Al-Huda
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Newsletter for July 2017
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Prophet Adam (as)
English Translation by
THE CREATION OF ADAM
The most widely held belief about the
origin of Adam has been that
Allah created him from
non-existence by His Will using
the earth materials. This did not involve the biological processes of evolution or
reproduction. Allah created Man and Woman from clay in the form and shape, the
way they are today. Any belief or controversy to the contrary is only a speculation.
Different peoples in the world have
stories concerning the origin of
Man, which point towards the
spontaneous arrival of the
patriarch with his family.
The Hindu believe that man's original
parents were Mahadev and Parwati
and that they looked like human
beings, but were the image of
Parinishwar (God Himself). The
Jews and the Christians also
believe that God created Adam in
His own image.
Most people believe that God has no
physical form, then how could He
create Man in His own image!
This riddle was solved by the last
Prophet of Islam when he said
"Allah had created Adam with His
quality, not His form. " Allah can be
recognized by His qualities
alone. So the saying of the Prophet makes it clear that the image of
Allah refers to His
qualities. The Prophet further
said "Adopt the qualities of
Allah."
This becomes clear from the Qur'an
where Allah says that He created
Adam on this earth as His
representative. A representative
follows orders. Only one who can execute the orders properly can be a true
representative or vicegerent,
otherwise there would be
efforts. Thus, according
to the Prophet, assuming the
responsibilities of a worthy
representative requires the
acquisition of the conduct of
the master. This, then is what is meant by "God
created Man in His image."
ADAM, THE CALIPH OF ALLAH
When Allah desired to create Adam He
addressed the angels and said
that He was going to create Man
and appoint him as His
representative on earth. As soon as the creation was accomplished and He had bestowed Adam
with His spirit, He told them to
bow down in obedience to Adam. The angels who
considered themselves to be
superior to Adam on account of
their closeness to the Creator
Himself, were surprised at this
instruction to bow down in
obedience to a creature that was
molded from earth materials. They said to
Allah, "You are appointing a
being as your vicegerent who
would bring unrest and bloodshed
on earth, whereas we, who have
been immersed in your worship
were more deserving to receive
this honor.
Allah said to them that what was
known to Him could not be in
their knowledge, and that Adam
was specifically suited for the
position He had designed for the
earth. He offered them
a chance to compete in an open
contest of knowledge and wisdom
with Adam. The angels
failed in the contest and Adam
emerged superior to them in
knowledge and wisdom. All of them
except Iblis (Satan) obeyed
Allah's commandment and bowed
down in obedience to Adam.
EBLIS & ADAM
It is said that before the creation
of Adam, the earth was inhabited
by Jinn, a creation from the
elements of fire. They were
mutually disruptive and indulged
in senseless bloodshed. The angels had
refereed to their mischief. Iblis was also a Jinn. He was knowledgeable about matters of
the earth. By virtue of his devotion and service to Allah, he had secured a
high position in the Celestial
existence. Iblis had
started living with the angels. When Allah ordered all of them to prostrate before Adam, he
refused. When asked why he had refused the divine ordinance, he said that
he was superior to Adam on
several counts. Firstly, his
creation came from finer
elements. Secondly, he had been in proximity to the Creator in direct
servitude. He had vast work experience on the earth where the novice Adam
was being sent as a
representative. He contended that this was his
coveted position and should have
been given to him instead to an
undeserving novice.
Allah rebuked and downgraded Iblis
for his disobedience and told
him to immediately remove
himself from His divine presence
and his eternal abode will be
reserved in hell inferno. Iblis said that
Man was a poor choice for such
an important position. He said that he
would take every opportunity to
haul all mankind with him to
hell. He would like to
be granted eternal opportunity
to test and tempt this
representative and prove that
Man may not be such a worthy
khalifa.
Allah said that only He commands
eternity, but He will give him
his desired opportunity to the
Time known only to Himself. He said that His obedient servants will remain steadfast in all
his' tough tests and temptations
throughout Time, and prove that
He created a wise and
knowledgeable khalifa on earth.
Allah warned Adam about the evil
designs of Iblis against him and
his progeny throughout Time. But
He also assured that those that
remain firm in their faith on Truth shall be victorious and will return to
Him on the Day of Judgment for a
Life of Contentment in close
proximity to the Creator.
The Garden of Eden
Allah brought Adam to the Garden of
Eden and gave him education
towards carrying out the
intended functions of Khalifa on
Earth. Allah created
Eve from the substance of Adam
as his partner in life and gave
them total freedom to enjoy the
benevolence of the Provider and
Sustainer of Life with
prohibition only for a
particular tree. The two were not even to go near the
tree let alone to taste of its
fruit.
Iblis saw his opportunity to tempt
Adam and Eve and invoke their
curiosity to get closer to the
prohibited tree and taste its
fruit. No sooner they had done what had been prohibited by the Lord, the
Innocence of the Garden of Eden
changed to the reality of Life. They heard the
voice of their Lord calling. He reminded them of the prohibition He had invoked, which they
had clearly transgressed. He reminded them of the open animosity of Iblis towards
them. They were to leave the
Garden of Eden and make their
abode on the Earth till the end
of a period of Time known only
to Him. The Almighty
said," There you will procreate
of your kind in numbers and will
colonize the land provided, and
eat and drink from that you will
procure from the bounties of
your Lord. This is where you will spend your lives, and die, and be raised
on the Day of Judgment on your
conduct on the Earth. Beware of the
damaging evil counsel of Iblis
who will continue to attempt
rift between brethren, disrupt
your lives, cause death and
destruction on Earth through
those who will listen to him. " Both Adam and Eve felt sorry for what they had done, and begged
for their forgiveness. Allah reminded them of their role in
Life and said that they will
return to Him once again to
enjoy His bounties in paradise
upon their successfully
completing the mission on the
earth. Thus Adam
descended to the earth as a
representative of Allah.
The Life and Progeny of Adam
In the beginning, Adam had two sons
from Eve named Habeel (Abel) and
Qabeel (Cane) followed by Sheeth and others. It is said that
Adam lived for almost 930
years.
References: al Qur'an: Surah Baqrah, Maidah,
Aaraf, Hajj, Bani Israel, Kahaf,
Taha, Sabaa, Yaseen, Jinn and
Hajrat.
_______________________________________________________________
THE STORY OF HABEEL
AND QAB EEL
It is said that from their first
harvest, the two sons of Adam,
Habeel and Qabeel, each offered
a sacrifice to Allah. The offering of
Habeel was accepted for his
being " the first among the muttaqeen (the God
fearing). " A fire
descended from the heaven and
consumed the offering of
Habeel. The offering of
Qabeel was spared. He thought that his offering was rejected. This made him
jealous of Habeel and he
murdered him.
Qabeel felt deep remorse over this
act and carried the dead body of
his brother over his shoulder,
not knowing what to do with it. Then he saw a crow burying a dead crow in the ground. Qabeel followed
suit and buried his brother's
dead body by digging a hole in
the ground.
This was the first criminal act on
Earth and it was caused by
jealousy. Jealousy is the root
cause of many sins, including
the murder of fellow human
beings. It therefore
behoves mankind to avoid this
terrible emotion which leads to
a lot of sins.
References: al Qur'an: Sura Maidah |
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