سورة الأعراف

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَاکُمْ [And certainly We created you]; that is, We created you in the loins and backs of men. Then We fashioned you in the wombs of women. Then He says: The son of Maryam was not fashioned in the loins and back of a man; rather, this took place in the womb of a woman, although he had been created in the loins and backs of the prophets (peace be upon them). He was raised up to the heavens while wearing a woolen garment.

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Kathir ibn Ayyash said: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him), regarding this saying of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَاکُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَاکُمْ [And certainly We created you, then We fashioned you], said: "As for 'We created you' — We created you as a drop of fluid (nutfah), then a clot (alaqah), then a lump of flesh (mudghah), then bones, then flesh. And as for 'We fashioned you' — that is the eye, the nose, the two ears, the mouth, the two hands, and the two feet; He fashioned this and the like of it. Then He made [some] ugly and [some] handsome, [some] stout, [some] tall, [some] short, and the like of this."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَاکُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَاکُمْ [And certainly We created you, then We fashioned you]; they were created in the back of Adam and fashioned in the wombs.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): خَلَقْنَاکُمْ [We created you] is Adam (peace be upon him), and صَوَّرْنَاکُمْ [We fashioned you] is his progeny and descendants.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): When Allah, Blessed and Exalted, willed to create a creation with His own hand — and that was after seven thousand years had passed of the era of the jinn and the nasnas on the earth — and he continued the hadith until he said: Allah said: "I wish to create a creation with My own hand, and to make from his progeny prophets (peace be upon them), messengers, righteous servants, and rightly-guiding Imams, and to make them successors over My creation on My earth; and to wipe out the nasnas from My earth and purify it of them; and to remove the rebellious, disobedient jinn from among My creatures, My creation, and My chosen ones, and to settle them in the air and in the far reaches of the earth so that they are not neighbours to the offspring of My creation; and to place between the jinn and My creation a veil, so that the offspring of My creation shall not see the jinn, nor sit with them, nor mingle with them."

Ibn Abbas: وَ لَقَدْ خَلَقْناکُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْناکُمْ ثُمَّ قُلْنا لِلْمَلائِکَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ [And certainly We created you, then We fashioned you, then We said to the angels: Prostrate to Adam] — that is, [We created] Adam and created you from his loins. Then We said to the angels.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) narrates from his fathers, and they from Imam Ali (peace be upon him), who said: Allah created the body of Adam (peace be upon him), and he remained a form for forty years. The accursed Iblis would pass by him and say, "You have been created for some purpose." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: Iblis said, "If Allah commands me to prostrate to this one, I will disobey Him." Then He breathed into him and said to the angels: لِلْمَلَائِکَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِیسَ [to the angels: Prostrate to Adam. So they prostrated except Iblis]. Thereupon Iblis brought out the envy that was in his heart and did not prostrate. And Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: ما مَنَعَکَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُکَ قالَ أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? He said: I am better than him; You created me from fire and You created him from clay].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Sinan said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), "Are the angels superior, or the children of Adam?" He said: Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (peace be upon him) says, "Allah the Mighty and Majestic has placed in the angels intellect without desire, and in the beasts desire without intellect, and in the human being both. So whoever's intellect prevails over his desire is better than the angels, and whoever's desire prevails over his intellect is worse than the beasts."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The reason Adam (peace be upon him) was named Adam is that Adam was created from the adim [surface] of the earth.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): Imam Rida (peace be upon him) narrated from his noble forefathers from Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him) that the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, has not created any creature better than me, nor is any more honored before Him than me." Ali (peace be upon him) said: "I said, 'O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Are you superior, or Jibra'il?'" He (peace be upon him and his family) said: "O Ali (peace be upon him)! Allah granted His messenger-prophets superiority over the angels brought near, and He gave me superiority over all the prophets and messengers, and the excellence after me belongs to you, O Ali, and to the Imams after you. O Ali! The angels are our servants and the servants of those who love us. O Ali! The angels who bear the Throne and those who [circle] around it glorify and praise their Lord, and believe in Him, and seek forgiveness for the believers (Ghafir/7). O Ali! Were it not for us, Allah would not have created Adam, nor Hawwa, nor Paradise, nor Hell, nor the heaven, nor the earth. How then can we not be superior to the angels, when we preceded them in knowing our Lord and in His tasbih (glorification), tahlil (declaring His oneness), and taqdis (sanctifying Him)? For the first thing Allah created was our spirits, and He made us speak with His tawhid (oneness) and His tahmid (praise). Then He created the angels. When they beheld our spirits as a single light, they deemed our affair to be great. We began the tasbih of our Lord so that the angels would know that we are created beings and that Allah is exalted above having our attributes. Then the angels, following our tasbih, began to glorify, and declared Him exalted above our attributes. When they beheld the greatness of our station, we uttered tahlil for Allah, so that the angels would know that there is no Lord but Allah, and that we are servants, not gods to be worshipped alongside Allah or in a station below Him. So they said: لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ [There is no god but Allah]. When they beheld the greatness of our rank, we said 'اللهُ اکبر [Allah is the greatest]', so that the angels would know that Allah is too great for His rank to be grasped except through Himself. When they beheld the honor and power Allah had given us, we said: لَا حَوْلَ وَ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللهِ [There is no might nor power except with Allah], so that the angels would know that we have no movement or power except through the help of Allah. When they beheld the blessings of Allah upon us and saw that He had made obedience to us obligatory, we said: 'الحمد للهِ [Praise be to Allah]'. So through us they were guided to knowledge of the tawhid of Allah, and to His tasbih, tahlil, tahmid and tamjid (glorification). Then when Allah created Adam (peace be upon him), He placed us as a trust in his loins and commanded the angels to prostrate to him out of reverence and honor for us; their prostration was worship for Allah and honor and obedience for Adam, because we were in his loins. How then can we not be superior to the angels, when they all prostrated to Adam (peace be upon him)? When I was taken on the Mi'raj, Jibra'il said the adhan twice-twice and the iqamah twice-twice. Then he said to me: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Step forward!' I said: 'Shall I also step forward before you?' He said: 'Yes! Because Allah has given His prophets superiority over all the angels, and He has bestowed upon you a particular excellence.' So I stepped forward and led them in prayer, and this is no place for boasting. When I reached the veils of light, Jibra'il said to me: 'Go forward and part from me!' I said: 'Do you part from me in such a place?' Jibra'il said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! This is the furthest place that Allah has appointed for me. If I go beyond this, my wings will burn from transgressing the limit Allah has set for me.' Then I was thrust into the light until I reached the place from the loftiness of His dominion that Allah willed. I heard a voice saying: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)!' I said: 'لَبَّیْکَ رَبِّی وَ سَعْدَیْکَ تَبَارَکْتَ وَ تَعَالَیْتَ [Here I am, my Lord, at Your service and Your pleasure; blessed and exalted are You].' He said: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! You are My servant and I am your Lord; so worship Me and rely on Me. You are My light among My servants and My messenger to My creation and My proof over My creatures. For you and those who follow you I have created My Paradise, and for those who oppose you I have created My Hellfire. For your successors I have made My honor obligatory, and for their Shi'a I have made My reward obligatory.' I said: 'O my Lord! Who are my successors?' The call came: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! The names of your successors are written on the leg of the Throne.' At that time, while I was before my Lord, I looked at the leg of the Throne and saw twelve lights, and in each light was a green line upon which was the name of one of my successors; the first of them was Ali ibn Abi Talib (peace be upon him) and the last of them was the Mahdi of my ummah (peace be upon him). I said: 'O my Lord! Are these my successors after me?' The call came: 'O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! These are My friends, My successors, My chosen ones and My proofs after you over My creatures, and they are your successors and caliphs and the best of My creation after you. By My honor and majesty! Through them I shall make My religion manifest and raise up My word, and through the last of them I shall purify the earth of My enemies; I shall make him ruler over the east and west of the earth; I shall put the winds at his command, I shall make the stubborn clouds obedient to him, and I shall give him the means of ascent; I shall aid him with My army and reinforce him with My angels until My call is exalted and mankind is gathered upon My oneness. Then I shall make his kingdom and dominion endure, and I shall cause the days to turn among My friends until the Day of Resurrection.'"