# Who was Lilith in Jewish legend?

*The myth of Lilith, Adam's first wife who wanted to be on top*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/15/
- Date: 2021-01-05 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (1:07:11–1:14:18)
- Status: a view quoted in order to be discussed, not a position held
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=4031s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/

**Topics:** The ancient Near East and scripture; Adam and the creation of humans

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth retells the Jewish legend of Lilith, Adam's first wife, who left him over equality and became a night demon.

## Longer summary

After a joking non-answer to how many wives he has, Mufti Abu Layth recalls Dawah Man's claim that the key to evil was the woman being on top during intercourse, and wonders whether he drew on biblical mythology. He explains that Genesis has two accounts of creation, one in which Adam and Eve are created together and one in which Eve is made from Adam's rib, and that some Jewish scholars reconciled them by saying the first woman was Lilith. In the legend, he says, Lilith was created equal with Adam, wanted dominance including being on top, quarrelled with him, took the Lord's name and flew off, escaped the angels sent after her, and haunts men at night as a succubus, gives birth to demons and kills infants. He jokes that the legend could also explain sleep paralysis.

## Sources and names cited

- Dawah Man
- Lilith
- Adam
- Eve (Hawwa)
- the Bible (Genesis)

## Transcript (machine tier, 1:07:11–1:14:18)

[1:07:11] Ginti. I don't know how to count. You know, they need one of those abacus things to keep, you know, one must renew their vitamins. Vitamins. You know, speaking of Daw, man, there was a um I don't know if you guys remember his his revelation a while back. I did share it where he said that the key to uh evil, the key to evil people, the key to evil.

[1:07:44] Um no, no, no. It's not uh what you're thinking shan or kufur or paganism. Uh but the key to evil was uh as he clarified in his previous video was the women was the woman on top of the man in a sexual position.

[1:08:06] You know this one this one. So now what is interesting is about that and I wonder if uh Dawan even knows about that or if he gains his some of his inspiration from from this but there there are certain um biblical myths okay so there's a mythology that surrounds certain uh the biblical narratives is now I'm not sure if many of you are familiar with the the

[1:08:44] myth of Lilith. Right? So was the man onto something is the question. So those of you that don't know, let me explain to you the myth or the legend of Lilith. Yeah,

[1:09:12] Lilith is not a he, it is a she. So those of you that don't know, the Bible Genesis book has two accounts of uh God creating Adam. So in one account, Adam and Eve are created simultaneously and then in the next chapter, Adam is created first and then he's kind of put to sleep and God removes a rib and creates Eve.

[1:09:49] The famous story that everybody is probably familiar with. So biblical scholars in the past, especially Jewish scholars, they got they tried to work their brain as well on What is this one?

[1:10:15] What meaning? So they so they try to figure out what is this? Is this So one interpretation was actually the first woman was not Eve. The first woman was Lilith. Those of you that don't know about Lilith, Lilith used to be with Adam with with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

[1:10:47] But she was an equal because she was created with Adam. So she wanted equality in everything. She felt we less than anyone. She was like we're equals. So this was a problem. But one of the things that she wanted dominance in

[1:11:15] you guessed it. She wanted to be on top in the sexual in the sexual. You know what? What to did she not know what said that this may lead to homosexuality?

[1:11:36] So she wanted Lilith wanted to be on top during the interactive interactive dynamism. So Adam didn't want that after all. Huh? Huh? Man, he's like, "Man, no. We dominated. Man, dominate." Huh? So, so Adam, according to this story, didn't accept that.

[1:12:03] He was like, "No, only one person on top." So, so they got into a dispute. So, what happened is one day Lilith said, "I've had enough. You know, I'm not getting equality. I'm not getting my dominance. So, she took the Lord's name. You're not allowed to take the Lord's name in Judaism.

[1:12:30] She took the Lord's name and then disappeared into the skies and and then some angels were sent to catch her, but the angels couldn't catch her. And she still haunts men at night. She comes as succubus. I'm not making this stuff up. Succubus is the spirit that comes at night and that is Lilith.

[1:12:56] So, and according to certain riyat she continues to give birth to demons and according to some she comes and kills infants and and she will continue to haunt till the day of judgment. So, this Lilith story it's interesting. I wonder where Dawan got his uh inspiration. Was it from the succubus story?

[1:13:23] You naughty naughty you succubus. So anyway, I thought I'd share that with you guys. It's interesting. It's uh interesting. Huh. So according to that, before Eve, there was Lilith. Okay. Right. What? Let's deal with uh somebody said Lilith responsible for sleep paralysis.

[1:13:50] Hell yeah. And uh a lot more as well. So, right, let's move on people. Some of your questions. What's going on? Let's take a look at what some questions on Facebook as well. All right. What's going on? What's going on? Uh scholars pushing an agenda.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eo90sV4JVHo/s/15. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/15/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.