The clay then returned to a sticky state—lāzib, meaning that its parts cling to one another. He said to the angels:

“Indeed, I am about to create a human being out of clay. When I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, fall down before him in prostration.” (Ṣād 38:71–72)

Allah fashioned him with His own Hand so that Iblīs would not deem himself superior. He formed him into a human, and for forty years—equivalent to the span of a Friday—he remained a lifeless body of clay. The angels passed by and were alarmed at the sight of him; the most frightened of them was Iblīs. He would walk around Adam, striking him, and the body would ring like fired pottery, giving a hollow rattle. Concerning this Allah says: “from dried clay like earthenware” (al-Raḥmān 55:14).

Iblīs would say, “You have surely been created for some purpose,” after which he entered through Adam’s mouth and emerged from his back. He then told the angels, “Do not be afraid of this creature. Your Lord is Ṣamad—perfectly self-sufficient—whereas he is hollow. If I am given power over him, I will destroy him.”

When the moment Allah—exalted is He—willed to breathe the soul into Adam arrived, He said to the angels, “When I breathe into him of My Spirit, fall down before him in prostration.” When the soul was breathed into him and reached his head, Adam sneezed.

The angels said, “Say: Praise be to Allah.”

He said, “Praise be to Allah,” and Allah said to him, “May your Lord have mercy on you.” When the soul entered his eyes he looked at the fruits of Paradise; when it reached his abdomen he longed for food. He leapt up before the soul had reached his feet, rushing toward the fruit of Paradise. About this Allah, Most High, says: “Man was created of haste” (al-Anbiyāʾ 21:37).

“Then all the angels prostrated together, every one of them, except Iblīs; he refused to be among those who prostrated.” (al-Ḥijr 15:30–31)

(The author goes on to mention the remainder of the story.)

Some parts of this account are corroborated by Prophetic reports, although much of it is drawn from the Israelite traditions.

Imam Aḥmad said: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad narrated to us; Ḥammād narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“When Allah created Adam He left him for as long as He willed. Iblīs kept circling around him, and when he saw that he was hollow he realized that this was a creature who would not be able to keep himself in check.”

Ibn Ḥibbān recorded in his Ṣaḥīḥ: al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān narrated to us; Hudbah ibn Khālid narrated to us; Ḥammād ibn Salamah narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas ibn Mālik, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

“When the soul was breathed into Adam and reached his head, he sneezed and said, ‘Praise be to Allah, Lord of all creation.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him, ‘May Allah have mercy on you.’ ”

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Abū Bakr al-Bazzār said: Yaḥyā ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sakan narrated to us; Ḥabbān ibn Hilāl narrated to us; Mubārak ibn Faḍālah narrated to us, from ʿUbayd Allah, from Khubayb, from Ḥafṣ—the son of ʿĀṣim ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—from Abū Hurayrah, in a marfūʿ report, that he said:

“When Allah created Adam he sneezed and said, ‘Praise be to Allah.’ His Lord said to him, ‘May your Lord have mercy on you, O Adam.’ ” (4) This chain is sound, though it is not found in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.