STORY OF ADAM THE PROPHET

STORY OF ADAM THE PROPHET

The Holy Quran says: Your Guardian-Lord is Almighty God, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days (sittati ayyamin), and is firmly established on the throne (of authority): He draweth the night as a veil over the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession: He created the sun, the moon, and the stars, (all) governed by laws under His command. Is it not His to create and to govern? Blessed be Almighty God, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds! (7:54)

Almighty God created the universe millions of years ago by saying ‘Kun’ (be). Then created this earth and made mountains to balance it. Then brought to the earth all that needed for the sustenance of the people who dwell in it. Then covered the earth with its environment, the Sun and the Moon as appointed. Then He created angels to praise His glory from light and the Jinn from fire. The earth was not the same as it is today. It was basically water. Waves were rough. The wind blew strongly. Volcanoes were ablaze. Huge meteors attacked the earth. Then life developed gradually. Animals like reptiles and amphibians appeared on the surface of the earth. Dinosaurs of various kinds appeared, too. From time to time, ice covered the earth. So, plants and animals died. New kinds replaced them. From time to time, the ice melted, thus life returned to the earth again. Almighty God took earth from heights, plains, salt marshes, and fertile land. He mixed the earth with water, so the earth became special clay with solid molecules. From that clay, God, the Glorified, created a shape like man and the water steamed. The man-like shape became as solid as the stone. The

wind was whistling through it. That shape remained sleeping for a long time. Nobody knows the

length of time except God, the glorified.

Azazeel: Also known as Iblis. He used to pray a lot and even used to give lectures to the angels. One day there was a notice in the heavens which said that someone was going to be ordered out of the heavens. All the angels were very worried because they thought it might be one of them. They went to Angel Gabriel (Gibraeel) who was one of the most important angels to ask him whether he could do anything. Gabriel said he too was worried because it might be himself. Gabriel suggested that they go to Azazeel because he was very clever.

Azazeel told them not to worry at all for he would pray to God for all of them. He forgot himself thinking

he was the best and it could never be him. Because he had pride (Kibr). Then Almighty God willed to appoint a representative or vicegerent on earth (higher in rank than angels). So He talked it over with the angels. The angels said: “Do You wish to have a representative on the earth to cause corruption and commit murder there while we always extol You.” The angels said this because they had seen the Jinn act in this way on the earth. However, a few of the Jinn were very pious and some like Azazeel or Iblis used to worship God with the angels. Almighty God replied to satisfy them: “I know something of which you are not aware.”

At a moment of divine favor and mercy, Almighty God breathed a bit of Heavenly Soul into the clay statue. The statue sneezed and said: “All praise is to Almighty God (Al-hamdolillah).” The spirit crept into Adam. He breathed, opened his eyes, and moved his hands and legs. He became a perfect human being of flawless

beauty.

Then the angels were all ordered to prostrate (Sajdah) before Adam. They all did so, except the Jinn Iblis. The Almighty asked him: “What prevented you from prostrating before Adam, to whom I created with My hands? (38:75)” Iblis replied, “I’m superior to him. You have made me from the fire and Adam from the mud. Thus I shall never obey him.”

As we can see, Iblis was only looking at the outside and not the inside and more important, He disobeyed Almighty God. It was clear that by refusing the orders of God and adopting an attitude of arrogance and impudence and showing the first seed of rebellion against God, his sin was the greatest of all and he was immediately dropped to the rank of an infidel (Kafir) and ordered out of heaven. This way, Iblis’s jealousy deprived him from Almighty God’s perpetual blessings and he was thereafter deserted and cursed by Almighty God to become “Satan (Shaitaan)”, the Devil (Lucifer). 

Sajdah (Prostrate/Submission): It is an action that exhibits highest degree of humility from a creature towards his Creator - the Almighty. During the process of Sajdah, man acknowledges that his creation, return and coming back to life is related to dust. Man therefore is nothing but an inferior creature in front of the Almighty.

Sajdah is a physical action, which gets the soul of a servant closer to the Almighty. “Perform the Sajdah and get closer to Me.” (96:19) Prolonging the Sajdahs reminds the Satan about his disobedience to the Almighty and the reason for his banishment from Paradise.

Imam Sadiq (pbuh) said: “Indeed when a servant prolongs his Sajdah in a manner that no one sees him, Satan says: Woe unto me! They are obedient and I disobeyed; they prostrated and I refused.” Hence Sajdah of a creature is meant for Almighty God only. Above the word ‘Sajdah’ conveys the meaning of obeisance or respect to Adam in whose seed the lights of Divine Glory were to be manifested. After being cursed and sent away from Almighty God’s Divine portal, Satan hopelessly begged Almighty God to give him time to be alive until the Resurrection Day or Judgment Day (Qiyamat) and the Almighty God accepted Satan’s request and let him live till that specified day.

Then Satan asked three questions: (1.) Where will I live? (2.) Where will I eat? (3.) Where will I sleep? Almighty God told him that he, Satan would live with the person who did not say: Bism illah ir man ir raheem (In the name of God, the beneficent the merciful) before he/she entered his/her house. Satan would eat with the person who did not say: Bism illah ir rahman ir raheem (In the name of God, the beneficent the merciful) before he/she started to eat.

Satan would sleep with the person who did not say: Bism illah ir rahman ir raheem (In the name of God, the beneficent the merciful) before he/she went to sleep. Instead of being grateful to God, Satan said: “Now that You have driven me away from Your Divine portal, I shall be waiting for any opportunity to mislead Adam and for doing so I will attack him and his generation from all sides. Now it’s time You come to notice that most of them won’t be thankful to You.”

But hold this firmly and understand this properly: all your actions of turning good people from the right path would further add to your sins and consequently enhance your punishment. I will see that all those who follow you shall go to the eternal damnation of hellfire (Dozakh). Then Almighty God warned Adam and his generation of the fact that Satan is their open enemy and they shall be careful not to deviate from the right path and accordingly get miserable and sinful on the earth. After that Almighty God taught Adam His Divine attributes as well as some secrets and realities unknown to other creatures [The words taught to Adam were the names of the Holy Five (Panjatane- Pak). The Holy Prophet Muhammad his cousin and son-in-law Imam Ali, his daughter Fatima and his sons (i.e. grandsons) Imam Hassan and Imam Hussain (Peace be upon them all)]. Almighty God then turned to the angels and asked them to recite some of these attributes, if they knew any of them.  The angels said: “You are glorified and exempted from all the evil, and we have no knowledge but for what You have taught us. And truly You are the Knower and the Wise.” Adam required many things to continue his life and the Divine Will had put some potential and desires into him which were a part of his instinct and hidden somewhere inside him. On the other hand, the sole purpose of creation was not just bringing Adam “The father of Mankind” to the world but Almighty God has also wished to create other generations of mankind through the creation of Adam. To achieve this goal, the Almighty God then needed another creature of the same kind to be a proper couple for Adam, so that together they can produce human generation in the world. In this way Eve (Hawwa) was created to serve as Adam’s spouse.

According to Almighty God’s will they were settled in Paradise temporarily and fed themselves with abundant heavenly fruits.

But they were ordered not to touch a certain tree for otherwise, they would be considered evil and cursed. Satan could not bear to see how happy Adam and Eve were in Heaven or Paradise (Jannat). He blamed Adam for his bad luck and wanted revenge. His jealousy made him decide to mislead Adam into making a mistake. Hence, Satan was waiting for an opportunity to deceive Adam and Eve. Although Satan was not allowed to live in Heaven anymore, he had not been stopped from visiting. 

One day he entered the Heaven and started talking to Prophet Adam. He pretended to be his friend and when he had convinced Prophet Adam that he meant him no harm, he said, “Did you know that you have been kept away from the best thing in Heaven? If you eat the fruit of that tree you will remain in Heaven forever or you can even become angels.” This was the beginning of the story of deception and cheating. Once Satan enters into the hearts of man as a sincere friend to know his weakness or his hidden desires, he exploits that person to the full. Adam was after all a human being. He had everything in Paradise for his enjoyment and satisfaction. But one thing was curiously burning inside him: Why has God forbidden him to go near that tree or enjoy its fruit?

When Prophet Adam and Eve heard these words they remembered God’s command to stay away from that tree and they became frightened. But Satan was very clever and he swore by the Name of God that he was their real friend and he would not tell them something that would harm them. 

Prophet Adam and Eve had never heard a lie before and because Satan swore by God, they believed him. Satan finally succeeded in tempting them to eat the fruit which he brought from the forbidden tree [This act is called ‘Tark-e-Awla’ (leaving the better work for a less desirable thing), but not a sin].  At that moment, a wonderful event occurred. The clothes of the garden disappeared, and they became naked and hid themselves in with wide leaves of fig and banana tree. Having done this they got quite remorseful of what they did. Both of them told God how sorry they were & begged for his forgiveness. The Almighty God accepted their repentance (7:23) but Adan and Eve could not enjoy the life of ease and comfort in Paradise and from then on Adam, Eve and their generation were destined to live on the earth with all its difficulties, hardship and tried to survive. All this was meant to redound to Adam’s own advantage, for he was to be raised to a higher position in Almighty’s grace. We must keep in mind that Adam was created to represent Almighty God on earth as His Vicegerent and not to remain in the Paradise enjoying the life of ease and comfort. It was the original plan that Adam should live and die on earth.

When a man commits a sin (i.e., an offense, from the Shariah point of view) he is given a punishment. Then if he repents and his repentance is accepted, the punishment is completely waived off, and he is returned to his previous position as through he had not committed the sin at all. If Adam and his wife were guilty of such a sin, they should have been returned to their place in the Paradise soon after repentance was accepted. But they were not returned to the Paradise which shows that the prohibition did not have the force of an ordained law, it was only an advice. Neglecting it had its natural effect on both of them and they had to come out of the Paradise.

The removal from Paradise was not a punishment for any crime or sin; it was the natural consequence of the wrong they had done against their own selves. Since, Adam (Safvatullah) was ordained to give a new  significance to the life on earth; this mission could not have been fulfilled, had he not fallen out of the paradise.

Adam landed on the top of a Mountain in Sarandib. Eve landed on Marwa Mountain in Makkah. Satan

landed in the lowest land. Thus, human life started on the face of the earth, and the conflict between man and Satan began.

Almighty God taught them that there were two paths in life. One is the path of obedience to God which leads to faith, happiness and Heaven and the other path is that of the sinner’s the followers of Satan which leads to infidelity, sorrow and Hellfire. 

He also warned them that Satan would always try to make them and their children take the second path and that he was their enemy. The choice would have to be made by the children of Adam themselves. Which path to choose; the path of salvation or the path of damnation? Prophet Adam raised his hands in prayer (dua) saying, “O God! Satan was able to deceive me, what defense does my progeny have?” Prophet Adam was praying for all mankind who are his progeny. God replied, “O Adam! I have given them the following: 

1. If they have a bad intention but do not commit the act, I will not record it.

2. If they commit a bad deed I will record one sin for them.

3. If they do a good deed, I will reward them ten virtues (thawabs) for them.

4. If they have a good intention, I will reward them for it.”

Prophet Adam requested more defenses from God. God said, “O Adam! The door of repentance (tawba) is always open and I always accept the sincere repentance of my servant.”