01.
Ādam,
آدَمُ
R+N+M*
(= Heb.
אָדָם
`ādām =
"humankind’).
Adam was the first man in biblical and Islamic
tradition who was believed to have lived and flourished soon after the
creation (Q x 25 in 9 suras). Several of the genesis motifs and narratives
about Adam / the first couple have qur’ānic parallels (Q. 7:20; 20:120ff,
etc).1 Created
from clay he was fit to be the primoridial father of humanity, a
خَلِيفَةً
khalīfa
(`viceregent’, `substitute’) and a prophet‑Messenger on earth who was
taught the names of all things (Q. 2:28f ). As in Genesis Adam married Ḥawā
(Eve) who was created from one of his ribs (Q. 4:1b cf. Gen. 2:22), the
first couple being caused to slip by Satan. They were ultimately expelled
from paradise (Q. 2:36). On earth God forgave Adam guided him and made a
covenant with him (Q. 2:36f; 20:115..etc). Influenced by Jewish, Gnostic,
Christian and other traditions, post‑qur’anic Islam greatly elevated the
first man. While his pre‑existence is implied in early Sunnī ḥadīth
numerous Shī`ī sources additionally reckon Adam a major manifestation of the
Logos‑like nūr al‑Muhammadīya ("Muhammadan Light"). It was
preeminently through his "loins" that this pre‑existent "Light" which is the
essence of the Prophet and the Imāms was transmitted (Biḥār2,
15:1ff; Rubin, 1975).
For the Bāb Adam appeared 12,210 years before 1260 AH/1844 CE.,
an essentially composite (millennial + centennial + decadal) symbolic
dating (11x1,000 + 12 X 100+ 10 [adjustment] = 12, 210) which cannot be
fully unravelled here (Lambden, 1985). Though there were `awālim qabl‑ i
ādam ("worlds prior to Adam") (Per-Bayan IV:14; BA* L. Qabl‑ i ādam)
he was the first maẓhar‑i ilāhī (divine Manifestation), emanated
from the mashiyyat (Divine Will), the Dhikr‑i awwal [azal]
("Primal Remembrance") in a "prophetic cycle" which to some degree
terminated with the advent of the prophet Muhammad (P.Dal., 2‑3). Adam
brought a "book" and founded an "embryonic religion" such that all
subsequent maẓhar‑i ilāhī (divine theophanies) stood in need of him
and were his "spiritual" return (P.Bay. III:13, VI:11, P.Dal. 3).
As a primordial Bābī‑ Bahā’ī messenger many narratives and
details respecting Adam in Abrahamic and Islamic scriptural sources are
given symbolic interpretations in the writings of the Bāb and BA*. The
details of Gen.1ff are non‑literally interpreted, including the creation in
six days and the biblical‑qur’ānic story of the fall of the first couple
from an Edenic paradise (Gen. 3ff + qur’ānic parallels). Under gnostic and
esoteric (`irfānī) Islamic and Shaykhī influences a multiplicity of
exalted Adams are mentioned in Bābī‑ Bahā’ī scripture (T. Kawthar, 15b, 21b
T. Qadr., 69:19; cf. K.Panj.S 100).
1 Ḥawwā
(Heb.
חַוָּה,
Havvah = Eve the wife of Adam) is not named in the Q. but is twice
referred to as his "spouse" (7:18f; 20:120f). Also unnamed are their
sons Cain (Qābīl), Abel (Hābīl) and Seth (Shīth, see 02). The sroty
of the first couple is related in the probably late Medinan fifth
Sūra (al‑Mā’idah, Q. 5:27[30]f).
