Man's Purpose and Station from the Story of Adam in al-Baqarah

Occasion: Transcription of a Qur'anic khatira after Fajr delivered on 6 May 2022 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Dr. Ahmed opened his khatira with blessings and peace upon the Prophet ﷺ, then with a supplication: O Allah, we ask You for pardon, mercy, forgiveness and good pleasure. O Allah, grant us refuge from disgrace in this world and from the punishment of the Hereafter, and do not set over us, because of our sins, those who do not fear You regarding us and do not have mercy on us. Draw Your veil over us, envelop us in Your pardon, and be gentle with us through Your generosity. O Allah, we seek refuge in You from worry and grief, we seek refuge in You from incapacity and laziness, we seek refuge in You from cowardice and stinginess, and we seek refuge in You from being overcome by debt and from the domination of men, through Your mercy, O Lord of the worlds.

Then he said: This is our second meeting in a Qur'anic journey through which we try to pause at the verses recited in the prayer. We agreed that we would have a daily pause with a quarter of the Noble Qur'an, so that we pass through the whole Qur'an, by Allah's permission, within two hundred and forty days.

What We Established Yesterday

Among the verses we read is the saying of the Exalted: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَسْتَحْيِي أَنْ يَضْرِبَ مَثَلًا مَا بَعُوضَةً فَمَا فَوْقَهَا﴾ (“Indeed, Allah is not ashamed to present an example, even a mosquito or what is above it”).^[1] Yesterday we established a number of truths. The first truth is that this Book has no doubt in it, no uncertainty at all. The second message is that those who will follow the guidance of this Book are the people of faith, who have the characteristics Allah, Blessed and Exalted, mentioned. And the people who take in this message are three models of human beings: the believing model, the disbelieving model, and the hypocritical model, and we seek refuge in Allah.

Then Allah mentioned for us the first call to humanity, which is the first call to the people in the Qur'an: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ﴾ (“O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous”).^[2] And this call will meet one who responds and one who is obstinate; for the obstinate there is the Fire of Hell, and for the one who responds there is Paradise: ﴿وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ﴾ (“And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens beneath which rivers flow”) to the end of the verse.^[3]

Do Not Fear People's Mockery So Long as You Are Truthful

And in the quarter we read today in the Fajr prayer, the Lord of the worlds speaks to us about this Book. We said that it is a Book of guidance, and that Allah, glory be to Him, is not ashamed to present any example in it so long as He speaks with truth, justice and right. And this is a point: when you speak with your call, you may fear that people will mock you, so you say to them: No, I am not ashamed of that so long as I am speaking with truth and right. So take note of this point: the call of Islam is a call of truth and right, whatever the plots of people against it or their ridicule of what you say. The reality is that you are either saying the truth or you are not.

The First Methodical, Logical Address

And the other matter that came after that is when the Lord of the worlds tells us of His power in this universe: ﴿خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ﴾ (“It is He who created for you all that is on the earth, then directed Himself to the heaven and made them seven heavens, and He is Knowing of all things”).^[4] The Lord of the worlds informed us that He would speak the truth, and that He would ask people to seek the means of guidance. And this is the first methodical, logical address with which Allah, Blessed and Exalted, speaks to people in the Qur'an. Are we just preaching, or speaking words that have no effect? No, we are speaking methodical, logical words, so we address people according to the measure of the mind that Allah the Exalted placed in them.

Take this example: when the father says to his children, “Do not do such-and-such,” and the boy says, “This talk is not logical to me, it is not reasonable.” If the talk continues in this way, unreasonable and illogical, people will not follow what is said. They may listen to the words once or twice out of modesty before their father, but after a little while? So when do we follow the guidance? When the speech is logical, speaks to my brain and speaks to my mind. So from the very beginning Allah, Blessed and Exalted, addresses us with this logic. And how good it is for each of us to open his copy of the Qur'an, follow the verses, and take them in.

How Do You Disbelieve in Allah?

My Lord, glory be to Him, the Exalted, says: ﴿كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنْتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ﴾ (“How can you disbelieve in Allah when you were dead and He gave you life; then He will cause you to die, then He will bring you back to life”).^[5] Here the logical, rational address begins. And is this verse specific to the disbelievers only, or can I apply it in my own life? At every stage at which I try to commit a sin, I ask myself this question: How can I disbelieve in Allah? How can I disobey Allah? How can I transgress the limits of Allah when He is the One who created me, then will cause me to die, then will bring me back to life, then to Him I return? By the permission of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted.

Our Lineage to Adam

And for further proof of the power of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and so that these creatures turn to following the guidance, He presents to us the story of creation from the beginning. What is your knowledge in this world? What do you know about yourself? You know your father, you know your mother, you know your grandfather, but do you know your grandfather's grandfather? Do you know your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather? Do you know these ancestors, these creatures? You hear about them, and all you can gather about your ancestors is mere names. And that is if one of us has memorized his own full name. I want one of you today to tell me, “My name is such-and-such,” and give me ten names in a row, only ten, and you are sure that your lineage to Adam is connected. The one who remembers four or five of his names we consider a genius and a man of origin. So you can imagine that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, addresses these people with the logic that leads them to their lineage to Adam, indeed to the first situation in which the dialogue took place between the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, the Exalted, and the angels, and the story of the creation of Adam. Allah presents to us the story of the creation of Adam, upon our Prophet and upon him be blessings and peace, so that we learn a number of lessons from it.

The First Lesson: The Purpose of Existence

Among these lessons is that we are among the creation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for a purpose, and that our existence in this universe is for a purpose. So what is the purpose for which we were created? Some people tell you: the matter of worship, some people say: tawḥīd, and some say: creed. Look: the angels determined the purpose of our existence in this life before we came into being, through their sentence: ﴿أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ﴾ (“Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood?”).^[6]

And by the implication of the opposite of this sentence: the angels said: Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood? So what were the angels expecting from you? The opposite: one who sets things right in it and gives life to the dead land of creation. So the purpose of my existence is two fundamental things: reform in this universe, and giving life to the deadness of humanity. Then you say to me: And where did the matter of worship go? ﴿وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ﴾ (“And I did not create the jinn and mankind”)?^[7] I say to you: all of this is completed only within the framework of devotion to Allah, glory be to Him, the Exalted. There is no one on the face of the earth who is keen to benefit humanity except a religious person, a person who is conscious of Allah and fears the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted. And you may find a believer who has not uttered the words “There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” but who has a religious restraint that moves him from within.

The Second Lesson: The Greatest Station in Existence

The other matter is that the original status of the human being is the greatest in this existence. Your status as a human being is the greatest in this existence. Imagine that Allah the Exalted commanded the angels to prostrate to your father, and the prostration here is not a prostration of worship but a prostration of veneration, esteem and respect for his status. So who holds the higher station: the human or the angel? Quite simply: the human, but on a condition. What is the condition? That he attain two things: faith and knowledge. So if the servant attains complete faith and full knowledge, by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, he deserves that the angels prostrate to him.

And look at the verses in the Qur'an on Allah, Blessed and Exalted, subjecting the angels for you: who is subjected to whom? Have we learned in the lexicon of Islamic life that I am subjected to an angel, that I serve him and do anything for him? And is it in our lexicon of Islamic knowledge that you do something for the angels? No, not at all. But the angels: ﴿لَهُ مُعَقِّبَاتٌ مِنْ بَيْنِ يَدَيْهِ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِ يَحْفَظُونَهُ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ﴾ (“For each one are successive angels before him and behind him who protect him by the decree of Allah”).^[8] And on the right and on the left, Allah is the Greatest! Whom do these angels work with? In the first verse they protect him, and that is by command from Allah, Blessed and Exalted. And the second verse tells me of an angel standing on the right and an angel on the left recording your good deeds and your bad deeds. And take the very powerful one: ﴿الَّذِينَ يَحْمِلُونَ الْعَرْشَ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهُ يُسَبِّحُونَ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّهِمْ وَيُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا وَسِعْتَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ رَحْمَةً وَعِلْمًا فَاغْفِرْ لِلَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَاتَّبَعُوا سَبِيلَكَ وَقِهِمْ عَذَابَ الْجَحِيمِ﴾ (“Those who carry the Throne and those around it exalt Allah with praise of their Lord and believe in Him and ask forgiveness for those who have believed: ‘Our Lord, You have encompassed all things in mercy and knowledge, so forgive those who have repented and followed Your way and protect them from the punishment of the Hellfire’”).^[9] Allah is the Greatest! Their specific task is to seek forgiveness for you, sir. This is a station greater than any station in the universe: to be the object of someone's request for forgiveness. So who belongs to you with such a belonging that he supplicates to Allah, Blessed and Exalted, for you in your absence? So I understood from this speech that Allah the Exalted made you, O descendant of Adam, in the greatest station in this universe, if your faith is upright and your knowledge is upright.

The Third Lesson: Whoever Obeyed Was Saved and Enjoyed

The third point, very important, is that whoever obeyed was saved and enjoyed the good things of Allah in His universe. The Exalted said: ﴿وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا﴾ (“And We said: O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat from it in ease and abundance from wherever you will”).^[10] And he says that we always stumble when we read between this verse and another verse in the order of “raghadan” and “ḥaythu shi'tumā”; “raghadan” was put first here because Adam is inside Paradise, so desire is present inside, and a person thinks about what has not yet come to be, like one who enters and asks: What shall we eat today? So the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, told us that whoever obeyed and stayed upright, the paradise of the whole of life became upright before him, and whoever disobeyed was deprived of a temporary good or an enduring good, and we seek refuge in Allah. Adam was deprived of what Allah, Blessed and Exalted, had given him to enjoy until it was said to him: ﴿فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ﴾ (“Then if there comes to you guidance from Me, whoever follows My guidance, there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. And those who disbelieve and deny Our signs, those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally”).^[11] So I understood from that that whoever stays upright on the way of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, Allah establishes him in the most complete bliss, and whoever departs from the origin of the way, the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, exalted in His majesty, punishes him.

The Fourth Lesson: Satan's Traps Are Measured to the Station

Satan's traps for every person are suited to his station; this is the new lesson. So let us look at these people, the regular attendants of the Fajr prayer, who line up before Allah, Blessed and Exalted, morning and evening. Satan will not come and say to you: Come and commit this indecency with this woman, or come and steal this money. But what does Satan speak to you about? You are a believing man, so he speaks to you, for example, of the conceit of your soul, of feeling arrogant over people, and that you are a person of a distinction in faith, so he speaks to you of something he does not speak of to the fallen among the people of indecency, and we seek refuge in Allah. So he addresses every person with what he knows to be his crookedness. So let a person beware of the scheming of Satan, which is not limited to one means or one end.

But the matter of enmity between Satan and the human remains a representation of the enmity between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood, and so on. And the human's presence on the earth represents the purpose of creation, which is following the guidance of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ﴾ (“Then if there comes to you guidance from Me, whoever follows My guidance, there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve”), and in other verses: ﴿وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا﴾ (“And whoever turns away from My remembrance, indeed, for him is a depressed life”).^[12]

Why Did Adam Leave Paradise?

Someone asks you: Why did Adam commit this crime, so that we left Paradise and came down to the earth? You say to him: Adam did not leave or anything. From the beginning the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, said: ﴿إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً﴾ (“Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successor”).^[13] Where? On the earth; He did not say: in Paradise. That is, from the beginning Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: I am placing a successor on the earth. So what was he doing in Paradise, then? And when Allah created him for the earth, what was he doing in Paradise?

He told us quite simply: Folks, our brothers the engineers tell us that we have something called a “blueprint,” which is that one prepares a draft of the project before his eyes and sees the possibilities of error and correctness in the project. So Adam's presence in Paradise was like a temporary training, so that he would be under the eye of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Exalted, and see the most complete bliss, see the greatest stations, and see the highest levels. If he errs despite all this, we know that the matter of error is possible with me, but the path of return remains: ﴿فَتَلَقَّىٰ آدَمُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ كَلِمَاتٍ﴾ (“Then Adam received from his Lord some words”),^[14] and he sought forgiveness of his Lord: I seek Your forgiveness, O Lord of the worlds. And this is the key to success for every person from whom error may be expected, as happened. And as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us: All the children of Adam are sinners, and the best of sinners are those who repent.^[15]

Why Banū Isrā'īl After Adam?

And we can pause here at the beginning of the discussion of Banū Isrā'īl: ﴿يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي﴾ (“O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I have bestowed upon you and fulfill My covenant”).^[16] But why did Allah the Exalted mention the story of Banū Isrā'īl after that? And why these successive calls? Quite simply: because Allah, Blessed and Exalted, showed us the first model, which is the introductory model of the existence of humanity, and then presented to us after that models of applying the law of Allah: He presented to us the model of Banū Isrā'īl, and presented to us the model of Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him. And the verses will come after that; as soon as the story of Banū Isrā'īl ends, you will find yourself immediately facing the story of Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, so He shows you the worst model in applying the law and the best model in applying the law.

The Conclusion

And the sum of what we have mentioned is that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, only sent down the truth, and that He deserves worship through the creation that He created for us, as evidence and proof of His deserving that. And that He, Blessed and Exalted, created us for a purpose. And that He made for us an enemy to increase the measure of our testing of ourselves, and a test before Allah, Blessed and Exalted. And that He did not leave us without a way, but placed with us a way which, if we follow it, we are saved, and if we do not follow it, we perish. And that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, presented to us these models.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 26; the well-known recitation is ﴿فَمَا فَوْقَهَا﴾. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 21. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 25; the speaker did not utter what comes after «الأنهار». ^[4]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 29. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 28; its completion is ﴿ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ﴾, and the speaker referred to its meaning afterward. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 30. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Dhāriyāt, verse 56; the speaker uttered only this much. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Raʿd, verse 11. His reference to the two angels on the right and the left was not accompanied by any particular verse. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat Ghāfir, verse 7. ^[10]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 35. ^[11]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verses 38–39. ^[12]: Editor's documentation: The first verse is from Sūrat al-Baqarah 38, and the second from Sūrat Ṭā Hā 124. ^[13]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 30. ^[14]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 37. ^[15]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related it with this meaning, and it is in al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him. ^[16]: Editor's documentation: From Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 40.