The Prophets from Idris to Ibrahim: An Era of Guidance

The generations between Adam and Ibrahim are covered by Ibn Kathir through the accounts of several prophets sent to specific communities, each bearing the same essential message of tawhid while addressing the particular deviations of their people. Idris (identified in Islamic tradition with Enoch) is mentioned briefly in the Quran as a prophet raised to a high station, and Ibn Kathir presents the hadith and tafsir material on his identity and era with appropriate caution about the reliability of supplementary narrations. The account of Nuh (Noah) receives the most extensive treatment among the pre-Abrahamic prophets. Ibn Kathir documents Nuh's nine hundred and fifty years of prophetic mission among his people, their stubborn rejection, and the eventual divine judgment through the flood. The Quranic account of the construction of the Ark, the gathering of pairs of animals, and the flood that submerged the entire earth is presented as historical fact supported by multiple Quranic verses and confirmed by hadith narrations indicating that the flood was universal in extent.

The surviving community after the flood, descended from Nuh's believing sons, gradually spread across the earth and formed the post-diluvian human civilization. Ibn Kathir notes that all of humanity after the flood is descended from Nuh, making him in some respects a second father of the human race, as indicated by the Quranic verse that his progeny were the ones who survived. The generations after Nuh eventually fell back into shirk and idolatry, and Allah sent further prophets in response. Hud was sent to the people of 'Ad, a powerful Arab people in the region of Yemen known for their great physical stature and impressive construction. Their arrogance and rejection of Hud led to their destruction by a violent wind that lasted seven nights and eight days, an event referenced in multiple Quranic surahs. Salih was sent to the people of Thamud, who demanded a miracle and were given the she-camel of Allah as a sign. Their deliberate slaughter of the camel and subsequent rejection of Salih brought a divine punishment that destroyed them entirely.

The prophet Lut, contemporary of Ibrahim, was sent to the people of Sodom, who had fallen into a sin that no community before them had committed, specifically the practice of men approaching men with desire rather than women. The Quran records Lut's sustained warnings, the people's hostile response to him, and the arrival of the divine messengers in the form of young men of exceptional appearance. When Lut feared for his guests, the messengers revealed their true nature and informed him of the impending divine punishment. Lut and his believing family were commanded to leave the city before dawn, while Lut's wife, who had sympathized with the wrongdoers, was left behind. The cities of Sodom were then overturned and rained upon with stones of baked clay. Ibn Kathir applies his standard methodology throughout these accounts, citing the Quranic texts as primary authority, supplementing with hadith narrations where available, and flagging Isra'iliyyat that add details not found in the Islamic primary sources.

Ibn Kathir's treatment of this era of prophetic history reflects his understanding of divine mercy and divine justice as complementary rather than contradictory attributes. Each of these communities was given sufficient time, sufficient evidence, and a clear prophetic messenger before divine punishment fell. The pattern that emerges, community after community rejecting divine guidance and suffering the consequence, is itself a form of revelation demonstrating the consistency of divine law across history. Ibn Kathir draws lessons for his Muslim readers from these accounts, consistent with the Quranic intention in presenting these narratives, using them to encourage perseverance in faith, warn against arrogance and disobedience, and affirm the ultimate triumph of divine truth over human rejection. The prophetic chain from Adam through Nuh, Hud, Salih, and Lut reaches its great fulfillment in the figure of Ibrahim, the Friend of Allah, who forms the subject of the following section.