Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Roger Allen, The Arabic Literary Heri-

tage: The Development of Its Genres and Criticism (Cam-

bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998); Barbara 

Daily Metcalf, ed., Moral Conduct and Authority: The 

adab

  

11  J

---

Place of Adab in South Asian Islam (Berkeley: University 

of California Press, 1984).

Adam and Eve

 

ancestral parents of all human 

beings according to Islamic belief

Muslim understandings of Adam and Eve, the 

first human beings, are based on the q

Uran

, the 

hadith

, and other religious texts. Muslims also 

regard Adam as the first of a series of prophets 

that ends with m

Uhammad

. Biblical and later Jew-

ish and Christian stories about Adam and Eve 

were already familiar to a

rab

 peoples at the time 

Islam began in the seventh century, and these 

stories continued to develop in their new Arabic-

Islamic setting thereafter.

According to the Quran, God created Adam 

from clay (Q 7:12) and gave him life by filling 

him with his spirit (ruh, Q 15:29). God appointed 

him to be his deputy (

caliph

) on Earth, to which 

the angels objected because of their fear that he 

would cause trouble and bloodshed (Q 2:30). God 

had Adam prove his superiority to them by teach-

ing him the names of everything (Q 2:30–32). 

The angels finally bowed down to Adam, except 

s

atan

, whom God expelled from heaven for his 

disobedience (Q 2:34, 7:11–18). The Quran does 

not mention Eve (Hawwa) by name, but it does 

talk about Adam’s “wife” (Q 20:117). She was 

created from Adam (Muslim commentators say 

from his rib), and they lived blissfully together in 

paradise

, where they were allowed to eat whatever 

they wished except from the tree of immortality 

(Q 7:189, 2:35, 20:120). Muslim commentators 

speculate that this may have been a fig tree, a grape 

vine, or even wheat. Both Adam and Eve violated 

God’s taboo after being misled by Satan (not a ser-

pent), thus committing the first sin. For punish-

ment, they were expelled from paradise and sent 

down to Earth, where they and their descendants 

were to live, die, and be resurrected (Q 7:20–25, 

20:121–123, 2:36). Despite this punishment, Mus-

lims do not hold to a doctrine of original sin, 

which many Christian denominations in the West 

believe humans have inherited from Adam and 

Eve. Rather, Islamic tradition holds that God for-

gave Adam, allowing him to repent and providing 

him guidance toward salvation (Q 2:37–38).

After the Fall, according to Islamic tradition, 

Adam landed on Mount Nawdh in India (or Sri 

Lanka), where he initiated the first crafts; Eve 

landed in Jidda, Arabia. Some say that the city of 

Jidda, which means “grandmother,” was actually 

named in memory of Eve. Adam and his wife were 

reunited when the angel g

abriel

 brought Adam to 

m

ecca

 for the first time to perform the 

haJJ

. As in 

the Bible, Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel, and Cain 

later murdered his brother out of jealousy because 

God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and not his own 

(Q 5:27–32). Legendary accounts say that Adam 

and Eve gave birth to 20 sets of girl-boy twins, 

from which all the world’s peoples are descended. 

According to Shii tradition, Adam and Eve were 

given a premonition of the martyrdom of their 

descendant  h

Usayn

 

ibn

  a

li

 (d. 680), the prophet 

Muhammad’s grandson, and they were the first to 

express grief on his behalf. Sufis and others, on the 

other hand, have looked to when, prior to their 

existence, the children of Adam were brought forth 

from his loins to testify to God as their lord (see Q 

7:171). This was intended to show that worship of 

one true God was inherent in human nature.

See also a

llah

; 

angel

; 

prophets

 

and

 

prophesy

; 

soUl

 

and

 

sUpport

.