By: Allama Mohammed Shihabuddin Nadvi

Sons of Adam
Allah will address every human being on the Resurrection Day as “O son of Adam” which is also a proof that Adam was the first man. A Hadith says that Allah will address the people like:

Woe unto you, O son of Adam! How deceitful you are.14

In another Hadith too a similar style has been adopted:

Adam’s son puts me to inconvenience in that he abuses the time, hardly realising that the time is nothing but myself.15

Every son of Adam is sinful and the best of the sinners are those who do repent.16

The fire consumes the sons of Adam, except for the callouses produced by the prostration.17

These and many other such Ahadith serve as pointers to the fact that Prophet Muhammad made those clarifications not on his own but on Allah’s behalf.

Daughters of Adam
Similarly the women have been addressed as Banatu Adam (daughters of Adam). For example, the menstrual cycle of women has been referred as:

This is a predestined affair which has been fixed for the daughters of Adam.18

You are one among the daughters of Adam. Allah has predestined for you, what He has predestined for others.19

Stature of Heaven-Dwellers Similar to that of Adam
Study of various Ahadith reveals unique facts about evolution, which go to contradict it fully. One among them informs us that Prophet Adam had a tall stature i.e., equivalent to 60 arms in measurement. One such Hadith says that:

“When Allah created Adam, he was very tall measuring 60 arms. Allah asked him to salute the angels and note their replies. Adam greeted them with “Assalamu Alaikum”. The angels replied “Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah”. So they added Rahmatullah. So all those who will be entering the heaven will have stature similar to Adam. Thereafter gradual degradation of the height took place in subsequent generations.20

This Hadith, occurs with a little difference in Sahih Muslim too. A piece from it is like this:

Everyone who will enter the heaven will have facial features similar to Adam. He will be as tall as 60 arms.21

But archeological evidence so far discovered does not support any extraordinary height of man from previous ages. The noted interpreter of Sahih Bukhari, Ibne Hajr points out that even the archeological excavations of the people of Thamud did not indicate anything extraordinary in their stature. He further writes that the period between Adam and Thamud was shorter than the one between Thamud and Prophet Muhammad.22

For this author the only possible explanation will be that Adam had this height when he was in the heaven and it might have been shortened once he came down to the earth. Though a few references of second or third grade could be found to this effect, they are not without exaggeration. Even Hafiz Ibne Hajr has rejected one of these references. It has been related by Abdur Razzaque like this:

When Adam descended on the earth, his feet were on the ground while head was in the skies. Allah reduced his height to 60-arms.

Ibne Hajr comments that Adam was very tall from the beginning itself while he was only 60-arms to normal human stature. Some support is available for this from Hadith itself.23

For example, the Sahih Muslim says that every person from the earth who will deserve heaven will be admitted there with a stature as tall as 60 arms. It could be therefore assumed that this height will be an identification for entry into the heavens, perhaps it is a divine wish to raise all entrants to heaven in the original form of Prophet Adam and all of them with uniform stature. However two facts emerge out of this discussion for our pondering.

1. When one accepts that Adam was born in the Heavens, the question of evolution does not arise. The concept dies by itself.
2. Some “scholars” however try to prove that the reference to heaven is in fact the “heavenly atmosphere of earth”. In such an assertion is concealed their desire to show Adam as an outcome of evolution. Thus they bring about compatibility between the Qur’an and evolution. But the question is which might be the species that evolved an Adam with a stature of 60 feet height? Was there any such species of Hominidae family capable of doing it? Whether fossil records bear witness to it, be it Ramapithecus or Australopithecus, or Homo erectus or Homo sapiens or Neanderthal or Cro-Magnon men?
   
   So only two alternatives remain. Either have faith in the Hadith, the most authentic source of knowledge next to Qur’an and reject the theory of evolution or reject the Hadith and risk your faith. One has the freedom to opt any of these alternatives.
   
   Message to the Mankind
   A few points from the creation of Adam are significant as Adam’s creation took place amidst a bevy of angels who witnessed the spectacle. Secondly Adam greeted the angels with ‘Assalamu Alaikum’ soon after his creation. This shows that Adam was created as a matured adult and learnt the manners attendant of a civilised life soon after the creation. The manner of salutation became the foundation stone of the Shariah which continues even this day. It heralded an era of peace for the earth and its inhabitants.
   
   The significance of these events cannot be missed. And the fact that Adam was blessed with the faculty of speech right from the day of creation is another evidence for the special creation of Adam by Allah. This fact also goes a long way in contradicting the evolution theory.
   
   The Early Pledge
   In the last few pages several evidences in support of Adam’s fatherhood of man have been cited. A pledge had been obtained from the entire humanity much before the creation. A Musnad Ahmed Hadith interprets it in the following sentences:
   
   It is reported by Uby bin Ka’ab that he interpreted the verse (And when your Lord raised the sons of Adam from their loins and held them witness on themselves) in the following way: Allah gathered the souls of the entire mankind, shaped them into their forms and endowed them with speech. And then Allah asked them to take a pledge and made them witness over themselves. He asked: “Am I not your Sustainer?” Then He reminded them that there was none worthy of worship but He (Allah). He admonished them against making partners with Him and assured them of continuous dispatch of messengers, who will convey them the divine message and books. All the gathered souls testified that there was none worthy of worship but Allah and that he alone was their Sustainer.24
   
   There cannot be an escape from this commitment by an individual merely because an individual does not remember this incident. Allah has made alternative arrangements to remind this early pledge by sending prophets and scriptures from time to time who administer course corrections. No age has been spared of this arrangement. The Qur’an is amidst us to carry out this task. However the modern age has an additional arrangement by way of confirming the divine message through natural phenomena, and scientific discoveries. The new biological and psychological facts are constantly reaffirming the spiritual and divine message while negating materialism. The Qur’an characterizes the situation in the following verses:
   
   As also in your own selves (are Signs of Allah); Will ye not then see? (Qur’an, 51:21)
   
   The verse unfolds vast meanings. Therefore Allah demands that man should accept the existence of a supreme being on which an individual’s physical, biological, psychological and mental systems stand witness. It is not an outdated necessity but the urge of the modern age. By denying this, man is damaging his own interest:
   
   So set thou thy face steadily and truly to the Faith; (establish) Allah’s handiwork according to the pattern on which He has made mankind: no change (let there be) in the work (wrought) by Allah: that is the standard Religion: but most among mankind understand not. (Qur’an, 30:30)
   
   According to Mohammed Ahmed Ghumravi, this verse not only assigns Islam the status of the Religion of Nature but categorically enunciates that all creatures including man are the handiwork of Allah alone. This is a masterly interpretation which encompasses all departments of human life, thoughts, sentiments and logic and is equally applicable on all nations, tribes, families, groups and persons. The verse also effectively demolishes the theory of evolution.25
   
   Obviously the common traits in human beings, uniform biological and psychological features provide the incontrovertible proof of a common governor of the system which is essentially divine. They look like made out of the same factory and know no evolution. So all these must be enough proof that man cannot escape the “Natural Determinism” and that human nature is completely alien to evolution. No person, however great scholar he might be, cannot deny this. The manifestations of the nature are too obvious to be ignored.
   
   Another Hadith also confirms the creation from Adam theory:
   Allah will enquire from an individual who will be receiving the lightest punishment in the hell as to whether he would pay everything that was with him in this world in compensation to free himself from the hell.
   
   He would reply: Yes! Why not?
   
   Allah then would say that much more lighter were his requirements in his previous life: While you are still part of Adam I had asked you not to make partners with me. But you did not agree and persisted with polytheism.26
   
   All these arguments conclusively exhort that all men were latently present in the “Backbone of Adam”.
   
   Adam’s Special Creation
   A few Ahadith related from Prophet Muhammad refer to special creation from dust:
   
   According to the Book of Destiny I am Allah’s servant and seal of prophethood since the day Adam was still in the damp clay.27
   
   I am the seal over the series of prophets while Adam was still lying in the wet mud.28
   
   Companions of Prophet Muhammad once asked him: “When were you conferred with the prophethood?” He replied that he was conferred with it while Adam was between soul and body.29
   
   These Ahadith reveal two facts: first that Adam was the first representative of humanity and second that it throws light over his special creation. A short explanation of it is available in the Qur’an also.
   
   The Hadith uses the term “Teen” instead of “Turab” (dust) which applies to a heap of “kneaded clay” indicating that this constituted a stage in the creation of Adam.
   
   It should be clear that the Qur’an uses the term “Teen”.
   
   Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I am about to create man from clay’. (Qur’an, 38:71)
   
   Them have We created out of a sticky clay. (Qur’an, 37:11)
   
   The term “Teen” stands for a mixture of mud and water or clay and has been used a dozen times in the Qur’an. “Teen” means kneaded clay while “Teena” stands for a piece or section of kneaded clay.30
   
   So Adam’s creation passed through three different stages.
   
   He created him from dust. (Qur’an, 3:59)
   
   He began the creation of man with clay. (Qur’an, 32:7)
   
   I am about to create man, from sounding clay from mud moulded into shape. (Qur’an, 15:28)
   
   Then the Hadith mentioning Adam “between soul and body” clearly shows that initially the outer frame of Adam was cast from clay and it was awaiting blowing of spirit into it. This throws light on the various stages involved into Adam’s creation.
   
   Adam’s Creation: A Divine Miracle
   Adam was not born out of some other creature. He was a divine and metaphysical creation. He was at once created as a “man” and without parents. It was a miracle by Allah.
   
   The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: ‘Be’: and he was. The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who doubt. (Qur’an, 3:59-60)
   
   Here, an analogy has been drawn between the birth of Jesus and Adam and the Christian belief of Jesus being son of God is being proved illogical as Adam’s creation was much more miraculous than that of Christ. Scholar Badruddin Zarkashi has explained various styles of analogy in his book Al-Burhan fi Uloomil Qur’an (Vol. 3, P.426)
   
   Imam Ibne Thaimiyah too holds Adam’s creation to be much more miraculous as he was raised without a father and mother while his wife Hawwa (Eve) was created out of her husband’s rib. And Jesus was created only out of mother. So Adam’s creation is more bizarre than that of the Jesus and Eve.31
   
   So there can be four possible forms of creation:
   1. Those created without father and mother e.g., Adam.
   2. Those created out of parents e.g., Offspring of Adam.
   3. Those created only out of father e.g., Hawwa (Eve).
   4. Those created only out of mother e.g., Isa (Jesus).32
   
   However the nature is beyond comprehension of man in its entirety. This is why the science is unable to claim total knowledge of the natural phenomena. Even in matter of the minuscule protoplasm, all mysteries remain to be uncovered. The life is itself a divine mystery. None can fathom it. So one has to have faith in the Almighty Allah.
   
   The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who doubt. (Qur’an, 3:60)
   
   Referneces:

14. Sahih Bukhari, “Kitabul Tauhid”, 24, Vol. 8, P. 180.
15. Ibid., “Kitabut Tafseer”, 45.
16. Jamiut Tirmizi, “Abwabul Qiyamah”, 49.
17. Sahih Muslim, “Kitabul Iman” 99, Vol. 1, P. 165; Ibne Maja, “Abwaabuz Zuhd”, Chap: Sifatun Naar.
18. Sahih Muslim, “Kitabul Haj”, 136, Vol. 2, P. 881.
19. Sahih Bukhari, “Kitabul Haj” 33, Vol. 2, P. 150.
20. Ibid., “Kitabul Anbia” 1, Vol. 4, P. 102.
21. Sahih Muslim, “Kitabul Jannah”, 28, Vol. 4, P. 2184.
22. Fathul Bari, Riyadh, Vol. 6, P. 367.
23. Ibid.
24. Musnad Ahmed Bin Hambal, Beirut, Vol. 5, P. 135.
25. Ghumravi, Muhammed Ahmed, Al-Islam fi Asril Ilm, Egypt, P.22.
26. Sahih Bukhari, “Kitabul Anbia”, 1, Vol. 4. P. 140.
27. Musnad Ahmed Bin Hambal, Vol. 4, P. 128.
28. Ali Al-Muttaqi, Kanzul Ummal, Hyderabad, Vol.12, P. 52.
29. Jamiut Tirmizi, “Manaqib”, Hadith 3609, Vol. 5, P. 585.
30. Lisanul Arab, Beirut, Vol. 13, P. 270.
31. Aljawabus Sahih Liman Baddala Dinal Masih, Vol. 2, P.294.
32. Ibne Daiba, Hadaiqul Anwaar, Qatar, Vol. 2, P. 711.