ADAM’S VICEGERENCY

Quran Miracle: Adam’s Knowledge And Vicegerency

–

٣٠ وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

٣١ وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

٣٢ قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ

٣٣ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا أَنْبَأَهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكُمْ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَأَعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُونَ وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ

٣٤ وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ

When your Lord said to the angels, “I am placing a successor on earth.” They said, “Will You place in it someone who will cause corruption in it and shed blood, while we declare Your praises and sanctify You?” He said, “I know what you do not know.”

And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then he presented them to the angels, and said, “Tell Me the names of these, if you are sincere.”

They said, “Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. It is you who are the Knowledgeable, the Wise.”

He said, “O Adam, tell them their names.” And when he told them their names, He said, “Did I not tell you that I know the secrets of the heavens and the earth, and that I know what you reveal and what you conceal?”

And We said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam.” They bowed down, except for Satan. He refused, was arrogant, and was one of the disbelievers. (Surah Baqarah 2:30-34)

–

Quran tells the story of Adam’s appointment as vicegerent of God and Angel’s prostration to him mainly in Surah Baqarah, Araf, Hijr, Isra, Kahf, Taha and Surah Sad. Now the miracle is that there are two declarations and two predictions present in all these verses which are already fulfilled and in coming times will also remain valid.

Naming Rights: Reason of Adam’s Superiority Over All Other Creation

First is that these verses show that the reason why all Angels were first commanded and then logically convinced to prostrate to Adam was of the reason that God Taught Adam names of things. And this is really meaningful that your Lord taught Adam the names of things. Adam is the one who knew the name of the things that Angels didn’t know.

Now the miracle is that in this era of science we have a complete understanding that this actually is the basis of all human knowledge. This is the reason for Adam’s superiority over all other creation and his qualification for vicegerent of Earth. You can see that all collective human knowledge is actually naming of things all around us. We discover new things, new formulas, new theories, new concepts. Have you not seen that those nations throughout history when they were on the peak of their civilizations they have all the naming rights of all the things around.

Nowadays, western civilization has this right, and they are the one who first discovered and then named numerous concepts, things and phenomena. From a small machine to everything on planet earth from virus bacteria to all-sky all universe around you all animate and inanimate things. Same was the situation of Muslims once at the peak of their civilization during Abbasids Caliphate. That time they excel much in Medicine, Chemistry and Astronomy. That’s why even today most of the stars have Arabic names only because they were discovered and named during those periods.

Quran Prophecy: Successorship And Control On Earth

Now the second miracle is in the declaration of Adam’s Vicegerency by God. It has in it a fulfilled Prophecy and a future prediction which already proved true and will remain valid and correct for times to come. This is the fact in the narration that the Quran is telling us about God’s nomination of Adam as His Successor on