذُرِّیَّۃِ اٰدَمَ
These were the ones upon whom Allah bestowed His favor, among the Prophets from the seed of Adam
(Surah 19, Ayah 58)
Explaining that the Prophets are from the seed of Adam would be somewhat redundant if there is nothing but the seed of Adam in the category of insan and bashar—mortal humans. A better understanding, therefore, is that unlike the other populations and cultures that were anatomically homo sapiens, like the various archaic humans, or the other populations that were from the genus Homo, the gift of Prophethood was only given to a specific lineage of humans that are descended from Adam.
According to the Bible:
“And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.” (Genesis 9:18-27)
This narrative is quite problematic in the apparent for a number of reasons, among them is that the righteous Prophet Noah drank wine and became drunk (God forbid). Another is that Ham “saw the nakedness of his father”, whether that is literal or an expression for approaching Noah’s wife as “uncovering nakedness” is an expression used throughout the eighteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus as a euphemism for having sex.
Though Ham is the individual that apparently commits the transgression, Noah curses his son Canaan instead of Ham directly, and condemns the progeny of Canaan to perpetual servitude to the nations of Shem and Japheth.
According to Rabbinic tradition:
אָמַר רַבִּי חִיָּא בַּר אַבָּא חָם וְכֶלֶב שִׁמְּשׁוּ בַּתֵּבָה, לְפִיכָךְ יָצָא חָם מְפֻחָם, וְכֶלֶב מְפֻרְסָם בְּתַשְׁמִישׁוֹ. אָמַר רַבִּי לֵוִי לְאֶחָד שֶׁקָּבַע מוֹנִיטִין שֶׁלּוֹ בְּתוֹךְ אָהֳלוֹ שֶׁל מֶלֶךְ, אָמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ גּוֹזֵר אֲנִי שֶׁיִּתְפַּחֲמוּ פָנָיו וְיִפָּסֵל מַטְבֵּעוֹ, כָּךְ חָם וְכֶלֶב שִׁמְשׁוּ בַּתֵּבָה, לְפִיכָךְ יָצָא חָם מְפֻחָם וְכֶלֶב מְפֻרְסָם בְּתַשְׁמִישׁוֹ
Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: Both Ham and the dog engaged in sexual relations in the ark. That is why Ham emerged darkened, and the dog is exposed when mating. Rabbi Levi said: This is analogous to one who imprinted his own coinage [with his image] inside the king’s tent. The king said: ‘I decree that his face should be blackened and his image defaced.’ So, Ham and the dog engaged in sexual relations in the ark, and that is why Ham emerged darkened, and the dog is exposed when mating (Bereshit Rabbah 36)
According to the Bible, Ham had four sons, and apart from the aforementioned Canaan, they were Cush, Mizraim and Phut. Cush is the ancestor of the Cushites, essentially the people of the Horn of Africa especially Ethiopia who speak Cushitic languages, while Mizraim is the progenitor of the Egyptians while Phut is the father of the Libyans and presumably other North Africans. So Ham is essentially associated with Africa, and this explains why many have interpreted the Curse of Ham as the darkening of the skin of Africans. That Ham is primarily associated with Ethiopians might explain the Hadith:
حَامٌ أَبُو الْحَبَشِ
“Ham is the father of the Habesha” (Jami al-Tirmidhi)
But this narration is weak, and Muslims should be skeptical of Biblical anthropology.
And Allah and His Apostle know best!
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