Hazrat Adam (AS)

Millions of years ago there was no world. Then God said, 'Kun' (Be), and the world was created. But, still it was without human beings. Even in Jannah (heaven), there were no human beings.

Jannah is the most beautiful garden anyone can ever dream of. It has all kinds of fruit trees-pomegranates, grapes, olives- every fruit that you can think of and more. Flowing in it are streams of cool sweet water, milk and honey.

One day, God said to His Angels in Jannah, ' I want to create a human being as my deputy.' The Angels asked, ' Are we not enough to carry out your orders?' God replied, 'I know better.' Then God created Adam. He taught him everything about the world, and gave him permission to live in Jannah, to do what he pleased, and to eat and drink what he liked. He could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except , the fruit of one particular tree.

And so Adam enjoyed himself. But he soon became lonely. He had no friends. So he said to God, 'Please give me a companion.' And God gave him a friend Hawwa (Eve).

After creating Adam, and teaching him about the world, God called all his angels and said, 'This is Adam. You should bow down to him in sajda.'

All the angels obeyed except Iblees or Shaitaan (Lucifer), who was a jinn. He said, 'Why should I bow to Adam? I am made of fire and he only of clay, I'll not bow to him.'

Iblees was cunning. He began thinking of ways to make Adam disobey God. One day, when Adam and Hawaa were in Jannah, he quietly whispered into Adam's ear that the fruit of the forbidden tree was the best fruit of all. 'If you eat it you will live forever,' he said.

Adam was tempted by what Iblees said. So he let Iblees them to that tree. As soon as Adam and Hawwa ate the fruit, they realized that they had made a mistake. Feeling ashamed, they hid themselves from God. But God knew, because He is everywhere with his knowledge.

God was very angry and said, 'Didn't I warn you never to eat the fruit of that forbidden tree? But you did not obey Me, Adam, and now your place be on earth and not in Jannah.' He threw Adam and Hawwa down to earth. Adam and Hawwa had not meant to disobey God, they just made a mistake and were very sorry about it.

They wept and wept and begged for God's forgiveness. At last, God took pity on them and pardoned them. Then God told them that if they were good and obeyed Him, He would call them back to the beautiful garden-Jannah-after death. But if they didn't, they would have something horrible waiting for them - dozakh (hell).

Adam and Hawwa spent the rest of their lives obeying God and doing good in the hope of winning God's pleasure and of returning to Jannah after death.

They had many, many children, and grand children. We too are all great great ... grand children of the same Adam and Hawwa. That is why Adam is called the 'father of the human race'.