Adam

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For other uses, see Adam (disambiguation).

Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam, a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, shows God creating Adam, with Eve in His arm. While not strictly true to the Genesis account, this is one of the most famous depictions of the creation of Adam and Eve in Western art.

Adam ("Earth" or "man", Standard Hebrew אָדָם, Adam; "Soil" or "Light Brown", Arabic آدم, Adam) was the first man created by Elohim (Allah) according to the Abrahamic religious tradition. He is considered a prophet by the Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Mandaean and Bahá'í faiths.

1 Judeo-Christian view
2 Islamic view
3 Bahá'í view
4 Latter Day Saint (LDS) view
5 Other
6 See also
7 Notes

[edit] Judeo-Christian view

The story is told in the book of Genesis, contained in the Torah and Bible, chapters 2 and 3, with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5. Other details of his life are given in apocryphal books, such as the Book of Jubilees, Life of Adam and Eve and Book of Enoch.

According to the above accounts, Adam was created by Elohim, "in our image." He was then placed in the Garden of Eden. He was instructed to name all the animals, and was given a wife whom he named Eve. He and Eve lived in the garden and walked with God. Eventually, however, they were removed from the garden because they violated God's rule that they could not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

After they were removed from the garden, Adam was forced to work for his food for the first time. He and Eve had three children named in Genesis: Cain, Abel, and Seth. The Book of Jubilees names two of his daughters: Azura, who married her brother Seth, and Awan, who married her brother Cain. Both Genesis and Book of Jubilees state that Adam had other children, but those other children are unnamed.

According to the Genealogies of Genesis, Adam died at the age of 930. With such numbers, calculations such as those of Archbishop Ussher would suggest that Adam would haved died only about 127 years before the birth of Noah, nine generations after Adam. In other words, Adam's lifespan would have overlapped Lamech (father of Noah) at least fifty years.

According to the book of Joshua, the City of Adam was still a recognizable place at the time that the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on entering Canaan.

He appears to an extent in both Eastern and Western Christian liturgies.<ref>Adam in Early Christian Liturgy and Literature - Catholic Encyclopedia article</ref>

[edit] Islamic view

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Main article: Islamic view of Adam

In Islam, Adam is considered the first Prophet of God and the husband of Eve (Arabic: Hawwa). Allah ordered one of the angels to gather a handful of all the different types of the earth’s soils: the black soil, the white soil, the red soil, and all the colors in between these colors; including the soft soil and the firm soil. This angel took a handful from all these different kinds of soil and brought them to Paradise. This soil was mixed with the water of Paradise and from this mixture, the shape of Adam was formed. This is why you find among the offspring of Adam--which includes all people--the white, the black, the red, the yellow, those who are easy, those who are difficult, and those who are in between. The angel took the soil into Paradise and mixed it with water from Paradise until it became clay. Allah created the shape of Adam from that clay. After a period of time the shape became dry.Then the soul was blown into Adam and he spoke. The first thing he said was: "Praise be to Allah" (al-hamdu lillah). Allah, the Exalted, created the knowledge and the belief in Adam as soon as the soul was blown into him. Therefore, Adam knew that he had a Lord who created him and Adam knew the names of things. He knew that his Lord is the One Who deserves to be worshipped and no one else deserves to be worshipped.

[edit] Bahá'í view

In the Bahá'í view, Adam was the first Manifestation of God in recorded history.<ref>Taherzadeh, Adib (1972). The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh. Oxford, UK: George Ronald, pp. 32. ISBN 0-85398-344-5.</ref> He is believed by Bahá'ís to have started the Adamic cycle 6000 years ago, which was culminated by Muhammad.<ref>Letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, March 13, 1986. Published in Effendi, Shoghi, The Universal House of Justice (1983). Hornby, Helen (Ed.): Lights of Guidance: A Bahá'í Reference File. Bahá'í Publishing Trust, New Delhi, India, pp. 500. ISBN 81-85091-46-3.</ref><ref name="rob2_352">Taherzadeh, Adib (1977). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 2: Adrianople 1863-68. Oxford, UK: George Ronald, pp. 352. ISBN 0-85398-071-3.</ref> The Biblical story of Adam and Eve, according to Bahá'í belief, is allegorical and is explained by `Abdu'l-Bahá in Some Answered Questions.<ref name="rob2_352" />

[edit] Latter Day Saint (LDS) view

Latter Day Saint religion believe that Adam and Michael the archangel who fought the battle in pre-existence with satan are the same person.

[edit] Other

After his exile from the Garden of Eden he is fabled to have first set foot on earth at a mountain known as Adam's Peak or Al-Rohun, a mountain found in Sri Lanka.