the ınventor of wrıtıng ın the contexts of relıgıous, hıstorıcal and

the ınventor of wrıtıng ın the contexts of relıgıous, hıstorıcal and

THE INVENTOR OF WRITING IN THE CONTEXTS OF RELIGIOUS,
HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA
Bahattin DARTMA
University of Yüzüncü Yıl
Faculty of Divinity
Van / TURKEY
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Writing is almost one of the important, perhaps the most important, invention carried out in the history of the
mankind. There is no doubt that the invention of the writing lies in the foundations of today’s science, technique,
culture and civilisation levels.
According to curret and available knowledge at hand, it is known by everbody that such a great invention was
conducted by the Sumerians, but when the knowledge in the Islamic resources are considered, the topic gains more
importance, but a different aspect.
When the hearsays in the Islamic resources and archaeological findings are evaluated together, it could be
stated that the writing was invented by Idris (pbuh) sent as a prophet to the Sumerians. So this invention can be a divine
phenomenon.
Key Words: Writing, Idris, Enok, pen/pencil, Sumerians, Mesopotamia, Turkish, invention, Adam, Noah.
DÎNÎ, TÂRİHÎ VE ARKEOLOJİK VERİLER BAĞLAMINDA YAZININ MÛCİDİ
ÖZET
Yazı, insanlık tarihinde gerçekleştirilen en önemli keşiflerden biri ve hatta en önemlisidir. İnsanoğlu, hemen her
türlü gelişimini bu keşif sayesinde kaydetmiştir. Bugün, bilim-teknik, kültür ve uygarlık alanlarında gelinen seviyenin
temelinde hiç tartışmasız bu keşif yatmaktadır.
Bu günkü mevcut bilgilerimize göre insanlık alemine böyle bir hizmeti sunanların Sümerler olduğu
bildirilmektedir. Ancak işin içine İslâmî kaynaklardaki bilgiler girince konu az da olsa farklı bir boyut arzetmektedir.
İslâmî eserlerdeki rivâyetlerle, tarihi bilgiler ve arkeolojik bulgular birlikte ele alındığında yazının, bir
peygamber olarak Sümerlere gönderilen Idris (as) tarafından keşfedildiği, dolasıyı-sıyla kendisine ilâhî görev verilen
bir kişi tarafından ortaya konduğuna göre söz konusu keşfin tevkîfî olabileceği akla gelmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Yazı, keşif/icat/icad, Sümerler, Orta Asya, Mezopotamya, Türkçe, Âdem, Idris,
Enok/Ehnûh/Hanûh, Nûh.
INTRODUCTION
Writing is almost one of the most important topics that concerns all aspects of human life
directly or indirectly; but it is also the basic element that contributes to the development of
civilisation. With the invention of the writing, the humanbeings have achieved vital important
developments in every field of life surrounding them. One of the most important contributions to
today’s science technology that is impraing amazingly and will do so in the future was the
invention and development of writing.
According to current and available knowledge at hand, there is almost an agreement1 about
this invention2 that Sumerians invented the writing first, whereby it ended pre-historic periods
1
Türk Ansiklopedisi, Ankara, 1964, XII, 75 (Çivi Yazısı article); Bilgiç, Emin, “Sümerler”, Türk Ansiklopedisi, Ankara,
1981, XXX, 126; Kramer, Samuel Noah, History Begins at Sumer, (Tarih Sümer’de Başlar), (translated by Hamide
Koyukan), İstanbul, 1999, p. 445; the same author, Sumerians (Their History, Culture and Character), (Sümerler),
(translated by Özcan Buze), İstanbul, 2002, p. 396; Koçak, Gülbin, “Sümer Silindir Mühürleri”, Bilim ve Teknik,
number 403, June 2001, p. 87; Sayılı, Aydın, Mısırlılarda ve Mezopotamyalılarda Matematik, Astronomi ve Tıp,
Ankara, 1982, p. 4; Yeni Türk Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul, 1985, X, 3777 (Sümerler article); Crawford, Harriet, Sumer and
and started historical periods. Yet when the Islamic resources are considered about the inventor of
writing, the topic gains more importance, but different aspects.
Hence the aim of this article is to discuss and clarify this important topic. In doing so the
author first explains the Sumerians a little and then attempts to identify the inventor of writing by
bringing evidence from different resources. An important note is what has happened since the
development of writing which is a separate topic from the current one and this topic is not
included in this article.3
THE SUMERIANS
a. Etymologic meaning of the word ‘Sumer’
There are different views about the origin and meaning of the word ‘Sumer’.
1. It is stated that the name Mât Sumeri (the Country of Sumer) is used by the Akads, the
people of Sumer is called Şumerû, Şumerâiu or Sumerû (the Sumerians) in the Akad language
that includes Bâbil and Asur dialects. According to the Sumerian resources they call themselves
Keng-Kengir.4
2. According to Langdon the word ‘Sumer’ (su-m-er) is a Turkish word and it was claimed to
mean “water soldier/water man”. The reason for being called in this way is that the Sumerians
were located along the Tigris and Euphrates improved the bogged places to do farming. The
word, for the first time, was seen as a scripture engraved on an ornamanted decanter presented to
the Nippur temple by Lugal-Zaggisi, an Erek Khan.5
b. The Places where the Sumerians lived
The Sumerians lived in the south part of Mesopotamia. This area, 26000 km2, includes the
places from Basra to today’s borders of Baghdat,6 yet the Sumerians are not the natives of
Mesapotamia. To some they emigrated here in the 5000s BC,7 for some in 4000s BC,8 and for
some in 3500s BC;9 and they disappeared between 1900-1800s BC.10
c. The Sumerians’ Homeland
Although there are various views about the Sumerians’ homeland, most of the researchers
hold the view that the homeland of the Sumerians are the Central Asia.11 Some of the clues
(evidence) about Sumerians’ coming to Mesopotamia from the Central Asia come as follows:
1. The Sumer language is not a flexible language like Semitic and Indo-European ones, but it
is an agglutinative language. The roots of the words in the Sumerian do not usually change. The
words are not in the base (nominative) form, but they include some pre and post-affixes. The
affixes can be separated from the roots and the roots do not lose their basic meaning. In this
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
The Sumerians, Cambridge University, 2002, p. 151. See also, Tansuğ, Kadriye – İnanlı, Özel, “Sümerlerin Dünya
Görüşü ve Bâbil Edebiyatına Toplu Bir Bakış”, Review of Faculty of Language History-Geography University of
Ankara, vol. 7, number 4, Ankara, December 1949, p. 552.
Akurgal, Ekrem, Anadolu Kültür Tarihi, Ankara, 7th edition, December 1998, p. 6.
See also for the development of writing, Günaltay, M. Şemseddîn, Yakın Şark Elam ve Mezopotamya, Ankara, 1987, pp.
396-402; Kramer, Tarih Sümer’de Başlar, pp. 445-446; Engin, Arın, Sümer Türkleri, İstanbul, pp. 27-28, 36; Üstüner,
Ali Cengiz, “Mezopotamya’da Sümer Uygarlığı”, Türk Dünyası Araştırmaları, number 128, October 2000, pp. 81-83.
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 29.
Bilgiç,, XXX, 116. See also, Benno Landsberger, “Mezopotamya’da Medeniyetin Doğuşu”, (translated by, Mebrure
Osman Tosun), Review of Faculty of Language History-Geography University of Ankara, vol. 3, number 2, March-April
1944, p. 422.
Kramer, Sümerler, p. 13; the same author, Sumerian Mythology, (Sümer Mitolojisi), (translated by, Hamide Koyukan),
İstanbul, 1999, p. 63. See also, Bilgiç,, XXX, 115.
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 29; Yıldız, Nuray, Eskiçağda Yazı Malzemeleri ve Kitabın Oluşumu, Ankara, 2000, p. 4.
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 125.
Bilgiç,, XXX, 119; Üstüner, pp. 79, 80.
Bilgiç,, XXX, 115.
Bilgiç,, XXX, 119; Kramer, Sümerler, p. 64; Günaltay, pp. 203, 204; Üstüner, pp. 79, 89.
respect the Sumer language has some structural similarity with Turkish, Hungarian and some
Caucasusian languages, that are part of Ural-Altaic languages. Besides this, there are some
common words between the Sumer and Turkish languages. For instance, F. Hommel, a German
philologist, and Lenghin, an expert on Sumerian, state that about 350 words are similar or have
close meanings in Turkish and Sumer languages.12
The Sumer language, as a sentence structure, is a complex and confusing one, but it is close
to Turkish language, that has a logical order in sentence formation; far away from the Semitic
and Indo-Europan languages.. The word order in complex languages is in the form of subject,
adverbs (indicating manner, time, place), object, subordinating clause, verb, but in the Semitic
and Indo-European languages the word order is subject, verb, adverb, object and subordinative
clauses.13
2. The Sumerians wore thick and heavy clothes named konakes made from the wool. It is
known that these types of clothes are not worn in hot places like Mesopotamia, but in the cold
places. For that reason, these thick and heavy clothes must have been worn in cold places and
plateaus that implicitly purpot to homeland of the Sumerians.
3. The Sumerians built their temples as many-layered and used bricks (plan-contex) produced
by imitating construction stones. Since these bricks were used in high altitudes, this means that
they emigrated from high places that also means cold places.
4. One of the most important evidence about the Sumerians’ homeland, Central Asia, is the
work “CHALDEA ZODAİC” that means “MINTIKATÜLBURÛC”. Since this work has a
picture/sketch of certain part of the sky, this gives clues about where the nation did the mentioned
work lived. The analysis of this chaldea zodaic/mıntıkatülburûc imagined by Sumerians for the
first time means that the people who have done it must have lived in the east located between 40
and 46 latitudes of the Caspian Sea, in the South Pole. This is because the star groups drawn on
this chaldea zodaic/mantıkatülburûc could only be seen and drawn between these latitudes at that
time. The place located in the east of Caspian Sea and between the 40 and 46th latitudes is called
Central Asia; that is Türkistan.14
Leonard W. King, an expert on Sumerians, reveals the reasons for Sumerians emigration
from the Central Asia to Mesapotamia as follows: American Raphael Pumpelly conducted
excavations at Anau of Türkistan (near Merv) and Dr. Hubert Schmidt carried out research on
Sumerian state that the homeland of the Sumerians must be sought beyond the mountains
(Türkistan) located in the east of Babil plateuss. The excavations done near Askabat (the capital
city of Türkmenistan) indicate the existence of some advanced cultural structure in the prehistoric period and these cultural structures show so much and amazing similarity with the first
culture found in the west (Mesapotamia) of the Iranian plateau. These excavations indicate that
great restlessness occured with the result of the climate changes (drought) in Turkistan. This
reason indicates Sumerian emmigration… Because of the scarcity the migration age was
confirmed by the research done by Sir Aurel Stein at East Türkistan, Hoten and Taklamakan
sandy places.15
There are various views about the ways (route) the Sumerians followed while coming from
the Central Asia to Mesapotamia. According to E. A. Speiser they emigrated from the East
(Türkistan) by sea, in Kramer’s view from the mountainous region in the east (Altay and Tanrı
12
13
14
15
Bilgiç,, XXX, 128; Üstüner, p. 89. See also, Caferoğlu, Ahmet, Türk Dili Tarihi, 3rd edition, İstanbul, 1984, I, 16, 44-48;
Tuna, Osman Nedim, Sümer ve Türk Dillerinin Târihî İlgisi ile Türk Dili’nin Yaşı Meselesi, Ankara, 1990.
Benno Landsberger, “Sümerler”, (translated by Mebrure Osman Tosun), Review of Faculty of Language HistoryGeography University of Ankara, vol. 1, number 5, Julay-August Ankara, 1943, 94-96; Bilgiç, XXX, 127; Kramer,
Sümerler, pp. 35-36, 64, 401. See also, Günaltay, pp. 393, 394, 395; Sayılı, Mısırlılar ve Mezopotamyalılar, p. 4.
Günaltay, pp. 200-201.
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 34.
mountains, etc.) by land16 After this brief information about the Sumerians, now we turn to the
part about the invention of writing.
THE INVENTION OF WRITING
Researchers state that the Sumerians invented writing in the second half of the 4th
millenium BC; that is, it was invented and improved between 3500 and 3000s BC.17 For some
researchers, the discovery or invention of writing occured during the 3200s BC18 and for some
others it happened in the 3100s BC.19
It is understood that the Sumerians invented and improved writing before Noah’s Flood
between the years 3500 and 3000s BC. Hence here it is important to identify the time during
which Noah’s Flood occured.
There are diverse views about the occurence time of the Noah’s Flood. One of these views
states that it happened in the 4000 and 5000s BC .20 Another view claims that it happened in the
2700s BC.21 In the bronze age, during which archeology, wood and nail used, it was stated that
the Edom region where Noah (p.b.u.h.) lived became desolate suddenly in the 2700s and as from
2600s BC other people came and settled here.22 Besides this, the English archaeologist Sir
Leonard Wooley and his team excavated in Ur, one of the historical city of Mesapotamia, from
1922 to 1934, explored one King’s tomb dating back to 4000th BC, found clay tablets in that tomb
consisting the names of the Kings before the occurence of the Flood and mud layer having 3 m. to
3.70 m. thickness.23 While explaining his studies, he states this view:
“… As a result, when the top of the city hill is analysed, after several layers, we found a
complex part consisting of volcanic glasses and the Sumer remains. 4,9 m. under this brick layer
we found the old remains belonging to the city Ur before the Flood and the history of these
remains go cleary back to 3200s BC.24
If the history of Ur remains go back to 3200s BC, this means that the Flood took place after
that date (3200s BC) and the invention of writing. It was also stated that the documents written
until the Flood were tried to keep safely not to be damaged and wasted by the Flood.25
In the literatue of archaeology before the occurence of Noah’s Flood the kings were named
Er Sülaler 1 (ES-1) and the number of them till the Flood was ten. Around Horsabad, a city of
Iraq, a tablet was found in 1932 and named WB-444 by archaeologists, the thickness of which is
20.5 cm. According to the inscriptions on this tablet ‘there were ten rulers in the world and the
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 125.
Kramer, Tarih Sümerde Başlar, p. 13; Engin, Sümer Türkleri, p. 29; Günaltay, p. 400.
Türk Ansiklopedisi, XII, 75.
Bilgiç,, XXX, 120, 128.
Gürbüz, Ali, “Nûh’un Gemisi Ağrı Dağı’nda mı?”, Zafer, number 107, November 1985, p. 16; Sarbay, Ahmet,
“Nûh(as)’ın Gemisi Nerede?”, Târih ve Medeniyet, number 16, İstanbul, June 1995, p. 59; Caymaz, Tayfun, “Tufan
Mitosu”, Bilim ve Ütopya, number 25, İstanbul, Julay 1996, p. 15.
Mehrân, Muhammed Beyyûmî, Dirâsâtün Târîhiyyetün mine’l-Kur’âni’l-Kerîm, Dâru’n-Nehzati’l- cArabiyye, Beyrut,
1988, II, 94, IV, 92; Caymaz, p. 15. See also, Benno Landsberger, “Sümerlerin Kültür Sahasındaki Başarıları”,
(translated by, Mebrure Osman Tosun), Review of Faculty of Language History-Geography University of Ankara, vol. 3,
number 2, January-February 1945, p. 137.
Sarıkçıoğlu, Ekrem, “Kur’ân ve Arkeoloji Işığında Hz. Nûh ve Tûfân Olayına Yeni Bir Yaklaşım”, İslâmî
Araştırmalar, vol. 9, numbers 1-2-3-4, Ankara, 1996, p. 202.
Engin, Sümer Türkleri, pp. 85, 100; Warshofsky, Fred, “Nûh, Tûfân ve Gerçekler”, Bilim ve Teknik, vol. 11, number
121, Ankara, 1977, p. 17, (from Readers Digest); Sarbay, “Nûh(as)’ın Gemisi Nerede?”, Tarih ve Medeniyet, p. 58.
M. Şükrü, “Arkeoloji Önünde Tûfân”, Hâkimiyet-i Milliye, 6 May 1933, number, 1235, Saturday, p. 3; Warshofsky, p.
17. See also, Ay, Eyyub, “İlâhî Mesajın Kadim Medeniyetlerdeki İzdüşümleri: Kur’ân’ın Arkaplanına Akeolojik Bir
Yaklaşım”, İslâmî Araştırmalar, vol. 9, numbers 1-2-3-4, Ankara, 1996, p. 194.
Benno Landsberger, “Mezopotamya’da Medeniyetin Doğuşu”, p. 419; Bilgiç,, XXX, 126.
last one of them was the Noah’s himself.’26 The sources also state that these rulers were also
religious leaders. It goes on to say that the 7th of the rulers named Enok (Ehnûh/Hanûh) was Idris
27
(p.b.u.h.).
According to this finding Noah (p.b.u.h.) must have been charged as a prophet after three
prophets (manager, administrator).28 The news ‘Idris (p.b.u.h.) is the grandfather of Noah’s
father29 (7th order in time-line)’ confirms this view. The view about the existence of ten muslimleaders from Adam to Noah30 and the news about descending from Ikime (v. 107/725) ‘there are
ten muslim generations from Adam to Noah’31 completely agree with the information written
on the WB-444 tablet. In one of the hadith the Prophet Mohammed (p.b.u.h.) states the following
view about the Idris (p.b.u.h.) “the first person wrote by pen/pencil is Idris (p.b.u.h.) (that is Ehnûh
or Hanûh).”32
When all this information has been gathered, we can claim that Idris (p.b.u.h.) became33 a
prophet before Noah (p.b.u.h.) and located in the 7th order in the time-line, and he was also charged
as the prophet of the Sumerians and invented writing. Besides, since the invention of writing is
carried out by a prophet, the invention can be a divine event.
Yet it is known that there is long time-line (centuries) from Idris to Noah (p.b.u.h.). Yet
today’s avarege life-lenght of a person is considered, it seems impossible to see only three
prophets in such a logn time. Yet considering the fact that people used to live longer in the old
ages –e.g. Noah (p.b.u.h.) lived 95034 years and İbrahim (p.b.u.h.) lived 200 years,35 seeing three
prophets in such a long time is possible.
Now bringing the evidence from different sources and seeing to what extent these
evidences are in conformity with one another will be more helpful to understand the topic:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Günaltay, p. 209; Sarbay, Ahmet, “Nuh Aleyhisselamın Gemisi Nerede?”, Tarih ve Düşünce, February 2003, p. 52.
Nûh’s (p.b.u.h.) other names in other cultures: Urbaradudu, Ziyudsudu, Utnapiştim (Utanapiştim), Xsisutrus/Xisuthros,
Atrahasis. See, Kramer, Tarih Sümer’de Başlar, p. 190, 191, 237; Günaltay, p. 209, 461.
İbn İshâk, Muhammed b. İshâk b. Yesâr, Sîretü İbn İshâk, el-Müsemmâ bi Kitâbi’l-Mübtede’i ve’l-Mebcasi ve’l-Meğâzî, (ed.
crit., Muhammed Hamîdullah), Konya, 1981, p. 1; el-Vâkidî, Muhammed b. cÖmer, Târîhu Fütûhi’l-Cezîra ve’l-Hâbûr ve
Diyârı Bekrin ve’l-cIrâk, (ed. crit., Abdulcazîz Feyyâz Harfûş), Dâru’l-Beşâ’ir, Dımaşk, 1996, p. 216; İbn Sacd, Muhammed
b. Sacd b. Menîc el-Basrî ez-Zührî, et-Tabakâtu’l-Kübrâ, Dâru Sâdır, Beyrut, I, 54; Yackûbî, Ahmed b. Ebî Yackûb b. Cacfer
b. Vehb, Târîhu’l-Yackûbî, Dâru Sâdır, Beyrut, 1412/1992, pp. 11, 13; Taberî, Ebû Cacfer Muhammed b. Cerîr, Kasasu’lEnbiyâ’, (ed. crit., Cemâl Bedrân), 1st edition, Kâhire, 1414/1994, p. 90; Mescûdî, Ebu’l-Hasen Ali b. el-Huseyn b. Ali,
Mürûcu’z-Zeheb ve Mecâdinu’l-Cevher, (ed. crit., Muhammed Muhyiddîn Abdulhamîd), Beyrut, 1989, I, 39; esSemerkandî, Ebû’l-Leys Nasr b. Muhammed b. ‘Ahmed b. İbrâhîm, Bahru’l-cUlûm, (ed. crit., cAlî Muhammed Muacvvaz,
c
Âdil ‘Ahmed cAbdu’l-Mevcûd, Zekeriyyâ’ cAbdu’l-Mecîd en-Nûtî), Dâru’l-Kütübi’l-cİlmiyye, 1st edition, Beyrut, 1993, II,
326; İbnu’l-Cevzî, Ebû’l-Ferec cAbdurrahmân b. cAlî b. Muhammed, el-Muntazam fî Târîhi’l-Ümem ve’l-Mülûk, (ed. crit.,
Muhammed cAbdulkâdir cAtâ, Mustafa cAbdulkâdir cAtâ), Dâru’l-Kütübi’l-cİlmiyye, Beyrut, 1992, I, 233; İbn Kesîr, Ebu’lFidâ’ el-Hâfız, el-Bidâye ve’n-Nihâye, (ed. crit., Ahmed Ebû Mülhim, Ali Necîb Advey, Fu’âd es-Seyyid, Mehdî Nâsıruddîn),
Beyrut, 5th edition, 1989, I, 92; Vehbe ez-Zühaylî, el-Kıssatu’l-Kur’âniyye, 1st edition, Beyrut, 1992, p. 41; cAbdulfettâh
Tabbâra, Maca’l-Enbiyâ’ fi’l-Kur’âni’l-Kerîm, 18th edition, Beyrut, 1993, pp. 56-57.
Sarbay, “Nûh(as)’ın Gemisi Nerede?”, Târih ve Medeniyet, p. 59; the same author, “Nûh Aleynisselamıın Gemisi
Nerede?”, Tarih ve Düşünce, p. 52.
Buhârî, Muhammed b. İsmâcîl, Sahîhu’l-Buhârî, İstanbul, 1981, Enbiyâ’, 5.
İbn Sacd, Tabakât, I, 42; es-Semerkandî, Bahru’l-cUlûm, I, 550.
İbn Sacd, Tabakât, I, 42, 53.
İbn Hibbân, Ebû Hâtim Muhammed el-Büstî, el-İhsân fî Takrîbi Sahîhi İbn Hibbân, (tertîb, cAlâ’üddîn cAlî b. Belbân), (ed.
crit., Şucaybu’l-Arna’ût), 1st edition, Beyrut, 1986/1406, II, 66 (number, 361); İbn Hacer el-Askalânî, Ahmed b. Ali, Fethu’lBârî bi Şerhi Sahîhi’l-Buhârî, Beyrut, Dûru’l-Marife, VI, 375; el-Kastalânî, Ebu’l-Abbâs Şihâbuddîn Ahmed, İrşâdu’s-Sârî
li Şerhi Sahîhi’l-Buhârî, Dâru’l-Fikr, 1st edition, 1990, Beyrut, VII, 286; cAclûnî, İsmâîl b. Muhammed, Keşfu’l-Hafâ’ ve
Müzîlu’l-İlbâs ammâ İştehera Mine’l-Ehâdîsi alâ Elsineti’n-Nâs, 2nd edition, Beyrut, 1932/1351, I, 267. See also, el-Yakûbî,
Târîh, I, 11; İbnu’l-Cevzî, el-Muntazam, I, 234; İbn Kesîr, el-Bidâye, I, 92.
Qur’ân: Meryem (19), 56; Enbiyâ’ (21), 85.
Qur’ân, Ankebût (29), 14.
Mâlik b. Enes, el-Muvatta, (ed. crit., Beşşâr cAvvâd Macrûf, Mahmûd Muhammed Halîl), 1st edition, Beyrût, 1992/1412, elCâmic, 23; Buhârî, Muhammed b. İsmâcîl, , el-Edebu’l-Müfred, (ed. crit., Muhammed Fu’âd cAbdulbâkî), 3rd edition, Dâru’lBeşâ’iri’l-İslâmiyye, 1989/1409, 601/1250, p. 428.
BEFORE CHRIST [BC]
Arheaologic and Historical Evidence:
Islamic Evidence:
● Noah’s Flood (2700s BC).
(Utnapiştim)-10-(Nûh) ● There are ten muslim
● Before the Flood in the world ten men
↑
leaders father/
served as rulers (leaders).
-9generation from
● The first of these leaders is Adam, the
↑
Adam to Noah (pbuh).
seventh is Idris and tenth is Noah.
-8● Idris is the grand
●
writing was invented and improved
↑
father of Noah’s father
by the Sumerians 3500–3000s BC.
Enok)-7-(Idrîs) (that is, he is the 7th leaders).
↑
● The first person used
-6pen/pencil writing is
↑
Idris (Ehnûh/Hanûh).
-5-
The
↑
-4↑
-3↑
-2↑
(Adam) -1- (Âdem)
CONCLUSION
The topic can be summarised as follows: the invention and improvement of writing before
the Noah’s Flood (2700s BC) happened in 3500-3000s BC by the Sumerians, who emigrated
from the Central Asia to Mesapotamia. According to archeaologic evidence and historical
knowledge ten men served as rulers (leaders) before the Noah’s Flood; these rulers were religious
man at the same time. The seventh of these rulers was Idris (p.b.u.h.) and tenth was Noah (p.b.u.h.).
Similarly, according to Islamic resources too between Adam (p.b.u.h.) and Noah (p.b.u.h.) in total ten
men served as rulers, all of them being muslims. The seventh of these was Idris, invented the
writing and was the grandfather of the Noah’s father.
It is highly possible that the Sumerians and Idris (p.b.u.h.) lived at the same period and on
the same geographical region. We arrive at this conclusion by bringing evidences together. When
current historical, religious and archeaologic evidence at hand were evaluated, it is possible to
claim that writing was invented by the prophet Idris sent as prophet to the Sumerians. Since Idris
(p.b.u.h.) was endowed with the power of prophethood, it is possible to say that the invention of the
writing is a divine phenomenon. This is because it is widely known that the prophets had some
superhuman powers and abilities.
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