to shrug off any blame for what he had done by invoking the prior decree; the doors of retaliation and the prescribed penalties would then be shut. If predestination were a valid defense, everyone—over great matters and small—would use it to excuse whatever he had perpetrated, and that would lead to dreadful outcomes. For this reason some scholars said that Adam’s reply was an appeal to the decree concerning the calamity that befell him, not the act of disobedience itself—and Allah knows best.

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Reports Concerning the Creation of Adam

Imam Aḥmad said:
Yahya and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us; ʿAwf narrated to us; Qasāmah ibn Zuhayr narrated to me from Abū Mūsā, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said:

“Allah created Adam from a handful that He scooped up from all the earth. Consequently the children of Adam correspond to the earth: among them are the white, the red, the black, and what lies between; the wicked and the good; the gentle and the harsh, and what lies between.”

He also transmitted it through Hawdhah, from ʿAwf, from Qasāmah ibn Zuhayr, who said: I heard the Ashʿarī say that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“Allah created Adam from a handful He took from the whole earth; therefore the children of Adam came forth in keeping with the earth: some are white, red, black and in-between; easy-going and rugged and in-between; foul and pure and in-between.”

Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, and Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ also narrated it through ʿAwf ibn Abī Jamīlah al-Aʿrābī, from Qasāmah ibn Zuhayr al-Māzinī al-Baṣrī, from Abū Mūsā ʿAbd Allah ibn Qays al-Ashʿarī, from the Prophet ﷺ with similar wording. Al-Tirmidhī said: “Sound and good (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ).”

Al-Suddī related—on the authority of Abū Mālik and Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās; and from Murrah, from Ibn Masʿūd; and from several Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—that Allah sent Gabriel to the earth to bring Him some clay. The earth said, “I seek refuge in Allah from you, lest you diminish me or mar me,” so he returned without taking anything, saying, “My Lord, she sought Your protection and I granted it.” Then He sent Michael; she sought refuge from him, and he gave her refuge and returned with the same reply. Then He sent the Angel of Death; she sought refuge from him, and he said, “And I seek refuge in Allah from returning without fulfilling His command.” He therefore took from the surface of the earth and mixed it, not from one place alone: he took soil that was white, red, and black. For that reason the children of Adam emerged different from one another. He ascended with it and moistened the clay until