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Curse of Ham
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Interpretations
Early Jewish interpretations
The Torah assigns no racial characteristics or rankings to Ham. Moses married a Cushite, one of the
reputed descendants of Ham, according to the Book of Numbers, Chapter 12. Despite this, a number
of early Jewish writers have interpreted the Biblical narrative of Ham in a racial way. The
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108b states "Our Rabbis taught: Three copulated in the ark, and they
were all punished the dog, the raven, and Ham. The dog was doomed to be tied, the raven
expectorates [his seed into his mate's mouth], and Ham was smitten in his skin." {Talmud Bavli,
Sanhedrin 108b} The nature of Ham's "smitten" skin is unexplained, but later commentaries
described this as a darkening of skin. A later note to the text states that the "smitten" skin referred to
the blackness of descendants, and a later comment by rabbis in the Bereshit Rabbah asserts that Ham
himself emerged from the ark black-skinned.[2][3] The Zohar states that Ham's son Canaan
"darkened the faces of mankind".[4]
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Mar Ephrem the Syrian said: When Noah awoke and was told what Canaan did. . .Noah said,
Cursed be Canaan and may God make his face black, and immediately the face of Canaan changed;
so did of his father Ham, and their white faces became black and dark and their color changed. Paul
de Lagarde, Materialien zur Kritik und Geschichte des Pentateuchs (Leipzig, 1867), part II
The Eastern Christian work, the Cave of Treasures (4th century), explicitly connects slavery with
dark-skinned people: When Noah awoke. . .he cursed him and said: Cursed be Ham and may he be
slave to his brothers. . .and he became a slave, he and his lineage, namely the Egyptians, the
Abyssinians, and the Indians. Indeed, Ham lost all sense of shame and he became black and was
called shameless all the days of his life, forever. La caverne des trsors: version Gorgienne, ed.
Ciala Kourcikidz, trans. Jean-Pierre Mah, Corpus scriptorium Christianorum orientalium 526-27,
Scriptores Iberici 23-24 (Louvain, 1992-93), ch. 21, 38-39 (translation).
Ishodad of Merv (Syrian Christian bishop of Hedhatha, 9th century): When Noah cursed Canaan,
instantly, by the force of the curse. . .his face and entire body became black [ukmotha]. This is the
black color which has persisted in his descendents. C. Van Den Eynde, Corpus scriptorium
Christianorum orientalium 156, Scriptores Syri 75 (Louvain, 1955), p. 139.
Eutychius, Alexandrian Melkite patriarch (d. 940): Cursed be Ham and may he be a servant to his
brothers He himself and his descendants, who are the Egyptians, the Negroes, the Ethiopians and
(it is said) the Barbari. Patrologiae cursus completesseries Graeca, ed. J.P. Migne (Paris, 185766), Pocockes (1658-59) translation of the Annales, 111.917B (sec. 41-43)
Ibn al-Tayyib (Arabic Christian scholar, Baghdad, d. 1043): The curse of Noah affected the
posterity of Canaan who were killed by Joshua son of Nun. At the moment of the curse, Canaans
body became black and the blackness spread out among them. Joannes C.J. Sanders, Commentaire
sur la Gense, Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 274-275, Scriptores Arabici 24-25
(Louvain, 1967), 1:56 (text), 2:52-55 (translation).
Bar Hebraeus (Syrian Christian scholar, 1226-86): And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the
nakedness of his father and showed [it] to his two brothers. That isthat Canaan was cursed and
not Ham, and with the very curse he became black and the blackness was transmitted to his
descendents. And he said, Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.
Sprengling and Graham, Barhebraeus Scholia on the Old Testament, pp. 4041, to Gen 9:22.
See also: Phillip Mayerson, Anti-Black Sentiment in the Vitae Patrum, Harvard Theological
Review, vol. 71, 1978, pp. 304311.
According to Catholic mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich, "I saw the curse pronounced by Noah upon
Ham moving toward the latter like a black cloud and obscuring him. His skin lost its whiteness, he
grew darker. His sin was the sin of sacrilege, the sin of one who would forcibly enter the Ark of the
Covenant. I saw a most corrupt race descend from Ham and sink deeper and deeper in darkness. I see
that the black, idolatrous, stupid nations are the descendants of Ham. Their color is due, not to the
rays of the sun, but to the dark source whence those degraded races sprang" [5].
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Islamic interpretations
See also: Islamic view of Noah
Prophets of Islam are generally considered by hadith to have kept Islamic law, even before the time
of Muhammad. The belief is that God's universal will guided them in the same way as Muhammad,
and their habits simply were not accepted by others nor written down. As Islam discourages the
consumption of alcohol, this means that the story could not have happened as described in the Torah,
as Noah would never be drunk. Instead the story of Noah's nakedness is sometimes explained as the
result of the wind blowing off his cloak. Nevertheless, the story of the curse is not part of Islamic
scripture.
Early Islamic scholars debated whether or not there was a curse on Ham's descendants. Some
accepted that there was, and some argued that it was visible in dark skin. According to David
Goldenberg,
Just as in Jewish and Christian sources, so too in Islamic sources do we find that it was not Canaan
who was cursed with slavery, but Ham instead of or in addition to Canaan. So, for example, Tabari
(d923), quoting Ibn Isaq (d768), Masudi (10th century) and Dimashqui (thirteenth century). Ham
appears as the recipient of the curse so regularly that the only Arabic author Gerhard Rotter could
find who specifically limits the curse to Canaan is Yaqubi (d. ca 900). In all others the descendants
of Ham were enslaved.[9]
Goldenberg argues that the "exegetical tie between Ham and servitude is commonly found in works
composed in the Near East whether in Arabic by Muslims or in Syriac by Christians"[10] He suggests
that the compilation known as the Cave of Miracles (Abrg des merveilles) may be the source. This
text states that "Noah cursed Ham, praying to God that Ham's sons may be cursed and black and that
they be subjected as slaves to those of Shem".
In response to such views, the author Al-Jahiz, an Afro-Arab and the grandson of a Zanj (Bantu)[11]
[12][13] slave, wrote a book entitled Superiority Of The Blacks To The Whites and explained why the
Zanj were black in terms of environmental determinism in the "On the Zanj" chapter of The Essays.
[14] Ibn Khaldun also disputed this story, pointing out that the Torah makes no reference to the curse
being related to skin colour and arguing that differences in human pigmentation are caused entirely
by climate[15] and environmental determinism, and not because of any curse.[16] Ahmad Baba
agreed with this view, rejecting any racial interpretation of the curse.
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In the One Thousand and One Nights there is an argument between black and white concubines
about which color is better. The white concubine tells the story of the curse of Ham, saying that Ham
was blackened because he ridiculed his father, but Shem was whitened because he refused to do so.
The black concubine replies with the argument that whiteness is associated with death and leprosy.
[17]
See also
David M. Goldenberg (2003). The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern
World). Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 0-691-11465-X.
Stephen R. Haynes (2002). Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery.
Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 0-19-514279-9.
David M. Whitford (2010). The Curse of Ham in the Early Modern Era: The Bible and the
Justifications for Slavery (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History)[2]. Ashgate. ISBN
978-0-7546-6625-7.
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External links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_Ham
09/11/2009