HABAKKUK. Little is known about the biblical prophet Habakkuk. The apocryphal book of Bel and the Dragon asserts that Habakkuk was the son of Joshua, a man of Levitical descent, though scholars discount this as historically unreliable. The Seder Olam (20) also preserves a tradition that Habakkuk lived at the time of Manasseh (687–642 BCE). The biblical text he has left, however, appears to date between 605 and 598 BCE. The prophet’s biggest concern is the rise of Babylonian power (Hab 1:6), but he also complains about the violence and lack of justice in the world (Hab 1:2–4). Yahweh’s response in Hab 1:5 offers little solace, and instead promises a Babylonian onslaught. The prophet then continues by praising Yahweh’s concerns for justice (Hab 1:12–2:1).
Some scholars see Habakkuk’s prediction of doom against the evil men of Hab 2:6–19 as directed against King Jehoiachim, though the text remains vague in its harangue. The prayer in Habakkuk 3 is rich in mythological and historical allusions and has suggested to some that Habakkuk was a cultic prophet or that the chapter was a late addition. The lack of this chapter in the Commentary to Habakkuk found among the Dead Sea Scrolls suggests the latter, but may not be considered definitive evidence. The Book of Josippon (3.8b-8c) credits Habakkuk with having brought food to the prophet Daniel while the latter was in the lion’s den. The Talmud also tells of Habakkuk stepping into a circle that he drew, and refusing to leave it until God told him his mysteries (TB Ta‘anith 23a), a story later treated as an act of hubris (Psalms Midrash 90).
HADITH (pl. ahadith). Arabic term commonly used to refer to a report that can be traced back to the prophet Muhammad. According to Muslim scholars, hadith reports are of three types: those that preserve the sayings of Muhammad, those that preserve an account of his actions, and those in which he tacitly consented to what someone else said or did. Hadith reports were transmitted orally from the Companions of the prophet Muhammad to the earliest generations of their followers. In time, people began to record and collect hadith reports in writing. Some of these early collections, from the eighth and ninth centuries CE are still extant. In the 10th century CE the hadith reports considered authoritative were collected into six “books,” the most authoritative of which are those collections attributed to Bukhari and Muslim.
Hadith reports play an important role in Quran interpretation. The earliest Quran interpretations were comments made by the prophet Muhammad or by his Companions and attributed to him. These comments were preserved and transmitted as hadith reports and became the basis for the bulk of later Quranic exegesis. Hadith reports also served to preserve the Quran in its different transmissions, and were formative in the construction of Islamic law.
HAGAR. Egyptian servant of Abraham’s wife Sarah, who bore to Abraham a son named Ishmael (Gen 16:1–4). Although not mentioned by name in the Quran, Hagar is understood to be Ishmael’s mother, alluded to in Q 14:37. According to the Bible, Hagar was an Egyptian slave-girl whom Sarah gave to Abraham as a wife (Gen 16:1–3). Jewish exegesis explains that Sarah had received Hagar from the pharaoh when Sarah and Abraham left Egypt (Genesis Rabbah 45:3), a tradition shared by Muslim exegetes. Other sources add that Hagar was the daughter of the pharaoh (Pirqe d’Rabbi Eliezer 25; Genesis Rabbah 45:1; Targum Yerushalmi on Gen 26:1).
The Bible and Muslim tradition (based on Q 14:37) agree that Hagar and Ishmael were sent out by Abraham because of Sarah’s jealousy (see also ISHMAEL). Genesis preserves two accounts of Hagar’s flight from Sarah (Genesis 16 and Genesis 21). The well discovered by Hagar appears to be identified with the well of Beersheba where Abraham makes the oath with Abimelech (Gen 21:22–34). Some Jewish exegetes maintain that the well was the “Well of Miriam,” which would later reappear to the Israelites in the wilderness of wandering (Pirqe d’Rabbi Eliezer 30; Targum Yerushalmi on Gen 21:16).
Muslim exegesis explains that Ishmael was an infant when he and Hagar were driven into the wilderness (also suggested by Gen 21:14–15). Muslim sources narrate how when Hagar and Ishmael came to Mecca they were dying of thirst, and how Hagar ran between the hills of Safa and Marwah seven times before an angel appeared and revealed the well of Zamzam. The angel is said to have told Hagar not to fear because Mecca was the spot where Ishmael and Abraham would build the “House of God,” a statement that is taken to refer to the Ka‘bah. Yaqut identifies the biblical mention of Ishmael’s home as “Paran” as being the word used in the Torah to refer to Mecca. Bukhari preserves a hadith report that adds that Hagar and Ishmael remained in Mecca until the Jurhum settled there, teaching Ishmael Arabic and providing him with his first wife.
Tabari and Tha‘labi also attribute a number of “firsts” to Hagar, such as that she was the first woman to pierce her ears, the first to wear a girdle, and the first to be circumcised, perhaps relating to the Jewish exegesis in which Abraham tied a water barrel or veil around Hagar’s waist to show that she was a bondswoman (Pirqe d’Rabbi Eliezer 30; Yalqut Shimoni, Gen 95, 1.424).
HAGGAI. The prophecy of Haggai records its own date: “the second year of Darius [I] the [Persian] king [582–486 BCE], in the sixth month, on the first day of the month” (Hag 1:1), that is, in 520 BCE. Its primary message is that Yahweh has ordained the rebuilding of his temple. Haggai was the official court prophet of Zerubbabel (Ezra 5:1, 6:4) whom Haggai regarded as offering the promise of continuing the Davidic line (Hag 2:23). He also prophesies the overthrow of the “throne of the kingdoms” (Hag 2:22), though Darius I remained on the throne, leaving this prophecy unfulfilled. The Talmud records a tradition in which Haggai, with the help of the angel Michael, showed the returnees in Jerusalem the exact location and plans for the altar (TB Zebahim 62a). He also is credited with having guided Jonathan ben Uziel when drafting his Targum of the Prophets (TB Yebamoth 16a; Qiddushin 43a; Nazir 53a; Hullin 137a).
HAMAN. Character who appears in the biblical story of Esther and the Quranic story of Moses. In the biblical book of Esther, Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, is a vizier of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) who attempts to convince the king to eradicate all the Jews in the Persian empire. Haman’s plan is foiled by Queen Esther, who gains the support of King Ahasuerus, and Haman is hanged from the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai the leader of the Jews. The Hebrew of the Masoretic text refers to Haman as the “Agagite,” and the Babylonian Talmud (Megillah 13a) links Haman with Agag the king of the Amalekites who fought against Saul in 1 Samuel 15. The term Agag also is understood as a general appellative by which the kings of the Amalekites were known, and thus has general significance as a symbol for Israel’s enemy, the Amalekites. Later traditions understood this as referring to Gog who is to lead the barbarians of the north against Israel at the end of time (Ezek 38–39); the name was thus understood by the Septuagint of Num 24:7. Other sources claim that Herod the Great (r. 37–34 BCE) was a descendant of Haman, and thus Agag, all persecutors of the Israelites or Jews. Rabbinic sources make Haman a descendant of Esau whereas Mordecai is a descendant of Jacob, and Rashi preserves a tradition in which Haman had sold himself as a slave to Mordecai for a loaf of bread during a war.
In the Quran, Haman is the vizier of the pharaoh with whom Moses has dealings. The name Haman appears six times, always with the pharaoh except for Q 28:38 and Q 40:36 where the pharaoh orders Haman to build a tower of clay brick so high that he might see the God of Moses. This appears to allude to the story of the Tower of Babel in Gen 11. Later Jewish exegetes identify Nimrod as the one who built the Tower of Babel. Muslim exegetes also claim that Nimrod is one of the two evil rulers (along with the pharaoh) of the whole earth. Muslim exegetes explain that the term pharaoh is the general title given to all the kings of the Amalekites, thus making reference to the pharaoh in the story of Abraham as well.
HANANI. Name of a seer who came to Asa, the king of Judah (r. 913–873 BCE), and predicted the escape of the Aramaean army before him (2 Chr 16:7). The prophecy so angered Asa that he threw Hanani into prison and oppressed some of the populace in retaliation (2 Chr 16:10), despite having married Hanani’s daughter (2 Chr 16:7). Hanani’s son, Jehu, also was a prophet and predicted the downfall of King Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 19:2), the son of Asa. Hanani’s grandson was Eliezer, a prophet active during the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 20:37).
HANANIAH. Israelite prophet contemporary with Jeremiah who is said to be the son of Azur and a native of Gibeon (Jeremiah 28). Hananiah prophesied before Jerusalem’s priests in the name of Yahweh, predicting that in two years Babylon would collapse; that its king Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 605–562 BCE) would return the ritual utensils he seized from Yahweh’s temple; and that Jeconiah, the son of the Judaean king Jehoiachim would be restored to office. Jeremiah considered him a lying prophet (Jer 28:15) and prophesied that he would die in the same year (Jer 28:16–17). The clash between Hananiah and Jeremiah represents the tension and competition between various mantic groups in ancient Israel prior to the destruction of Yahweh’s temple.
HANIF. Arabic term found ten times in the Quran (two times in the plural [Ar. hunafa’]) apparently referring to a pre-Islamic monotheist. In most of the references, the word is associated with the prophet Abraham. Thus, following the religion of Abraham is to be considered being “hanif” (Q 2:135, 3:95, 4:125, 6:161, 16:123). It is neither Jewish nor Christian (Q 3:67) and is specifically opposed to idolatry (Q 10:105, 16:120, 22:31). Q 98:5 indicates that being hanif involves the worship of God alone, and Q 6:79 and Q 30:30 refer to being hanif as the original instinct of humanity. Modern scholars point out that the primary meaning of the term hanif in Jewish Aramaic is “heathen” or “pagan” and someone influenced by Hellenistic culture. It may also be related to pagan monotheists who worshipped in Jerusalem and at Mamre. In Arabic sources, the term appears in pre-Islamic Arabia, and Mecca in particular, to refer to monotheists who renounce idolatry and follow the example of Abraham.
HANNAH. Wife of Elkanah, who conceived and bore a son after praying to Yahweh at Shiloh. For providing her with a child, Hannah dedicated her son to the service of Yahweh, and this child grew up to become the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1–2). Though not called a prophet in the Bible, talmudic tradition lists her, along with Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Abigail, and Esther, as one of seven female Israelite prophets (TB Megillah 14a).
HARAM. Arabic term referring to a sanctuary, and related to terms meaning “sacred” or “forbidden.” Having the significance of “sacred” or “inviolable,” the term and its variations are found 31 times in the Quran, 15 of those being in the construct “Sacred Mosque” [Ar. al-masjid al-haram], an expression apparently referring to a place of prayer at Mecca. The Quran refers to the “Sacred House” (Q 5:2), and Q 5:97 mentions that God made the Ka‘bah the sacred “house” or “temple” [Ar. bayt], the sacred months, the sacrificial animals, and their markings in order that people might learn that God knows all that is in the heavens and the earth. The noun [Ar. hurum] (Q 5:1, 5:95) is understood by Muslim exegetes to mean a person who is either in the sacred area [Ar. haram] of Mecca or in the sacralized state [Ar. ihram] of being a pilgrim.
In Islamic law, the sanctuary of Mecca is protected by certain restrictions both for pilgrims and for non-pilgrims in the area. The boundaries of the sacred area around Mecca extend far outside of the city itself and are specified in Islamic legal texts. Pilgrims are prohibited from wearing sewn clothing and perfume, cutting nails or hair, and sexual contact of any sort. Wild animals found in the sanctuary, and certain types of uncultivated plants, cannot be killed and eaten by either pilgrims or non-pilgrims. Most of these restrictions placed on ordinary behavior inside the sanctuary parallel conditions in the Garden of Eden. Muslim exegetes report that the sanctuary was first established by Adam, at God’s command, as an earthly substitute for the Garden of Eden from which he was banished. After the first Ka‘bah was taken into the heavens during the time of the great flood, Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt a new Ka‘bah and established pilgrimage to the sanctuary for all people.
HARUT AND MARUT. Two angels mentioned in the Quran (Q 2:102) as the angels of Babylon who teach magic to people (see also MAGIC). Muslim exegetes explain that Harut and Marut were challenged by God to be more righteous than human beings. When they came to earth they had sex with a woman and killed a man, and were subsequently sentenced to hang upside down in a well in Babylon. The theme of fallen angels copulating with women is often read into Gen 4:1–4, though the word “angels” does not appear there, and later apocryphal works associate the fallen angels with the origins of magic on earth. Some scholars identify the names Harut and Marut with Haurvatat and Ameratat, two angels found in Zoroastrian sources. Jewish tradition also preserves an account of two fallen angels, Azazel and Shemhazai, who criticize God because of human corruption. The two angels were sent to earth and slept with women. As penance, Shemhazai suspended himself between the heavens and the earth, but Azazel continued to sire gigantic offspring.
HASAN AL-BASRI (642–728 CE). Famous Muslim preacher born in Medina after his father was taken prisoner during the Muslim conquest of Sasanian Iraq. Hasan al-Basri was of the second generation of Muslims, and one of the followers of the Companions of the prophet Muhammad. He was best known for his preaching, which criticized the accumulation of worldly goods, and many of his sayings are repeated in later sources. He is credited with some unusual readings of the Quran and the transmission of hadith reports. Because of his fame, Hasan al-Basri is counted in the origins of many traditions including several orders of Muslim mysticism, alchemy, and the Mu‘tazilah.
HAWTAH. Arabic term used to designate a sanctuary or sacred area, usually associated with a particular founding figure such as a holy man or prophet. The term is largely synonymous with the Arabic term haram but is limited almost exclusively to pre-Islamic sanctuaries. Some scholars speculate that the term might have South Arabian origins or that it signifies more of an agricultural cultic site than an urban one.
HEKHALOT LITERATURE. Term used to classify a number of Jewish esoteric texts composed roughly between the third and 10th centuries CE that record claims of access to divine mysteries by way of self-induced trances. The texts detail a number of supernatural and ritual acts. Practitioners are said to experience visions of the divine chariot known to the prophet Ezekiel (see also MERKABAH [CHARIOT] MYSTICISM), and thus to access and transcend divine “dwellings” or “palaces” [Heb. hekhalot]. Initiates are depicted as summoning angels to aid them in memorizing the Torah. The various texts collected under the label of Hekhalot literature show a number of influences from early apocalyptic literature, as well as from Egyptian and Mesopotamian performative (“magic”) traditions. Perhaps the best known of these texts is 3 Enoch, also known by its Hebrew title [Heb. Sefer ha-Hekhalot].
HEMAN. Name of a royal seer whose descendants served as prophetic musicians in David’s time (1 Chr 25:1), and performed for Yahweh’s temple during the time of Josiah (640–649 BCE). They are notable for using music to inspire their prophecies. They appear alongside the families of Asaph and Jeduthun. The sons of Heman are Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. They are mentioned as prophetic musicians in 1 Chr 25:4. In all, Heman had 14 sons and three daughters (1 Chr 25:5), all of whom were trained in “cymbals, lyres, and harps, for the service of the house of God.”
HERMES TRISMEGISTOS. Name of a deity-like prophetic figure associated with the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, to whom many of the texts in the Corpus Hermeticum are ascribed. The name may derive from a Greek phrase [megistos kai megistos theos, megas Hermes] meaning “Greatest and Greatest God, Great Hermes” used of Thoth and Hermes in Hellenistic Egypt. Some sources claim that Hermes Trismegistos is the second Hermes who transcribed the teachings of Thoth, which were revealed to the first Hermes sometime before the great flood and subsequently stored in a temple in Upper Egypt. In the Corpus Hermeticum and associated texts, Hermes Trismegistos appears primarily as a god-like figure who reveals secret knowledge to select people, but in some texts he is the recipient of the revelation. Early Christian writers mention Hermes Trismegistos as an ancient sage, though most scholars date the redaction of the bulk of the Corpus Hermeticum to late antiquity.
Hermes Trismegistos is identified in Muslim sources with the prophet Idris or Enoch, though some exegetes dispute this identification. He is associated also with various other historical periods and figures in Arabic texts. In one account he is said to have hidden secret texts in a cave so that they would not be destroyed by the deluge (see also CAVE). Later these texts, identified in part with the Emerald Tablet and talismanic texts, were found by Apollonius and transferred to Aristotle and then to Alexander the Great. Other Muslim sources report that, according to the Sabians, Hermes Trismegistos was a prophetic figure. Hermes Trismegistos imparts secret knowledge to initiates in the Nag Hammadi texts known as the Asclepius fragment (VI,8) and the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth (VI,6).
HERODOTUS (c. 490–425 BCE). Greek historian, called the “Father of History” because of the breadth of his well-known “Histories” [Gk. historiai], which cover the period of the Persian Wars (c. 519–487 BCE), but which also include a wealth of information on Egyptian and Persian history and religion. Book two, in particular, contains a rich description of Egypt and offers many comparisons with Greek and Persian culture.
HIDDEN TEMPLE VESSELS. A number of apocryphal sources make reference to the hiding or removal of the vessels from the temple in Jerusalem before the Babylonian destruction in 586 BCE. The motif of the hidden vessels usually appears in apocalyptic and eschatological contexts where the knowledge of their fate signifies the prophetic authority of the seer, and their future discovery is said to herald the beginning of a new eschatological age. 2 Macc 2:4–8 reports that Jeremiah hid the Tent, the Ark of the Covenant, and the Altar of Incense in a cave on a mountain outside of Jerusalem. 2 Macc 1:19 preserves a tradition related to the story of Hanukkah, that the oil from the Altar of Incense was removed from Jerusalem and hidden in a hole like a dry well. A similar account in the Lives of the Prophets credits Jeremiah with hiding the temple vessels. The Babylonian Talmud records that King Josiah (r. 640–609 BCE) hid the temple vessels under a rock in Jerusalem (TB Krithoth 5b; cf., Yoma 53b; Sanhedrin 26b). 2 Bar 6:7 claims that an angel removed the vessels from the temple during the destruction of Jerusalem.
2 Macc 2:8 also reports that the temple vessels will reappear at the end of time along with the glory of the Lord and the cloud that was seen in the time when Moses first supervised the creation of the vessels, and when Solomon built the temple. Book 2 of the Sibylline Oracles (188) and Jewish exegetical texts mention that Elijah is to restore the temple vessels at the end of time. Other sources, such as 2 Baruch, associate the reappearance of the vessels with the coming of the Messiah. Ibn Ishaq’s biography of the prophet Muhammad includes a report that when Abd al-Muttalib (Muhammad’s grandfather) recovered the well of Zamzam he also uncovered golden implements from an earlier temple including items from a mountain in Syria, suggesting that the prophethood of Muhammad be seen in terms of a sort of messianic eschatology.
HIJR. See MADA’IN SALIH; SALIH.
HIMA. Arabic term referring to a protected territory, usually reserved for the pasturage of particular animals and placed under the guardianship of the tribal deity. The usage is pre-Islamic and is found in Islamic literature referring to pre-Islamic practices, but the Quran’s story of the prophet Salih does allude to the protected territory of the she-camel as the “land of God” (Q 7:73, 11:64). In pre-Islamic Arabian religions a domesticated animal, such as a camel, could be dedicated to a local deity as a “bloodless sacrifice” free to graze in the protected sanctuary of that deity.
HISTORY OF JOSEPH. An extremely fragmentary expansion of the story of Joseph related to the account in Genesis. The text is preserved in six Greek papyrus fragments that date to the sixth or seventh centuries CE. The story, as it appears in the text that is extant, follows the basic narrative structure of the Joseph story familiar from Genesis, but not much else can be discerned.
HISTORY OF THE RECHABITES. Text detailing the visit of Zosimus to a paradise-like island where he meets the Rechabites, a righteous people who were taken from among the sinful people of Jerusalem in the time of Jeremiah (cf., Jeremiah 35). The text is extant in many languages including Ethiopic, Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Garshuni, Old Church Slavonic, and Armenian. Its composition has been dated as late as the sixth and as early as the first century CE, and the dated Syriac manuscripts appear to date from the 12th and 13th centuries CE.
The Syriac text contains 18 chapters, and the Greek includes an additional five chapters added at its end. Chapter 1 describes Zosimus, who lives in the wilderness by himself for 40 years not eating bread or drinking wine. He prays to God from a cave to see the “Blessed Ones” who were taken from the Israelites and the place where they now live. In chapter 2 Zosimus is taken by an angel and an animal until he reaches the great sea where he spots the cloud upon which the Blessed Ones dwell. Chapters 3–6 describe Zosimus’s travel to the cloud as a trip to paradise where Zosimus meets Blessed Ones who wear no clothes and have faces like angels. Chapters 7–10 contain an account of how the Blessed Ones, who identify themselves as the Rechabites, were righteous among the sinful Israelites and were transported by God through the air on a cloud to their present dwelling (a detail that may reflect a combination of the etymology of the name Rechabite, lit. “chariot rider,” with Yahweh’s epithet, cf., Job 30:32).
Chapters 11–16 describe the edenic conditions of the Rechabites. They have none of the attributes or accoutrements of civilization: no agriculture, husbandry, wood, iron, houses, buildings, silver, or gold. Their food comes from wild trees and from manna, and their drink from tree roots. They have no clothing, but are covered with “glory” like that which covered the genitals of Adam and Eve. The people are never sick nor do they sin, experiencing only quietness and love toward God and one another. People who take wives do so only once and have sex only once, remaining abstinent for the rest of their lives. Pregnant women give birth to two children, one of whom can marry, the other of whom remains a virgin. The people rejoice at death while the angels carry their souls to heaven and prepare special sepulchers for their bodies. Because of its proximity to heaven, the people worship God in imitation of the praises of the angels and heavenly hosts, which they can hear.
Chapters 17–18 describe Zosimus’s return to his cave on a cloud and the animal he rides. Chapters 19–23 in the Greek recension describe how Zosimus is tempted by Satan but then goes on to teach his testament to other ascetics in the desert. When Zosimus dies his body is buried, and his soul is said to shine brighter than the sun.
This text has much in common with other accounts of the righteous who are spirited away from among the sinful before their punishment and destruction, and the visits of later holy men and prophets to these people. Many of the accounts of the “People of Moses” and the “Lost Tribes” of Israel also recount similar miraculous journeys and edenic existences. The Ethiopic Christian text entitled the Contending of the Apostles also recounts the visit of Matthew to the lost tribes who neither eat meat nor drink wine, and lead perfect lives. Some of the accounts of the prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey include his visits to two cities at the ends of the earth in which dwell the descendants of the followers of Hud and Salih or the People of Moses based on Q 7:129. Persian recensions of the Alexander Romance also recount Alexander’s visit to the righteous living in two cities at the ends of the earth. Medieval Hebrew texts narrate Eldad ha-Dani’s visit to the lost tribes in terms that also parallel these accounts.
HOREB. Apparently another name for Mt. Sinai, though some scholars see it as a different mountain in the same region. The Bible describes Horeb as the “Mountain of God” (Exod 3:1) from which Yahweh spoke to Moses (Deut 1:6, 4:15), and upon which Yahweh stands when Moses strikes the desert rock causing it to flow with water (Exod 17:6). It is from Horeb that Yahweh gave Israel the Torah (Deut 5:2; Mal 3:22) and where Israel transgressed the covenant by worshipping a golden calf (Ps 106:19). The tablets of the Law were placed in the Ark of the Covenant there (2 Chr 9:15). Horeb also is the site where the prophet Elijah witnessed a variety of theophoric events (1 Kgs 19:8). Rabbinic literature sees Mt. Sinai and Mt. Horeb as identical and explains the name Horeb by a clever play on words, noting that it was so called because “desolation [Heb. hurbah] to idolaters descended upon it” (TB Shabbath 89b). According to Josephus (Antiquities 2.12), Mt. Horeb was considered a holy mountain long before the Israelites, and for this reason, flocks were not allowed to pasture there. It is reported that some Christian monks at the St. Catherine Monastery took Horeb to be the northwestern end of Sinai, also known as “Ras Safsa‘afah,” whereas the traditional summit of the mountain is to be understood as Sinai.
HOSEA. Name of a biblical prophet who prophesied during the reigns of the Israelite kings Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, and Pekahiah (746–736 BCE), contemporaneous with Jotham, king of Judah (r. 742–735 BCE), and the name of the book containing his prophecies. The book stands at the head of the minor prophets probably because of its size. The book is known for its nonnormative Hebrew (probably written in a northern dialect) and the difficulty of its interpretation. Yahweh’s shocking command that the prophet marry a prostitute (Hos 1:2) has been understood in various ways. Some see it as a non-historical parable of God’s love for Israel. Others have seen the reference as historical, but assert that Hosea married a woman who later became a prostitute. Still others have opined that the text is historical, but that he married a temple prostitute as an act of prophetic drama. This latter interpretation finds some support in Hos 4:9–14 in which Hosea attacks the practice of ritual prostitution.
In Hos 3:1, God commands the prophet to marry an adulterous woman, and scholars debate whether this woman is different from that in Hos 1:2. Most of Hosea’s prophecies are attacks against his contemporaries. Hos 4:4–6 is directed against the priests and prophets for perpetuating the people’s ignorance. Hosea also calls into question the sincerity of their ritual sacrifices (Hos 6:6). Hos 4:1–10 constitutes a lawsuit against Israel for breaking the covenant, and throughout the book, Hosea shares the Assyrian view that breaking a covenant leads to an entire nation’s downfall (e.g., Annals of King Assurbanipal 5:130–6:10, 26–32, 44–47, 62–75, 78:68–74 [668–627 BCE]). His understanding of covenant also appears to be grounded in a knowledge of Israelite traditions as found in the Torah, especially the book of Genesis (Hos 6:7, 12:2–6, 12:12). The manner in which Hosea communicates with God appears to have involved a form of possession, for in Hos 1:2 Yahweh speaks “through” not “to” Hosea (see also POSSESSION). The prophet’s reference to Yahweh’s raising of Israel on the third day (Hos 6:2) later became a proof text for early Christians attesting to the resurrection of Christ.
HUD. The account of the Arab prophet Hud, sent to people of Ad, is found in Q 7:65–72, 11:50–60, 26:123–140, 41:15–16, and 46:21–25. His genealogy is given variously as Hud b. Shelah b. Arpachshad b. Shem b. Noah or Hud b. Abdallah b. Rabbah b. Ad b. Uz b. Aram b. Shem b. Noah. The first genealogy seems to identify Hud with the biblical Eber (Gen 10:24), and the second makes the people of Ad descendants of Uz [Ar. ‘Aws] b. Aram. Other traditions identify the Aram given here with the “Iram” of Q 89:7, which is said to be the name of the city in which the people of Ad lived, a city made of gold and silver that would move about the earth. The Quran places the people of Ad among the “winding sand-tracts” [Ar. al-Ahqaf], which usually is understood to be at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula between Oman and the Hadramawt (Q 46:21). Ibn Kathir reports that Hud was the first to speak Arabic, and that the people of Ad were the “Original” Arabs, as opposed to the “Arabicized” Arabs who descended from Ishmael.
Other pre-Islamic references to the name Hud and the people of Ad also exist. The name is attested as a component of several biblical names as well. Ammi-Hud is the name of five individuals in the Bible (1 Chr 7:26; Num 34:20, 34:28; 2 Sam 13:37; 1 Chr 9:4). Abi-Hud is the name given for the grandson of Benjamin through Bela in 1 Chr 8:3. The name Hud also appears in pre-Islamic inscriptions in the Hadramawt. A Palmyrene inscription, dated to 267–272 CE, mentions a place or people called “Iyad,” and Ptolemy refers to a people called the “Oaditai” or “Adites.” Gen 10:19 lists the city of Admah as one of the cities of the plain associated with Sodom and Gomorrah. An Assyrian inscription of Sargon II, dated to 710 CE, mentions the Arab tribe of “Ibb-Ad” and Sargon’s conquest of the fortress of Adu-mu in Arabia.
The Hud story epitomizes the prophetic cycle common to the early prophets mentioned in the Quran. Hud is sent to his people with the message to worship God only, acknowledging that God is the provider of their blessings. On the basis of Q 7:69, Muslim exegetes state that the people of Ad were gigantic in size, and that this was one of the blessings given to them by God. The people rejected Hud despite his warnings that they would be punished, and eventually they were destroyed.
The Quran describes the punishment as a violent wind that destroyed all of the people and left behind their buildings as a sign of their transgression (Q 51:41–42, 54:18–21, 69:6–8). Muslim exegesis includes an elaborate account of how when the people of Ad were afflicted with a drought, they sent a delegation to Mecca to pray for rain. God sent three clouds: white, red, and black. The leader of the delegation chose the black cloud thinking it contained the most rain, and it was this cloud that brought destruction to the people of Ad.
The tomb of Hud is said variously to be in the Hadramawt, at Mecca, or in the wall of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. In the Hadramawt there is a tomb that is the site of a yearly pilgrimage to visit the prophet Hud. At the tomb is a rock from which Hud is supposed to have made the call to prayer, and a well at the bottom of the valley. Some Muslim exegetes report that after the people of Ad were destroyed by God, Hud and his followers went to Mecca. Others state that the descendants of the followers of Hud are to be found in one of the two cities located at the ends of the earth.
HULDAH. Name of a female prophet of Jerusalem who prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (r. 631-609 BCE). According to 2 Kgs 22:14, she was the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas (2 Chr 34:22 reads “Shallum, son of Toqhat, the son of Hasrah). She is called also “the keeper of the wardrobe.” Huldah is one of seven female prophets recognized by later Jewish tradition (TB Megillah 14a). The others include Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, and Esther. One talmudic tradition sees Huldah as a near relative of Jeremiah, another as a descendant of Joshua, and a third as a descendant of Rahab the prostitute (TB Megillah 14b).