Shadee Elmasry – Did God Create Adam in His Image
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AI: Transcript ©
When Allah created Adam on his image, did
he create Adam on God's image, or did
he create Adam on his own image, or
did he create Adam on another man's image,
meaning that that man looked like Adam.
He's created in the same form Allah created.
And in that, all three statements have been
said.
But remember, we're not here trying to push
one ijtihad, one commentary, and saying that's all
of Islam.
There may be a commentary that says, I
believe this is the truth, right, this is
most close to the truth, and most sound
to follow.
But I have to tell you, if it
is a commentary or not, you're robbing, you're
fooling Muslims and misleading them if you tell
them that an opinion is the religion and
that's it.
That's not right.
You have to say where it's a matter
of opinion.
And here I'm telling you, there are three
statements on this.
The first statement is that Allah created Adam
on his own image.
That's a statement.
But that doesn't mean we have to follow
that statement.
Just because something is a statement does not
necessarily mean that all of our teachers will
agree to it.
And our teachers and our main sources do
not agree with that.
What do they say?
But they say that there is a second
opinion where it's a man struck his son.
Another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, when you
fight wars, avoid the face because Allah created
Adam on his image, meaning that was the
face that Allah created Adam upon.
So to honor that, don't hit that.
That could be the case.
Let's take another hadith.
This was the one that we have up.
Allah created Adam on his image and his
height is 60 yards.
So therefore, his here must refer to Adam.
Because in basic, I think every language has
this.
When you say a pronoun, it points to
the nearest noun that was mentioned.
That's number one.
Secondly, and his height is 60 feet tall.
Clearly that's not Allah.
Allah is clearly talking about Adam ﷺ because
no one will say the height of Allah
is 60 yards tall.
Third pronoun, again, the third pronoun here.
So suratihi, tuluhu, and khalaqahu all refer to
Adam ﷺ.
Let's take another question here.
Why would Allah say that he created Adam
on his image?
Meaning the image that he had of the
dunya, that way that the human being looks,
is how Adam was created in the heavens.
It's to clarify that.
To clarify the issue of was Adam ﷺ
created differently in the heavens, like does the
human being look the same?
Or when he came to the earth, he
looked different, right?
So let's turn to our go-to and
that is the first one we're going to
look at is Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani.
He says here, wa khtulifa ila maada ya
'udu al-dameeru.
It's differed upon.
What is the pronoun?
God created Adam on his image.
What is the pronoun?
Faqila ila Adam.
It has been said to Adam, meaning, and
by saying qila, he's saying the whole subject
is up for interpretation.
That means nobody should simply say this is
it one way and that's it.
You can say this is what I'm most
convinced by and that's what I teach my
people, my family and myself and that's what
my belief is.
Fine.
But keep recognized it is up for shot.
And when we talk to these brothers, the
number one issue is, I don't want to
even debate my point.
The number one thing is to debate or
to get the point across, the whole subject
matter is ijtihadi.
Like group dhikr.
I don't even care if you believe in
group dhikr or mawalid or misbahs or anything.
But you have to admit what I do
care about.
You have to admit this is a subject
of discussion.
There's not one way and that's it.
You have massive amounts of scholars on both
sides.
فقيل إلى آدم أي خلقه على صورته التي
استمر عليها إلى أن أهبط وإلى أن مات
So it's that image, the image that Adam
was created on in the heavens and then
came down with that image and died upon
that image.
دفع لتوهم من يظن أنه لما كان في
الجنة كان على صفة أخرى To repel the
false understanding of some people, maybe it was
being said at the time of the Prophet
ﷺ, that he changed his image, that he
was one image in paradise and Allah changed
his image.
Okay?
Or his image changed when he came down
to the earth.
أَوِبْتَدَأَ خَلْقَهُ كَمَا وُجِدَ لَمْ يَنْتَقِلْ فِى النَّشْأَةِ
كَمَا يَنْتَقِلُ وَلَدُهُ مِنْ حَالَةٍ إِلَى حَالَةٍ And
this would be a refutation to the evolutionist
Muslims, which you'd be out of Islam if
you believe that Adam evolved.
This is one of the hadiths that supports
that concept that Adam ﷺ, as is mentioned
in the Qur'an, was created as a
complete human being, right?
As an adult human being.
That means he did not become as we
are, a sperm, a seed, a zygote, or
whatever.
And then he went through the stages of
birth.
So this hadith is refuting that element too.
Okay?
In its words, it refutes it.
Not that, we can't say that people were,
we don't know if people were ever saying
anything close to that at the time.
But it could be that they were saying
that he had a different form in the
heaven and a different form on the earth.
وَقِيلَ And it has also been said that
it could be a refutation of some atheist
beliefs who believed in the eternality of everything.
That everything is قَدِيم.
That the only way that a human being
can be created is from the seed of
a male and a female.
And that it can just continuously goes back.
He's saying no.
Allah created him as he is now, as
a full adult.
أَزَّاعِمِينَ أَنَّ الْإِنسَانَ قَدْ يَكُونُ مِنْ فِعْلِ الطَّبَعِ
وَتَأْثِيرِ So he says, and this is close
to, it's amazing that Ibn Hajar is actually
pointing to, very close to an evolutionary idea
here, or a naturalist idea here.
He says, it has been said that it's
a response to the طَبَاعِيِّن, the naturalists who
say that the human being came out of
natural processes.
So what Darwinistic or naturalistic ideas that we
have now, he's pointing to that way back
in his time, Ibn Hajar's time.
Find us when he died.
852 after the Hijrah.
1449.
So that there is Ibn Hajar and that's
what we teach and that's what we believe.
Knowing that it is إجتهاد من.
It's Ijtihad from him.
Let's take a look at Sayyiduna al-Imam
al-Nawawi.
قَوْلُهُ صَلَى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ خَلَقَ اللَّهُ آدَمَ
عَلَى سُرَتِهِ طُولُهُ سِتُونَ ذِرَاعًا Saying this without
any disrespect to the legitimate علماء who did
say that it does return to the image
of Allah Ta'ala and they have their
own proofs and they give different narrations completely.
هَذَا الْحَدِيثِ سَبَقَ شَرْحُهُ وَبَيَانُ تَأْوِيلِهِ And I
wish that, this is just a summary because
he does have a تأويل somewhere else in
his book, Imam al-Nawawi, I have to
get that.
And I have to get him in Hajras
later, but this suffices for us, right?
وَهَذِهِ الرِّوَيَةِ ظَاهِرَةٌ فِي أَنَّ الضَّمِيرَ فِي سُرَتِهِ
عَعِدٌ إِلَىٰ أَدَمٍ Imam al-Nawawi agrees here.
He says this hadith is very clear that
the pronoun goes back to Adam.
God created Adam on his image, meaning on
the image that Adam was on as a
human being.
Created as an adult, that same image, he
came down to the earth.
He was not created as a child.
Created as and naturally evolved.
He was not created in any other way.
He was created directly as an adult.
And upon that same image, he existed in
the heavens, he came down.
He didn't change when he came down.
He was created as an adult and he
died an adult.
He was not created in any of these
other ways.
And what else?
طُولُهُ سِتُونَ ذِرَاعًا And he was sixty viraa,
cubits tall.
وَلَمْ يَنْتَقِلْ أَطْوَارًا كَذُرِّيَّتِهِ He did not grow
as we grow.
He's created sixty cubits tall, whatever, and he
stayed that way.
He didn't grow and he didn't go through
phases as we did.
كَذُرِّيَّتِهِ Which we do.
We grow tall and then we start small
and grow tall.
كَانَتْ سُرَتُهُ فِي الْجَنَّةِ هِيَ سُرَتُهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ
لَمْ تَتَغَيَّرْ And the hadith is pointing to
that his image in paradise is his image
on the earth.
He did not change.
The human being in paradise is not anything
different than this.
Of course, in paradise it would be much
more perfect.
But same concept, face, arms, those proportions that
we all know.
And that is the answer that we hold
on to.
And that is authoritative according to many, many,
many hadith scholars, including here what we just
cited, Ibn Hajar al-Nawawi, and many aqidah
scholars teach the same thing.