Fruit of Paradise - Soul and Hazrat Adam (a.s.)

Soul and Hazrat Adam (a.s.)

Tags: Soul, Hazrat Adam, Insan, Circle of creation, Sunnat, Nafkh

Before exploring the subject of “Soul and Hazrat Adam” it is important to know if there were any human beings on any planet before Hazrat Adam. What is the proof that the chain of human existence has continued from the very beginning? A satisfactory answer to this question has already been provided in my book “What is Soul”, but because of the importance of this subject, some additional proofs have been furnished here to emphasise that man is as eternal as God's kingdom.

The clear meaning of verse (30:30) is: “The upright religion (Islam) is the religion of nature (creation), and Allah's nature is that on which He created people and there is no change in the law ordained by Allah for creation. And this is the religion of Qa'im.” From this Qur'anic proof it is clear that the physical creation of Hazrat Adam was exactly in accordance with the law of nature, and that He created him in the same way that He created all other people.
The word insan including ins and insiyyan is mentioned 84 times in the Qur'an. It is a common word which applies not only to the children of Adam but also to the first Adam as mentioned about the creation of man in general in verse (76:2). It is an universal law that every human being is created from both a mother and a father and this law applies equally to all including Hazrat Adam and Hazrat `Isa, because with respect to the body they were also human beings.
In verse (2:213) it is mentioned that before the chain of Prophets began, people were one community (ummat) or were on one path, then Allah sent the Prophets. This proves that Hazrat Adam was created after those people and that he was the first Prophet in the chain of Prophets.
In the Wise Qur'an the same single law for the creation of Adam and the children of Adam is mentioned repeatedly by the word “insan” (mankind) as the seven stages of the creation of man are mentioned in verses (23:12-14) which are:
1. quintessence of clay
2. sperm
3. clot
4. lump
5. bones
6. flesh
7. another creation
No human being can become “another creation” without passing through these stages, nor can he be called the creation of the Best of Creators (23:14).
Reflecting on verse (3:59) one concludes that the creation of both Hazrat Adam and Hazrat `Isa was alike (i.e in accordance with the laws of nature) and that it was on the occasion of their spiritual creation or perfection that God told them to “Be”. From this it is clear that both Hazrat Adam and Hazrat `Isa had parents and that Hazrat `Isa's parents were Hazrat Maryam and Yusuf, the carpenter.
You can see in the “Risalah-i Hikmati” of Hakim Pir Nasir-i Khusraw (q.s.), which was written in Persian, that the Persian translation of the Arabic word “jinn” is “pari” which means a subtle and hidden creature which can fly. In the Wise Qur'an which is the treasure of God's secrets, with respect to creation, you sometimes find mankind mentioned before jinn (55:14-15) and sometimes jinn mentioned before mankind (15:27). The reason for this is due to the circle of creation in which they are like day and night. Or one should say they are like the silk worm and silk moth. If in the season of worms you want to mention their past, it is true to say that first they were moths and if in the season of moths, it is true to say they were worms. Each is created from the other and the only universal statement is that there is no temporal priority or posteriority between them.
In the light of the above facts we can say that the kingdom of God has neither a beginning nor an end but that it is eternal. And in this kingdom it is also necessary to say that mankind is always present. Thus for every cycle there is an Adam and that at the end of each cycle man is transformed from the dense into the subtle. This is merely a question of body, not of deeds. This means that the story related to the multitude of jinns on planet earth prior to the Adam of this cycle is true. Similarly, at the end of this cycle man will be granted a subtle body, an example of which is a Flying Saucer, which has many Qur'anic names.
If we try to understand Qur'anic wisdom and accept the system of cycles, then we should also accept this law of the soul which is that when the cycle of the previous Adam was complete, and the cycle of our father Adam began, the Lord of the worlds took the offspring from the loins of the children of the previous Adam and having presented them in the spirituality of His vicegerent of this cycle (i.e our Adam), and after taking a covenant from them, considered them the children of the present Adam (7:172). This miracle takes place first in every person in the chain of vicegerency (i.e. Prophethood and Imamat).
There are great wisdoms hidden in the way in which soul is mentioned in the story of Adam. For instance, before breathing the perfect soul into Hazrat Adam, God said: “My Soul” (15:29; 38:72) attributing this to Himself. The great secret which it is necessary to recognise here is that the Divine Spirit which was breathed into Hazrat Adam, or the Divine Light that was being transferred, was previously in another Perfect Man. Several Qur'anic examples can be provided to explain the specific relationship between “God's Spirit - God's Light” and God, in that the spirit or soul does not have a relationship with God as such (dhat-i subhan), but that this relationship is the name for its grandeur, exaltedness, purity, nobility and Divine proximity. Some of these examples are:
Rope of Allah (3:103), House of Allah (2:125), Hand of Allah (48:10), Side of Allah (39:56), Face of Allah (55:27), Days of Allah (45:14), Book of Allah (30:56), Path of Allah (12:108), Dais of Allah (2:255), Throne of Allah (69:17), Pen of Allah (96:4) etc. The way in which these exalted and sacred things are attributed to God is due to their special proximity to Him, and the Spirit of Allah is not different from the above examples. That is, God is free from and above having the soul or the spirit as a part of Him.
In connection with the great subjects of the Wise Qur'an you may have studied the subject of “sunnatu'llah” carefully, for it is extremely important. “Sunnatu'llah” or the custom or habit of Allah (which one can also call the Divine law) is the rule that He continues to retain forever the chain of guidance on this earth, the brightest proof of which is “light upon light” (24:35), namely, the continuity of one personality of light after another. This shows that Hazrat Adam was the lamp of knowledge and wisdom which was lit from the flame of the previous one. If you reflect for a while on the universal law of “light upon light” you will be amazed to realise that the chain of light has no beginning. That is, it does not have any beginning or end and that it continues from pre-eternity (azal) to post-eternity (abad).
According to Divine plan the vicegerency of Hazrat Adam was declared to the people of the earth (2:30) so why was it that it was the angels who benefitted from his “science of names”? Is there a great secret or wisdom here? Yes, there is. The angels in the story of Adam were among the people of the earth, for they were the mu'mins who had access to the light of Adam from the other end of their souls. In other words, they were all in the “personal world (i.e. Hazrat Adam)” of their time in the form of particles. This means that the soul has two ends. This end is a human being and the other end is an angel. The soul is like a path or bridge so that a thing may come from that side or go from this side. In the light of this example we can also say that the greatest beauty of the bridge of the soul is that it joins this world and the next.
In every word of the Qur'anic story of Hazrat Adam is hidden a treasure of the secrets of ma`rifat. For example take the word “nafkh” (blow) which in different forms is mentioned in twenty places in the Wise Qur'an, and which in its exoteric use has three different meanings, but is united in its esoteric meaning:
1. To blow with bellows so that pieces of iron turn white hot in a fire (18:96). The ta'wil of this is the revolutionary form of `ibadat which every Prophet or Imam performs.
2. To blow the sur (trumpet), because without passing through all the stages of the personal resurrection, Adam cannot be the bearer of light, the vicegerent of God, the fountainhead of knowledge and wisdom, and the masjud (the one to whom prostration is made) and the teacher of angels.
3. To blow the spirit. This is the name for the transference of light from one Perfect Man into another Perfect Man in accordance with the law of “light upon light”.
Thus the realities and the recognitions of the way Hazrat Adam performed the revolutionary `ibadat, the way his personal resurrection took place and the way the light was transferred to him, are spread throughout the Wise Qur'an and in accordance with the unchangeable law (or sunnat) of God, continues to pass through each bearer of light, and is the same story for each and every Prophet.
Although history takes you thousands of years away from the events of Adam, the miracle of the Qur'an and the light of guidance is such that through it you can see very closely the events related to Hazrat Adam. Because the purpose of the creation of the world and of Adam was Divine vicegerency, and according to Divine Will, continues in the chain of the Prophets and the Imams. As it is said in verse (24:55): “Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good deeds to appoint you vicegerents in the earth, as He had appointed those before you.” In this wisdom-filled heavenly teaching is mention of the vicegerency of the Prophets and the Imams, which is the chain of the exalted vicegerency of Hazrat Adam and which will continue as long as the world continues. To benefit more and more from this, it is a prerequisite for Muslims and mu'mins to obey the vicegerent of God of the time more and more, so that ultimately his recognition is attained. In this recognition are centred all recognitions and this is the result of the complete recognition of soul.

Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai,
20th March, 1985.

¹By the command of God, every Prophet and every Imam breathes the Spirit, see the example of Hazrat `Isa (3:49; 5:110).

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