Ali ibn al-’Abbas

I was in the presence of Abu Abdullah (asws) at Al-Kufa in the days of Ali Bin Al-Abbas. So when we ended up to Al-Kunasa, he (asws) said: ‘Over there is where they crucified my (asws) uncle Zayd, may Allah (azwj) have Mercy upon him’. Then we went until we ended up at the (market) stall of the oilmen, and it was at the end of the two lamps. So he (asws) descended and said: ‘Descend, for this is the place where the Masjid Al-Kufa used to be at first which Adam (as) had marked, and I (asws) do not like that I (asws) should enter it riding’. I said, ‘So who was the other one who had marked it?’ He (asws) said: ‘As for the first one, that was the storm during the era of Noah (as). Then others from the companions of Chosroe and Nu’man, and thereafter Ziyad Bin Abu Sufyan’. So I said, ‘And there was a Masjid at Al-Kufa during the era of Noah (as)?’ He (asws) said to me; ‘Yes, O Mufazzal. And the houses of Noah (as) and his (as) people were in a town, at a place from the Euphrates which follows west of Al-Kufa’. He (asws) said: ‘And Noah (as) was a carpenter. So Allah (azwj) Made him (as) a Prophet (as) and Answered him (as). And Noah (as) was the first one to make a ship which flowed upon the back of the water’. He (asws) said: ‘And Noah (as) lived among his (as) people for fifty years less a thousand years (950), calling them to Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic. However, they derided him (as) and laughed at him (as). So when he (as) saw that from them, he (as) supplicated against them saying: ‘Lord (azwj)! Do not Leave upon the earth any house of the infidels. If You (azwj) Leave them, they will lead astray Your (azwj) servants, and will not give birth to anyone except the infidel tyrants’. So Allah (azwj) Revealed unto Noah (as) that he (as) should make a ship and make it a big one, and hurriedly. So Noah (as) made a ship in Masjid Al-Kufa by his (as) hands. He brought the wood from afar until he (as) finished it. Al-Mufazzal said, ‘Then Abu Abdullah (asws) interrupted the Hadith during the sunset. So Abu Abdullah (asws) stood up and Prayed the Midday Salat (Al-Zohar), and the Afternoon Salat (Al-Asar), then left from the Masjid. He (asws) indicated by his (asws) hand to his (asws) left to a place where there was a house among the houses, and it was the place of the house of Ibn Hakeym, and where is Euphrates today, so he (asws) said to me: ‘O Mufazzal! Over there is where the idols of the people of Noah (as) were fixed – Yagows, and Yaowq, and Nasraa’. Then he (asws) went and rode upon his (asws) animal. So I said, ‘May I be sacrificed for you (asws), how long did it take for Noah (as) to build his (as) ship until he (as) finished it?’ He (asws) said: ‘In two time periods’. I said, ‘And how long are these two time periods?’ He (asws) said: ‘Eighty years’. I said, ‘The general Muslim are saying that he (as) built it over five hundred years’. He (asws) said: ‘No! How are they saying this, and by Allah (azwj) it has been Revealed to us (asws)?’ I said, ‘Inform me about the Statement of Allah (azwj): “[23:27] and when Our command is given and the oven overflows” so where is its place and how was it?’ He (asws) said: ‘It was the oven in the house of an elderly believing woman in the direction of the Qiblah, on the right of the Masjid’. I said to him (asws), ‘So that is the place of the corner of the Baab Al-Feel today’. Then I said to him (asws), ‘And that is oven where the water started coming from?’ He (asws) said: ‘Yes. Allah (azwj) Loved to show a sign to the people of Noah (as). Then Allah (azwj) Sent rain upon them which flooded them with a flood, and the Euphrates overflowed with a flood, and then all the rivers overflowed. Thus Allah (azwj) Drowned all of them and saved Noah (as) and those who were with him (as) in the ship’. So I said to him, ‘How long did Noah (as) remain in the ship until the water subsided, and he (as) came out from it?’ He (asws) said: ‘He (as) remained in it for seven days and nights. It circled around the House for a week, then settled upon the Mount Joudy, and it is Euphrates of Al-Kufa’. I said to him (asws), ‘The Masjid of Al-Kufa is old?’ He (asws) said: ‘Yes, and it is a Praying place of Prophets (as), and the Rasool Allah (saww) had Prayed in it when he (saww) Taken on an ascension to the sky. So Jibraeel (as) said to him (as): ‘O Muhammad (saww)! This is a Mosque of your (saww) father Adam (as), and a Praying Place of the Prophets (as)’. So he (saww) descended and Prayed therein. Then Jibraeel (as) ascended with him (saww) to the sky’.