Here we will discuss the details discussed in Surah Baqarah. Allah has described this story in different ways in different Surahs of the Qur'an.
Sahih International
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven, [His being above all creation], and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things.
Sahih International
And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" Allah said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know."
Sahih International
And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful."
Sahih International
They said, "Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise."
Sahih International
He said, "O Adam, inform them of their names." And when he had informed them of their names, He said, "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed."
Sahih International
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.
Sahih International
And We said, "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers."
Sahih International
But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [condition] in which they had been. And We said, "Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time."
Sahih International
Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.
Sahih International
We said, "Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.
Sahih International
And those who disbelieve and deny Our signs - those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally."He created for you whatever is on the Earth, all together. It implies that every resource is in service of human beings. And the second point implied here is that it is for ALL of you. We have to share these resources. People become greedy and fight for resources and get things at the expense of the rights of other people. We have to co-exist and share everything.
Then he turned to the sky and moulded it into seven distinct skies. And He is the All-knowing. Why does Allah talk about the creation of the sky after talking about the Earth? Because Jannah is in the skies. And the story of Hazrat Adam AS begins in Jannah.
And your Master said, I am putting a Khalifa on the Earth. Hazrat Adam AS's s story begins in Jannah but before he was even created, Allah said that we made him for the Earth. That means that Hazrat Adam AS was not sent on Earth as a punishment. It was not a curse. It was always part of the plan.We are not paying the price for anything Hazrat Adam AS did. It was always meant to be.
Imagine there is a person working at a firm. And his boss sends an email to everyone telling that he will be transferred to another office. Only he didn't get that email. One day he was 30 seconds late and his boss said that he will be transferred to another office.
Listen to another story. A guy worked as a janitor. Then got promoted to a security guard then got promoted to an office manager. Then 40 years later he became the Vice President. Only the President is above him. The President walks in one day and brings his 16 year old boy and tells him that his boy is the new VP now, and you go bring coffee for him. The VP will think the President has gone bonkers. The VP was what Iblees was. He worked his way up and began to be counted among angels. But then Allah asked him to bow before Adam AS.
Hazrat Adam AS and Iblees had a lot in common. Both made a mistake. But there is a difference. Hazrat Adam AS didn't ask Allah that Allah always intended to send him on Earth so how is it his fault? And Iblees could also ask a logical question. I was created from fire and he was created from dirt, so why do I bow before him. But they were different because they responded differently. Adam AS trusted Allah and did not question Allah. Iblees blamed the qadr of Allah and took no responsibility for his actions.
When we blame Allah, we follow the Sunnah of Iblees. And when we take responsibility for our actions we follow the Sunnah of Adam AS.
If Allah knows everything I do, how is it my fault? It' all set up. That's what everyone asks.
Suppose I hit someone with a shoe for no reason. He gets angry. I say no no it was the qadr of Allah. He will still ask me to take responsibility. That's what Adam AS did.
What does Khalifa mean? Khalifa means 3 things:
1- A successor.
e.g. when a Principal transfers his authority to the next one.
Allah says that if you turn away he will replace you with another nation. He could SUCCEED you with whoever he wants.
2- Someone left to their own devices
e.g. You leave your son alone and you tell him not to eat the cookies. You gave away for 10 minutes. You leave him to his own device. He has the choice to do whatever he wants.
3-Someone who has been handed a responsibility and he will have to hand it to someone else
It is different from being an owner. It means the responsibility is given on a temporary basis. Allah alone owns whatever is in the skies and the Earth. Ultimately, we have to return everything to Allah. We don't even own our own body. It will be testifying against us on the Day of Judgement.
Now the ANGELS complain...
Allah tells them that He is putting a Khalifa on Earth. Before humans, jinns used to inhabit the Earth and they were also left on Earth to their own devices. They made the wrong choices and fought with each other. Allah sent an army of Angels and one of the members of the army was Iblees who had been elevated to the ranks of angels, they fought the Jinns and drove them into the oceans. Then order was restored on earth. But Allah said now I am going to put humans on Earth. This put the angels into shock. They had just gotten rid of the jinns.
Now the angels say that there is going to be complete chaos based on their past experience. They think that anyone given a choice would make the wrong choices. Aren't we enough for you? Angels are implying that they declare Allah's perfection and maintain Allah's sanctity.
Are they advertising themselves? Are angels also praising themselves?
Tasbeeh is when you declare Allah is perfect because you heard something or said something that makes it sound like Allah is less than perfect. The angels are NOT praising themselves. They are saying that even though we asked you a question that why are you putting a khalifa on the earth, they are not QUESTIONING Allah. They still think Allah is perfect even if they understand or not.
The angels said Nuqaddisu Laka. We declare your purity. Allah is perfect in every sense and those perfections are within SubhanAllah. Purity has to do with goodness, fairness,justice. Allah are you going to put someone on Earth who will cause corruption? But we are not saying that this is something evil. This is part of Allah's goodness. We are just confused.
Asking a question from Allah is not disobedience. Allah makes it clear that angels never disobey Allah, but they still ask questions.
Allah taught Adam A.S. ALL the names. He taught him ALL manners of names leaving nothing out. Asmaa in Arabic is from Wasm and it also means qualities. That is why we say that Allah's names are Asmaa ul Husnaa. They are the qualities of Allah. It means that Adam AS was taught language. The first act of language is noun. Adam AS was taught this massive vocabulary. Every one of those languages are the output of the language taught to Adam AS. Every language that exists on the face of Earth is part of Allah's revelation. All languages go back to parents which go back to Adam AS. Every language and dialect should be honoured because they are from Allah. The development of human knowledge in every field is actually part of Allah's plan. So don't say you only want to study deen and don't want to study the dunya. Allah gave Adam AS the names of everything BEFORE giving him the revelation. The knowledge of creation is very important to colonize and progress in dunya.We inherit our knowledge from Adam AS.
In a Hadith, Allah created Adam AS and presented all of his lineage to him. Adam AS is in shock. Who are these people? Allah says these are your kids. So Allah taught him all the names. Adam AS knows the names of all of the ummah. Not just names, but also their qualities.
Allah took a sample from all kinds of soil. That is why we are in so many different races and so many cultures. We are created from dirt which is a very low origin. But the dirt is capable of amazing things, it is the source of ALL life on Earth. It means that humans have great potential and if they are watered like the dirt, they are capable of great things and can produce so many fruits. But the nourishment for humans is from the sky in the form of revelation.
Then Allah asks the angels to tell these names. This is in response to their question. Do you even know their names or qualities? Then how can you judge them prematurely? You cannot judge what people will do in future based on what they have done in their past. We are in the habit of labeling people and putting people in boxes. We do that both to muslims and to non-muslims. The prophet SAWW never gave up on Quraiysh and those Quraiysh gave him Hazrat Umar RA and Khalid bin Walid RA.
Allah also taught humans the names of THINGS.This leads to sciences, knowledge and terminologies etc. This is how we have created things and accomplished so much. The jinns weren't taught these names so they didn't have the ability to achieve what humans achieved. We are Ashraf ul Makhlooqat. We can take the raw material and do almost anything.
The angels said that they declare Allah's purity. Allah is implying that among human beings there will be those who declare Allah's tasbeeh the way no angel ever did. Prophet Muhammad SAWW's tasbeeh would be above everyone else's.
When Adam AS was shown all the children of Adam AS, a child caught his eye. He was Daud AS. Adam AS asked how long he would live. Adam AS gave him 40 years from his age. This is in a hadith narration. Daud AS was given some unique abilities, a unique voice which he used to praise Allah,ability to make armour, Khilafat on Earth. So Adam AS recognized the Khalifa in him.
The angels recognized the limits of their knowledge and maintained their humility. They admitted that they have no knowledge except what Allah gave us. But we as humans often forget our limits. The more knowledge we acquire, the more arrogant and judgmental we become.
Then Allah asked Adam AS to tell the names to angels. So now the angels know this information too. They use it for our protection.
Then Allah says he knows unseen secrets of the sky and the Earth. A part of Adam AS came from Earth and a part came from the Sky(the rooh). Our rooh makes us much above the animals but we have been reduced to animals. Our media feeds our animal instincts. The secrets are what we capable of. Allah says I know what you show and what you hide. What were the angels hiding? The angels weren't hiding anything. But Iblees was among the angels and he was hiding in his heart a secret pride and ego. Iblees was threatened by the position of Hazrat Adam AS. The worst part is when Islamic scholars and Dawah workers develop a jealousy for each other. These ayahs are also about pride for service to Allah. Iblees had pride about his service to Allah, not for any worldly reason. Allah highlights the arrogance of scholars of Bani Israel as well. If there is goodness in the work you do, it will be carried by Allah azza wa jalla and nobody can take that goodness away. If you become jealous of each other and compete negatively, you are no different than Shaytaan.
Make Sajdah before Adam AS out of respect(Sajdah was allowed in previous Shariahs) OR Make Sajdah because something amazing happened. e.g. Christians do Sajdah when they listen to recitation of the Quran, the mushrikeen do Sajdah when they listen to Ayahs, when the staff turns into a snake all the magicians do Sajdah, when Yusuf AS's brothers see him as a king they fall into sajdah. Here, the rooh was blown into Adam AS and that was such an incredible miracle that they fell into Sajdah. Iblees didn't admit the Maujza of the rooh and creation of Adam AS.
Take an example. All the students came except Kareem. That implies that Kareem is also a student. Allah says all the angels did Sajdah except Iblees. Does that make Iblees an angel? He was a jinn. English translation gives the wrong meaning. In Arabic language, Sajadoo followed by Illa Ibleesu(with a zamma) means that the exception belongs to the same category. Sajadoo followed by Illaa Ibleesa(with a fatha) means that the exception does not belong to the same category(mustasna). That makes it clear that Iblees was not an angel.
Iblees refused and was arrogant. Not out of ignorance or anger or sadness or fear. When you refuse out of arrogance, there is no hope for you.
Allah said uskun Al-jannah and not uskun fil jannah. Why? Because, fee would take away from the vastness of Jannah. Allah is trying to imply that its all open for you. Uskun means somebody was moving and they stopped and there is a possibility of moving again. There are other words which show permanent residence e.g. khulood. Uskun implies that Adam AS is not going to remain in Jannah forever AND he is going to explore Jannah.
Allah didn't say Uskunaa. He said Uskun. That means the head of the house is honoured and he is referred to directly by Uskun. Allah says, settle down with peace, you and your wife. It means the peace of the house is your responsibility. You will have to establish peace and stay calm. Your tranquility should be directed towards your wife. Then Allah changes tense wa Kulaa both of you should eat. So the responsibility was given to husband and the rights and gifts were distributed to both. For the prohibitions, Allah says don't come near that tree either of you. So this is between the person and Allah and not between husband and wife. No human being can get in the way of your relation with Allah and the spouse cannot force you to disobey Allah. Don't act like Abu Jahl(who is mentioned in Surah Alaq for stopping others from praying). Adam AS and Hawa AS went together near that tree so they made a bad decision mutually. Both are equally responsible. Christians blame Hawa AS for everything.
The command was NOT about eating the tree. The command was about going near to the tree. In Islam, we are told to stay away from the path that leads to sin. e.g.Allah says do not even go near Zinaa,Fawahish,maal of yateem.
There are 3 levels:Jannah, Earth, Jahannum
Allah says all of you go down. You will be enemies of each other.
Either all of you refers to Adam AS Hawa AS and Iblees
OR it refers to all of mankind because all the rooh were present there at that time. So there may be animosity within mankind. The worst thing is animosity in the name of deen. Don't hide the truth because people can't handle it.
Mustaqar means a place to chill. Mataa means utilities and enjoyment for a given time. It's not permanent. Allah does not stop us from enjoying the nematen he has given us. We can enjoy His blessings as long as one does not forget Allah or become heedless. We have to be grateful for every blessing and use it for a good purpose and enjoy within limits. We need to be balanced. As long as we don't get obsessed with dunya, it's fine. Allah makes both dunya and Akhirah beautiful for the believer.
Although Adam AS was sent to dunya with a lot of blessings but he was still sad because the blessings in dunya were nothing compared to Jannah.
Adam AS stumbled upon words from his Rabb. Talaqqi is used when you come across something valuable/ a treasure:Rabbana zalamna anfusana ...
So Adam AS took personal responsibility. Allah turned towards him and Allah is the one who no doubts keep turning back over and over. No human being is removed from the mercy of Allah as long as he is on Earth. He will be only removed from Allah's mercy if he goes to Jahannum.
If and when,ever at all, any guidance comes to ALL of you from me, whoever follows that guidance they won't have any fear and grief. The Quran is Allah's remedy for fear and sadness. Sadness is linked to the past and fear concerns the future. If you follow my guidance, this dunya will become Jannah for you. But we do have fear of Allah and sadness over our sins. We will experience fear and sadness but it won't overcome us and we will not be paralysed by it. Come to Quran with a submissive attitude and don't interpret it according to our personality.
Surah Baqarah(The beginning and end are connected)
Nothing is random in the Quran. The sequence makes absolute sense
Section 1
Believers vs. disbelievers vs. hypocrites
->Section 9 - At end of Surah Baqarah there is a dua which protects believers from hypocrisy and disbelief
Section 2
Story of Adam AS
Shaytaan caused him to slip because of greed of that one tree. You could live forever if you take from that tree.
->Section 8 begins with Ayahs about spending in the path of Allah, Ayahs about Riba,and business
So it is about the best thing you can do with your money, the worst thing you can do about money,and guidance about what to do with money
Section 3
Bani Israel and how they kept breaking Allah's laws
->Section 7-List of laws e.g. halal haram given to our Ummah
Section 4
Ibrahim AS story of passing all the tests
->Section 6- This ummah will be tested with fear etc. Muslims will be tested
Section 5
->The Qibla is changing. Qibla is the center of Islam
This points to the center of the Surah. Qibla changed from Bani Israel to Muslim Ummah
Similarly, the ayahs changed from those about previous ummahs to those about Muslim Ummahs
The story of Adam AS followed by nation of Bani Israel followed by Ibrahim AS followed by our nation(Muslim Ummah). Both fathers are compared with their nations.
Adam AS will be compared to Bani Israel.
Adam AS was sent as a Khalifa as mentioned in the Quran. From Bani Israel, Daud AS is mentioned as Khalifa in the Quran. The angels complained to Allah are you putting someone on Earth who will cause corruption and spill blood. Allah says about Bani Israel->They caused great corruption. When we took a contract from Israelities to not spill blood, you kept killing your own people.
Adam AS was told to come down from Jannah because he ate from the tree/greed. Israelities were in the middle of the desert and Allah put a cloud over them and gave them Mann o Salwa but they had greed so Allah used the same word for them(Ihbitoo-go down from here)
Adam AS was told to go down from Jannah and eat from anywhere. Bani Israel was told to eat from the city whatever they want.
Allah gave Adam AS words of Taubah. Allah told Bani Israel to do taubah when they enter city. But they made fun of it and they make a joke out of it. They changed hitta to hinta.
Allah told angels I know what you don't know. Allah says to Israelities->Do you think you know more than Allah?
Allah told angels I know what you are hiding and what you show. Bani Israel hid the revelation.
Iblees refused to do Sajdah. Bani Israel didn't even do Ruku.
Bani Israel was the chosen nation who was given a million chances by Allah. Bani Israel proved the angels right. They were made Khalifa on Earth but they did exactly what the angels feared.
Then Allah takes us to Ibrahim AS's story. Ibrahim AS was tested with the biggest of tests and he completed all of the tests.We are from the millat of Ibraheem AS. The next in line is our ummah and Allah tells us now it's your turn to be tested. You are next in line. We are supposed to be the answer to the angels questions. We have a huge responsibility on our shoulders.
The first father Adam AS laid the foundation of Kaabah and Ibrahim AS built on the same
foundations.
Ibrahim AS asks at the end of the Surah: How do you give life to the dead?
The angels and Iblees asked a question in the beginning.
Allah asks:don't you already believe?Allah shows him how he gives life to the dead.
In the next passage, A prophet passes by a destructed town. Allah gave him death for a hundred years and then gave him life.
In this age,most people think the ummah is dead. Allah says I give life and I give death. That's not up to you to decide. We have no right to lose hope in the Ummah. It is part of our Imaan to believe everything will be brought back to life.
In the beginning of the Surah,Adam AS was sent down from Jannah to Earth. He was told to be on the look out for guidance.
At the end of the Surah, there are 2 Ayahs in which Prophet SAWW made his journey of Israa to the seventh heaven. Even Jibrael AS could not go up to that point. So the Prophet SAWW went up to the seventh heaven to take revelation.
So in the beginning we go down from Jannah and at the end we go up. It reflects the ascension of humans.
The messengers believed in what was revealed to him and the believers did too. We are mentioned in front of Allah because we are supposed to be the answer to the angels questions.
