Contains extracts from www.al-huda.com

Created by Allah from non-existence by His Will using the Earth materials. In the Holy Quran it is said that Allah created Adam on this earth as His representative. 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. When the creation was completed and Allah had bestowed His spirit, He told the angels to bow down to Adam. Angels who considered themselves superior to Adam on the account of their closeness to the Creator Himself were surprised at this instruction and said to Allah, “You are appointing a being as your vicegerent who would bring unrest and blood shed 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. Allah offered the angels to compete in an open contest of knowledge and wisdom with Adam and they failed. Thus all of them except the Iblis bowed down to Adam.

It is said that before the creation of Adam, the Earth was inhabited by the Jinn which are created from fire. Iblis was also a Jinn and was knowledgeable in the matters of the Earth. By virtue of his devotion and service to Almighty Allah, he secured a high position in the Celestial existence.

When asked why he would not bow down to Adam, 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.

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 enemosity 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 Judgement 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.

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.

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 remourse 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 behooves mankind to avoid this terrible emotion which leads to a lot of sins.