Imam al-Hasan (as) and the cities that speak 7,000 languages

[In Gods Name]

Bismillah,

Salam.

In a Saheeh narration, Imam al-Hasan is said to have claimed the following:

 

 5ـ أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ وَمُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ الْحَسَنِ عَنْ يَعْقُوبَ بْنِ يَزِيدَ عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي عُمَيْرٍ عَنْ رِجَالِهِ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ الله (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) قَالَ إِنَّ لله مَدِينَتَيْنِ إِحْدَاهُمَا بِالْمَشْرِقِ وَالاخْرَى بِالْمَغْرِبِ عَلَيْهِمَا سُورٌ مِنْ حَدِيدٍ وَعَلَى كُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا أَلْفُ أَلْفِ مِصْرَاعٍ وَفِيهَا سَبْعُونَ أَلْفَ أَلْفِ لُغَةٍ يَتَكَلَّمُ كُلُّ لُغَةٍ بِخِلافِ لُغَةِ صَاحِبِهَا وَأَنَا أَعْرِفُ جَمِيعَ اللُّغَاتِ وَمَا فِيهِمَا وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَمَا عَلَيْهِمَا حُجَّةٌ غَيْرِي وَغَيْرُ الْحُسَيْنِ أَخِي.

 5. Ahmad ibn Muhammad and Muhammad ibn Yahya have narrated from Muhammad ibn al-Hassan from Ya‘qub ibn Yazid from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from his people from Abu ‘Abdallah ((عليه السلام).) who has said the following: “Al-Hassan ((عليه السلام).) has said,

‘Allah has two cities.

One is in the east and the other is in the west.

They have a boundary around them that is made of iron and each one has a million doors.

Seven thousand different languages exist therein and I know all those languages and all that is in and between them, and there is no one Hujjah (Leader with Divine Authority) except me and al-Husayn ((عليه السلام).) my brother.'"

Al-Kāfi - Volume 1, The Birth of al-Hassan ibn Ali ((عليه السلام).), Hadith #5

https://thaqalayn.net/hadith/1/4/115/5

__

Does anyone know where these cities are?

[Qa'im]

Wa alaykum assalam. This is probably in reference to Jabulqa and Jabulsa (or Jabursa), which are more esoteric cities, possibly off-planet, possibly half-terrestrial and half-spiritual.

[Eddie Mecca]

Is this the Green Emerald City?

[In Gods Name]

14 hours ago, Qa'im said:

Wa alaykum assalam. This is probably in reference to Jabulqa and Jabulsa (or Jabursa), which are more esoteric cities, possibly off-planet, possibly half-terrestrial and half-spiritual.

I did a basic search of  whether there may be a pre-islamic influence, either in the Sabi' , Judaic, Christian, Bedouin, Greek , ancient Pagan et al influence that may have led to such a Hadith or belief system being circulated in Baghad/Kufa/Iraq during the time period al-Kafi was compiled.

I found this interesting research paper: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379616900_A_Tale_of_Two_Cities_JabarsaJabalqa_and_Their_Metamorphoses

Abstract: Although the twin cities at the west and east edges of the world, Jābarā (Jābar, Jābalā, Jāburā) and Jābalqā (Jābalq, Jābarqā), are somehow common-place in Islamicate cosmographies throughout the medieval period, surprisingly little research exists on them. The main lines of the legend, as formulated by the medieval traditionalists and cosmographers, are as follows: there are two cities at the uttermost east and west parts of the inhabited world, where the sun rises and sets. The inhabitants suffer from the extreme heat and the noise made by the sun in its rising and setting; they have to hide in caves and make their own noise to be protected. In the various versions of the story, some elements lack or differ; the cities are often connected with other legends related to the edge of the world, such as Dhū l-Qarnayn, the Gog and Magog/Yājūj and Mājūj, Mummad’s night journey, the remnants of the Ād tribe, and so forth. The paper traces the origins of the legend, its formation and various formulations during the Islamic Middle Ages, the significant change it underwent in the late medieval Illuminationist (ishrāqī) philosophy, and finally its survival and fading away to a status of folktale utopia in Ottoman literature and scholarshi

Interesting part of the conclusion:

"Being not an Arabist, I would not dare to reach any conclusions regarding the gene-alogy of the Jābarā/Jābalqa legend throughout the tafsīr and sīra literature. It is, however, clear that the basic story incorporated elements from the Hellenistic tra-ditions built around Alexander the Great, as well as from various Graeco-Roman Indica, as distilled through the Syriac versions of Alexander Romance. In the Islamic period, these legends (most probably blended with elements from Arabic mythol-ogy) found their way in Quranic exegesis, universal histories, and geographical literature; the two cities took their names, in three or four versions (not to count the Syriac or Hebrew names given), and their features, including a possible connection with the lost Tribes of Israel, had been crystallized by the 10th century CE."

 

I wonder whether with the translation of a lot of the Hellenistic work which flooded the Muslim world around the period al-Kafi was compiled, played an influence given in my own research of al-Kafi, there appears to be strong adoption of these ideas and I wonder whether such beliefs were reverse engineered to the Imams, or whether some of the myths maybe came from revelation of earlier Prophets and through Chinese whispers were distorted into their present form?

[Eddie Mecca]

From Ayatollah Wikipedia:

"Jabulqa and Jabulsa (Arabic: جابلقا وجابلسا) or Jabalq and Jabars (Arabic: جابلق وجابرس), are two legendary cities mentioned in Islam. They are said to be made of green emerald and visited by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his Night Journey.

Alexander the Great with two harpies perched on pillars in Jābalasā.

In a conversation between Muhammad and his cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cities are described as situated in darkness and contiguous to the primeval Mount Qaf. Jabulqa is located in the eastern-most corner of the world and Jabulsa on the western-most one. The figure Dhu al-Qarnayn, mentioned in the Quran, is said to have tried to visit the cities but gave up halfway. However, he was successful in seeing the places where the sun rises and sets. Each city is 12,000 parasangs (at least 36,000 miles) long and wide, with 12,000 gates, and each are guarded by 12,000 men until the Day of Resurrection, when the Qa'im will appear. In the early Basa'ir al-darajat, these cities were inhabited by archetypal male believers who are neither human, jinn nor angels (but whose service to God is similar to those of angels). They appear to be part tellurian and part angelic yet enjoy mystical communion with all the Imāms while awaiting the appearance of the Qa'im. The cities are guarded by 1,000 men each night for a year for each of the 12 fortresses due to enemies called Tharis and Taqil, who behave like Gog and Magog. Muhammad visited the cities in his Night Journey. In the Kitab al-Haft wa-l-azilla (8th–11th century CE), transmitted by Nasayri Shi'a, the sixth Imam al-Sadiq states that the Qa'im will live in these cities.

Later Shi'i scholars, including Muhammad Taqi al-Majlisi (d. 1659) and Muhammad Baqir al-Bahai al-Hamadani (d. 1915), have used these two cities to support the story of the Green Island, the place where the last Imam is said to be hiding. The cities also appear in the works of Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and Shaykh Ahmad. Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, in his Javáhiru’l-Asrár (Gems of Divine Mysteries) and other works, interprets Jabulqa and Jabulsa symbolically."

[Eddie Mecca]

4 hours ago, In Gods Name said:

I wonder whether with the translation of a lot of the Hellenistic work which flooded the Muslim world around the period al-Kafi was compiled, played an influence given in my own research of al-Kafi, there appears to be strong adoption of these ideas and I wonder whether such beliefs were reverse engineered to the Imams, or whether some of the myths maybe came from revelation of earlier Prophets and through Chinese whispers were distorted into their present form?

It's possible that it's a borrowed concept or description from Greco-Roman paganism and as such has no basis in reality...but it's also possible that it's a true account...keep in mind that every nation has had a prophet sent to it...many pearls of truth become mixed in alongside the false and fanciful, legendary tales

Edited April 20 by Eddie Mecca

[In Gods Name]

4 minutes ago, Eddie Mecca said:

It's possible that it's a borrowed concept or description from Greco-Roman paganism and as such has no basis in reality...but it's also possible that it's a true account...keep in mind that every nation has had a prophet sent to it...many pearls of truth become mixed in alongside the false and fanciful, legendary tales

This is a possibility, in that the ancient legends themselves originated in truth, which then became legend, which were then co-opted again.