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The Story of Adam (part 1 of 5): The First Man
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Description: The thought provoking story of Adam described with references from the Divine Books.
By Aisha Stacey (© 2008 IslamReligion.com)
Published on 31 Mar 2008 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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> Beliefs of Islam
> Stories of the Prophets
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_001.jpg) Islam provides us with the astonishing details of the
creation of Adam.
Both Christian and Jewish traditions are remarkably similar yet importantly
different to the Quran. The Book of Genesis describes Adam as being made from “the
dust of the earth,” and in the Talmud, Adam is described as being kneaded from
mud.
And God said to the angels:
“‘Verily, I am going to place mankind generations after
generations on earth.’ They said: ‘Will You place therein those who will make
mischief therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praises and thanks
and sanctify You.’ God said: ‘I know that which you do not know.’” (Quran
2:30)
So begins the story of Adam, the first man, the first human
being. God created Adam from a handful of soil containing portions from all its
varieties on Earth. Angels were sent to earth to collect the soil that was to
become Adam. It was red, white, brown, and black; it was soft and malleable,
hard and gritty; it came from the mountains and the valleys; from infertile
deserts and lush fertile plains and all the natural varieties in between. The
descendants of Adam were destined to be as diverse as the handful of soil from
which their ancestor was created; all have different appearances, attributes and
qualities.
Soil or Clay?
Throughout the Quran, the soil used to create Adam is
referred to by many names, and from this we are able to understand some of the
methodology of his creation. Each name for soil is used at a different stage
of Adam’s creation. Soil, taken from the earth, is referred to as soil; God
also refers to it as clay. When it is mixed with water it becomes mud, when it
is left to stand the water content reduces and it becomes sticky clay (or mud).
If it is again left for some time it begins to smell, and the colour becomes
darker – black, smooth clay. It was from this substance that God moulded the
form of Adam. His soulless body was left to dry, and it became what is known
in the Quran as sounding clay. Adam was moulded from something akin to potter’s
clay. When it is rapped it produces a ringing sound.
The First Man is Honoured
And God said, to the Angels:
“And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am going
to create a human (Adam) from sounding clay of altered black smooth mud. So
when I have fashioned him and breathed into him (his) soul created by Me, then
you fall down prostrate to him.” (Quran 38:71-72)
God honoured the first humman, Adam, in countless ways. Allah
blew his soul into him, He fashioned him with His own hands and He ordered the Angels
to bow down before him. And God said to the Angels:
“....Prostrate to Adam and they prostrated except Iblees
(Satan)....” (Quran 7:11)
While worship is reserved for God Alone this prostration
by the Angels to Adam was a sign of respect and honour. It is said that, as Adam’s
body trembled into life, he sneezed and immediately said ‘All praise and thanks
is due to God;’ so God responded by bestowing His Mercy upon Adam. Although
this account is not mentioned in either the Quran or the authentic narrations of
the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, it is mentioned
in some commentaries of the Quran. Thus, in his first seconds of life, the
first man is recognized as an honoured creature, covered with the infinite
Mercy of God.
It was also said by the Prophet Muhammad that God
created Adam in His image.
This does not mean that Adam was created to look similar to God, as God is
unique in all His aspects, we are unable to comprehend or form an image of Him.
It does mean, however, that Adam was given some qualities which also God has,
although incomparable. He was given qualities of mercy, love, free will, and
others.
The First Greeting
Adam was instructed to approach a group of Angels
sitting near to him and greet them with the words Assalamu alaikum (May
God’s peace be upon you), they answered ‘and also upon you be God’s peace,
mercy and blessings’. From that day forward these words became the greeting of
those submitted to God. From the moment of Adam’s creation, we his descendents
were instructed to spread peace.
Adam, the Caretaker
God told mankind that He did not create them except that
they should worship Him. Everything in this world was created for Adam and his
descendants, in order to aid us in our ability to worship and know God. Due to
God’s infinite Wisdom, Adam and his descendants were to be the caretakers on
earth, so God taught Adam what he needed to know to perform this duty. God
mentions:
“He taught Adam all the names of everything.” (Quran
2:31)
God gave Adam the ability to identify and designate
names to everything; He taught him language, speech and the ability to
communicate. God imbued Adam with an insatiable need for and love of
knowledge. After Adam had learned the names and uses for all things God said
to the Angels...
“‘tell me the names of these if you are truthful.’ They
answered ‘Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us.
Verily it is You the All Knower, the All Wise.’” (Quran 2:31-32)
God turned to Adam and said:
“‘O Adam! Inform them of their names,’ and when he had
informed them of their names, He said: Did I not tell you that I know the
unseen in the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you
have been hiding?” (Quran 2:33)
Adam tried to speak with the Angels, but they were
occupied worshipping God. The Angels were given no specific knowledge or
freedom of will, their sole purpose being to worship and praise God. Adam, on
the other hand, was given the ability to reason, make choices and identify
objects and their purpose. This helped to prepare Adam for his coming role on
earth. So Adam knew the names of everything, but he was alone in Heaven. One
morning Adam awoke to find a woman gazing at him.
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The Story of Adam (part 2 of 5): The Creation of Eve and the Role of Satan
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Description: The creation of the first woman, the tranquil dwelling in Paradise and the beginning of enmity between Satan and mankind.
By Aisha Stacey (© 2008 IslamReligion.com)
Published on 31 Mar 2008 - Last modified on 19 Apr 2008
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Adam opened his eyes and looked into the beautiful face
of a woman gazing down at him. Adam was surprised and asked the woman why she had
been created. She revealed that she was to ease his loneliness and bring
tranquillity to him. The Angels questioned Adam. They knew that Adam possessed
knowledge of things they did not know about and the knowledge mankind would
need to occupy the earth. They said ‘who is this?’ and Adam replied ‘this is
Eve’.
Eve is Hawwa in Arabic; it comes from the root word
hay, meaning living. Eve is also an English variant of the old
Hebrew word Havva, also deriving from hay. Adam informed the Angels
that Eve was so named because she was made from a part of him and he, Adam, was
a living being.
Both Jewish and Christian traditions also maintain that
Eve was created from Adam’s rib, although in a literal translation of the
Jewish tradition, rib is sometimes referred to as side.
“And God said: ‘O Mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who
created you from a single person (Adam) and from Him (Adam) He created his wife
(Eve), and from them both He created many men and women.’” (Quran 4:1)
The traditions of Prophet Muhammad relate that Eve was
created while Adam was sleeping from his shortest left rib and that, after
sometime, she was clothed with flesh. He (Prophet Muhammad) used the story of
Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib as a basis for imploring people to be gentle and
kind to women. “O Muslims! I advise you to be gentle with women, for they
are created from a rib, and the most crooked portion of the rib is its upper
part. If you try to straighten it, it will break, and if you leave it, it will
remain crooked; so I urge you to take care of the women.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
Dwelling in Paradise
Adam and Eve dwelt in tranquillity in Paradise. This,
too, is agreed upon by Islamic, Christian and Jewish traditions. Islam tells
us that all of Paradise was theirs to enjoy and God said to Adam, “eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things
therein as wherever you will...” (Quran 2:35) The
Quran does not reveal the exact location of where this Paradise was; however,
commentators agree that it is not on the earth, and that the knowledge of the
location is of no benefit to mankind. The benefit is in understanding the
lesson from the events that took place there.
God continued his instructions to Adam and Eve by
warning them “...come not near this tree or you both will be of the
wrongdoers.” (Quran 2:35) The Quran does not reveal what type of tree it
was; we have no details and seeking such knowledge also produces no benefit. What
is understood is that Adam and Eve lived a tranquil existence and understood
that they were forbidden to eat from the tree. However, Satan was waiting to
exploit the weakness of mankind.
Who is Satan?
Satan is a creature from the world of the Jinn. The
Jinn are a creation of God made from fire. They are separate and
different from both the Angels and mankind; however, like mankind, they possess
the power of reason and can choose between good and evil. The Jinn existed
before the creation of Adam
and Satan was the most righteous among them, so much so that he was elevated
to a high position amongst the Angels.
“The Angels prostrated themselves all of them together. Except
Satan, he refused to be among the prostrators. God said: ‘O Satan! What is
your reason for not being among the prostrators? ‘Satan said: ‘I am not the
one to prostrate myself to a human being, whom You created from sounding clay
of altered black smooth mud.’ God said: ‘Then get out from Here for verily you
are an outcast or cursed one. Verily the curse shall be upon you till the Day
of Resurrection.’” (Quran 15:30-35)
The Role of Satan
Satan was there in the Paradise of Adam and Eve and his
vow was to misguide and deceive them and their descendents. Satan said: “…surely
I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path. Then I
will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from
their left…” (Quran 7:16-17) Satan is arrogant, and considered himself better
then Adam, and thus mankind. He is crafty and cunning, but ultimately
understands the weakness of human beings; he recognises their loves and
desires.
Satan did not say to Adam and Eve “go eat from that tree”
nor did he out rightly tell them to disobey God. He whispered into their
hearts and planted disquieting thoughts and desires. Satan said to Adam and
Eve, “...Your Lord did not forbid you this tree save that you should become
Angels or become of the immortals.” (Quran 7:20) Their minds became filled
with thoughts of the tree, and one day they decided to eat from it. Adam and
Eve behaved as all human beings do; they became preoccupied with their own
thoughts and the whisperings of Satan and they forgot the warning from God.
It is at this point that the Jewish and Christian
traditions differ greatly from Islam. At no point do the words of God – the
Quran, or the traditions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad - indicate that Satan came
to Adam and Eve in the form of a snake or serpent.
Islam in no way indicates that Eve was the weaker of the
two, or that she tempted Adam to disobey God. Eating the fruit of the tree was
a mistake committed by both Adam and Eve. They bear equal responsibility. It was
not the original sin spoken about in Christian traditions. The
descendents of Adam are not being punished for the sins of their original
parents. It was a mistake, and God, in His infinite Wisdom and Mercy, forgave
them both.
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The Story of Adam (part 3 of 5): The Descent
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Description: Satan’s deception of Adam and Eve in Heaven and some lessons we can learn from it.
By Aisha Stacey (© 2008 IslamReligion.com)
Published on 07 Apr 2008 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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_001.jpg) Islam rejects the Christian concept of original sin and the
notion that all humans are born sinners due to the actions of Adam. God says
in the Quran:
“And no bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden.” (Quran
35:18)
Every human being is responsible for his or her actions
and is born pure and free from sin. Adam and Eve committed a mistake, they
repented sincerely and God in His infinite wisdom forgave them.
“Then they both ate of that tree, and so their private parts
appeared to them, and they began to stick on themselves the leaves from Paradise for their covering. Thus did Adam disobey his Lord, so he went astray. Then his
Lord chose him, and turned to him with forgiveness and gave him guidance.” (Quran
20:121-122)
Mankind has a long history of committing mistakes and
forgetting. Even so, how was it possible for Adam to have committed such a
mistake? The reality was that Adam did not have any experience with the
whisperings and ploys of Satan. Adam had seen the arrogance of Satan when he
refused to follow the commands of God; he knew that Satan was his enemy but had
no familiarity with how to resist Satan’s tricks and schemes. The Prophet Muhammad
told us:
“Knowing something is not the same as seeing it.” (Saheeh
Muslim)
God said:
“So he (Satan) misled them with deception.” (Quran 7:22)
God tested Adam so that he could learn and gain
experience. In this way God prepared Adam for his role on earth as a caretaker
and a Prophet of God. From this experience, Adam learned the great lesson that
Satan is cunning, ungrateful and the avowed enemy of mankind. Adam, Eve and
their descendants learned that Satan caused their expulsion from heaven. Obedience
to God and enmity towards Satan is the only path back to Heaven.
God said to Adam:
“Get you down (upon the earth), all of you together, from Paradise, some of you are an enemy to some others. Then, if there comes to you guidance
from Me, whoever follows My Guidance shall neither go astray, nor fall into
distress and misery.” (Quran 20:123)
The Quran tells us that Adam subsequently received from
his Lord some words; a supplication to pray, which invoked God’s forgiveness. This
supplication is very beautiful and can be used when asking for God’s pardon of
your sins.
“Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If you forgive us not
and bestow not upon us Your Mercy, we shall certainly be of the losers.” (Quran
7:23)
Mankind continues to commit mistakes and wrong doing,
and through them we only harm ourselves. Our sins and mistakes have not harmed,
nor will it harm God. If God does not forgive us and have mercy on us, it is we
who will surely be among the losers. We need God!
“‘On earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment,
for a time.’ He said: ‘Therein you shall live and therein you shall die, and
from it you shall be brought out (resurrected).’” (Quran 7:24–25)
Adam and Eve left heaven and descended upon earth. Their
descent was not one of degradation; rather it was dignified. In the English
language we are familiar with things being either singular or plural; this is
not the case for Arabic. In the Arabic language there is singular, then an
extra grammatical number category denoting two. Plural is used for three and more.
When God said: “Get you down, all of you” He used
the word for plural indicating that he was not speaking to Adam and Eve alone
but that He was referring to Adam, his wife and his descendants – mankind. We,
the descendants of Adam, do not belong to this earth; we are here for a
temporary time, as is indicated by the words: “for a time.” We belong
to the hereafter and are destined to take our place in either Heaven or Hell.
The Freedom to Choose
This experience was an essential lesson and demonstrated
free will. If Adam and Eve were to live on earth, they needed to be aware of
the tricks and schemes of Satan, they also needed to understand the dire
consequences of sin, and the infinite Mercy and Forgiveness of God. God knew
that Adam and Eve would eat from the tree. He knew that Satan would strip away
their innocence.
It is important to understand that, although God knows
the outcome of events before they happen and allows them, he does not force
things to happen. Adam had free will and bore the consequences of his deeds. Mankind
has free will and thus is free to disobey God; but there are consequences. God
praises those who obey his commands and promises them great reward, and He
condemns those who disobey him and warns them against doing so.
Where Adam and Eve descended
There are many reports on the subject of where on earth
Adam and Eve descended, although none of them come from the Quran or Sunnah. We
thus understand that the location of their descent is something that is of no
importance, and there is no benefit in this knowledge were we to have it.
We do know however that Adam and Eve descended to earth
on a Friday. In a tradition narrated to inform us of the importance of
Fridays, the Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and
blessings of God be upon him, said:
“The best of days on which the sun has risen is
Friday. One this day Adam was created, and on this day he was descended to
earth.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
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The Story of Adam (part 4 of 5): Life on Earth
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Description: Adam, his children, the first murder and his death.
By Aisha Stacey (© 2008 IslamReligion.com)
Published on 07 Apr 2008 - Last modified on 19 Apr 2008
Viewed: 9082 (daily average: 16) - Rating: 4.4 out of 5 - Rated by: 7
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Category: Articles
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> Stories of the Prophets
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Adam and Eve left Paradise and began their life on
earth. God had prepared them in many ways. He gave them the experience of
struggling against the whisperings and schemes of Satan. He taught Adam the
names of everything and instructed him in its properties and usefulness. Adam
took up his position as caretaker of the earth and Prophet of God.
Adam, the first Prophet of God was responsible for
teaching his wife and offspring how to worship God and seek His forgiveness. Adam
established the laws of God and set about trying to support his family and
learning to subdue and care for the earth. His task was to perpetuate,
cultivate, construct and populate; he was to raise children who would live
according to God’s instructions and care for and improve the earth.
Adam’s First Four Children
Adam and Eve’s first children, Cain and his sister, were
twins,; Abel and his sister, another set of twins, soon followed. Adam and his
family lived in peace and harmony. Cain ploughed the earth while Abel raised livestock.
Time passed and the occasion came for the sons of Adam to marry. A group of
the companions of Prophet Muhammad including Ibn Abbas and Ibn Masud related that
inter-marriage of the male of one pregnancy with the female of another had been
the practice among Adam’s children. Therefore we know that God’s plan to fill
the earth included each of Adam’s sons marrying the twin sister of the other.
It seems that beauty has played a part in the attraction
of men and women since the beginning. Cain was not pleased with the partner
chosen for him. Cain began to envy his brother and refused to obey the command
of his father and, in doing so, he disobeyed God. God created man with both
good and bad tendencies, and the struggle to over come our baser instincts is
part of His test for us.
God commanded that each son was to offer a sacrifice. His
judgement would favour the son whose offer was the most acceptable. Cain
offered his worst grain, but Abel offered his best livestock. God accepted
Abel’s sacrifice, so Cain became enraged, threatening to kill his brother.
“And (O Muhammad) recite to them (the Jews) the story of the
two sons of Adam (Abel and Cain) in truth; when each offered a sacrifice to God,
it was accepted from the one but not from the other. The latter said to the
former; ‘I will surely kill you.’” (Quran 5:27)
Abel advised his brother that God would accept good
deeds from those that fear and serve Him, but reject the good deeds of those
who are arrogant, selfish and disobedient towards God.
“The former said: ‘Verily God accepts only from those who are
pious. If you do stretch your hand against me to kill me I shall never stretch
my hand against you to kill you, for I fear God; the Lord of mankind, jinn, and
all that exists.’” (Quran 5:27-28)
The First Murder
“So the self (base desires) of the other (latter one)
encouraged him and made fair seeming to him the murder of his brother; he
murdered him and became one of the losers.” (Quran 5:28)
Prophet Muhammad informed us that Cain became angry and
hit his brother over the head with a piece of iron. It was also said in
another narration that Cain hit Abel over the head while he was sleeping.
“God sent a crow who scratched the ground to show him to hide
the dead body of his brother. He (the murderer) said: ‘Woe to me!
Am I not even able to be as this crow and to hide the dead
body of my brother?’ Then he became one of those who regretted.” (Quran 5:30)
Adam was devastated; he had lost both his first and second
born sons. One had been murdered; the other was won over by mankind’s greatest
enemy – Satan. Patiently, Adam prayed for his son, and continued to care for
the earth. He taught his many children and grandchildren about God. He told
them of his own encounter with Satan and advised them to beware of Satan’s
tricks and schemes. Years and years passed, and Adam grew old and his
children spread out across the earth.
Adam’s Death
All of mankind are the children of Adam. In one narration,
the Prophet Muhammad informed us that God showed Adam his descendants. Adam saw
a beautiful light in Prophet David’s eyes and loved him, so he turned to God
and said: “Oh God. Give him forty years from my life.” God granted Adam his
request, and it was written down and sealed.
Adam’s life span was supposed to be 1000 years but after
960 years the Angel of death came to Adam. Adam was surprised and said “but I
still have 40 years to live”. The angel of death reminded him of his gift of
40 years to his beloved descendant Prophet David, but Adam denied it. Many,
many years later, the last Prophet Muhammad said: “Adam denied so the
children of Adam deny, Adam forgot and his children forget; Adam made mistakes
and his children make mistakes.” (At-Tirmidhi)
In Arabic the word for mankind is insan and it
comes from the root word nisyan to forget. This is part of human
nature, mankind forgets, and when we forget we deny and reject. Adam forgot
(he was not lying), and God forgave him. Adam then submitted to the will of God
and died. The Angels descended and washed the body of Prophet Adam an odd
number of times; they dug the grave and buried the body of the father of
mankind, Adam.
Adam’s successor
Before his death Adam reminded his children that God
would never leave them alone or without guidance. He told them God would send
other Prophets with unique names, traits and miracles, but they would all call to
the same thing – the worship of the One True God. Adam appointed as his
successor his son Seth.
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The Story of Adam (part 5 of 5): The First Man and Modern Science
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Description: Some modern findings about the commonality of humans in comparison with some Quranic facts.
By Aisha Stacey (© 2008 IslamReligion.com)
Published on 14 Apr 2008 - Last modified on 20 Apr 2008
Viewed: 7944 (daily average: 14) - Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Rated by: 16
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Category: Articles
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> Stories of the Prophets
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In Islam, there is no conflict between faith in God and
modern scientific knowledge. Indeed, for many centuries during the Middle
Ages, Muslims led the world in scientific inquiry and exploration. The Quran
itself, revealed around 14 centuries ago, is filled with facts and imagery that
are supported by modern scientific findings. Three of those will be mentioned
here. Of them, the development of language and mitrochondrial Eve (genetics)
are relatively new areas of scientific research.
The Quran instructs Muslims to “contemplate the
wonders of creation” (Quran 3:191)
One of the items for contemplation is the statement:
“Truly, I am going to create man from clay...” (Quran 38:71)
Indeed, many elements present in the earth are also
contained in the human body. The most critical component to land-based life is
the top soil; that thin layer of dark, organically rich soil in which plants
spread out their roots. It is in this thin, vital layer of soil that
microorganisms convert raw resources, the minerals that constitute the basic
clay of this topsoil, and make them available to the myriad forms of life
around and above them.
Minerals are inorganic elements that originate in the
earth which the body cannot make. They play important roles in various bodily
functions and are necessary to sustain life and maintain optimal health, and
thus are essential nutrients.
These minerals cannot be man made; they cannot be produced in a laboratory nor
can they be manufactured in a factory
With cells consisting of 65-90% water by weight, water, or
H2O, makes up most of the human body. Therefore most of a human
body’s mass is oxygen. Carbon, the basic unit for organic molecules, comes in
second. 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of just six elements:
oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus.
The human body contains trace amounts of almost every
mineral on earth; including sulphur, potassium, zinc, copper, iron, aluminium,
molybdenum, chromium, platinum, boron, silicon selenium, molybdenum,
fluorine, chlorine, iodine, manganese, cobalt, lithium, strontium, aluminium,
lead, vanadium, arsenic, bromine and more.
Without these minerals, vitamins may have little or no effect. Minerals are
catalysts, triggers for thousands of essential enzyme reactions in the body.
Trace elements play a key role in the functioning of a healthy human being. It
is known that insufficient iodine will induce a disease of the thyroid gland and
a deficiency of cobalt will leave us without vitamin B12, and thus
unable to manufacture red blood cells.
Another verse to contemplate is:
“He taught Adam all the names of everything.” (Quran
2:31)
Adam was taught the names of everything; the powers of
reasoning and free will were given to him. He learned how to categorise things
and understand their usefulness. Thus, God taught Adam language skills. He
taught Adam how to think – to apply knowledge to solve problems, make plans and
decisions and to achieve goals. We, the children of Adam, have inherited these
skills in order that we can exist in the world and worship God in the best
manner.
Linguists estimate that more than 3000 separate
languages exist in the world today, all distinct, so that speakers of one
cannot understand those of another, yet these languages are all so
fundamentally similar that it is possible to speak of a “human language’ in the
singular.
Language is a special form of communication that
involves learning complex rules to make and combine symbols (words or gestures)
into an endless number of meaningful sentences. Language exists because of two
simple principles, - words and grammar.
A word is an arbitrary pairing between a sound or symbol
and a meaning. For example, in English the word cat does not look or
sound or feel like a cat, but it refers to a certain animal because all of us
memorised this pairing as children. Grammar refers to a set of rules for
combing words into phrases and sentences. It may seem surprising, but speakers
of all 3000 separate languages learned the same four rules of language.
The first language rule is phonology – how we make
meaningful sounds. Phonemes are basic sounds. We combine phonemes to form
words by learning the second rule: morphology. Morphology is the system we use
to group phonemes into meaningful combinations of sounds and words. A morpheme
is the smallest, meaningful combination of sounds in a language. After learning
to combine morphemes to produce words, we learn to combine words into
meaningful sentences. The third language rule governs syntax or grammar. This
set of rules specifies how we combine words to form meaningful phrases and
sentences. The fourth language rule governs semantics – the specific meaning
of words or phrases as they appear in various sentences or contexts.
All children, regardless of where in the world
they are, go through the same four language stages because of innate language
factors. These factors facilitate how we make speech sounds and acquire
language skills. The
renowned linguist Noam Chomsky says that all languages share a common universal
grammar, and that children inherit a mental programme to learn this universal
grammar.
A third verse to ponder is about progeniture:
“O Mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a
single person (Adam) and from Him (Adam) He created his wife (Eve), and from
them both He created many men and women.” (Quran 4:1)
The realisation that all mtDNA lineages (Africa, Asia,
Europe and the Americas) can be traced back to a single origin is popularly
called the “mitochondrial Eve” theory. According to top scientists and cutting-edge
research, everyone on the planet today can trace a specific part of his or her
genetic heritage back to one woman through a unique part of our genetic makeup,
the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The mtDNA of “mitochondrial Eve” has been passed
down through the centuries from mother to daughter (men are carriers, but don’t
pass it on) and exists within all people living today. It is popularly
known as the Eve theory because, as can be deduced from the above, it is passed
down through the X chromosome. Scientists are also studying DNA from the Y
chromosome (perhaps to be dubbed the “Adam theory”), which is passed only from
father to son and is not recombined with the mother’s genes.
These are but three of the many wonders of creation God
suggests we contemplate through his verses in the Quran. The entire universe,
which was created by God, follows and obeys His laws. Therefore Muslims are
encouraged to seek knowledge, explore the universe, and find the “Signs of God”
in His creation.
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