“…in His image.”¹

Scholars have discussed this ḥadīth at length and have taken many different approaches to it; this is not the place to lay them out.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir, in his biography of ʿAbd Rabbih ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Qurashī al-Dimashqī²—who narrated from Makḥūl and others; from ʿAbd al-Ḥakīm, Marwān al-Ṭāṭarī, Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, and Hishām ibn Khālid—relates, through the chain of Hishām ibn ʿAmmār, that he heard ʿUrwah ibn Ruwaym report from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh that the Prophet ﷺ said:

“When Allah created Adam and his descendants, the angels said, ‘Our Lord, You have created them to eat and drink, to marry and ride; so assign the life of this world to them and the Hereafter to us.’ Allah—exalted is He—replied, ‘I will not treat as equal the one whom I created with My own Hands and into whom I breathed of My spirit with those to whom I merely said, “Be,” and they were.’”³

The Account of Adam’s Death and His Bequest to His Son Seth

The name Seth (Shīth) means “the gift of Allah,” for his parents were granted him after Abel had been killed.

Abū Dharr, in his narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, said: “Allah sent down one hundred and four scriptures; fifty of them were revealed to Seth.”⁴

Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq said: When death approached Adam he entrusted matters to his son Seth. He taught him the hours of the night and day, instructed him in the acts of worship appropriate to those hours, and informed him that the Flood would come thereafter. He added: It is said that all the genealogies of Adam’s children that exist today trace back to Seth, while the rest of Adam’s offspring have died out and vanished—Allah knows best.

When Adam—upon him be peace—died, on a Friday, the angels brought him embalming materials and a shroud from Allah, Mighty and Majestic, from Paradise, and they offered condolences to his son and successor Seth—upon him be peace.

Ibn Isḥāq said: The sun and the moon were eclipsed for seven consecutive days and nights.⁶