volume 2 - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian History Workshop

272 Al-K4fah and the Flood.
afternoon we arrived at " Kifl " (Kafil ?), which stands
on an elevation on the east bank of the Hindiyah Canal.
The wall and its little towers were in a state of ruin,
and everything in the place seemed tumbling to decay.
We saw the conical roof of Ezekiel's tomb, but made
no attempt to visit it ; the inhabitants of the town
live on the offerings of the Jewish pilgrims who celebrate
a festival in the tomb once a year. A little to the south
of " Kifl " we came to a network of small canals, and
as their navigation was not easy in the dark, we tied
up until the moon rose. We started again at ii p.m.,
and floated without mishap all night, and when the day
broke and I opened my eyes I saw the mounds and mosque
of Al-Kufah just above me, on the west bank of the
cajial.
Hasan and his friend and I went up into the town, and
whilst they enquired for the men with the tablets I
walked about and wondered what there could ever have
been in Al-Kufah to give it such a great reputation
among the Muslims. It was founded by the famous
Arab General Sa'ad ibn Abu Wakk^s, a.h. 17 (= a.d. 638),
just after the founding of Al-Basrah (Yakut iv, p. 323),
but it was renowned for many reasons long before that
period. According to tradition the Flood began at
Al-Kufah, and it was from the site of that town that
Noah entered the Ark. It was a spot, too, which was
beloved of the Angel Gabriel, who from time to time used
to leave heaven and descend to earth to pray there. The
enemies of its inhabitants used to quote a tradition which
said that the Serpent which beguiled Eve was banished
there by Allah after she and her husband were expelled
from Paradise, and that lies, fraud, guile and deceit' were
the characteristics of the men of the town ever after. ^ It
became the centre of the cult of 'Ali, the Khalifah, who
was murdered in the mosque there a.h. 40 (= a.d. 661)
1 For Arab accounts of the town and its founding, etc. , see Biladhuri,
p. 275 ff. ; Istakhri, pp. 28, 49, 79, 85 ; Ibn Hawkal, pp. 162-164
Mukaddasi, pp. I33-I35 : Yakut, iv, p. 322 ff. ; Ibn Juber, p. 212 ;
Ibn Batutah, ii, p. 94 f. ; and Abii'1-Fida, p. 300.