Allah informs us about the creation of the first human, Adam, and his progeny.
˹Remember˺ when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to place a successive ˹human˺ authority on earth.” They asked ˹Allah˺, “Will You place in it someone who will spread corruption there and shed blood while we glorify Your praises and proclaim Your holiness?” Allah responded, “I know what you do not know.”2:30
The angels sought to understand the Divine wisdom behind Adam’s creation, leading them to ask this question. Qatadah explained that the angels anticipated this outcome based on their observations of previous creations, such as the jinn. Abdullah bin Umar stated that the jinn had inhabited the earth for two thousand years before Adam and had engaged in bloodshed. The angels reasoned that if Allah desired worship, they were already devoted to glorifying Him. However, Allah, in His infinite wisdom, assured them that He had knowledge beyond their understanding.
Indeed, the example of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be!” And he was!3:59
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Allah created Adam from a handful of soil gathered from all over the earth. As a result, Adam’s descendants vary in color and nature, just as the earth does—some are white, red, or black, while others are a mixture. Similarly, some among them are good-natured, while others are of bad nature; some are gentle, and others harsh, or somewhere in between." [Ahmad 4/400,406]
Allah created Adam and who remained a body of clay for forty years. The angels were terrified when they passed the body. Iblis was the most terrified, he would pass by and hit him, making a sound like when you hit pottery with a rattle. It is this that Allah referenced below.
He created humankind from ˹sounding˺ clay like pottery,55:14
Iblis then said that there must be a reason it was created. He entered into the clay body through its mouth and out the bottom telling the angels to not be frightened of it, it is only a Samad (solid) and Ajwaf (hollow). He claimed if he overpowered it, he would be able to destroy it.
Allah then, when the time approached, breathed into him. When He did so, the soul passed through to his head, Adam sneezed. The angels said 'Alhamdu lillah' (Praise be to Allah), Adam copied them and Allah followed saying 'Rahimaka Rabbuka' (Your Lord has mercy upon you) [Imam Ahmad narrated from Abu Musa who said the Prophet ﷺ narrated this; but Anas said the angels said 'Alhamdu lillahi Rabbil-Alamin' (Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds and Allah answered 'Yahamuk-Allah' (Allah bestows His Mercy upon you)].
When the soul reached his eyes, he saw the fruits of Paradise. When it reached his stomach, he felt an appetite for food. He then jumped up hurriedly before the soul had even reached his legs - Allah tells us,
Humankind is made of haste. I will soon show you My signs, so do not ask Me to hasten them.21:37
Indeed, We created man from sounding clay moulded from black mud.15:26
As for the jinn, We created them earlier from smokeless fire.15:27
˹Remember, O Prophet˺ when your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to create a human being from sounding clay moulded from black mud.15:28
So when I have fashioned him and had a spirit of My Own ˹creation˺ breathed into him, fall down in prostration to him.”15:29
So the angels prostrated all together—15:30
but not Iblîs, who refused to prostrate with the others.15:31
Abu Hurairah narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said "When Allah created Adam He wiped his back and every person that He created among his offspring until the Day of Resurrection fell out of his back. He placed a ray of light between the eyes of every person. Then He showed them to Adam and he said: 'O Lord! Who are these people?' He said: 'These are your offspring.' He saw one of them whose ray between his eyes amazed him, so he said: 'O Lord! Who is this?' He said: 'This is a man from the latter nations of your offspring called Dawud.' He said: 'Lord! How long did You make his lifespan?' He said: 'Sixty years.' He said: 'O Lord! Add forty years from my life to his.' So at the end of Adam's life, the Angel of death came to him, and he said: 'Do I not have forty years remaining?' He said: 'Did you not give them to your son Dawud?'" He said: "Adam denied, so his offspring denied, and Adam forgot and his offspring forgot, and Adam sinned, so his offspring sinned." [At-Tirmidhi 3076]
Similarly, Umar said the Prophet ﷺ said [in relation to 7:172 in the Quran] that when Allah stroked Adam's back He said "I have created these for Paradise, and they will be doing the deeds of those who deserve Paradise.' Then He stroked his back again and took out the rest of the progeny and said 'I have created these for Hell, and they will be doing the deeds of those who deserve Hell.' A man said 'What is the good of doing anything, Messenger of Allah? The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: When Allah creates a servant for Paradise, He facilitates for him to do the deeds of those who will go to Paradise, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Paradise, for which He will bring him into Paradise. But when He creates a servant for Hell, He facilitates for him to do the deeds of those who will go to Hell, so that his final action before death is one of the deeds of those who go to Hell, for which He will bring him into Hell. [Mu'atta of Malik 2/899, At-Tirmidhi 3075, Abu Dawud 4703]
The Prophet ﷺ said that "Allah took a covenant from the back of Adam at Na'maan (Arafah). He took out from his back all his progeny that He created and scattered them in front of Him and spoke to them saying 'Am I not your Lord?' They said 'Yes indeed, we bear witness,' lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection 'Surely we were unaware of this' or let you say 'our fathers before us ascribed partners to Allah and we were only descendants after them, will You then destroy us from the deeds of those who followed falsehood?'" [Ahamad 1/272]
The Prophet ﷺ said, "Allah will say to that person of the (Hell) Fire who will receive the least punishment, 'If you had everything on the earth, would you give it as a ransom to free yourself (i.e. save yourself from this Fire)?' He will say, 'Yes.' Then Allah will say, 'While you were in the backbone of Adam, I asked you much less than this, i.e. not to worship others besides Me, but you insisted on worshipping others besides me.' " [Bukhari 3334] Ubai bin Ka'b said [in relation to 7:172] Allah gathered everyone who was going to be resurrected on the Day of Judgement, He created them, shaped them and made them speak. Some scholars say they then took a pledge to bear witness. Allah then said to them 'I am making, then, seven heavens and the seven earths to bear witness against you and making your father Adam a witness against you.' Adam saw the prophets as bright lamps, full of light. All those prophets were made to take another special covenant about their prophetic missions, hence Allah says,
And ˹remember˺ when We took a covenant from the prophets, as well as from you ˹O Prophet˺, and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary. We did take a solemn covenant from ˹all of˺ them33:7
We did not find most of them true to their covenant. Rather, We found most of them truly rebellious.7:102
