Reflections on the Story of Adam

The story of Adam (AS) is a story that I find myself thinking about a lot, and all of us should be thinking about it. Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ mentioned his story multiple times in the Quran, and he is in the end of the day our father, we have a actual connection with him, he is our father, he is us his story is our story, Subhanallah can you imagine, I mean imagine being Adam (AS), imagine you come into existence and you are the only one of your species, and you see around you,

مَلَكُوتَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
[6:75]

You are not on Earth you’re in the heavens, you see jibril you see every Angel you know Allah fashioned you with his hands, you know Allah blu rooh into you, you have been told to stand up, and all of the angels as far as your eye can see,

فَسَجَدَ الْمَلَائِكَةُ كُلُّهُمْ أَجْمَعُونَ
[38:73]

imagine that scene, the Angels اشرف مخلوقات they are told to do to you, and without doing any Amal, and turn to Jannah, no امتحان no اختبار and no دنياpassing the tests of Duniya no, Allah creates from you, for you your spouse, perfect spouse for you, and the two of you are told enter Jannah. Can you imagine the feeling that our father and mother would have had, and they’re roaming around in Jannah,

وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا
[02:35]

Eat bountifully the whole Jannah is yours, they got Jannah for free, they got Jannah without doing anything, it is as if Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ is telling them and through them me and you. That’s where I want you to be, that’s your default position, you were created and born to be over, there I want you there.

So Allah put us there, my mother and father, Your Mother and Father, Allah put our parents there to show us that’s your goal, that’s where you belong, that’s what I created for you, can you imagine the blessings of Jannah being handed to you, and you are masha’allah enjoying every Bounty of Jannah, and you are told one commandment just one,

وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَـٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
[2:35]

that’s the only thing prohibited, and what happens years go by centuries go by we don’t know how long eons go by, and subhanallah our father Adam is me and you, the prohibited fruit, this is me and you, that which is prohibited becomes alluring even though, in that which Allah has made Halal is plenty for us, we don’t need to go to the Haram, Allah we don’t need to go to the Haram, but shaytan makes the Haram beautiful for us وسوس لهم الشيطان we think the Forbidden is more pleasing, but in reality it’s not more pleasing, Halal is sufficient for us, Allah has made everything halal, but shaitan comes and makes us think that one Haram thing, that’s better for us.

Can you imagine our father and mother Adam for how long they were tempted by that which they didn’t even need, they didn’t need it, but they kept on thinking what about, what about, what about, and shaytan made it bigger and better than it was,

وَقَالَ مَا نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَـٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ
وَقَاسَمَهُمَا إِنِّي لَكُمَا لَمِنَ النَّاصِحِينَ
[7:20-21]

shaytan promised them false promises, that’s the promise of shaytan, shaytan promised them false promises, he promised them that which they cannot have eternal life, and he said that’s why you’re forbidden, the same way he promises me and you every type of false promise that haram money is going to make you happy, that Haram pleasure you will feel so good after that, that one thing that Allah has forbidden actually you’re going to enjoy it more than halal, وَٱللّٰهِ we know we don’t enjoy it more than the Halal, we know our experience teaches us that the Haram does not bring us benefit it brings us nothing but guilt, nothing but regret, but we still fall prey to the seduction of shaytan, to the lies of shaytan, Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ wants us to learn from the story of our mother and father, and subhanallah imagine how our father felt, I sin and you sin and we’re overcome with guilt to overcome with the remorse, Allah has blessed us, beyond our measure and yet we use his very blessings to sin against him, how guilty do we feel, but then I wonder how would our father Adam have felt, وَٱللّٰهِ can you imagine the guilt of our father Adam?

Can you imagine Allah created him with his hands, Allah gave him Jannah, Allah said do whatever you want, just one tree I’m telling you don’t go, and he still ate from that tree. How do you think our father felt, when he realized all was gone, when his own clothes that Allah gifted him, said we cannot clothe your nakedness anymore, when the very blessings that he used to disobey Allah turned against him said nope not anymore we are clothes of Jannah we’re not allowed to cover up those that are committing sins.

How do you think our mother and father felt, when they were told by Allah

اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا
[20:123]

Get down to earth, how do you think they coped وَٱللّٰهِ I think about this, and I ask you to think about it as well, think about the first few days weeks years on Earth, think about that, I want you to think about it because Allah has told us, this how do you think they coped without agriculture, without domesticated animals, without infrastructure to build houses there were no metal, iron there was nothing to carve, they literally had to start from nothing after being where not in a city like Dallas that has infra in Jannah, look at the change, from Jannah onto this planet where there was no other human being, no structure, no tools, no instruments, that is where they had to start from.

if anybody feels overwhelmed because of your situation, my mother and father and your mother and father had it much worse, if anybody feels how can I cope with what is happening with me, وَٱللّٰهِ we have it infinitely better than how our mother and father had it when they came down to this earth, if anybody becomes overwhelmed with helplessness despair a feeling of guilt, and it is good to feel guilty, but we shouldn’t become overwhelmed, it is good to feel regret but if we feel overwhelmed, put yourself in our parents shoes, the utter disappointment they would have felt, after all that Allah gifted me and this is what I end up doing, after all that Allah has given me everything I could have asked for,

وَآتَاكُم مِّن كُلِّ مَا سَأَلْتُمُوهُ 
[14:34] 

He gave you everything you ever asked for, in fact he gave adam what Adam didn’t even ask for, he gave him Jannah without anything, can you imagine the regret and remorse of our father Adam, how he would have felt, imagine after all the blessings and still just one thing he said don’t do and I did it, but we learned from our father Adam that’s the whole point of the story, we learn what is the moral of the story, he didn’t lose hope in Allah, he might have lost Jannah, but he didn’t lose Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ

There is no one in Allah, no matter what I’ve done

قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
[7:23]

That is the ultimate story moral from our father Adam (AS), no matter what I’ve done, no matter how bad I have been, Ya Allah I need you to forgive me, there is no hope for me other than you.

In the story of Adam (AS) we gain the ultimate example and role model, I am a sinner, you are a sinner but وَٱللّٰهِ when I think of my father Adam and the sin he committed, the measure of that sin I can’t even comprehend how that guilt would be for him to have seen, what he has seen to have been gifted what he has been gifted, to speak with Allah directly can you imagine, Allah spoke to Adam directly our Prophet salaam said, so he said literally Allah spoke to Adam taklim and without any Veil and barrier and Allah taught Adam the gift of speech

وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا
[2:31]

Allah taught Adam to say the salaam to the angels, go to the angel says salamu alaikum Allah taught Adam the gift of language, Allah has shown Adam what he has shown him, and within a period of time all those blessings are gone and he comes to this earth, and he lived here for centuries on Earth, with memories of Jannah, can you imagine every winter, every summer, every struggle, can you imagine the guilt that our father would have felt where am I now because of what I’ve done, can you imagine that guilt, but he still didn’t give up that’s the whole point of the story.

Our Father Adam did not give up, he struggled in this Duniya and carved out mankind, he started Banu Adam, we’re all here because of Hawa (As) and not only that he continued in his religious ibadah and worship and he taught his children to tawheed and worship in spite all of his past in spite of the sin that he had done, he realized, what matters is the future not the past what matters is my ending not my beginning.

So in the story of Adam the story of Genesis is what the Bible calls it and it’s a true name the beginning it is our story every one of us we should look at the story of Adam (AS), we should benefit from it in our own lives, Subhanallah, The Dua the Adam made, its a dua that we should memorize, it is a Dua that we should incorporate and also the philosophy or the spirit of it should be found in all of our duas,
قَالَا رَبَّنَا ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا وَإِن لَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
this Dua we can divide it into four different parts each one of which we can benefit in our regular duas.

قَالَا رَبَّنَا you begin your dua because these are the Knights of Dua, you begin your Dua by invoking your Lord with his most powerful names and attributes, this is how your Dua begins, you begin what does رَبَّنَا mean and there are two names of Allah, you can use in any Dua, Allahumma and Rabbana and there are other names that you choose depending on the Dua, do you understand this point, two names no matter what you ask Allah you can use those two names and their perfect names, Allahumma and Rabbana and every other Dua that you have there are a set of names, that you should choose for them, if you want to be forgiven ya gaffar, ya gafur, Ya rahman, if you want to be wealthy, Ya razzaq, ya karim, if you want to have righteous children Ya wahhab, if you’re sick a loved one is sick on Ya safi, Ya kafi, and on whatever Dua that you have in mind, you begin your Dua by praising Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىٰ