Wednesday 2 September 2020

Creation of Adam (Part 2)

باسمك اللهم
وصلاتك وسلامك على نبيك وعبدك محمد
وعلى آله وازواجه وذريته

Allah Holy and Exalted is He says:

إِنَّ اللهَ اصْطَفَىٰ آدَمَ
Verily, Allah chose Adam
(3:33)
The act of choosing means to select someone as being the best or most appropriate of two or more alternatives. The presence of alternatives is therefore understood. Likewise, Allah Holy and Exalted is He mentions:

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
And 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.
(2:30)

The question of the Angels could only have arisen as a consequence of their observation of pre-Adamic humans. When Allah announced His intention to select Adam, the prototypical man, the Angels questioned this, because they were already familiar with the species of Adam. The latter stands out from the pre-Adamic humans in that he was chosen by Allah, Who breathed into him of the Spirit, thus animating him as a composite, spiritual being, whereas the pre-Adamic humans were purely animal beings.

4 comments:

  1. How do you know it was from a pre-Adamic humans? It could also have happened that Allah had given only some knowledge of the children of Adam to angels, but not all of it, without the angels having witnessed humans themselves.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is possible, although the sequence described in the Quran passage does not immediately lend credence to such an interpretation, because Allah first announces He is going to make a Khalifah on the Earth and that is the only information that is established with the knowledge of the Angels before Adam’s actual creation.

      Delete
  2. How is your interpretation more correct? Allah might have caused some knowledge of what a khalifa is to be communicated to the angels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are many arguments for why my interpretation is more correct. It accords more with scientific discovery and observable truth, such as evolution, the fossil record, and so forth.

      Delete

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