Adam is a Statue Lying In Heaven
Selections from the Book The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him …
Written by Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi...
Episode (99)
Adam was created and shaped in Paradise that Allah created before his formation. The figure of Adam remained lying in Paradise for a period of time known only to Allah.
Our Messenger, peace be upon him, informed us about the initial creation that marked the beginning of the assembly of Adam's formed body, from which the bodies of his descendants are subsequently formed in the wombs. The Messenger, peace be upon him, said: “The whole of the son of Adam will be consumed by the earth, except for the tailbone, from which he was created and from which he will be created anwe”. In another narration of the hadith, he said: “There is nothing of the human body that does not decay except one bone; that is the little bone at the end of the coccyx of which the human body will be recreated on the Day of Resurrection.”
The coccyx is the last vertebra of the spinal column and is the smallest of those vertebrae, commonly referred to as the "tailbone". The initial creation of Adam began from this coccyx, and then his body was shaped and completed afterward, as the hadith states: “from which he was created”.
This applies universally to every human being, including Adam and his descendants. When a person dies and is laid in their grave, everything in their body decays and turns to dust, except for that small vertebra at the bottom of the coccyx. Allah has willed for it not to decay so that creation can be reassembled from it on the Day of Resurrection, when our Lord decides to resurrect people anew.
When you contemplate a person at the time of death, the first deficiency in their structure is the departure of the soul, which was the last element in their creation. Then the body becomes rigid and stiff, resembling its state in the ṣalṣāl phase. After that, it begins to decay, and its smell becomes foul, akin to the state of ḥamā’ masnūn. The earth absorbs the moisture within the body, reducing it to dust, just as the Creator initially fashioned it from dust. Thus, Allah's truth is evident in the scene of death, confirming what He has said about life.
These truths may seem self-evident and logical to some readers, requiring no further explanation or elaboration. However, they are of utmost importance, especially when presented to non-Muslims, particularly those living in ignorance in the West and East, as well as to secular and non-religious individuals. These matters are crucial when we argue against those who attempt to follow theories claiming that humans are mere animals, or that they have evolved from certain species like monkeys and chimpanzees. Some even refer to certain species of monkeys as "the man of the jungle", which is indeed astonishing and absurd for our reasoning to reach such a conclusion!
Therefore, these truths about the stages of human creation, the manner in which Adam was created, and the material from which he was made should be clear and evident. They should serve as a solid foundation from which a conscious and open-minded believer can operate when confronted with ideas that contradict the explicit teachings of the Holy Quran.
- Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi, The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him, pp. 722-724.
- Adam and Eve: Secrets and Facts, Abdel-Baqi, p. 41.
- Biography of Adam, peace be upon him, Al-Khalidi, p. 39.
For further information and review of the sources for the article, see:
The Book of The Story of The Beginning of Creation and The Creation of Adam, peace be upon him on the official website of Sheikh Dr. Ali Muhammad al-Sallabi:
