Purpose from the story of Creation of Adam

reading time ~8 mins

These are notes taken from the lecture given by Jeffrey Lang on the Purpose of Life

1. Purpose from the story of Creation of Adam
2. The Story of Creation of Adam in the Quran
3. Notes

The Story of Creation of Adam in the Quran

And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?” Allah said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.”

And He taught Adam the names – all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, “Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.”

They said, “Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise.”

He said, “O Adam, inform them of their names.” And when he had informed them of their names, He said, “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed.”

And [mention] when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam”; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers.

And We said, “O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.”

But Satan caused them to slip out of it and removed them from that [condition] in which they had been. And We said, “Go down, [all of you], as enemies to one another, and you will have upon the earth a place of settlement and provision for a time.”

Then Adam received from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.

We said, “Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.

And those who disbelieve and deny Our signs – those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally.”

(Quran 2:30-39)

Notes

1. Story of Adam creation and being being sent to earth
2. It is a fundamental step in our development. Allah knows we will suffer but he sends guidance and assured us we can do it
3. Eating from the tree was our first instance of making a choice, it was a slip not the original sin. Allah had already decided to send us as a successor on earth
4. Allah taught Adam words for repentance, turned towards him, and comforted with mercy. Told that if guidance is followed then there is no fear or grief for you
5. Three aspects are at the core of the story. Intelligence, choice and suffering. All these things are questioned by humans when it comes to existence and theology 
6. Purpose is to grow. All humans are moral beings, they have angels and satan whispering, but humans make the ultimate choice to grow spiritually or decline themselves away from God. The choice is always with the human 
7. The Quran makes it clear that anyone who rejects God, does not use reason or intellect. It’s almost saying that they are not sane. Find the 7 ayat where this is mentioned that disbelief is about not using reason. especially see 48:00 minutes of purpose of life video from Jeffrey lang. He gives great numbers and quotes
8. Below the number of times a topic is mentioned in the Quran given in brackets with an x
9. Those who benefit most from Quran are
   1. Persons of insight (16x)
   2. Firmly rooted in knowledge (8x)
   3. Use their reason (10x)
   4. Stand on clear evidence and proof (7x)
10. Those who oppose revelation are
    1. Deluded (9x)
    2. In manifest error (28x)
    3. Ignorant (15x)
    4. Foolish (3x)
    5. Have no understanding (9x)
    6. Only follow surmise and conjecture (9x)
    7. Blindly adhere to tradition (multiple)  
11. The Quran states over a 100 times that it was revealed to make things clear 
12. The word knowledge علم appears 854 times in the Quran
13. Choice is also a repeating theme. Had God willed he could have guided all mankind, could have made us all one community, every soul would have its guidance. But this wasn’t part of the plan
14. You have free choice. When you are guided with own choice it’s to own benefit, he who doesn’t choose it, does for own detriment 
15. Suffering is also a central theme. Some religions see it as punishment, some see it as many gods playing with each other, some see it as something bad which must be avoided and mediated away from
16. The Quran takes a different approach: it says you will suffer and it plays a fundamental role in your development. Life is a struggle (jihad) and you have to embrace suffering and persevere through
17. The Quran says that most assuredly We will test you with danger, hunger and loss of worldly goods, loss of your lives and fruits of your labor. But give glad tidings for those who are patient in adversity and suffering 
18. We say إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ “Surely we belong to Allah, and to Him we will return”
19. The Quran says “Do you think you can enter paradise without going through tests like those before you?” 2:214. 
20. There is no heaven on earth. This is an environment of adversity and toil 
21. You humans toiling laboriously towards your lord, will meet Him 84:6
22. That we have created man for toil and trial (90:4). The two paths (good and evil) are made clear. We do not choose the uphill path. To free a Slave, feed the orphan or needy in the dust on a difficult day. Purpose is to toil towards helping humanity and walk the uphill path. To believe and urge others to sabr and Rahma. Those who do this will be on the right hand side. (90:4-18) 
23. Imagine the compassion and love that can be experienced by a fish, or a dog, or a human child which I would give them. Even if I give a lot, the fish will experience much less than a child.