Lesson 1 - Prophet Aadam/ Adam AS ادم

Adam is the first prophet and the first messenger. Adam AS holds a unique and honoured position as the first human being created by Allah. He is the forefather of all humanity, signifying that there were no humans before him.

He is mentioned 25 times in 25 verses over 9 surahs in the Qur’an.

Evidence that Aadam is a Prophet

From Qur’an:

• Surah 20:122 - “Later his Lord brought him close, accepted his repentance, and guided him.”  The word guided means guidance as a Prophet and the few verses before this are referencing the story of Adam AS so this line is specific for Adam. 
• Surah 2:38 - We said: “Get you down from here, all of you, and guidance shall come to you from Me: then, whoever will follow My guidance need have no fear, nor shall they grieve.” - guidance shall come, meaning he will become a prophet on earth - the prophets are the guided one.
• Surah 3:33 - Indeed, Allah chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of ’Imrân above all people ˹of their time˺. - Allah chose Adam over other people - meaning prophets are above mankind.

Fom Sunnah:

• The Great Intercession Hadith - Hadith ash safa-ah al-uzma. This hadith references the day of resurrection where we will rush to all the Prophet and ask for them to intercede for us-  Adam will be one of them, the first one. Reference - Sahih al-Bukhari 7510 - Book 97, Hadith 135 and in Sahih Muslim 193e Book 1, Hadith 385
• Hadith where it says Aadam is the best among the prophets. (can’t find reference to this)
• Hadith on the night journey and when SAW goes up to the 7 heaven, he meets Aadam on level one. He had black dots on his right and left hand, he would weep when seeing the left hand and be happy when looking at the right hand. He was tall and described as perfect because he was directly created by Allah. Reference -  Sahih al-Bukhari 3342

Where can you find his story in the Quran?

• Surah 2:30-39 - see link
• Surah 7:11-25 - see link
• Surah 17:61-65 - see link
• Surah 20:115-126 - see link 
• Surah 15:26-44 - see link
• Surah 38:67-88 - see link

Prophet (Nabi) or Messenger (Rasool)? Both, he is referenced as a prophet and we know guidance was sent down to him which means he was a messenger following new law. 

Beginning of the creation

• His story starts from the beginning. Some argue Aadam was created at the time when Allah made and established the Arsh - the Throne. 
• Then he created the Kursi - the original meaning the foot stall. 
• Then he created the preserved tablet. 
• Then he created the Qalam - pen. The pen then wrote down everything - the concept of Qadr.
• Then Allah created the heavens and the earth in 6 days. Sun and moon  were not created at this point, so the concept of time and day is unknown. When Allah says 6 days - what is the measure of that day?  Each day is different for each planet.
• Then Allah created the Angels - made from light. Each Angel had a certain job, role and they were given a certain name - all ending with eel - meaning belongs to Allah. There are some angels made to stand and praise Allah, some are in Ruku, some are holding the throne. On the day of Judgement 8 will carry the throne. Angel’s are genderless, infallible and always obey Allah. They will not die - they will live until the day of judgement. They don’t eat or drink or feel tired. 
• After that, he created the hellfire and paradise.
• Then 2000 years before the creation of Aadam, Allah created 2 types of Jinns. They are made from fire - the blue part of the fire. There are male and female jinns. One is called Ak-Kum and the other Ar-Rum. Jinns will die, but they live longer than humans - maybe up to 1000 to 2000 years. Some are good and some are bad. You can’t see them and they can travel up through the universe. Allah gave them free will to obey or disobey. Their destiny, like humans, includes the potential to enter either Hell or Paradise. Allah created them on earth and sent them guidance, but we don’t know how that was. A tribe of Jinns attacked another tribe so Allah sent the Angels to fight the jinns. They killed some and put some of them on an island away from everyone.
• The angels saw a baby jinn and asked Allah to allow them to take this jinn and look after him in heaven. Allah gave them permission. This jinn was raised by the Angels and became pious. The angels gave him a title - a peacock of the angels. Azayzeel was his name. 
• Allah told the Angels that He is soon going to create a creation as Khalifa. Khalifa has 2 meanings; one who has power/authority, and the second meaning is successor. How a parent leaves children, and some die and the new generation grows - successor in that point.
• They asked Allah will you make those who make mischief and shed blood when we glorify you all the time. Allah said I know something that you do not know.
• Allah wanted to make this creation and this creation from earthly material. There are some narrations that Gibreel was sent to the earth to bring elements such as dust, rocks, earth from different parts of the earth and to bring it back to Allah.
• The earth spoke and said please don’t take anything from me, I seek refuge in Allah because if they (the creation) did wrong then it would bring shame on me (earth) so Gibreel didn’t take anything from the earth. 
• Allah sent Mika’il - same thing happened. Mika’il did not take 
• Allah sent another Angel (name has never been mentioned but some says Izra’il)  - same thing happened but the Angel said he was commanded to take so he took. He took things from different areas of the earth - he took sand, earth, stone, light stone, different colours and brought it back. Prophet Muhammed SAW says in Hadith about this - because people came with different moods and different colours. 
• Allah asked why he didn’t listen to the Earth, he replied that Allah’s command is more important than the earth. He was then given the role of being the Angel of death because he is tough and fulfilled the command of Allah. 
• Allah took this mixture, mixed it with water, he gave it a design and it was very similar to clay. A bit like pottery. Allah made the statue shape of Aadam and inside it was hollow.

Statute of Aadam

• The Statue of Aadam stood for 40 years. 
• The Angels would come and ponder about this creation. The baby jinn Azayzeel used to wonder why Allah created it. 
• Azayzeel felt jealous of this new creation. He went inside the statue and found it hollow, and went to the Angels and said it had a hole inside it and therefore it would be weak. Reference - Sahih Muslim 2611a
• After 40 years Allah put a soul inside the body of Aadam. The soul tried to enter the body, Allah told the soul to enter with some power - make some effort to enter and make some effort to leave the body. The soul entered from the eyes of Aadam and the last place it will leave from will also be the eyes. 
• Aadam opened his eyes, and started to look around and saw the throne of Allah.
• Allah had given him the ability to eat, Aadam saw what was written on the legs of the throne (bismillah), he looked around and saw fruit (grape) and he tried to walk to eat. Prophet Muhammed SAW mentioned that this is in the Quran - man is made in haste. 
• Aadams soul had not fully entered his body yet. When his creation was finished, Adam sneezed, and then Allah commanded him to say Alhamdulillah. The Angels replied May Allah have mercy on you Adam
• The first Adam ate was white grape from Jannah
• When he was finished, Allah commanded Aadam to go to the Angels and greet them (as-salaamu alaikum) and listen to their answer. 
• He came back to Allah and said they replied wa alaykum salaam - Allah said this is your greeting and the greetings of your offsprings until the day of judgement. (reference Sahih al-Bukhari 3326 - Book 60, Hadith 1)
• Allah told Aadam that he will live for 1000 years. Then Aadam questioned Him about something, he asked about offsprings. Allah told him to choose one of his 2 hands, Adam chose the right hand. Allah opened His hand, and Aadam saw his offsprings all the way to the day of judgement - billions. 
• Adam started looking at them, and he found among them that there are men who have light on their head or body, so he asked Allah about them. Allah replied that they will be the prophets of Allah.
• He noticed one particular person has a special light in between his eyes - Allah said this is Dawud AS. Adam asked how many years will he live, Allah replied 60 years. Adam asked Allah to give him more life to live, Allah said no but if you wish, I will take from your life and give to him. Adam said I accept. Allah asked how many years, he said give him 40 years. 
• Allah called the angels, and wrote up this contract. Allah signed it, Adam signed it and the angels were kept as witnesses.
• Adam separated the children of Adam - some on the right and some on the left. Right for heaven and left for hell.
• Adam noticed some of his offsprings had a disability, they are blind or paralysed. Adam asked why he chose to create some like this, Allah said I did this so they can appreciate the favours of Allah. 
• Adam was created on a Friday. In the Hadith - Prophet Muhammed SAW said the best of days is Friday because Adam was created on this day. References - Sahih Muslim 854a Book 7, Hadith 26
• On the day of judgement, people will enter paradise with Adam. Adam will be the only one with a beard, and the only who will be called by his Kuniya - he will be called Abu Muhammed.
• Allah has already created animals on earth, the earth was suitable for man to live on there.
• Allah told Adam the name of all the creations on earth. Allah taught him the mouse and the sound the mouse makes. 
• Allah taught him because Aadam was meant to go to earth. To deal with the things around you, you’ll need to know the names of those things.
• Then Allah called all the Angels and questioned all the Angels about all those creations. Angels said they do not know. We don’t have knowledge except for the knowledge that You teach us. 
• Allah brought the Angels and asked them to put a crown on Adam. Allah made a row of Angels and asked Adam to tell the angels about the creations. Adam answered all the questions. 
• The Angels were amazed by Adam and slowly started to understand the wisdom behind why Allah created Adam. 

Allah asked the Angels to prostrate to Aadam

There are 2 types of prostration - one which is to show respect and one which is for Allah in worship. This type of prostration was allowed, but it no longer was at the time of Muhammed SAW.

Examples - Story of Yusuf - he did sujood to his parents. There were people who tried to give sujood to Prophet Muhammed SAW and he said no, only do sujood to Allah.

• Allah commanded the Angels to do sujood to Aadam. All Angels prostrated and did not disobey. The only one who refused was Azayzeel.
• Allah asked Azayzeel why he refused to prostrate. He replied that he is better than Aadam because he created him for Fire and Aadam was created by earth.
• He was very arrogant, insisting that his decision was better than Allahs. He disobeyed and believed he was right. 
• His name became Iblis - the one who lost hope in mercy of Allah.
• He then turned ugly and got 2 horns on his sides, Allah cursed him and said he would never enter Paradise.
• Iblis was so angry at Aadam, so he said to Allah, give me time til the day of judgement. Allah gave him full life until judgement.
• Iblis then exposed his plan to Allah - that he would misguide people. He would come to the people from the right, left and behind and that you would not find the majority of them grateful to You. Notice up and down was not mentioned - this is the position of making dua
• Allah promised to put him in hellfire and anyone who follows him. 
• He was not allowed to enter Paradise but he was still in Jannah. 
• Aadam was in heaven, and he felt lonely. He was the only one eating, sleeping and going to the toilet - he felt lonely.

Creation of Hawwa

One day when Aadam was asleep, Allah took a part of him, his rib, and made someone similar to him. When Aadam woke, he saw this creation next to him. Aadam asked her “who are you?” and she said my name is Hawwa. He asked why she was created and she said that she was created for him. Reference - Sunan Ibn Majah 525

Description of Hawwa

• Some say the same height but the creation was different - it was female.
• She had different hair (long), different voice and a different appearance. 
• Prophet Muhammad SAW said to deal nicely with women -  because they were originally created by the rib. The rib is not straight, it's curved, if you try to straighten it then it would break. Sahih al-Bukhari 3331 - Book 60, Hadith 6
• Aadam spoke to Allah and asked if he could marry Hawwa and Allah said yes but you have to pay the mahr. 
• Mahr - I don’t know what i wrote here - please check this yourself.
• Angel came to Aadam to test him, they asked why her name was Hawwa. Aadam replied that Hawwa was created for someone alive and that’s why she has that name.
• Allah said to Aadam to remember his favour on him. 
• He showed Aadam and Hawwa Iblis and warned them about him and his tricks.
• They then entered paradise and said they could do anything they wished but there is one particular tree that you cannot eat from it. Try not to go close to it.
• They start their life in Paradise - he entered Paradise on a Friday. 
• Allah gave Aadam a choice to have free-will and he accepted, so Allah put inside Paradise a test. The test was the tree.

Temptation

• Aadam would look at the tree and wonder why he was forbidden to eat from this tree. 
• Iblis entered Jannah secretly and he went to Aadam and he pretended that he felt sorry for Aadam.
• Aadam asked him why he was screaming and shouting, He said that after Jannah he would die, Aadam said what should i do, he said i can lead you to a tree of eternity and you will have a kingdom that won’t finish
• He swore by Allah that if ate from the tree he would be eternal like the Angels. They then ate from the tree.
• Soon they realised, they lost their clothes of Paradise. They took the leaves and tried to cover their private parts.
• Allah asked him why he ate from the tree, Adam ran away. He asked him why he was running away, he said he couldn’t run away from Him, but he was running away because he felt shame because he disobeyed His command
• Allah asked him why he listened to Iblish, he replied that he swore by Allah and he didn’t believe that he would be a liar.
• Allah stay because you ate from the tree, you can’t stay in Paradise anymore. 
• They left on a Friday.
• Still in Jannah but outside Heaven

Aadam on earth

He cried so much. Allah taught Aadam certain words to seek forgiveness from Allah. 

Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers. (7:23)

Allah forgave Aadam but he was not allowed to stay in Jannah and so he was sent to Earth with Hawwa and ibis. Allah gave advice to Aadam, he gave him 3 things:

1. Worship and do not worship anything else with me. No Shirk (one thing for me)
2. As long as you make dua to me, I will respond (one thing between me and you)
3. Love for the other what you love for yourself (one thing between you and others)

• His name means surface of the earth because he was created from the earth. 
• Before he left, he asked Allah if he could take one thing from Paradise as a reminder. He saw a white pearl and took this with him. He already had a crown around his head, and this crown was made from the leaves of Paradise and then he was sent to the Earth

Location

• Which part of the Earth creates differences of opinion. The strongest opinion is that he was in India, in Kashmir. While he was walking around, the leaves from his crown dropped and created beautiful Kashmir. 
• Another opinion is that he was sent to Sri Lanka or around Makkah in Arabia somewhere.
• Wherever he was sent, he was commanded to go to Arabia to find Hawwa and she was sent to Arabia. Gibreel guided Aadam on his route.
• Shaytan was sent to an area in Iraq between Basra and Wassit

Aadam and Hawwa reunite near Makkah or in Makkah

• Allah commanded them to build Kaba. Evidence in the Quran - the first house of Allah was built in Makkah. This indicates it was built from the beginning
• Allah says Ibraheem and his son built on the foundation, so the foundations were originally built by Adam. Allah says we showed Ibraheem the place  - indicates it was already there. 
• Aadam built it similarly to the Kaba in the seventh heaven for the Angels. It has 2 doors, one door for entrance and the other door for exit. This shape was originally a rectangle. 
• When we do tawarf, we are imitating the Angels doing tawarf around the throne of Allah.
• Allah commanded Adam to put the white stone there - which has turned black. Why it turned black, we don’t know why or when it turned black
• The pearl is at one of the corners of the Ka’bah and this is where we start our tawarf.
• After some time, there was a distraction with the Kaaba. The white stone was taken to India or raised to heaven by Jibreel until the time of Ibrahim AS.
• Aadam became a prophet and messenger when he came to earth and so he needed to learn the shariah. 
• Allah wiped the back of Aadam and put all the offsprings of his to Arafat and took covenant from them. So Allah spoke to all of us, and we witnessed Him as our Lord. 
• The scholar says - Allah put inside us a certain feeling that there is a creator of this universe. By nature, you know there is a creator of the universe. 
• In Arafat spoke to all the prophets in the future and He made part of a covenant with them, if they were sent at the time of Prophet Muhammed SAW, they would support and follow him. (i don’t know what i wrote here)
• We don’t know where Aadam lived, he used to go Mecca to do Hajj and toward but we don’t know where he lived. There is a strong opinion that he lived in Iraq, in Shams or in India. He lived and Jibreel was sent by Allah to teach him how to grow things, collect things, etc. Allah says in Surah Iqra - Allah taught man what he did not know. 

Children of Aadam

• Hawwa would be pregnant with twins (a boy and girl). She gave birth to 20 twins. 
• According to the Shariah of Aadam, the brother was allowed to get married to his sister but not to his twin sister (sister born in his womb)
• Among the children of Aadam AS, we have Qabil and his twin sister Qabila, and the other set called Habil and his twin sister Leutha.
• Qabil was not a good, practising person and he felt a lot of jealousy towards others. He used to work as a farmer.
• Habil was the opposite, he was very practising, a lot stronger physically and he was very humble and he worked as a shepherd. 
• Qabil grew up and said he wanted to get married, so Aadam said okay marry Leutha but he didn’t want this because his twin sister was more beautiful. Aadam said this is not allowed and is haram.
• Qabil thought Aadam preferred Habil over him and Aadam said to find out who is better in the sight of Allah, we can ask Allah which one is better.
• Qabil asked how, so Aadam spoke to Allah and said how would we find which brother is better in your sight. So Allah said tell your sons to give me qurbani and I will decide who is better.
• Qurbani means anything that is charity. 
• They would bring something very valuable and place it in a certain place, and then Allah would send a fire and take it.
• Qabil went to his farm and picked the worst type of fruit, vegetable and put it in a basket and offered this.
• Habil was very generous and went to the best of his sheep, picked one big, fat, male sheep with a lot of meat and offered this.
• Aadam told both of the sons to place their Qurbani in a place and then Allah sent a fire to the Qurbani of Habil and left the rotten fruit/vegetable of Qabil - which means Allah rejected this.
• Aadam said to Qabil, that Allah preferred Habil over you. Qabil went a bit crazy, screaming at his brother and said by Allah, I will kill you. Habil was humble, and a lot stronger than Qabil, and he said even if you try to kill me, I'm not going to do anything against you because I am fearful of Allah.
• Qabil made a promise to kill Habil. Some time passed, and then one day he came to see his brother with all this hatred. He saw Habil sleeping, so he thought of this as his chance to kill him, because if he tried to fight with him, he knew his brother would beat him easily. Qabil looked around, he saw a big stone and threw it at his brother and killed him.
• This was the first crime that ever happened on earth. After Qabil killed his brother, he didn’t know what to do with the body. Allah sent 2 crows, these crows started fighting and one killed the other. The killer bird, digged the ground and buried the dead bird 
• When Qabil saw this, he started to cry, and buried his brother.
• Later on, we don’t know what happened as it’s not mentioned in the Quran. There is a story that he went to his father and cried, repented and Allah accepted his repentance. Another narration is that he became very stubborn, he took his twin sister, had children with her and then the children of Aadam were divided into 2 groups. The good group and the bad group. Some problems started to happen between the groups.
• We have hadith about Qabil and Habil, where Prophet Muhammed SAW says that whenever a crime happens, Qabil will take some shares of the sin because he was the first person who started murdering. Reference - Sahih al-Bukhari 3335 Book 60, Hadith 10
• The other children were okay, and after this time - Allah abrogated this rule and siblings could not marry.

Evidence of the the two sons story in Al-Quran is mentioned in Surah 5:27-31

Death of Aadam

• He lived to the age of 960, then the Angel of death came to him. Prophets will know when they are about to die, and already Allah told Aadam that he would die at the age of 1000 but he chose to give 40 years to Dawud AS. 
• When the angel of death came to him, Aadam said he still had time because Allah promised to take his life at 1000. The Angel wasn’t sure so he went back to Allah to tell him that Aadam said he had 40 years left and Allah had promised him that he will live to 1000, Allah said go back to Aadam and remind him that he gave 40 years to one of the children of Aadam - Dawud AS.
• The Angel came back to remind Aadam, he said sorry he didn’t remember so the angel of death went back to Allah.
• Allah brought the documents and proof (the contract that was signed) and all the Angels who witnessed this contract and told the angel of death to show Aadam. Aadam then remembered. This was narrated in a hadith which is why for that reason it is commanded that we write a contract and have witnesses in case someone forgets.
• Allah says in the Quran if you take money from anyone, write it down and bring witnesses. 
• So Allah let Aadam live to the age of 1000 and still gave 40 years to Dawud AS.
• At 1000, Adam became ill, and he said to his children that he was dying and he desired to have a grave. 
• The children searched to find a grave, they saw Angels carrying axes and shovels and asked the children of Adam where they were going. They said their father had passed now and to go back.
• They went back and the angels went with them. The angels then said to the children of Adam, watch us. The angels started to dig, they took the body of Adam, washed it and put a cloth around it and they prayed the salah of Janazah. They buried him, covered him with the earth and then told the children this is the proper way on how to bury people. 
• After one year Hawwa died as well.
• There are differences of opinions on where Aadam died, some say he died in Mecca, in Al quds, some say in India, some say in Iraq. It is not clear. (side note there is a discussion of 2 unmarked graves underground in Masjid Kalil in Hebron where Abraham is buried. Speculation is that these 2 graves are the graves of Adam and Hawwa)

We will meet with Aadam twice

• On the day of judgement we will stand under the sun, the distance being one mile. One mile in Arabic could mean distances or the distances between your eyebrow and eye. We will go to the prophets to intercede, we will go to Aadam and he will mention his mistake and tell us to go to another prophet
• Once all the sorting has been concluded on the day of judgement, people will be outside the gates of paradise and people will go to Aadam AS and ask him to talk to Allah and ask him to open the gate of paradise. Aadam will say sorry, i was the one who took you out of paradise and to  go to another prophet. 

Lesson from Aadam AS story

• Humans are honoured. 
• The end result of arrogance - Iblis was very arrogant, and this did not benefit him or honour him. He ended up cursed and will be in the hellfire forever. 
• Knowledge is part of the character of a human. It is our nature to seek knowledge as a human, especially as a muslim. Allah taught Aadam the names of everything and then the Angels were told to prostrate to him - knowledge is honour. 
• Because of jealousy the first sin happened in heaven (ibis was jealous of Aadam) and the first sin on earth (Qabil was jealous of his brother Habil and killed him), so try to stay away from this feeling. Do not wish bad things on your brothers and sisters, wish what they have without destroying their wealth. Don’t wish for them to lose their wealth. 
• One should refrain from sin. 

Side conversations

Jannah of Aadam, was this the real Jannah or another version?  There are 3 opinions

1. The Eternal Paradise 

• Allah talks about Paradise in the story of Aadam
• On the Day of Judgement, when our fate is decided, the gates of paradise will be closed. The people will ask Aadam to ask the Angels to open the gate so we can go inside. Aadam will reply that i was the one who took you outside of Paradise.

2. Paradise but not eternal

• Iblish was banished from Paradise so how did he secretly enter? He became Kafir and Kafir cannot enter Paradise so it must have been a different paradise. 
• Paradise of eternity is when you enter and will stay forever but Aadam was told to leave. 
• In the Paradise of eternity, you can do anything. Everything is halal. 
• Aadam used to sleep in Paradise and Prophet Muhammed SAW said that you won’t sleep in Paradise
• Quran says you will not hear a lie in Paradise - Iblis lied to Aadam in paradise.

3. A garden on earth - considered the weakest opinion

• In Arabic Jannah means a beautiful garden. In the Quran there is a story of the owners of the garden in Surah Kahf, the one who did not give to charity, so Allah destroyed his garden. 
• They say it was a beautiful garden, in a high place on earth. 
• They argued that Allah told the Angels that he made creation to be Khalifa on earth, so the garden was on earth. 

Adam came from no male and female, Hawwa came from Aadam, Esa came from only a female and majority come from both through birth

Next week - Prophet Idris AS