Surah Al-Baqarah 2:31

وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَـٰؤُلَاءِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

2:31 Asmâ’اسماء is the plural form of ismإسم. Ism is an expression conveying the knowledge of attributes for distinguishing them from others (Tâj). In this verse, Asmâ’ stands for the Attributes of the Real Living Deity that distinguish Him from other deities and created objects. Thus, the knowledge of Allâh’s Attributes is the only source to know Him as the only Creator.عَلَّمَ ءَادَمَ ٱلْأَسْمَآء “He taught Adam (His) Names” - means that the new creation called Adam, who stands here as Allâh’s vicegerent (khalîfah), was blessed, in contrast to other objects of Allâh’s creation, with the knowledge of those Divine Attributes that helped him to know his real Deity, and after knowing Him through His Attributes, to manifest them in his own character.

Human beings needed language in order to become civilized and continue progressing. “Teaching Adam names” is also a reference to the faculty of speech and of learning. The Holy Qur’ân refers to this: “He created human being and taught him the art of intelligent and distinct speech” (55:4). It is also said that asmâ denotes the human beings faculty of logical definition and conceptual thinking, and capability of learning and acquiring knowledge and reasoning. Allâh’s Attributes (أسماء الحسنئ) are numberless (31:27), however, human being as symbolized by Adam is capable of understanding and grasping only those that are within the scope of the faculties (- mâhiyat) given to him.

Adamأدم is derived from adamaأدمَ, which means to reconcile or be brown. In classical Arabic dictionaries adam stands for a human being, man, person, intelligent person, brown man, brave man, civilized person, chief, honest person, kind and polite person, a person who is created from different substances, a person in possession of different powers, one who enjoys the comforts of life, one who is by nature social, one who has heirs. Adam also stands for the whole human race and humankind. All these meanings are given to the word adam آدَم (Tâj, Lisân, Lane, Râghib). The Qur’ânic verse إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ - “The likeness and case of Jesus is as the likeness and case of Adam” (3:59) is to be read and understood in the light of the above meanings, that Jesus was a human being like any human being and not God incarnated.

The Adam who lived, according to biblical tradition, about 6000 years ago is often taken to be the proper name for the first human being. The Bible tells the story of Adam and of Eve who was born of his ribs, of a snake, a tree and a fallen angel. This story has poisoned the minds of many Muslims. The Holy Qur’ân does not affirm this story nor does it affirm that someone called Adam was the first human being, or that there was no creation before him. Nowhere in Qur’ân is it stated that Adam was the first Prophet, though he is still considered as such by many Muslims. The word khalîfah as used for Adam in the foregoing verse (2:30) is a reference to the fact that modern human race is the successor of an older one. Khalîfah are not Prophets. Abû Bakr(rz) was not a Prophet, neither ‘Umar (rz), ‘Alî(rz) or ‘Uthmân (rz).

Human evolution was the evolutionary process leading up to the appearance of modern humans. It began with the last common ancestor and the emergence of Homo sapiens. Anatomically modern humans evolved from archaic Homo sapiens about 200,000 years ago. The transition to behavioral modernity with the development of symbolic culture, language, and specialized lithic technology happened around 50,000 years ago, and according to many anthropologists even earlier.

Ibn ‘Abbâs says there were races known as the Jinn, Himm and Dinn that lived before Adam. It is possible that he was referring to Neanderthals and other early hominids. Great Muslim scholars were of the view that there were hundreds of thousands of Adams (in Rûh al-Ma‘ânî). The world has passed through different cycles of creation and civilizations; Adam stands for the first link in such cycles and not for the very first human being in Allâh’s creation. The Holy Qur’ân neither follows the Bible in holding that the world began with the birth of Adam and Eve nor does it claim that all members of humankind, who are now found in different parts of the world, are the progeny of the self-same Adam, or that all the races which lived before this Adam were entirely swept away before he was born. Taken literally the Biblical story implies that all of Adam and Eves grandchildren would be children born of a union of a daughter and a son of theirs. This is an incestuous concept of the origin of the modern human. It is absurd and not supported by any statement in the Holy Qur’ân.

Ibn al-‘Arabî, writes in his famous work Fatûhât that he saw in a vision, a building erected hundreds and thousands of years ago. Such a vision could indicate that there was a kind of civilization on this earth hundreds and thousands years ago. Ibn ‘Arabî writes further that once, in a vision, he was performing a circuit around the Ka‘bah . In his vision, he saw himself with a different kind of people who were also performing the circuit. "I inquired of one of them, Who are you? He said, Of your old ancestors. How long is it since they died? I asked him. The man replied, More than forty thousand years. But this period is much more than that which separates us from Adam, said I. The man replied, Of which Adam are you speaking? About that Adam, who is nearest to you or of some other Adam? ”In addition to this, Ibn ‘Arabî writes that he once saw in a vision the Prophet Enoch (Idrîs) and asked him if his own vision about the Adam was true. Enoch replied that the information he received in his vision was true. "Then I recollected the saying of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) to the effect that Allâh had brought into being no less than a hundred thousand Adams and between each and every Adam there is a period of seventeen thousand years. Then I said to myself, Perhaps these people who are said to be the ancestors of mine were of the previous Adams.” (Fatûhât al-Makkîyyah, Bâb Hadûs al-Dunyâ 3/607). Archaeological discoveries have indeed brought to light people similar to us, who inhabited this earth many thousands of years ago. The notion that human beings originated only in the last few thousand years from a single man called Adam comes from the genealogies of the Old Testament.

In 7:10-11, while addressing humankind, Allâh says, “We have indeed established you on the earth (giving you power thereon) and provided for you thereon (various) means of subsistence. How little thanks you give. We did determine you, then We gave you shape, then said to the angels, Make submission for Adam, so they all submitted.” These words leave no doubt that here the reference is to the human race. Human beings were already living on this earth, and that this was revealed after the creation of human beings, and not just to a single Adam. When angels received this command, it was in reference to the species. In addition to this, the shedding of blood as referred to in the verse 2:30 could not be the work of one person; the reference is to the shedding of blood by human beings in general. In a later statement (in the verse 2:38), قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا “Go forth from this state, all of you”, there is a transition of address from the singular number to the plural. It indicates that the lesson taught here relates to the human race as a whole. The word Adam in this verse is therefore used to refer to the prototype of all humankind (cf. 2:31; 7:16; 7:24) and the word khalîfah stands for that perfect human (- insân-i-kâmil) who is the recipient of Divine Revelation.

If we reflect on many different verses in the Holy Qur’ân dealing with Adam, we find that the word Adam has broad meanings depending upon the relationship of the verses with connecting verses. We find that it stands for the human being who is the crowning object and the culmination of all creation, and whose own creation became complete after a long process of gradual development and evolution (17:70) as indicated by the very first Divine Attribute of Rabb al-Âlamîn رَبِّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ, “the Evolver from the crudest form to perfection and Sustainer of all the worlds”(1:1). The words “When I have made him perfect and breathed into him my Spirit سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِي (15:29) and the verses 32:9; 18:7; 91:7, tell us that “Adam” stands for that “single soul” that single spiritual essence from which humankind was created. God endowed his best creation (the human being) with faculties of speech and intellect (55:2-3). By breathing into him of His own spirit (32:9; 15:29; 18:37; 91:7) God made him capable of receiving the Divine Revelation (91:8). Then He taught the human being through His Revelations what he knew not (96:5).

On the Origin of Human Beings: The Holy Qur’ân gives a different story of creation to the one we read in the Bible. In the Holy Qur’ân, the creation of human being is summarized in the following words:

“Recall the time when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to create a human being from dry ringing clay from black mud, moulded into shape [salsâl min hamâ’ masnûn صَلْصَالٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ]. So when I have shaped him in perfection, and have breathed My Spirit into him, fall you down in submission to him (15:26, 28)”.

The story of the origin of humankind is scattered throughout the Holy Qur’ân. We can begin it with the Qur’ânic statement:هَلْ أَتَىٰ عَلَى الْإِنسَانِ حِينٌ مِّنَ الدَّهْرِ لَمْ يَكُن شَيْئًا مَّذْكُورًا“There did pass over a human being a while of a long space of time when he was not a thing worth mentioning” (76:1). This was our state of non-existence. Like the cosmos, the emergence of human beings begins from the smallest particles called diffused chaotic scattered dust -Turâb تُرَابٍ (22:5; 30:20; 35:11; 40:67; 18:37). The Holy Qur’ân mentions many intermediate stages in the human evolution starting from its crudest stage of scattered dust. The scattered dust was brought together to form tîn or dry clay - وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ الْإِنسَانِ مِن طِينٍ (32:7; 38:71). Thereafter was a stage of an extract from clay - sulâlat min tîn سُلَالَةٍ مِّن طِين (23:12) and by adding water to it a “clay that sticks together” (- tîn al-idzab طِينٍ لَّازِب; 37:11). We find several verses that refer to the origin of life from water (24:45) – a fact that was scientifically verified in modern times. The origin of life from water includes human being, which is confirmed by the Holy Qur’ân: “It is He Who created the human being from water هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ مِنَ الْمَاءِ بَشَرًا (25:54). This prerequisite was already in place, for He used this water in the creation of humankind

In the process of creation there were stages of sulâlat min mâ muhîn سُلَالَةٍ مِّن مَّاءٍ مَّهِينٍ –extract derived from clay and water (32:8), of dry ringing clay mixed with water and formed black mud, which was then moulded into a shape (salsâl min hamâ masnûn صَلْصَالٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ15:26). Then there is an insignificant fluid (mâ muhîn مَّاءٍ مَّهِينٍ), which is deposited in a safe place until an appointed time (77:20-21). Mâ muhîn مَّاءٍ مَّهِين is not to be confused with human sperm, which is called nutfah imshâj نُّطْفَةٍ أَمْشَاجٍ (76:2; 18:37). Allâh says in 35:1,يَزِيدُ فِي الْخَلْقِ مَا يَشَاءُ - “He adds to his creation constantly as He wants.” (See also 41:9-12; 70:9, 73:14, 77:8-9, 35:16). This is the short description of the origin of various forms of life and humankind; from scattered dust through dry ringing clay, from black mud moulded into shape. About this evolution, we read in verse 56:62, وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ النَّشْأَةَ الْأُولَىٰ فَلَوْلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ - “You know the first (evolution) of the intended creation, why dont you then reflect?”

‘Aradza-hum عرَضهم is a compound of ‘aradza عَرَض and hum هُم, translated as “He presented them”. In the Arabic idiom, the form hum is used only for rational beings. The use of the pronoun hum indicates that the objects were rational living things. The use of the word Araza-hum tells us that Allâh presented to the Angels a highly rational being who was to be the manifestation of a number of His Attributes, the perfect human being (- insân-i-kâmil). The creation of such a perfect human being who can be imbued with Divine Attributes was a refutation of the concern of Angels when they said, “Will You create therein beings who will cause disorder on the earth and shed blood?” أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ (2:30). This question was justified because some people will recognize Allâh’s vicegerent, accept him, follow him, while others will disagree with him, and reject him, causing discord, friction and bloodshed between the two groups. Allâh meant that such a perfect Adam could not initiate disorder and shed blood. This becomes clearer in the following verse 2:33 when Allâh says, قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ“Did I not tell you that I know the hidden realities of the heavens and the earth?” In other words, Allâh did not give this knowledge to the Angels.

The word kullahâ كُلَّهَا used here does not imply absolute totality or all in its perfection, because the absolute knowledge is the Attribute of Allâh alone. For this is the word al-‘Alîmٱلْعَلِيمُ, mentioned in the next verse. Kullahâ كُلَّهَا simply means all that was necessary (cf. 6:44; 27:16; 28:57).