Joshua as a prophet, and he informed them that Allah had commanded him to fight the tyrants. They believed him and followed him, so he set out with the Children of Israel for Jericho, bearing with him the Ark of the Covenant. He besieged the city of Jericho for six months. Then, in the seventh month, they sounded the horns and the people raised a single great cry, whereupon the city wall fell. They entered, fought the tyrants, defeated them, and fell upon them, killing them. Bands of the Children of Israel would gather around a man’s neck and strike it until they severed it.

The fighting took place on a Friday, and some of them still remained when the sun was about to set and the night of the Sabbath was about to begin. Joshua said, “O Allah, hold back the sun for me.” And he said to the sun, “You are in obedience to Allah, and I am in obedience to Him.” He asked the sun to stand still and the moon to remain in place until he had taken vengeance upon the enemies of Allah Most High before the Sabbath began. Thus the sun was turned back for him, and the daylight was extended by an hour, until he had killed them all.

He then pursued the kings of al-Sham and subdued thirty-one of their kings, until he gained control over all the land of al-Sham. The whole of al-Sham became the possession of the Children of Israel, and he distributed his governors throughout its regions. ⦗105/a⦘ He gathered the spoils, but the fire did not descend. Allah then revealed to Joshua that there had been misappropriation of the spoils among them, and commanded him to have them give him their pledge. When they did so, one man’s hand stuck to his hand. Joshua said, “Bring forth what you have.” So the man brought him the head of a golden bull, encrusted with rubies and jewels, which he had taken dishonestly. Joshua placed it among the sacrificial offering and placed the man with it. Then the fire came and consumed both the man and the offering.

Joshua then died and was buried on Mount Ephraim. He was one hundred and twenty-six years old, and he governed the affairs of the Children of Israel for twenty-seven years after Moses, peace be upon him.

“Recite to them, in truth, the account of Adam’s two sons, when they each offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one of them but not accepted from the other. One said, ‘I will surely kill you.’ The other replied, ‘Allah accepts only from those who are mindful of Him.’” (27)

Allah Most High says: “Recite to them, in truth, the account of Adam’s two sons”—namely, Abel and Cain (1), though Cain is also said to have been called Qabin—“when they each offered a sacrifice.” According to what the scholars have mentioned, the reason for their offering a sacrifice was that Eve would bear Adam, peace be upon him, a boy and a girl in every pregnancy. Altogether, she bore forty children in twenty pregnancies. The first were Cain and his twin sister Aqlima, and the last were Abd al-Mughith and his twin sister Amat al-Mughith. Thereafter, Allah blessed Adam’s progeny. Ibn Abbas said, “Adam did not die until his children and grandchildren had reached forty thousand.”

Scholars differed concerning the birth of Cain and Abel. Some said that Adam had relations with Eve one hundred years after their descent to the earth, and she bore him Cain and his twin sister Aqlima in a single pregnancy. She then bore Abel and his twin sister Lubuda in another pregnancy.