Honors of Adam
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Allah favored Adam (Quran 3:33) over other people with some great qualities:
1. Adam was the father of all human beings. Allah chose him to be the father of all human beings as the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “All of you are the children of Adam and Adam was created from soil.”[1]
2. Allah created Adam with His Hands. Addressing Satan, Allah said, “What prevented you from prostrating yourself to the one whom I created with both My hands?” (Quran 38:75).
3. Allah created the soul breathed into Adam. Allah had His angel, Gabriel, breathe life into him (Quran 15:29, 38:72).
4. Allah had the angels prostrate to Adam (Quran 15:29, 38:72).
5. Allah gave him great amount of knowledge, surpassing what He gave to the angels (Quran 2:31).
6. Allah gave him residence in Paradise along with his wife, Eve, and allowed them to enjoy there (Quran 2:35).
7. Adam was the first Prophet to human beings. Prophet Muhammad said, “…Adam was a Prophet and received revelation.”[2]
8. Adam shared one religion with all other Prophets and called to the same religion, Islam. They all invited to belief in Allah and worshipping Allah alone (Quran 21:25, 16:36).
Creation of Adam
Allah told the angels that He was planning to establish a ‘khalifah’[3] on Earth. ‘Khalifah’ is a person who is succeeded by others. They immediately understood that it would not be Adam alone who will live on Earth, but rather, it would be a long chain of human beings, many of them will be wicked:
“And (mention, O Muhammad), when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.’ They said, ‘Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?’ Allah said, ‘Indeed, I know that which you do not know.’” (Quran 2:31)
The question by the angels was not meant to question Allah’s wisdom or a result of envy or hatred for humans. They simply wanted to understand the purpose of Adam’s creation. Allah’s response tells us that in His perfect knowledge, He knew things about Adam that the angels could not imagine.
The angels feared that Adam was unworthy of becoming a khalifah on Earth, Allah proved to them that it was incorrect and the new creation can surpass them in knowledge. The Quran 2:31-33 recounts that Allah taught Adam names of all created things that the angels did not know. Allah emphasized to them that their knowledge is limited and they could only know what He taught them. When Adam defeated the angels in the ‘contest of knowledge,’ he earned their respect. Thus, they rushed to prostrate to Adam when commanded by Allah.
More On the Creation of Adam
Allah tells us in the Quran 20:55 and 30:20 that He created us from soil. Allah gathered different types and colors of soil from which Adam was to be created. The Prophet said, ‘Indeed, Adam was created from three types of solids: black, white, and red.’[4]
The soil gathered for Adam’s creation was then turned into clay as mentioned in the Quran 6:2. The clay was sticky (Quran 37:11). After Adam’s clay dried, it became sort of like pottery, making a sound when tapped (Quran 15:26).
After forming Adam’s clay, Allah fashioned it and set it in Paradise for a certain duration before He gave it life. “Satan started circling the clay, examining its nature. When he realized it was hollow, he thought, ‘I’ll conquer this, for it is a creation that cannot hold together.’ ‘Cannot hold together’ means that he cannot control himself against desires.
Adam was much larger in size than what human beings are today. The Prophet said, ‘Allah created Adam sixty cubits tall, then mankind kept getting shorter until (it reached a stable height) now.’ (Bukhari, Muslim) Thus, human beings did not go through stages of evolution.
In several verses of the Quran (2:117, 3:47, 6:73, 16:40, 19:35, 36:82. 40:68), Allah indicates that He brings into existence with a mere word or command. Sometimes, instead of fulfilling His command directly, Allah creates means for fulfilling them. For people, Allah sends angels to breathe life into them. In the case of Adam and Jesus, Allah sent Gabriel to breathe life into them (Quran 15:29, 38:72).
Life was blown into Adam on Friday. The Prophet said, ‘Indeed, among your best days is Friday. On it, Adam was created, and on it he died. Also, on it will be the Blow of the Horn and the Shock causing everyone to die.’[5]
Adam was expelled from Paradise and send down to Earth on a Friday. This marked the beginning of accountability for human beings. Adam’s sin was forgiven on a Friday. From that time on, he and his descendants would start living their lives with blank records that they would fill with whatever deeds they do, good or bad.
Etiquette of Sneezing and Salam
Soon after Allah breathed the soul into Adam, He taught Adam the manners of sneezing and greeting. Immediately after his soul entered his body, Adam sneezed and said, Alhamdu-lillah Rabbil-‘Alameen (Praise be to the Lord of creation). Allah responded, Yarhamu-kallah (May Allah have mercy on you)[6].
Allah told Adam to go to a group of angels sitting far away from him and to greet them by saying, ‘As-Salamu Alaikum’ (peace be on you). They responded, ‘Alaykas-Salam wa-Rahmatullah’ (and peace be on you and Allah’s mercy)[7].
Adam’s Wife
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Soon after creating Adam, Allah created his wife, Hawwa or Eve. From them, Allah brought forth all human beings (Quran 49:13). Hawwa was created from Adam’s rib. The Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, “Take good care of women, because the (first) woman was created from a bent rib (of Adam), and the most curved part of a rib is its upper end. If you insist on straightening it, you will break it and if you leave it, it will remain bent. So take good care of women.” (Bukhari)
Adam’s Children
After creating Adam, Allah extracted all his descendants from his backbone (Quran 7:172). The Prophet said, “When Allah created Adam, He wiped his back, dropping from it every person of Adam’s offspring He would create until Resurrection Day.”[1]
Allah Commands Angels to Prostrate to Adam
Allah commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam after He blew life into Adam. Allah said to them,
“So when I have proportioned him (Adam) and breathed into him My soul, fall down before him in prostration.” (Quran 15:29, 38:72)
After giving life to Adam, Allah issued the command to the angels to prostrate before Adam,
“(Note) when We told the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam.’” (Quran 2:34, 17:61, 18:50, 20:116)
When Allah commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam, Satan (or Iblees in Arabic) was among them. The angels immediately prostrated, but Iblees refused (Quran 2:34, 20:116, 15:30-31). His first sin was disobeying Allah’s command of prostration. Iblees was never an angel (Quran 18:50); he was a jinn but lived among the angels. Instead of showing remorse and repenting for his behavior, Allah says,
“So they (the angels) prostrated themselves, except for Iblees, who refused, was arrogant, and (thus) became of the disbelievers.” (Quran 2:34)
Allah gave him a chance to repent; however, Iblees went deeper into disobedience and rebellion. To justify his arrogance, Satan said that he was better than Adam because fire is better than clay.
Allah expelled Iblees from Paradise as punishment.
Iblees recognized that he deserved immediate punishment for his outright disbelief and disobedience, but he requested that his punishment be postponed until Judgement Day. Allah granted his request for a great wisdom.
Iblees announced his evil plan to mislead humanity. He announced boastfully to Allah,
“(Iblees) said, ‘Because You have put me in error, I will surely lie in ambush for them (humans) along Your straight path. I will then surely assault them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, and You will find most of them ungrateful (to You).’” (Quran 7:16-17)
Iblees blamed Allah for his misfortune, even though Allah did not take away his freedom of choice. Allah’s wisdom dictated that Iblees be the trial ‘machine’ for human beings and he was given extraordinary powers over human beings, but it’s limitation is that he will not be able to subdue Allah’s true servants.
Allah permitted Iblees to pursue his plan. Once he has completed his evil scheme, he will abide in Hell with his followers from the jinn and human beings (Quran 7:18).
Adam and Hawwa in Paradise
Allah let Adam and Eve dwell in Paradise, the best residence. He gave them permission to enjoy its bounties without restriction. However, Allah prohibited them from eating one specific fruit,
“We said, ‘O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise, and eat therefrom in abundance from wherever you wish. But do not approach this very tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.’” (Quran 2:35)
Soon after Adam and Hawwa started living in Paradise, Satan unleashed his cunning deception on them. The two were innocent and did not know about lying and deception. Satan took a false oath by Allah and used their innocence to his advantage. Satan suggested to them that they could be like the angels or live eternally in Paradise. Adam and Hawwa were overcome with desire and fell into Satan’s trick and ate from the forbidden tree. As soon as they did, their private parts became exposed (Quran 2:36). An immediate outcome of disobedience is the stripping away of the spiritual clothing of taqwa, hence they were punished by losing the physical garments that covered their private parts.
They were punished by losing the physical garments that covered their private parts.
Satan first tempted Hawwa and then she convinced Adam to eat from the forbidden tree (based on report in Bukhari and Muslim).
After Satan seduced the couple to disobey Allah, they were expelled from Paradise to live on Earth, to be followed by death and resurrection.
As soon as Adam and Hawwa realized the graveness of their sin, they regretted it and wanted to repent to Allah. Their attitude towards their sin was completely different from that of Satan. Satan blamed his Lord for his disobedience and refused to show remorse or repent.
Allah showed them the way to repentance by teaching them specific words to express it. The words said by Adam and his wife were,
“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves and unless You grant us forgiveness and bestow Your mercy upon us, we will certainly be among the losers.” (Quran 7:23)
The best way to repent is to acknowledge sinning and wrongdoing. This is how Allah taught Adam and Hawwa to express their repentance.
Allah accepted their repentance and told them that humans must reside on Earth. Only those who act righteously will be allowed in Paradise.
