A011
Surah: 007 - Ayah: 011
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7:11
Wisdom 20:' It is said in an Hadith: "God has created Adam in His (Compassionate) image (surah).... Thus, he who enters Paradise, he will be in the image of Adam." (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabu 'l-istidhdn, Bab, 685), from which some points are mentioned here:
Point 1: The above-mentioned Hadith is an exegesis of verse (7:11): "And verily We created you (physically), then We made your (spiritual) form (sawwarnakum), then We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam." This is a clear fact for the wise people that the perfect ones are with Hazrat Adam in all stages of spirituality.
Point 2: When Hazrat Adam entered the Paradise of perfect spirituality, he was granted the Image of the Compassionate. Similarly, whoever enters this Paradise of spirituality, will be in the image of his father Adam. Here there is an allusion that through Hazrat Adam, every mu 'min in Paradise will be in the Image of the Compassionate.
Point 3: Complete spirituality is initial and partial Paradise, it is not the universal Paradise.
Real recognition is not possible except when the arifs observe every spiritual event of the Prophets, as is clear from this verse of the Qur'an: "And certainly We created you (physically), then We made your (spiritual) form, then We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam," (7:11). No wise person can deny that, the physical creation of a mumin travelling on the spiritual path is completed first, then the special form of the soul through dhikr and ibadat and knowledge and good deeds comes into being, and this spirituality is the beginning of Resurrection and the events of the Prophets.
Were we before Adam or was he before us?
Q. 38. From the order in the description of this blessed verse: "And We created (khalaqnakurrO you, then (thumma) shaped (sawwarnakum) you, then told the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam" (7:11), it appears that there is a great secret hidden in it Otherwise, if we look at it literally, many difficult questions arise. The question in this verse is that the contextual links in the Our'anic verses are in their respective order. That is to say that, the event which is prior in the order of context is also prior in the order of time. This is particularly so when "thumma (then)" comes after the description of a thing, in order that it may be known that the thing which has been described first in the context, is really first in the order of existence. Also tell us: Did the people exist before Adam? Further explain: Does not "khalaqriakum (We created you)" fulfill all the meanings of creation, or does not it contain all the meanings of creation, due to which, it was necessary to add "thumma sawwarnakum (then We shaped you)?"
A. Indeed, a great secret is hidden in this blessed verse. Here, by the grace of God, we will try to explain its wisdoms so that, by the command of God, all the related questions of our students may be solved and their knowledge may increase considerably. The great wisdom is as follows: "Wa laqad khalaqnakum - And We created you (before the Adam of this period as should be created physically)". Thumma sawwarnakum - then We shaped you spiritually, (that is to say, a spiritual period passed over you)". "Thumma qulna lil-mala'ikati'sjudu li-Adam - Then We told the angels to prostrate themselves to Adam (i.e. at that time you were also in the form of the particles of the soul and in the position of the jam all" or potential angels)". It should be known that in "khalaqnakum (We created)" are contained all the meanings of the physical creation and in sawwarnakum (We shaped you)" is mentioned the spiritual perfection. For, the physical body of man is related to the world of creation, which is this world, and his subtle form (i.e. the soul) to the world of command, which is the spiritual world, in which man reaches the apogee of perfection in shape and form, in beauty, lustre and in luminosity. For he, in reality, is the Form or Image of God (surat-i rahman).
God says: “And we created you (i.e. completed your physical creation) then we created your (spiritual) forms, then told the angles. Fall you down prostrate before Adam” (7:11). In this verse, in a wisdom-filled way is mentioned together in the same place, the physical creation and the perfection of the spiritual form of all Adams or all human beings. This verse alludes that this favour is made to all equally and in every case after the perfection of the spiritual form, God says to the angles: “prostrate to Adam”. From this the meaning and importance of the spiritual form can be realized.
Sawwarnakum (We made your form)
O my dears! The friends of God live in the personal world of the Adam of the time, because he is the whole and they are his parts and this great favour of God is mentioned in these words in verse (7:11): "And verily We created you (in spirituality) and then We made your form (i.e. surat-i Rahman,), then We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam. They all prostrated themselves except Iblis."
The concept that God first creates His friends physically, then He creates their spiritual form and then He becomes their ear and eye and makes them aware of the secrets of His macrifat, and they, in the radiance of His light, see the great event of how and in what sense all angels prostrate themselves to Adam is in the light of verse (7:11). For although apparently the story of Hazrat Adam is a story of the past, but when God opens the inner eye of the mu'min in his personal world, then every past and future event comes in front of him in the form of the present. Thus in the example of Hazrat Adam, the standard of spiritual health is to see the event of Hazrat Adam in the personal world.
An example of how a spiritual bounty is hidden in comparison to or behind a physical bounty is that all people are proud to be the children of a glorious Prophet, namely, Hazrat Adam, may peace be upon him, who was the Vicegerent of God and to whom the angels prostrated. The spiritual meaning of this is that, the place of spirituality where God enfolds the spatial and temporal distances (39:67; 21:104) is also where He gathers Adam and his children and renews their spiritual relationship (7:11). It is in view of this wisdom that the wise Qur’an calls people Adam's children, and not his grandchildren, despite the fact that the word for grandchildren (hafadah, 16:72) is also used in the holy Qur’an where necessary.
It is said in the Qur’ᾱn: “And indeed We created you then made your form, then told the angels: Fall you prostrate before Ᾱdam! And they fell prostrate, all save Iblīs, who was not of those who make prostration.” (7:11)
It is mentioned in verse (7:11): "And verily We created you, then made your form, then We said to the angels: Prostrate yourselves to Adam. They all prostrated themselves except Iblis." That is, God created you, us and the rest of the human beings in the form of particles in the world of particles of Hazrat Adam. In this state all of us were angels in the form of particles, then all of us by the command of God prostrated ourselves to Adam in his world of particles, due to which we progressed. Thereafter we became annihilated in Adam (a.s.), the vicegerent of God, and God gave us the intellectual form and said to us for the second time to prostrate to Adam (a.s.) and we prostrated ourselves to him except Iblis.
(16) Sirat-i Mustaqim (Straight Path):
The first example and the first prayer (duca) of the wise Qur’an, in which all Muslims seek knowledge and success from God to enable them to recognise the true religion and to progress in it begins with the words: “Idhina’s-sirata’l-mustaqim = Guide us on the straight path”. That is: O Allah! make us benefit from the external and internal means of knowledge and success of True Islam, so that we may advance on the straight path solving all those new problems which crop up due to the states and events of the time, or due to mental progress. Here, the knowledge, success and high ambition, which are sought to be able to see and walk on the straight path signifies that the true religion really resembles a straight path, whose length and distance with respect to spiritual progress is from pre-eternity (azal) to post-eternity (abad); with respect to physical progress, from the cycle of Adam till the Resurrection; with respect to every ummat (community), from one lord of sharicat to another with respect to [Islam from the advent of] the holy Prophet till the Resurrection; with respect to the personal life of an individual, from his birth to death and with respect to tasawwuf and haqiqat from birth to the selfrecognition (khwud-shinasi) of every individual.
Thus, it is evident that true religion resembles a straight path, which is as difficult to see and walk on, as it is easy. It is easy in the sense that God, Whose favours have been praised from al-hamdu to nastacin, has created all the means to see and walk on the straight path through His providence and mercy, and nothing at all is lacking in this connection. It is difficult in the sense that an extremely cunning and artful enemy, namely Satan, who sometimes appears in the guise of humankind and sometimes disguises himself in the attire of jinn, waits on this path with his countless army of horsemen and infantry, to attack suddenly and to cause every individual and group that turns its face to this path and also those who walk on it to flee. For further details on this subject, see the holy Qur’an: 7:11- 25; 17:61-70.
If it is accepted that Satan always exists in this world and that he will continue to divert people from the straight path until the Resurrection, then the law of Divine justice also necessitates the presence of a means to guide people on the straight path until the Resurrection. This means of guidance is the holy Prophet Muhammad and his progeny, i.e. the Imam of the time, who is the light of the Prophet and Imam cAli, about whom God says: “(O Muhammad!) You are a warner only and for every people there is a guide” (13:7). It is obvious that warning (which is possible by the appearance of miracles and occurrence of calamities or by purely conveying the message) is the work of Prophets, whereas the hidden guidance related to the exoteric and esoteric [aspects of religion] is the Imams’ work. Thus, it is evident that, as long as people exist in this world, a guide also exists and is present in it, for according to this verse the guide and the people, i.e. the people of the time, are attached to each other. This is because of the fact that God said to the Prophet that, through the Qur’an and his own Sunnat he was only a warner to his community until the Resurrection, whereas its guidance would be carried out by the guide, namely, cAli and the exalted Imams from his progeny.
Q111 If no bounty is impossible in paradise, is it possible for an inmate of it to see himself as Adam as well as one of the angels who prostrated to him?
A111 Why not? Read verse (7:11) carefully because it indicates that the story of Adam is the story of all individuals. During the spiritual resurrection, when every soul (angel) in the form of a particle was falling down prostrating to him, it was coming out as one of his countless copies. Thus, it is a fact that every bounty is available in paradise and the purpose of the resurrection, which occurs to the kamils, is to create a new paradise.
Q245 Please explain some wisdoms of verse (7:11): “And We created you, then fashioned you, then told the angels: Fall prostrate before Adam! And they fell prostrate save Iblis, who was not of those who prostrate themselves”.
A245
- Spiritual perfection follows the physical creation and perfection of mu’mins (male and female) and then the intellectual form is granted to them.
- This means that as soon as the pious enter the paradise of the sacred Sanctuary, they become in the image of Adam(c) and he was created in the surat-i Rahman.
- Now, here by the command of God the angels prostrate to Adam(c) a second time. They had prostrated to him the first time in the world of particles.
- The pious were becoming in the image of Hazrat Adam(c) and in the image of Rahman not only in the sacred Sanctuary, but they were becoming one with the Adam(c) of the time from the very beginning in the personal world.
- In short, the double wisdom of the verse is that the angels prostrate, by the command of God, not only to Adam(c) but also to the pious, because they were in Hazrat Adam(c) and had become his copies.
The ta’wili purport of verse (7:11): We created you spiritually together with your father, the nafs-i wahidah, then We created your spiritual form, then We told the angels to prostrate to Adam. God has kept Adam and his children together in this verse, whom nobody can separate through any explanation or meaning.
Today I am going to tell you one great secret of Adam’s recognition. When it was time to breathe the Divine Spirit into Adam, by God’s command Israfil blew the sur, by which several great miracles appeared simultaneously: (1) The spiritual resurrection took place. (2) All souls gathered together in Adam and became his dhurriyyat or children. (3) The angels prostrated to Adam, etc.
Study suratu’t-Tin (95:1-8) and after understanding the literal meaning, see the Wajh-i Din for its fundamental ta’wil. The example of the four roots of religion – Universal Intellect, Universal Soul, natiq and asas exists in the sacred Sanctuary, where the junction of the pearl of Intellect and the hidden Book is the example of the Universal Intellect and the Universal Soul and that of natiq and asas as well.
The batini ta’wil in this wisdom-filled surah is that the excellent way in which God, may He be exalted, has created Adam and his children on the ladder of the spiritual resurrection is indeed unique, as there is the diversity of wisdoms in it. God, the One, the Subduer has created Adam and his children simultaneously by the spiritual resurrection (7:11).
This verse has been referred 17 times.