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THE PROPHET }DAM alaihis salaam








FIRST MAN AND FIRST PROPHET

Hazrat }dam (alaihis salaam) was the first human being to be created by Almighty Allah. (In Arabic his name is pronounced as AAdam, with a pull on the first A.) His name appears 25 times in the Glorious Quran. He was also the first Prophet sent by Allah into the world. The story of his creation and life on earth is as follows:



At first only Jinn inhabited the world. The Jinn are creatures that Allah made from smokeless fire and they are not visible to our eyes, but they can see us. They also have wives and children, and they too must live according to the religion of Islam. Among them you get good and bad jinn. Like us human beings, the good and pious jinn will go to Jannat, while the evil ones among them will be punished in the fire of Jahannum. The Final Messenger of Allah, Hazrat Muhammad Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) was a Messenger to mankind and to the Jinn.




Almighty Allah then decided to create man. He said to the Malaa-ikah (angels): "I intend creating a deputy (for Me) on earth." When the angels heard this, they remarked: "O Allah! Will you create in this world one who will cause mischief and bloodshed, while we are here to praise you and glorify you?" The angels said this because they had observed the Jinn causing havoc and corruption of earth. They therefore thought that man will be the same. Allah replied: "I know that which you do not know." Allah knew many future events which the Malaa-ika did not know. The above discussion between Allah and His Malaa-ika is narrated to us in Surah Baqarah, verse 30.



So Allah went ahead with his plan to create Nabi }dam (alaihi-salaam). He instructed the Angel Ezraa-eel (The Angel of Death) to go and collect sand from different parts of the earth. This sand was mixed together with water, thus producing mud. For some time rain fell on this mud, after which it turned into clay. This clay was left a while to harden. Thereafter the clay was fashioned into the form of a human body, and it remained like this for forty years. During this period the Malaa-ikah and Iblees would pass by and marvel at this new creation. Iblees had formed an opinion of this body, that it was weak and would be easily overcome. The height of Hazrat }dam’s body was 30 metres, according to the hadith shareef. Nabi Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said that as time passed the nations of the world grew shorter in size.



When Allah decided to instill the rooh (soul) into this body, He addressed the angels, saying: "When I have fashioned man (in proportion) and breathed into him from My Rooh (Soul) then you must fall down to him in prostration." (Surah Hijr, verse 29) This ~yat teaches us that the soul of man is actually from the very Soul of Allah. That is why Islam attaches so much importance to the rooh. Having instilled into the lifeless body of }dam the soul, all the angels made sajda to Hazrat }dam, in fulfilment of the Order of Allah, except Iblees.



SHAYTAAN



The original name of Iblees was Azaazeel. He belongs to a species of Jinn, but lived for long while in Jannat in the company of the angels. There he made continuous ibadat of Allah, and because of the knowledge which Allah had granted him, he became the teacher of the angels. However, he had developed one evil, hidden quality, and that was pride. It was because of this pride that he refused to bow down to Nabi }dam. He argued with Allah, saying: "I am better than him (}dam), for You created me from fire, and You created him from sand." Iblees reasoned falsely that since sand is greater than fire, he was better than Nabi }dam. In reality, sand is superior to fire, because it is an established fact that sand can extinguish fire, while fire is not able to burn sand.



Iblees not only disobeyed Allah’s command, he also tried to justify such disobedience through false reasoning. This drew the Anger of Almighty Allah and so Allah said to him: "So get out from jannat, for indeed you are rejected. And upon you shall be my curse until the Day of Resurrection." From that day onwards Azaazeel came to be called Shaytaan and Iblees, both meaning one who is cursed and far off from the Mercy of Allah. After this incident, Shaytaan asked Allah to grant him life till Qiyamat, so that he could mislead the progeny of Nabi }dam. He believed that it was through this new human being that Allah had cursed him, so to take revenge he vowed that he shall leave no stone unturned in leading the children of Nabi }dam astray and off the straight path. Allah granted him this wish for life till Qiyamat, but warned him that he would not be able to mislead the sincere ones, or those upon whom Allah has bestowed His Mercy.



HAZRAT }DAM IN JANNAT



Once Hazrat }dam came to life through the infusion of Rooh into his body, Allah sent him to greet the angels, and he said to them: "Assalaamu alaikum". They replied: "Wa alaikumus-salaam wa rahmatullah". Then Almighty Allah taught Nabi }dam the names of things that He had created. For example, he learnt words such as, sun, moon, water, wind, cup, saucer, spoon, knife, and other items that he was to use daily. All these names were given to him in Arabic. Our Great father }dam was therefore the first person to speak Arabic. He was also the first to speak Arabic on earth. Hazrat }dam lived in jannat in the company of the angels. Shaytan had already been expelled, so he lived no more in jannat.



HOWWAA alaihas-salaam



When Nabi }dam grew lonely in jannat, and expressed his wish to have a partner, Allah created his wife, Hazrat Howwa (alaihas-salaam). Hazrat }dam was overtaken with a brief slumber, and from his left rib Allah created Howwa. When he came back to his full senses, he saw a beautiful woman sitting next to him. Allah then performed a nikah (marriage) between }dam and Howwa (alaihimas-salaam), with the angels as witnesses.



THE FIRST TEST



Now Almighty Allah issued his first order to }dam, and this was to be the start of man’s test in this world. He said to Hazrat }dam and his wife: "O }dam, you and your wife must stay in jannat, and eat lavishly therein from wherever you wish. But, do not go near this tree, for then both of you will become wrongdoers." (Surah Baqarah, verse 35) The tree they were forbidden to eat was, according to most Ulema, the wheat plant. They obeyed Allah in this regard and refrained from eating of that tree. But Shaytaan had vowed to mislead mankind, and though he had been expelled from Jannat, he was always lurking close by looking for an opportunity to strike. One day he managed to sneak into Jannat. According to some reports, he transformed himself into a snake and slid into Jannat. Almighty Allah had granted Jinn the ability to transform themselves into the shapes of animals. Once inside he learnt that }dam and Howwaa (alaihimas-salaam) had been prohibited from eating a certain tree. Iblees now seized this chance to persuade Hazrat }dam and Howwa to disobey the command of Allah. He cast into their minds various thoughts, and made them believe that by eating from this tree they can obtain eternal life. Eventually they succumbed to the temptations of Shaytaan and partook of the tree that Allah had forbidden them to eat. Having done so, they immediately realised their error and were deeply regretful. They set about making taubah and repentance. Allah accepted their repentance, but instructed them to leave Jannat and go down to earth. So Hazrat }dam and Howwa too were expelled from Jannat, but their expulsion was a temporary suspension, while Iblees was doomed forever. They were to return one day to their original home, while Shaytaan was not going to even smell the fragrance of Jannat anymore. The reason for this difference is that Hazrat }dam and Hazrat Howwa (alaihimas-salaam) were regretful, they quickly admitted their error, and they repented. They never argued with Allah in order to justify their actions. But the accursed Devil never made taubah (repentance), was not regretful, nor prepared to admit his wrong. Almighty Allah says in The Quran: "Verily Allah loves those who repent." (Surah Baqarah, verse 222)



And so began human life on this earth. The expulsion of }dam and Howwa from Jannat was part of the plan of Allah to establish life on earth. Both of them were sent down into this world, but in different parts. Hazrat Howwa came down in the famous city Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. This city got its name from the Arabic word Jaddah meaning grandmother, a reference to Hazrat Howwaa (alaihas-salaam). Hazrat }dam descended somewhere in India. Allah sent Jibreel (alaihis-salaam) to guide them and eventually they met on the plains of Arafaat, a name that comes from the Arabic arafa, meaning to recognise. That was where they recognised each other.



Allah had sent with them some fruit and vegetables from Jannat to eat. The seeds of these foodstuffs were planted on earth, and that was how fruit and vegetables grew. Therefore, all crops that grow from the earth were originally from Jannat, but due to the atmosphere on earth as well as the sins of people, these heavenly crops lost their unique qualities. The foods of jannat do not decay, but on earth all foods are perishable.



Hazrat Jibreel (alaihis-salaam), upon the orders of Allah, taught Nabi }dam how to plow the earth, to plant seeds and water them and also how to reap the crops. Later on he was taught how to grind and crush the wheat to make flour and bread. In this manner Nabi }dam and Howwa (alaihimas-salaam) lived on earth and ate from the crops they planted. For them Allah caused everything to grow fast. If they planted crops in the morning, it would be ready for harvesting by the evening.



CHILDREN



The same principle applied to children. The period of gestation (development of a child in the mother’s womb) was very short. If Hazrat Howwa (alaihas-salaam) conceived in the morning, by the night she would give birth. And she always gave birth to twins - a girl and a boy. One set of twins was born in the morning, and another would be born at night. The growth of children would also take place within one day. In order to start the development of families on earth Allah had commanded that the boy who was born in the morning must marry the girl who was born at night, and vice versa. In this way, families were created and life began to spread on earth.



THE KA’BA SHAREEF



Hazrat }dam (alaihis-salaam) built the Ka’ba in Makka with the help of Hazrat Jibreel (alaihis-salaam) who also showed him the method of making tawaaf and the basic practices of Hajj.



HAABEEL AND QAABEEL



The first children to be born to Nabi }dam (alaihis-salaam) were Haabeel and Qaabeel. They grew up and became involved in the farming that their Great Father had started on this earth. Then one day Allah requested them to offer sacrifices unto Allah. Haabeel sacrificed a ram (male sheep) for Allah, while his brother offered some of the crops of his farm. In those early days the law was that each person should place his offering in an open field. If the sacrifice or offering was accepted by Allah, a fire would come down from the sky and burn out the sacrifice. This was a sign that it had been accepted by Allah, otherwise not. So when the two brothers placed their respective sacrifices in the open field, a fire came down and consumed the sacrificed ram of Haabeel. Qaabeel was overtaken with a strong feeling of jealousy, because his sacrifice was rejected and his brother’s was accepted. The jealousy increased, and then turned into hatred. The next day, he confronted his brother with this issue, and in a fit of anger he struck and killed him. This was the first murder committed in this world, and Allah declared that for every murder committed thereafter on this earth, part of its blame will be shouldered by Qaabeel, the killer of Haabeel.



Having committed this crime, he was now filled with tremendous remorse over his deed. On top of it, he was faced with the problem of how to hide the corpse of his brother. Then Allah sent a crow, which began digging a hole in the ground to bury the body of another crow that had died. Qaabeel watched this in amazement and realised that in order to hide the body of his dead brother, he had to dig a hole, place the body inside it, and then cover up the hole. He did this, and thus occurred the first burial on this earth. Needless to say, Hazrat }dam (alaihis-salaam) was greatly saddened at the behaviour of his son in causing the death of his brother. For this sin of his, Qaabeel was punished in this world with a severe illness that caused spasms in his limbs and his legs would bend and shrink. He died soon thereafter.



OTHER CHILDREN OF NABI }DAM



Hazrat }dam (alaihis-salaam) had many children, the famous among them besides the above two, was Hazrat Sheeth (alaihis-salaam), who was also a Nabi. Allah had revealed to him 50 suhuf (scrolls) out of the 104 mentioned earlier. While he was still alive Hazrat }dam had seen several generations of offspring, such as grand-children, great, grand-children, great, great, grand-children, and so forth. Among these one was Adnaan, from whose offspring came the Final Messenger of Allah, Muhammad Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam).



THE DEATH OF NABI }DAM



When the time arrived for Nabi }dam (alaihis-salaam) to leave this dunya, he made a wasiyyat (parting advice) to his son Hazrat Sheeth (alaihis-salaam). He taught him the times of the day and the ibadat to perform during those times. He also informed him of the great flood that was to strike this world in the time of Nabi Nooh (alaihis-salaam).



The Angels gave ghusl and kafan to Hazrat }dam, dug his grave, performed his janaaza salah and buried him. This they did so that his children could learn the proper method of burying their dead ones. At the time of his death Nabi }dam was about 940 years of age. The Muslim historians differ as to the place where he was buried. Some say he was buried in India, at the exact spot where he descended from Jannat. Others say he lies buried on Mt. Abu Qubais in Makka, while another group maintain he has been buried in Jerusalem. Hazrat Howwa (alaihas-salaam) died exactly a year later and was buried alongside Hazrat }dam. The world mourned the death of Nabi }dam (alaihis-salaam) for one week.