Did People Live for Hundreds of Years?

Question

I am a revert to Islam. And one idea in the OT is also in the Quran, for example, Adam and Noah living 500+ years. I need help reconciling this with what we know of Science today. Is this indeed something we as Muslims must believe, and how can we reconcile this with the knowledge we have today? How was it possible, and do we indeed believe in this?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.

Allah says: “And indeed We sent Noah to his people, and he stayed among them a thousand years less fifty years.” [Quran, 29:14]

Some tafsir books state that Prophet Adam (Allah bless him and give him peace) lived for one thousand years. [Ibn Athir , al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh]

While the above verse carries some possibilities for interpretation, the vast majority of Traditional Exegetes (Mufassirun) generally opine that Prophet Nuh (Allah bless him and give him peace) lived for 950 years (some claiming more). [Ibn Kathir, Ibn Abi Hatim, Suyuti, Qurtubi, Tabari]

The nature of miracles is that they defy the usual laws of life in submission to the Divine command of Allah (Most High) to bring His servants to obey His Sacred Law, and Allah knows best.

Does Islam Claim that All People Lived for Hundreds of Years?

We are unaware of any authentic evidence in Sacred Law that indicates the lifespan of past people being hundreds of years, and Allah knows best. Only the age of Prophet Nuh (Allah bless him and give him peace) is indicated in the Quran. This does not mean that Islam denies the claim either. However, such claims can only be relied upon when they are evidence-based, and Allah knows best.

Is It Strange?

Is it strange and difficult to believe that Allah miraculously extended the life of some people as Divine signs? Is there anything irrational (in the true sense of rational arguments) that Allah created Prophet Adam (Allah bless him and give him peace) without parents, or Prophet Jesus (Allah bless him and give him peace) without a father, or caused the fire to cool and comforting when Prophet Ebrahim was flung therein?

It is not strange for one who believes that Allah (Most High) created everything from nothing by merely willing into existence. Allah says, “All it takes, when He wills something (to be), is simply to say to it: “Be!” And it is!” [Quran, 36:82]

It is not strange to believe that Allah extended the lives of two Prophets when one believes that Allah caused the Sleepers of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf) to sleep for three hundred years, “They had remained in their cave for three hundred years, adding nine.” [Quran, 18:25]

Miracles, peculiar numbers, and signs affect different categories of people in several ways.

For example, Allah says: “We have appointed only (stern) angels as wardens of the Fire. And We have made their number only as a test for the disbelievers so that the People of the Book will be certain, and the believers will increase in faith, and neither the People of the Book nor the believers will have any doubts, and so that those (hypocrites) with sickness in their hearts and the disbelievers will argue, “What does Allah mean by such a number?” In this way, Allah leaves whomever He wills to stray and guides whomever He wills. And none knows the forces of your Lord except He. And this ˹description of Hell˺ is only a reminder to humanity.” [Quran, 74:31]

Based on the above verse, we may understand that if we find our faith being challenged by secondary details, we may need to pay attention to increase our faith. Then such secondary matters will only increase us in faith, and Allah knows best.

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.