In this series we will be revisiting (https://answeringislam.net/Quran/Contra/jesus_unlike_adam.html) the
Quran’s assertion that Jesus is similar to Adam in the sight of the Muslim
deity:
Verily, in the sight of God, the nature of Jesus is as the
nature of Adam, whom He created out of dust and then said unto him, “Be” – and
he is. S. 3:59 Muhammad Asad
We will see how this comparison ends up proving way too much,
and once again shows that Muhammad could not have been a true prophet sent by
the true God.
We Have Contradictions Galore!
But before we do so we will begin by showing how the Quran
actually contradicts itself at this point, since Jesus and Adam are quite
unlike each other.
1. Allah did not create Adam by his word.
The first problem with the Quranic assertion is that both the
Quran and ahadith deny that Adam was made by Allah’s creative word “Be.”
According to these Islamic sources Adam was actually created by
Allah‘s very own hands, and then had Allah’s spirit breathed into him for the
obvious purpose of making him a living, animated creature:
Your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am creating man from clay.
When I have fashioned him and breathed
My spirit into him, kneel-down and prostrate
yourselves before him.’ The angels all prostrated themselves except
Satan, who was too proud, for he was an unbeliever. ‘Satan,’ said He,
‘why do you not bow
to him whom MY
OWN HANDS have
made? Are you too proud, or do you deem yourself
superior?’ S. 38:71-75 N. J. Dawood
“Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: There was an
argument between Adam and Moses in the presence of their Lord. Adam came the
better of Moses. Moses said: Are
you that Adam whom Allah created with HIS HAND and breathed into him HIS SPIRIT, and commanded angels to fall in
prostration before him and He made you live in
Paradise with comfort and ease…” (Sahih
Muslim, Book 033, Number 6411 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=033&translator=2&start=0&number=6411)
In fact, the allegedly sound narrations proclaim that Adam
happens to be only one of four things, which Allah made directly with his own
hand. The rest of creation was made by the command “Be”:
On the authority of al Haarith ibn Nawfal:
“Allaah created three things with His Hand:
1.
He created Adam with His Hand
2.
He wrote the Tawraah with His Hand and
3.
He planted Firdaus with His Hand.”
[Collected by ad Daylami. It was collected by ad Daraqutni in
‘As Sifaat’ P. 26 #28 and Abu Ash Shailkh in ‘Al ‘Udhmah’: 5/1555]
In another Hadeeth narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr:
“Indeed Allah – the Mighty and Majestic – created three things
with His Hand; He created Adam with His Hand, He wrote the Torah with His Hand
and He planted Firdaws with His Hand.”
[Collected by ad Daraqutni in ‘As Sifaat’ P.45 and al Bayhaqi in
‘Al Asma was Sifat’: P. 403 on the authority of al Harith ibn Nawfal.]
It was authentically reported that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar said:
“Allaah created four things with His Hand:
1.
The Throne
2.
The Pen
3.
Aadam and
4.
The paradise of ‘Adn.
He then said to the rest of the creation ‘Kun’ [Be] and it was.”
Adh Dhahabi stated in ‘l ‘Uluw’: ‘It’s chain is good.’
Al Albaani stated in ‘Mukhtasar al ‘Uluw’
P.105: ‘The chain is authentic according to the conditions of Muslim.’ (“The
Four Things Allah Created with His Hand” http://subulassalaam.com/articles/article.cfm?article_id=128;
bold emphasis mine)
And;
Allah singled out Adam to
create him with His hands, as He has told us, and He did not create any other
animate being with His hands…
Imam ad-Daarimi said: Allah created Adam with His hand directly;
He did not create any other animate being with His hands. Thus He singled him
out, favoured him and honoured him with that renown.
End quote from Naqd
ad-Daarimi ‘ala al-Mureesi, p. 64
Ad-Daarimi narrated with a hasan isnad from Maysarah Abu Saalih,
the freed slave of Kindah, one of the Taabi‘een, that he said: Allah did not
directly handle anything of His creation except in three cases: He created Adam
with His hand, he wrote the Torah with His hand, and He planted the Garden of
Eden (Jannat ‘Adan) with His hand.
Naqd ad-Daarimi, p. 99. The commentator,
Shaykh Mansoor as-Samaari, said in his introduction to the book: It was
narrated from other Taabi‘een, such as Hakeem ibn Jaabir and Muhammad ibn Ka‘b
al-Qurazi, with a saheeh isnad, which I have quoted in my comment on the report
where it appears in the book.
These are the four things that Allah created with His hand: the
Throne, the Pen, the garden of Eden, and Adam. As for all other created beings,
they were created by the word “Be,” and they were. (Islam
Q&A, “Allah created four things with His hands” https://islamqa.info/en/answers/89966/allah-created-four-things-with-his-hands;
bold emphasis mine)
We, therefore, have a clear-cut contradiction since Adam WAS NOT created
by Allah’s creative word.
2. Jesus was not created like Adam.
The problem is far worse when we consider that the Quran itself
denies that Jesus was brought into existence through the word “Be.” Rather, the
Muslim scripture testifies that Allah actually sent his very own spirit in the
likeness of a man in order to cause Mary to conceive miraculously without any
male intervention:
And you shall recount in the Book the story of Mary: how she
left her people and betook herself to a solitary place to the east. We sent to her Our spirit in the semblance of a full-grown
man. And when she saw him she said: ‘May the Merciful
defend me from you! If you fear the Lord, [leave me and go your way].’ ‘I
am but your Lord’s emissary,’ he replied, ‘and have come TO GIVE YOU a holy son.’
‘How shall I bear a child,’ she answered, ‘when I have neither been touched by
any man nor ever been unchaste?’ ‘Thus did your Lord speak,’ he replied. “‘That
is easy enough for Me. He shall be a sign to mankind and a blessing from Ourself.
Our decree shall come to pass.”‘ S. 19:16-21 Dawood
Therefore, Jesus was neither created from dust nor by the
command “Be.”
This brings us to the other problem with this comparison.
3. The Spirit of God Incarnate
Whereas the Quran states that Allah breathed his spirit into
Adam, and mankind in general,
Then He fashioned him and breathed into him of His Spirit; and
appointed for you hearing and sight and hearts. Small thanks give ye! S. 32:9
Pickthall
Jesus, on the other hand, is said to be Allah’s very own Word
and a Spirit sent forth from him into Mary:
People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion,
and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a
Messenger of God, and
His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him.
So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, ‘Three.’ Refrain; better is
it for you. God is only One God. Glory be to Him – That He should have a son!
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth; God suffices for a
guardian. S. 4:171 Arberry
This explains why Jesus is identified as the Word and Spirit of
Allah all throughout the Islamic literature, phrases which are never ascribed
to Adam:
4435. It is related that Abu Hurayra said, “The Messenger of
Allah was given some meat and was offered the leg, which he liked, and ate some
of it. Then he said, ‘I will be the master of people on the Day of Rising. Do
you know what that will entail? Allah will gather people, the first and the
last on the same plain so that an observer will be able to see them and a
speaker make them hear. The sun will be brought near to them and people will
experience such sorrow and distress that they will not be able to bear or
endure it. The people will say, ‘Do you not see what has come to you? Why do
you not look for someone to intercede with your Lord on your behalf?’ People
will say to one another, ‘You must have Adam!’ They will come to Adam, peace be
upon him, and say, ‘You are the father of mankind. Allah created you with His hand
and breathed some of His spirit into you and He
ordered the angels to prostrate to you. He made you dwell in the Garden. Will
you not intercede with your Lord on our behalf? Do you not see what we are
suffering?’ Adam will say, ‘My Lord is angry today with such anger as has never
existed before nor will again. He forbade me the Tree and I disobeyed. O my
soul! My soul! My soul! Go to someone else. Go to Nuh.’… They will go to
‘Isa and say, ‘O ‘Isa! You are the Messenger of Allah and HIS WORD which He cast to
Maryam and a spirit from Him. You spoke to people while in
the cradle. Intercede with your Lord on our behalf. Do you not see what we are
suffering?’ ‘Isa will say, ‘My Lord is angry today with such anger as has never
existed before nor will again,’ and
he did not mention a sin. ‘O my soul! My soul! My soul! Go
to someone else. Go to Muhammad.’ (Bewley, The Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Chapter
68. Book of Tafsir http://bewley.virtualave.net/bukhari31.html;
bold, capital and underline emphasis mine)
Anas b Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah said: Allah would
gather people on the Day of Resurrection and they would be concerned about it,
and Ibn Ubaid said. They would get a Divine inspiration about it, and would
say: If we could seek intercession with our Lord, we may be relieved from this
predicament of ours. He (the Holy Prophet) said: They would come to Adam and
say, Thou art Adam, the father of mankind. Allah created thee with His own
hand and breathed unto thee of His Spirit and
commanded the angels and they prostrated before thee. So intercede for us with
thy Lord, that He may relieve us from this position of ours. He would say: I am
not in a position to do this, and would recall his error, and would feel shy of
his Lord on account of that… You
better go to Jesus, THE SPIRIT OF ALLAH and His word… (Sahih Muslim, Book
001, Number 0373 https://www.searchtruth.com/book_display.php?book=001&translator=2&start=0&number=0373)
Jami` at-Tirmidhi
Chapters on Virtues
Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas:
that a group of people from the Companions of the Messenger of
Allah sat waiting for him. He said: “Then he came out, such that when he came
close to them, he heard them talking, and he heard what they were saying. So
some of them said: ‘It’s amazing that Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, has taken
a Khalil (close friend) from His creation. He took Ibrahim as a Khalil.’ And
some of them said: ‘That is not more amazing than speaking to Musa, He spoke to
him with real speech.’ And some said: ‘And ‘Eisa is the word of Allah and HIS SPIRIT.’
And some said: ‘Adam was chosen by Allah.’ So he came out upon them and said
his Salam, and said: ‘I have heard your words, and your amazement that Ibrahim
is the Khalil of Allah, and he is such, and that Musa is the one spoken to by
Allah, and he is such, and
that ‘Eisa is THE SPIRIT OF ALLAH and His Word, and he is such,
and that Adam was chosen by Allah, and he is such…
Grade: Da’if (Darussalam)
English reference: Vol. 1, Book 46, Hadith 3616
Arabic reference: Book 49, Hadith 3976 (Sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/urn/634780;
capital, italic and underline emphasis mine)
In fact, besides the title Kalimatullah (“the Word of Allah”)
Jesus is also given the name Ruhullah (“Spirit
of Allah”), as in the following examples:
“Jesus continued his mission, aided by divine miracles. Some
Qur’anic commentators said that Jesus brought four people back from the dead: a
friend of his named Al-‘Azam, an old woman’s son, and a woman’s only daughter.
These three had died during his lifetime. When the Jews saw this they said:
‘You only resurrect those who have died recently; perhaps they only fainted.’
They asked him to bring back to life Sam the [sic] Ibn Noah.
“When he asked them to show him his grave, the people
accompanied him there. Jesus invoked Allah the Exalted to bring him back to
life and behold, Sam the [sic]
Ibn Noah came out from the grave gray-haired. Jesus asked: ‘How did you get
gray hair, when there was no aging in your time?’ He answered: ‘O, Spirit of Allah,
I thought that the Day of Resurrection had come; from the fear of that day my
hair turned gray.’” (Ibn Kathir, Stories
of the Prophets, pp. 347-348; bold and underline emphasis mine)
“Jesus suddenly prostrated and his disciples with him. They
sensed a fragrance which they had never smelled before. Jesus said: ‘The one
who is the most devout and most righteous may uncover the table, that we might
eat of it to thank Allah for it.’ They said: ‘O Spirit of Allah you
are the most deserving.’
“Jesus stood up, then performed ablution and prayed before
uncovering the table, and behold, there was a roasted fish. The disciples said:
‘O Spirit of Allah, is that the food of this world or of Paradise? Jesus said
to his disciples: ‘Did not Allah forbid you to ask questions?’ It is the divine
power of Allah the Almighty Who said: “Be,” and it was. It is a sign from Almighty
Allah warning of great punishment for unbelieving mortals of the world. This is
the kernel of the matter.’
“It is said that thousands of people partook of it, and yet they
never exhausted it. A further miracle was that the blind and lepers were cured.
“The
Day of the Table became one of the holy days for the disciples and followers of
Jesus. Later on, the disciples and followers forgot the
real essence of the miracles, and so they worshiped Jesus as a god.” (Ibid., p.
351; bold and underline emphasis mine)
“While they were on their way, suddenly they came to a huge lion
in the middle of the road; and they were alarmed. But Jesus said to them, ‘Put
me before him.’ When they sat him in front of the lion, he took hold of the
lion’s ear and said, ‘What made you sit here?’
“The lion said, ‘O
Spirit of God, I am waiting for an ox to come to me so that
I can eat it.’
“‘The ox might belong to poor people,’ said Jesus. ‘’Go to
such-and-such place, where you will find a camel. Eat it and leave the ox to
its owners.’ So the lion went off in the direction of the mountain.” (Muhammad
ibn ‘abd Allah al-Kisa’i, Tales
of the Prophets (Qisas al-anbiya’), translated by Wheeler M.
Thackson Jr. [Great Books of the Islamic World, Inc., 1997], 86. Jesus son of
Mary, p. 330; bold and underline emphasis ours)
It is obvious that Jesus is called the Spirit of Allah precisely
because of the Quran’s teaching that Christ already existed as a Spirit
alongside Allah when he was then sent forth from Allah’s own presence into Mary
in order to become a man.
This is further brought out by the following verse:
And in Mary, ‘Imran’s daughter, who preserved her chastity and into whose womb We breathed
Our spirit; who put her trust in the words of her Lord and
His scriptures, and was truly devout. S. 66:12 Dawood – cf. Q. 21:91
In light of Q. 4:171, where Jesus is said to be the Word and
Spirit that Allah cast down into Mary,
“… The Messiah, ´Isa son of Maryam, was only the Messenger
of Allah and His Word, which
He cast INTO Maryam,
and a Spirit from Him…” (Aisha Bewley https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/4/st6.htm)
It seems plausible that the Spirit of Allah that was breathed
into Mary was actually Jesus himself.
In other words, Christ was the very Spirit which Allah breathed,
i.e., sent forth, into Mary so that he could become a human being.
This interpretation becomes even more likely in light of the
following texts, which depict Jesus as creating a bird from clay and breathing
life into it:
As a messenger to the Children of Israel: “I have come to you
with a sign from your Lord; that I CREATE for you FROM CLAY the form of a bird, then I BLOW INTO IT and it becomes a bird
by God ‘s leave, and I heal the blind and the
lepers, and
give life to the dead by God ‘s leave, and I
can tell you what you have eaten, and what you have stored in your
homes. In that is a sign for you if you have acknowledged.” S. 3:49
Quran: A Reformist Translation (QRT)
God said, “O Jesus son of Mary, recall My blessings upon
you and your mother that I supported you with the Holy Spirit; you
spoke to the people in the cradle and in old age; and I taught you the
book and the wisdom, and the Torah, and the Injeel; and YOU WOULD CREATE FROM CLAY the shape of a bird, then BLOW INTO IT and it becomes a bird
by My leave; and you heal the blind and the leper by
My leave; and
you brought out the dead by My leave. I have
restrained the Children of Israel from you, that you came to
them with proofs; but those who rejected amongst them said, “This is
an obvious magic!” S. 5:110 QRT
Astonishingly, Christ creates in the exact same way that Allah
created and animated Adam!
WE CREATED man FROM
DRY CLAY, from black moulded loam,
and before him Satan from smokeless fire. Your Lord said to the
angels: ‘I am creating man from dry clay, from black moulded loam. When I
have fashioned him and
breathed of My spirit into him, kneel down and
prostrate yourselves before him.’ The angels, one and all, prostrated
themselves, except Satan. He refused to prostrate himself as the others
did. ‘Satan,’ said God, ‘why do you not prostrate yourself?’ He
replied: ‘I will not bow to a mortal whom YOU CREATED OF DRY CLAY, of black moulded loam.’
‘Get you hence,’ said God, ‘you are accursed. The curse shall be on you
till Judgement-day.’ S. 15:27-35 Dawood
This passage indicates that Jesus must have breathed the
life-animating Spirit into the clay bird, much like Allah did for Adam. And the
reason why Christ could do so is that he happens to be the very Spirit of
Allah, and therefore has the power to give life. In the words of the blessed
Apostle Paul:
“So it is written, ‘The first man Adam was made a living soul.’
The last Adam was made a
life-giving spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45 Modern English Version
(MEV)
Hence, whatever it means for Christ to be like Adam it obviously
cannot refer to the manner of their creation since, unlike the first man, Jesus
did not come into being in his mother’s womb. Rather, Christ was already alive
with Allah long before his blessed mother conceived his physical body and human
nature.
Nor is the creation of Adam actually unique, since there have
been many things that were created in a similar fashion. As the following
scholar of Islam explains:
“In reality, this verse contains two ideas: one, the affirmation
of a likeness between Christ and Adam (mathala
‘Isa ‘indallah; yet of what this likeness consists the Qur’an
does not say); and two, a report concerning Adam, that God created him from
dust and his word.
“One can assume nevertheless that the likeness between the two,
according to the Qur’an, is that like Jesus Adam was created without a father.
This point is rather frequently mentioned in Muslim tradition until the present
day. Muslim apologists of the Middle Ages, as those of the modern era (e.g.
Shaykh Rashid Rida in his commentary on the Qur’an) emphasize even that
Adam was superior to Jesus because he was born without a mother. Christian
theologians (notably Elijah of Nisibis [d. 1056]) respond that in this Adam is not different
than the first donkey or bull, since he is the first of his jins. But Jesus was born without a
father when there were an infinity of possible fathers. According
to them the eminence of Christ above Adam is thereby demonstrated.” (Samir
Khalil Samir, “6. The Theological Christian Influence on the Qur’an – A
Reflection,” The
Qur’an in its Historical Context, edited by Gabriel Said Reynolds
[Routledge Studies in the Qur’an, 2008], p. 147; bold emphasis mine)
Therefore, we must look elsewhere if we are going to discover
what makes Adam and Jesus so similar.
This is what we intend to do in the next part of our discussion
Source: https://answeringislamblog.wordpress.com/2019/12/01/another-quranic-dilemma-pt-1/
IHS
