2. Story of Prophets Adam-Sheeth-Idris

The Descendants of Ādamعليه السالم

Ādamعليه السالم, when he was created, Allāhﷻ stroked his back. So, all of the descendants of Ādamعليه السالم came out from the back of Ādam. We don’t know in what, [or] in which form they came out, but they all fell down from his back, all of them. And Allāhﷻ put some light between their eyes.

Ādam said, “Who are they?” Allāhﷻ said, “These are your descendants”. So, Ādam looked at one of them, and he saw some bright shining light between his eyes, and he liked it, and he liked him. So, Ādam said, “Who is this?” Allāhﷻ told him, “This is one of your descendants who is going to come at the end of time, his name is Dāwūd.” Subhān’Allāh, Allāhﷻ is telling Ādam that this is Dāwūd and he is towards the end of time. Where are we living then? Ādam said, “Kam ‘Umuruh? – What’s his age?” Allāhﷻ said, “Sixty years old.” Ādamعليه السالم loved him; this is one of his children, one of his descendants.

Subhān’Allāh, all of us are the children of Ādamعليه السالم. He views us all as his children, his descendants. Even though there are thousands of years between Ādamعليه السالم and Dāwūdعليه السالم, he loved him. So, he told Allāhﷻ, “Oh Allāh, give him 40 years from my life”. Allāhﷻ told Ādam, “Then it would be written down and sealed”, in other words ‘are you sure?’ Ādam said, “Yes”. So, it was prescribed and sealed, that’s it. This happened when Ādamعليه السالم was created, very early in time. Ādam was supposed to live a thousand years, that’s the time Allāhﷻ told Ādam he would live.

Death of Ādamعليه السالم

So now Ādamعليه السالم is living in Dunyā, and years and years are passing by. Then, when he was 960 years old, the Angel of Death came to Ādam and asked him, “Are you ready to die?” – because the Angel of Death takes permission from the Ambiyā’. ‘Are you ready to die?’ Ādam said, “I still have 40 years to live. Allāhﷻ told me that I’m going to live a thousand years. I still have 40 years to live.” The Angel of Death said, “Didn’t you give 40 years of your life to your son Dāwūd?” Ādam denied, Ādamعليه السالم denied and this Hadith is Sahīh. Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Fajahada Ādam fajahadat dhurriyyatah – Ādam denied, so the children of Ādam, they deny. Wanasiya Ādam fanasiyat dhurriyyatah – and Ādam forgot, and his children forget. Wa-akhta-a Ādam fakhati-at dhurriyyatah – and Ādam made mistakes, and his children make mistakes.” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3076, 3367)

The Forgetful Nature of Human Beings

Ādamعليه السالم forgot. See sometimes, we forget and that is human nature. And it is said, that the name Insaan (human being), comes from Nasyaan. Insaan in Arabic comes from Nasyaan, which is forgetting. It’s a human nature. We forget. And when we forget, we reject. Ādamعليه السالم denied, denied that he gave 40 years because he forgot. He wasn’t lying, we need to understand that Ādamعليه السالم forgot. Ādamعليه السالم is a Nabi of Allāhﷻ and the Ambiyā’ of Allāh [are] Ma’soomuna ‘an al-kadhib – Allāhﷻ made them infallible from falling into these sins. So Ādam, he forgot that he gave this promise. Ādam forgot and Allāhﷻ forgave him. This was a mistake from Ādamعليه السالم and this is a Nabi of Allāhﷻ.

Always, in agreements that we have with each other, and things that we say in our daily conversations – this thing happens again and again. I would say something today, you would come to me after a month and you would say, “You promised me so and so.” I [would] tell you, “No, I didn’t [say that].” You accuse me of lying [but] I’m not lying, I forgot, I did not lie. We forget, and that happens and give excuses for your brothers. Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Find 70 excuses for your brother.” No, we don’t find any excuses, [we rather accuse each other with] “You’re lying, I am sure that I told you so, you are a liar.” And you brand him as a liar for the rest of his life.

Ādamعليه السالم – and this is something big, this is something really big. I mean you promise 40 years of your life; this is a big thing. [Nevertheless] Ādamعليه السالم forgot. It’s human nature, you could forget major things. And on small details, if somebody forgets, it’s a big problem and a big deal. You know, let’s use these stories to learn some Akhlāq also, because we are in great need of Akhlāq. You don’t know Al-Ghaib, you don’t know why the other person [erred]. Maybe there was a miscommunication, maybe they didn’t understand you, maybe they forgot, or they made a mistake, or they misinterpreted. You can find easily, if you want, 70 excuses or more, if you want to.

Burial of Ādamعليه السالم

Ādamعليه السالم then submitted to the will of Allāhﷻ, and he gave away his soul and humans did not learn [washing the body], these things are new for them. So, the angels descended, and they washed Sayyidnā Ādamعليه السالم Witran – an odd number of times. And they, the Malāikah dug the grave for Ādam and they made it in the form of Al-Lahd [Niche] and they buried Sayyidnā Ādamعليه السالم. The angels washed him [and] the angels buried him. This is our father Ādamعليه السالم and this is the end of his story. We ask Allāhﷻ to bring us together with our father Fee Mustaqar Rahmata in Jannah.

The Story of Sayyidnā Sheethعليه السالم

Sheethعليه السالم is one of the Ambiyā that is not mentioned in Qur’ān, he is a Nabi that we know of from Sunnah. Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Unzilat mi-at Saheefah wa-arba’a Suhoof minhaa khamseen ‘alaa Sheeth”. Rasūlullāhﷺ says: “Allāhﷻ has revealed the 104 scrolls, 50 of them on Sheeth.” Sayyidnā Sheethعليه السالم received revelation from Allāhﷻ and it is mentioned by some of the scholars, that he is the son of Ādam, and that Ādamعليه السالم gave him the responsibility of leading when he was passing away. So Ādamعليه السالم gave Wasiyyah [last will] to Sheeth to take care of the affairs of mankind. Sheeth assumed responsibility after his father Ādamعليه السالم. That’s almost all what we know about Sheethعليه السالم.

The Story of Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم

Following Sheeth is Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم. Idrīs, most of the scholars say, is a Nabi that came between Sheeth and Nūh, but there is an opinion of Sayyidnā ibn Mas’ūd, that Idrīs is the same Nabi as Ilyās عليه السالم , but that’s a lonely opinion of Sayyidnā Abdullah bin Mas’ūd. The rest [of the scholars] say that Idrīsعليه السالم is between Sayyidnā Sheethعليه السالم  and Nūhعليه السالم. Allāhﷻ did mention about Idrīs in Qur’ān. Allāhﷻ says,

And mention in the Book (the Qur’an) Idrīs (Enoch).Verily! He was a man of truth, (and) a Prophet. And We raised him to a high station.(Maryam – 19:56, 57) That’s the extent of the knowledge, the accurate and sure knowledge, that we have about Idrīsعليه السالم  .

The Stories of Al- Isrāīliyāt and its Definition

But we have some stories about him from Al-Isrāīliyāt and let me tell you what Al-Isrāīliyāt is as a definition that you will remember throughout this series. Al-Isrāīliyāt are the stories of the people of the book, and we learn them through some of the Christians and the Jews who became Muslim. Some of the Christians and the Jews who became Muslim (and they were scholars before), when they became Muslim, they brought some of these stories with them in Islam.

Rasūlullāhﷺ has said in the beginning, ”Do not speak about the stories of Banī Isrā’īl, Al-Isrāīliyāt” – these stories that come from the old scripture. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Don’t speak about them.” But then after that, towards the end of the life of Rasūlullāhﷺ, he said ”Hadithu ‘an baniisraa-eeluwa la-Haaraj – speak about BaniIsrā’īl”, but then he said “LaaTusadiquhumwalaaTukadhibuhum – do not believe them and do not disapprove.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī 4485)

Do not approve those stories and do not disapprove them; what does this mean? It means we could use them sometimes, but we should not take it as certain knowledge and at the same time, if it does not contradict anything in Islam, we shouldn’t completely reject it. That’s why many of the scholars say it is safe to stay away from many of these stories. And that is what I’m going to try to do, and whenever I do mention one of these stories, I will mention it and mention to you that this is from Al-Isrāīliyāt so that you know. And Ibn Taymiyyah did mention that we could use Al-Isrāīliyāt as supplementary evidence, but not as primary evidence. You cannot use it as a Dalīl – as primary evidence but you could use it as Isti’naas – you bring it along under an established thing in Islam, established evidence, you could then use some of these stories.

The Death of Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم

There is a story about the death of Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم from Al-Isrāīliyāt. So Allāhﷻ revealed to Idrīsعليه السالم, and told him that every day, your deeds are equivalent to the good deeds of everybody else on the face of the earth. With simple calculations, Sayyidnā Idrīs said,”If that is the case, then, if I ask Allāhﷻ to give me a longer life, I would be able to accumulate more good deeds.” So, he told one of his friends, an angel who was a friend of his. He told him, “Why don’t we go and speak to the Angel of Death, and see if we can go to Allāhﷻ and ask Him to give me a longer life?” So, the angel said, “Okay, ride on my wings”. So Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم went on the wings of this angel, and the angel carried them up in the Samāwāt.

So, they passed the first heaven – As-Samā’ al-Ula, and then the second heaven – As-Samā’ ath-Thaaniyah, the third heaven – As-Samā’ ath- Thaalitha, the fourth heaven – As-Samā’ ar-Raabi’ah, and when they were going up, the Angel of Death was coming down. The Angel of Death said, ” Subhān’Allāh, I just received an order from Allāhﷻ to take the soul of Idrīs in the fourth heaven, and I had no idea how I was going to do it when he is on earth”. The angel, this angel speaking with the Angel of Death looked on his back and saw that Idrīsعليه السالم has already passed away. They used this as an explanation of the Āyah where Allāhﷻ says, “Wa Rafa`nāhu Makānāan `Alīyāan – We elevated him to a very high level.”(Maryam – 19:57) So Allāhﷻ took his soul in the Samā’ ar-Raabi’ah – in the fourth heaven elevated him to a very high level. Nobody passed away in that level except Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم and that’s why Allāhﷻ specifically said in Qur’ān, “We elevated him to a very high level.”(Maryam – 19:57) And Rasūlullāhﷺ, in the authentic Hadīth, did meet with Sayyidnā Idrīsعليه السالم in the fourth Samā’, in the fourth heaven in the Isrā wal Mi’rāj. In the Mi’rāj, Rasūlullāhﷺ met with Idrīs in As-Samā’ ar-Raabi’.

Generations Between Nuh and Ādamعليه السالم

Rasūlullāhﷺ says in Al-Bukhārī, ”Kaana bayna Ādam wa Nūh ‘asharat quroon kulluhum ‘an Islam – Between Ādam and Nūh, there were ten generations; all of them were Muslim.”(Narrated by Ibn Hibbaan in his Sahīh, 14/69, – and by al-Haakim, 2/262) Qar’n in Arabic means either a century – 100 years, or generation. If it means 10 centuries: that’s a millennium – 1000 years. If it means 10 generations, it could be more than 1000, because we know that people used to live longer lives in those times. Between Ādam and Nūh there were many generations, not just ten, but ten of them were Muslim. So out of the many generations between Ādamعليه السالم  and Nūhعليه السالم, ten were Muslim.

The Origin of Shirk

And then Disbelief and Shirk slowly started to creep in. How did it happen? Ibn Abbas says – and this is the opinion of Ibn Abbas mentioned in Al-Bukhārī, he says, the descendants of Ādam; they started slowly losing

their religion and committing sins, but they still believed in Tawhīd – the unity of Allāhﷻ, but they were committing many sins, and ignorance was spreading amongst them and the righteous men among them were few. Shaitān came to them and told them, “When these righteous men pass away, you will have no one to remind you about Allāhﷻ and about ‘Ibādāh, you will have nobody to give you Nasīhah and advice. So how about when they pass away, you erect some statues in their memorial to remind you about ‘Ibādāh?” Because these righteous men used to remind the people, they used to give them Nasīhah and advice. Therefore, when they are going to pass away, who is going to give the people advice? So Shaitan told them, “How about when they pass away, you erect some statues so that whenever you would see the statue you would remember good deeds and you would remember the righteous men?” They followed the advice of Shaitān, thinking it was a good one, and they erected these idols and then Shaitān left them alone. Shaitān is very, very patient. He left them alone for a while, until they forgot the reason why these idols were built. Generation after generation came, and these statues were there and people forgot why these were built, why these were erected. Shaitān came to them and told them, “Why don’t you worship these statues?” And that is how Shirk started. Allāh talks about these five idols: Waddan, Suwaa’an, Yaghouth, Ya`uq and Nasr. Five names of five idols and Ibn Abbas says, these were righteous men whom the people of Nūhعليه السالم started worshipping their idols, their statues.(Sahīh al-Bukhārī 4920) So, this is how Shirk started.