Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/86

64 Adam stoutly denied that he had done so. Then the Angel of Death drew the document of transfer from out of his beard, and presented it to Adam, who could no longer refuse to go.

His son Seth washed and buried him, after that the angel Gabriel, or, according to some accounts, Allah himself, had blessed him: Eve died a year later.

Learned men are not agreed as to the place of their burial; some traditions name India, others the Mount Kubeis, and others again, Jerusalem—God alone knows! Tabari says that Adam made Seth his testamentary executor.

"When Adam was dead, Gabriel instructed Seth how to bury him, and brought him the winding sheet out of heaven. And Gabriel said to Seth, 'Thou art sole executor of thy father, therefore it is thy office to perform the religious functions.' Then Seth recited over Adam thirty Tebîrs. Four of these Tebîrs were the legal prayers, the others were supererogatory, and were designed to exalt the virtues of Adam. Some say that Adam was buried near Mecca on Mount Abui-Kubais." According to the apocryphal "Life of Adam and Eve," Adam before his death called to his bedside all his sons and daughters, and they numbered fifteen thousand males, and females unnumbered. Adam is said to have been the author of several psalms; amongst others, Psalm civ., Benedic anima mea, and Psalm cxxxix., Domine probasti; as may be gathered from the 14th, 15th, and 16th verses: "My bones are not hid from thee; though I was made secretly, and fashioned, beneath in the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book were all my members written; which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."

The Arabs say that when Adam dictated his last will and testament, the angel Gabriel descended from heaven to receive it, accompanied by sixty-two millions of angels, each provided with clean white sheets of parchment and pens, and that the will was sealed by Gabriel.

Tradition is not agreed as to the place of Adam's burial. Khaithemah says that Adam was buried near Mecca on Mount Abu-Kubais. But the ancient Persians assert that he was buried in Ceylon, where his sepulchre was guarded by lions at the time of the war of the giants.

But the most generally received tradition is this:—