For this account is a fabrication, with no sound basis, and that is clear for several reasons:

1. No authentic report from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ supports it, and such a story could only be accepted through revelation.
2. By consensus of the scholars, the prophets are protected from falling into polytheism.
3. In the well-known ḥadith of the Intercession it is established that people will come to Adam asking him to intercede, and he will excuse himself by saying that he ate from the tree—an act of disobedience. Had he ever committed polytheism, that would have been a stronger and more obvious reason for him to decline.

These and other considerations show that it is impermissible to believe that Adam or Eve ever committed any form of polytheism.

When Adam declines, the people will go to Noah—peace be upon him—the first messenger Allah sent to the earth. They will address him with this distinction, saying, “You are the first messenger Allah sent to the earth; intercede for us with your Lord.” He will excuse himself because he once asked his Lord about something of which he had no knowledge, when he said, “My Lord, my son is of my family; Your promise is surely true, and You are the most just of judges” (Hūd 11:45).

Noah had a son who disbelieved in him. Though his father was a messenger, the son rejected the messenger—may Allah protect us—because lineage does not benefit a person. The child of a scholar does not automatically become a scholar; indeed, he might even be—