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PROPHET ADAM (a)
Dr. Haider Hussain Shamsi
THE CREATION OF ADAM
The most widely held belief about the
origin of Hazrat Adam (a) has been that Allah created
him from non-existence by His Will using the earth
materials. This did not involve the
biological processes of evolution or reproduction.
Allah created Man and Woman from clay in the form
and shape, the way they are today.
Any belief or controversy to the contrary is only a
speculation.
Different peoples in the world have
stories concerning the origin of Man, which point
towards the spontaneous arrival of the patriarch with
his family.
The Hindu believe that man's original
parents were Mahadev and Parwati and that they looked
like human beings, but were the image of Parinishwar
(God Himself). The Jews and the
Christians also believe that God created Adam in His own
image.
Most people believe that God has no
physical form, then how could He create Man in His own
image!
This riddle was solved by the last
Prophet of Islam when he said "Allah had created Adam
with His quality, not His form. "
Allah can be recognized by His qualities alone.
So the saying of the Prophet makes it clear that
the image of Allah refers to His qualities. The Prophet
further said "Adopt the qualities of Allah."
This becomes clear from the Qur'an where
Allah says that He created Adam on this earth as His
representative. A representative
follows orders. Only one who can
execute the orders properly can be a true representative
or vicegerent. Thus, according to the
Prophet, assuming the responsibilities of a worthy
representative requires the acquisition of the conduct
of the master. This, then is what is
metaphorically meant by "God created Man in His image."
ADAM, THE CALIPH OF
ALLAH
When Allah desired to create Adam He
addressed the angels and said that He was going to
create Man and appoint him as His representative on
earth. As soon as the creation was
accomplished and He had bestowed Adam with His spirit,
He told them to bow down in obedience to Adam.
The angels who considered themselves to be
superior to Adam on account of their closeness to the
Creator Himself, were surprised at this instruction to
bow down in obedience to a creature that was molded from
earth materials. They said to Allah,
"You are appointing a being as your vicegerent who would
bring unrest and blood shed on earth, whereas we, who
have been immersed in your worship were more deserving
to receive this honor.
Allah said to them that what was known
to Him could not be in their knowledge, and that Adam
was specifically suited for the position He had designed
for the earth. He offered them a
chance to compete in an open contest of knowledge and
wisdom with Adam. The angels failed
in the contest and Adam emerged superior to them in
knowledge and wisdom. All of them
except Iblis (Satan) obeyed Allah's commandment and
bowed down in obedience to Adam.
EBLIS & ADAM
It is said that before the creation of
Adam, the earth was inhabited by Jinn, a creation from
the elements of fire. They were
mutually disruptive and indulged in senseless bloodshed.
The angels had referered to their mischief.
Iblis was also a Jinn. He was
knowledgeable about matters of the earth.
By virtue of his devotion and service to Allah,
he had secured a high position in the Celectial
existence. Iblis had started living
with the angels. When Allah ordered
all of them to prostrate before Adam, he refused.
When asked why he had refused the divine
ordinance, he said that he was superior to Adam on
several counts. Firstly, his creation
came from finer elements. Secondly,
he had been in proximity to the Creator in direct
servitude. He had vast work
experience on the earth where the novice Adam was being
sent as a representative. He
contended that this was his coveted position and should
have been given to him instead to an undeserving
novice.
Allah rebuked and down graded Iblis for
his disobedience and told him to immediately remove
himself from His divine presence and his eternal abode
will be reserved in hell inferno.
Iblis said that Man was a poor choice for such an
important position. He said that he
would take every opprtunity to haul all mankind with him
to hell. He would like to be granted
eternal opportunity to test and tempt this
representative and prove that Man may not be such a
worthy khalifa.
Allah said that only He commands
eternity, but He will give him his desired opportunity
to the Time known only to Himself. He
said that His obedient servents will remain steadfast in
all his' tough tests and temptations throughout Time,
and prove that He created a wise and knowledgeable
khalifa on earth.
Allah warned Adam about the evil designs
of Iblis against him and his progeny throughout Time.
But He also assured that those that remain firm
in their faith on Truth shall be victorious and will
return to Him on the Day of Judgement for a Life of
Contentment in close proximity to the Creator. The Garden of Eden
Allah brought Adam to the Garden of Eden
and gave him education towards carrying out the intended
functions of Khalifa on Earth.
Allah created Eve from the substance of Adam as his
partner in life and gave them total freedom to enjoy the
benevolence of the Provider and Sustainer of Life with
prohibition only for a particular tree.
The two were not even to go near the tree let
alone to taste of its fruit.
Iblis saw his opportunity to tempt Adam
and Eve and invoke their curiosity to get closer to the
prohibited tree and taste its fruit.
No sooner they had done what had been prohibited by the
Lord, the Innocense of the Garden of Eden changed to the
reality of Life. They heard the voice
of their Lord calling. He reminded
them of the prohibition He had invoked, which they had
clearly transgressed. He reminded
them of the open enemosity of Iblis towards them.
They were to leave the Garden of Eden and make
their abode on the Earth till the end of a period of
Time known only to Him. The Almighty
said," There you will procreate of your kind in numbers
and will colonise the land provided, and eat and drink
from that you will procure from the bounties of your
Lord. This is where you will spend
your lives, and die, and be raised on the Day of
Judgement on your conduct on the Earth.
Beware of the damaging evil counsel of Iblis who
will continue to attempt rift between brethren, disrupt
your lives, cause death and destruction on Earth through
those who will listen to him. " Both
Adam and Eve felt sorry for what they had done, and
begged for their forgiveness. Allah
reminded them of their role in Life and said that they
will return to Him once again to enjoy His bounties in
paradise upon their successfully completing the mission
on the earth. Thus Adam descended to
the earth as a representative of Allah.
The Life and Progeny
of Adam
In the beginning, Adam had two sons from
Eve named Habeel (Abel) and Qabeel (Cane) followed by
Sheeth and others. It is said
that Adam lived for almost 930 years.
References:
al Qur'an: Surah Baqrah, Maidah, Aaraf, Hajj,
Bani Israel, Kahaf, Taha, Sabaa, Yaseen, Jinn and Hajrat.
THE STORY OF HABEEL AND
QAB
It is said that from their first
harvest, the two sons of Adam, Habeel and Qabeel, each
offered a sacrifice to Allah. The
offering of Habeel was accepted for his being " the
first among the muttaqeen (the God fearing).
" A fire descended from the heaven and consumed
the offering of Habeel. The offering
of Qabeel was spared. He thought that
his offering was rejected. This made
him jealous of Habeel and he murdered him.
Qabeel felt deep remourse over this act
and carried the dead body of his brother over his
shoulder, not knowing what to do with it.
Then he saw a crow burying a dead crow in the
ground. Qabeel followed suit and
buried his brother's dead body by digging a hole in the
ground.
This was the first criminal act on Earth
and it was caused by jealousy.
Jealousy is the root cause of many sins, including the
murder of fellow human beings. It
therefore behoves mankind to avoid this terrible emotion
which leads to a lot of sins.
References:
al Qur'an: Sura Maidah Note: The book "The Prophets of Islam" can be read online in the book section of this website. -Editor |
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