The Story of Adam - Corrected Khutba Transcription

The Story of Adam - Dr. Yasir Qadhi

Opening Khutbah

My talk today is about the story of Genesis, the story of Genesis. And what is Genesis? Genesis is the English word for the beginning of creation.

Introduction

How were we created? And how did we come on this earth? And what happened when Allah created our father Adam and our mother Hawa? And the story of the Genesis, the story of Adam and Hawa is a central theme of the Quran. It is one of the most oft-repeated stories in the Quran. It is repeated in explicit detail at least six times and indirectly at least a dozen times.

And the story of Adam and Hawa and also their interactions with Iblis is a story that has so much moral benefit, so much wisdom in it for us. And that is why Allah continually repeats the story. And I'm going to actually summarize for you a much longer class that I taught around ten hours long.

This was a class actually more than ten hours. I'm going to summarize as much as I can for you and basically I think it's less than an hour and a half we have. So we're just going to give you some overall benefits that I have compiled and others have compiled before me.

The Process of Creation

How was Adam Created?

And we begin by talking about the process of the creation. How was Adam created? What was the methodology of the creation of Adam? And if we look at the Quran, Allah mentions five sources for the creation of Adam. That Adam is created from five apparently different materials.

The Five Sources of Creation

1. Water (Ma')

The first of them, Allah mentions that Adam was created from water. And Allah mentions this in multiple verses, of them is:

"We made everything from water."

And specifically for man:

"He is the one who created from water, man."

So one of the components of Adam's creation is water.

2. Turab (Dried Sand)

Allah mentions that Adam was created from Turab. And Turab is dried sand, Turab is dried sand. And this is mentioned seven times in the Quran.

"And of His miracles, He has created you from Turab."

So we have water and we have Turab.

3. Ard (Soil)

Allah says we have created man from Ard. And Ard is basically soil. Ard is soil. Ard is also anything on the top of the land is called Ard. So any topsoil is called Ard.

So you have different types of Ard. But anything that's on the top of the world is called Ard. And Allah mentions in two verses that He has created us from Ard.

"Allah says I created you from Ard."

So this is two times in the Quran. So we have ma', Turab and Ard.

4. Teen (Clay)

We have Teen. And Teen is typically translated as clay. Teen is typically translated as clay. But in reality, Teen means a mixture of water and sand that is malleable. You know, like Play-Doh, like the kids play. This is like that type of mixture is Teen.

So Allah mentions in multiple verses that He has created us from Teen:

"We created you from Teen that is sticky, that is malleable."

Lazib means if you use your hands on it, it's going to stick to it. It's malleable, just like as I said Play-Doh. So Allah specifically says I created you from Teen that is sticky, that is malleable. And perhaps Teen is one of the more common sources mentioned in the Quran.

So when Allah says to the angels, I am creating:

"I am creating a man from Teen."

And again, many other verses mention Teen.

5. Salsal

Number five, we have Salsal. And Allah mentions this in a number of verses:

What is Salsal? Salsal is actually a noise. Salsala is a noise. It is the noise that is made when you knock on some hard surface. That's like Salsala. And Salsala is supposed to sound like that. Reverberation.

And Salsal is the type of clay that when it becomes solid you can knock on the clay and you will hear it reverberate. This is Salsal. So Salsal is a type of dried clay.

Understanding the Creation Process

No Contradiction in the Sources

So different stages have gone over the creation of Adam. And we put all of this together and we say that in fact there is no contradiction. Man has been created from two primary components: Turab and Ma' - Water and dried sand.

When you put it together, you have different mixtures. And Allah references those different mixtures when he talks about Teen, when he talks about Salsal, when he talks about Ard. These are all different mixtures of the water and the sand.

So there is no contradiction if somebody says, oh your Quran mentions five different sources for the creation of Adam. We say no. Allah mentions actually two sources, water and sand and then he mentions three terms that talk about different compositions of water and sand.

Hadith Evidence

Also we learn from the Hadith literature of our Prophet that Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari reported that the Prophet said:

(Abu Dawood hadith 4693, Tirmidhi hadith 2955)

"Allah created Adam from a Qabda (handful) that He gathered from all of the earth."

From a fistful that he gathered from all of the earth. Bits and pieces from the whole world he gathered it. And so the Hadith goes on:

"The children of Adam come according to the Ard. Some of them are red. Some of them are white. Some of them are black. Some of them are in between. Some of them are easy and soft like the soil. And some of them are filthy and pure. And some of them are filthy and impure. And some of them are in between."

So this beautiful Hadith reported in Abu Dawood and Tirmidhi. Our Prophet said Allah created Adam from the top soil. And he created Adam from different types of top soil.

The Order of Creation

The Progression

And therefore what we learn from all of this is that Allah created Adam from turab. Then from the turab he made it into teen. Then he left this teen, he left this malleable clay until it was hama'im masnoon.

Then from the hama'im masnoon he shaped him and he blew the ruh into him. Then when he shaped and blew the ruh into him this was the body of Adam. And our prophet explicitly told us this order and this methodology.

In one hadith narrated in the musnad of Abu Ya'la our prophet said:

(Musnad Abu Ya'la hadith 7991)

"Allah created Adam from turab. Then he made him into teen."

So from turab he made him into teen. Then he left him until he was hama'im masnoon. Then he shaped him and created him. So from the hama'im masnoon stage he was shaped. And he left him until he was salsalin kalfakhkhar.

And that is the potter's clay that you can knock on it. So from malleable clay it was left until it became hard which is our skin. Our skin is no longer fully malleable.

The Breathing of the Soul

It is salsalin kalfakhkhar. Then our prophet said, he left him there without blowing the rooh yet. And Iblis would pass him by.

So there is the body of Adam without the rooh. Iblis would pass him by and say you have been created for a great matter. (خُلِقْتَ لِأَمْرٍ عَظِيم)

Then our prophet said, Allah blew the rooh into Adam and the first rooh that came in caused Adam to sneeze. When the rooh came into his body and it tickled his nose basically because the rooh is going to go down.

Tickled his nose so Adam sneezed and as soon as he sneezed he said (الحمد لله) and then Allah responded (يَرْحَمُكَ اللهُ يَا آدَمُ)

Allah's Creation with His Hands

Another thing that we learn from the Quran and this is well known to all of us is that Allah created Adam with his hands and of course we don't delve into what this means and how this is beyond but we believe Allah fashioned Adam with his yad, with his hand and this is something that is explicit in the Quran:

When Iblis refused to prostrate to Adam Allah said: "Why did you not prostrate to this being that I have created with both of my hands"

We also have another hadith in Bukhari and Muslim in the famous incident of Musa arguing with Adam and the hadith of shafa'ah in Sahih Bukhari where mankind will go to Adam and they will say:

(Bukhari hadith 4712, Muslim hadith 194)

"Oh Adam you are our father, Allah created you with his both hands"

Where Was Adam Created?

There are a number of opinions on this issue:

First Opinion

The first opinion is that he was created on this earth then he was taken up to Jannah then he came back to this earth. Their evidence for this is:

"I am placing in this earth a Khalifa"

Second Opinion

Adam was created in the lower Samawat then he was asked to enter the Jannat. Their evidence is that the angels of the Samawat they prostrated to Adam then after the prostration Allah said:

"Go ahead and enter, you and your wife live in Jannah"

Third Opinion (Strongest)

Allah created Adam inside Jannah. This is the position of Imam Al-Qurtubi and Al-Hafidh Ibn Manda. Their evidence is an explicit hadith of the Prophet in Sahih Muslim: