{"id":2809,"date":"2008-09-19T22:39:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-19T22:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/is-this-the-grave-of-eve.html"},"modified":"2008-09-19T22:39:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-19T22:39:00","slug":"is-this-the-grave-of-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/is-this-the-grave-of-eve.html","title":{"rendered":"Is this the grave of Eve?"},"content":{"rendered":"

That is what some Middle Eastern people believe, and USA TODAY published this piece<\/a> from the AP on that subject a few days ago: <\/p>\n

<\/a>On a sweltering August morning, a small group of Iranians crowded outside the green metal door of a cemetery. They wanted to go in to look at the remains of one particular tomb: the tomb of biblical Eve.<\/p>\n

Like hundreds of Muslims who visit Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage in nearby Mecca, the Iranians had heard the legend that Eve was buried in that spot. The two blue signs inscribed with “The Graveyard of our mother Eve” flanking the cemetery entrance appeared to add credibility to a story passed on by generations of Saudis but never scientifically proven.<\/p>\n

“We hear this is the tomb of Eve,” said Minoo Ghadimkhani, 45. “That is why we want to go in.”<\/p>\n

There is no archaeological evidence old enough to authenticate the story of Eve’s burial in Jiddah, according to many Bible experts. But that hasn’t kept the legend from persisting.<\/p>\n

Some say that the city’s name, when pronounced as “Jaddah” \u2014 an Arabic word that means grandmother \u2014 is a reference to Eve. No one really knows how the story originated, and many in this Red Sea port city dismiss it as a myth.<\/p>\n

“It’s a legend, but it is one mentioned by many scholars,” said Sami Nawar, general director for culture and tourism. Nawar, an expert on the history of old Jiddah, likes to lace a bit of the legend into his presentations on the city to visiting foreign dignitaries and journalists.<\/p>\n

“Jiddah is the most feminine city in the whole world because it has Eve,” Nawar says.<\/p>\n

The Quran, Islam’s holy book, talks about Adam and Eve’s expulsion from paradise after eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree. It does not say where they appeared on earth.<\/p>\n

But Arab tradition puts Adam in the holy city of Mecca, which is 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Jiddah, where God ordered him to build the Kaaba, the sacred stone structure that Muslims face during their five daily prayers, according to Nawar.<\/p>\n

God then told Adam to go to a hill in Mecca to repent for his sins, said Nawar. After he repented, God sent him Eve, and the hill became known as Mount Arafat, from the Arabic word that means to know, he added. That story places Eve, Hawwa in Arabic, in the vicinity of Jiddah, which is the entry point for Muslim pilgrims to Mecca. It could explain how the legend of her burial began.<\/p>\n

Arab and Western historians and travelers have described a tomb outside the walls of old Jiddah that they referred to as Eve’s Graveyard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Continue reading for more details and history<\/a>. Fascinating stuff. <\/p>\n

Photo: A Muslim man stands outside the green metal door of “The Graveyard of our mother Eve” in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, where some believe Eve from the Bible’s Book of Genesis was buried. Photo by Omar al-Abdullah, AP<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That is what some Middle Eastern people believe, and USA TODAY published this piece from the AP on that subject a few days ago: On a sweltering August morning, a small group of Iranians crowded outside the green metal door of a cemetery. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}