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Religious Stories

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The Story of Adam

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Millions of years ago there was no world. Then God said, “Kun” (Be), and the world was created. But, still it was without human beings. Even in Jannat (heaven or paradise), there were no human beings.

Jannat is the most beautiful garden anyone can ever dream of. It has all kinds of fruit trees– pomegranates. grapes, olives – every fruit that you can think of and more. Flowing in it are streams of cool sweet water, milk, and honey.

One day. God said to His angels in jannat, ‘I want to create a human being as my deputy.’ The angels asked, “are we not enough to carry out Your orders?’ God replied, ‘I know better.’ Then God created Adam out of clay, and breathed life into him. He taught him everything about the world, and gave him permission to live in jannat, to do what he pleased. and to eat and drink what he liked. He could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except, the fruit of one particular tree.

And so Adam enjoyed himself. But he soon became lonely. He had no friends. So he said to God. ‘Please give me a companion.’ And God gave him a friend, Hawwa (Eve).

After creating Adam, and teaching him about the world, God called all His angels and said, ‘This is Adam. Bow down to him in Sajda”

All the angels obeyed except Ibless or Shaitaan (Lucifer), who was a Jinn. He said, ‘Why should I bow to Adam? I am made of fire and he only of clay. I’ll not bow to him.’

God was angry at Shaitaan’s disobedience and threw him out of jannat. Before he left, Shaitaan vowed to take his revenge on mankind till the day of Qiyamat (the Day of Judgement). But God said, ‘My good people will not listen to you.’

Iblees was cunning. He began thinking of ways to make Adam disobey God. One day, when Adam and Hawwa were in jannat, he quietly whispered into Adam’s ear that the fruit of the forbidden tree was the best fruit of all. ‘If you eat it, you will live forever,’ he said.

Adam was tempted by what Iblees said. So he let Iblees lead them to that tree. As soon as Adam and Hawwa ate the fruit, they realized that they had made a mistake. Feeling ashamed, they hid themselves from God. But God knew, because He knows everything and is everywhere.

God was very angry and said, ‘Didn’t I warn you never to eat the fruit of that forbidden tree? But you did not obey Me, Adam, and now your place will be on earth and not in jannat.’ He threw Adam and Hawwa out of jannat down into the earth. Adam and Hawwa had not meant to disobey God, they had just made a mistake and were very sorry about it.

They wept and wept and begged for God’s forgiveness. At last, God took pity on them and pardoned them. Then God told them that if they were good and obeyed Him, He would call them back to the beautiful garden – jannat – after death. But, if they did not, they would have something horrible waiting for them – dozakh (hell).

Adam and Hawwa spent the rest of their lives obeying God and doing good in the hope of winning God’s pleasure and of returning to jannat after death.

They had many, many, children and grand children. We too are all great great . . . grand children of the same Adam and Hawwa. That is why Adam is called the ‘father of the human race’

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Habeel and Qabeel

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The world was very big. God wanted to fill it with human beings. He wanted people everywhere — in the coldest and hottest of places, in the deserts, the forests, and the mountains. . . . So He blessed Adam and Hawwa so that they had two children every day — a son and a daughter — for a long time. They had many, many children, sons and daughters. Soon, mankind spread all over the earth. White, black and yellow, people of all races, are children of the same father and mother — Adam and Hawwa.

Now, I will tell you the story of Habeel (Abel) and Qabeel (Cain), the sons of Adam and Hawwa. Both of them wanted to marry the same girl, who was very beautiful. They did not know how to decide which one of them should marry her. So Adam asked each one of them to give a nazar (an offering) to God. And the one whose nazar was accepted by Him was to marry the girl.

Habeel whose intentions were good chose the best sheep from his flock and gave it as an offering to God. Qabeel kept the best for himself and gave a poor offering. Naturally, of the two, God accepted Habeel’s offering — a fire came and took it away. This meant that Habeel had God’s permission to marry the girl.

Qabeel grew very angry at this and said that he would marry her at all costs. Habeel, however, refused to fight. But Qabeel was furious and he hit his brother with a stone which killed him.

It was the first time that anyone had ever killed another person, so after killing Habeel, Qabeel was terribly afraid. He did not know what to do with the dead body. He carried it on his shoulders and wandered around helplessly.

Then God sent two crows who fought in front of Qabeel. One of them was killed. The other dug a hole in the ground and pulled the body of the dead crow into it covering it with earth.

Seeing this, Qabeel cursed himself for not knowing even as much as the crow. He then dug a grave for his brother Habeel and buried him in it.

To this day, if anyone kills his brother (and we are all children of the same parents), one often blames the first murderer for setting a bad example.

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Hoodh and the Aad People

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Nooh’s followers who had been saved from the flood were good people. But years later their children and grand-children forgot what their parents had told them. These people were tall, fair, and well-built and were called the Aad. They made beautiful houses and cities.

Once again, the began to worship stone idols. So, God sent another prophet, Hoodh (Hud), to remind the tribe of Aad of His message.

Hoodh told his people (Aad), ‘I am the messenger of God. He sent me, to tell you that you are not being good at all. And to remind you of how God punished the people in the days of Nooh, and destroyed those who did not believe in God. But the Aads refused to listen to Hoodh’s advice. They were angry at Hoodh and said, ‘Do you want us to throw away our stone gods which our fathers and forefathers worshipped? No, Hoodh, we will never do what you say. Don’t frighten us by talking of God’s punishment. If we don’t worship Him, let Him punish us.’ And Hoodh said, ‘That azaab is not far away. You wait for it and I’ll wait with you.’

Soon their lands became dry. They had no rain and a poor crop. Hoodh said to them, ‘My people, ask God to forgive you. He gives you rain, gardens and crops. Seek God’s pardon and He will give you plenty. God can do anything.’

‘You may say what you want, Hoodh, but we will do what our fathers did,’ said the Aads.

Hoodh told them to be afraid of the one and only God who blessed them not only with children but also with cattle. From cattle they got milk, meat and so many other useful things.

But, the Aads said, ‘Who can be stronger then us?’ They said this because they did not know the strengthen of God.

At last, God became angry at their disobedience. He sent a very strong wind which blew for eight days and seven nights. It wiped out their cities and killed everyone. The wind was so strong that everyone in its way was blown away like dust. The Aads and their big and beautiful houses with tall pillars vanished (disappeared) from the earth.

Saleh and the Samood People

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God had sent His punishment to the Aads who had disobeyed Hoodh.

Those who survived were frightened for some time but soon forgot all about Hoodh’s preaching and began to worship their stone gods once again. These people were called Samood. Like the Aads, they too were fair, tall and handsome.

They carved out magnificent houses from mountains and made beautiful palaces on the plains. But they were ungrateful people and did not obey God.

God sent them a prophet from amongst themselves. His name was Saleh. Saleh asked the Samoods to be good and believe in the one and only God. The poor amongst them listened to him but the rich did not.They were full of of pride and looked down upon the poor. They said, ‘Saleh, you were like us, what happened to you that you stop us from worshipping our gods?’ Saleh replied, ‘I am the prophet of God. He has sent me to tell you the truth. He created you from this earth and allows you to live on it. He has given you gardens, springs, meadows, delicious soft dates, and beautiful houses. Seek his forgiveness. In return, I don’t want anything from you. All I ask of you is to believe in the one and only God who has given you everything.

But the rich Samoods were annoyed and said, ‘All right, ask your God to show us a miracle, then we shall believe in Him.’ They asked Saleh to request his God to make a camel emerge from a mountain in front of them.

asked for. This camel is holy and sent by God at your request, to convince you of His presence. It is God’s will that she should graze in the fields and drink water one day and you can draw water the next day, turn by turn. None of you can the turn of the camel and her child.’ He also told them that if they bothered the camel, they would be punished by God.

The Samoods were, at first, both impressed and frightened. They had seen the miracle happen and believed that the camel, which had emerged from the mountain, was truly sent by God as that was what they had asked for. But, soon they began to grudge the camel and her child, their freedom to eat and drink undisturbed every alternate day. They did not want to share their water with her. So they made a plan, and one day some of them killed the camel.

When Saleh heard of this he was very sad. He told the Samoods, ‘You have committed a sin by disobeying God. You have made God very angry and He will soon punish you.’

And God punished the Samoods severely with a frightful shrieking sound, thunder, and lightening. The Samoods, who had not listened to Saleh, fell down on their faces on the ground when they heard the dreadful sound. In the morning, they were all found dead in their strong and beautiful houses which they had built for their protection.

Only the people who had believed in God and had listened to Saleh were saved.

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Nooh and his Son

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When mankind had spread out in this world, some people remembered the

teachings of God but most people did not. They forgot about God and madestone idols which they worshipped. To remind them of His teachings, God sent them a prophet — Nooh (Noah), who was the only good man of his time.

Nooh told them to be good, obey God, and believe in His promise that they would go back to jannat if they were good. He asked them to pray only to God who was their Creator, and not to worship stone idols. But the people were very disobedient. They continued to worship statues of men, women, lions, horses, and many other creatures.

Nooh explained to them, ‘These stones can not give you anything. If you want something, ask God for it.’

He reasoned, ‘Can’t you see the sun and the moon, the earth and the skies? Who has made them? God had made them all. Don’t you realize that God has made you too and that you will return to Him after death.?’

Nooh pleaded, ‘I don’t say I am an angel or that I have any knowledge of the unknown. I don’t even say that I have a hidden treasure. All I am asking you is to believe in one God and obey Him for your own good. Believe me I don’t want anything in return.’

Nooh was a very patient man. He continued preaching God’s message to his people for more than 900 years — yes, he had a very long life. But, only a few good people accepted God’s message.

Nooh was very, unhappy. He prayed to God. ‘Don’t be sad, Nooh,’ said God. ‘You have done your best. These wicked people deserve a frightful punishment.’ They will be destroyed. No one can save them from this azaab (punishment) now.

And God told Nooh of a big storm that would come and kill these Kafirs (non-believers). God advised Nooh to build a very large boat and make preparations to save himself, and his followers from the flood.

When the people saw Nooh making the boat, they laughed at him and said, ‘So you are preparing for that flood, aren’t you? You will be saved in that, huh?’ But Nooh ignored them and continued building the boat.

When the boat was ready, God ordered Nooh to take with him, in the board, all his followers, and a pair each of all kinds of animals before the storm came . Nooh did everything that God had ordered. But Nooh was worried about his son, Kannan, who disobeyed him. He was kafir. Nooh asked God, ‘What about Kannan? He is from my family. Will he be saved?’ And God answered, ‘No, Nooh, he who does not obey Me and listen to you is not of your family, and you shouldn’t feel sorry for him. Your family is of those who obey your God and you.’

Finally, when all preparations were completed, the storm came. No one had ever seen such a big storm. It was the punishment that God had promised He would send if people didn’t change their ways. Very heavy rain came down from the sky and water gushed out from the ground.

As they sat in the boart, Nooh again called out to Kannan, and asked him to obey God and accept His message so that he could be saved. But Kannan was really stubborn. He said, ‘No, I won’t come, I’ll climb a mountain and save myself.’ But just then, a huge wave came between them and Kannan died, along with all the other kafirs.

Nooh’s boat reached Mount Judi safely. It is believed that Mount Judi is the present Mount Ararat in Turkey. All those people who were in the boat were saved.

Nooh is called Adam-i-Sani (Adam the second) because nearly everyone had died in that terrible flood and only Nooh and some of his followers had been

saved to begin a new life in this world all over again.

When Ismail was born to Hajra, Sara, the first wife of Ibrahim, felt sad that she had no child of her own. So God ordered Ibrahim to take Hajra and her child Ismail to a deserted place, leave them there, and come away.

Can you imagine how Ibrahim must have felt. It was very difficult to obey this command, and to forsake his wife and the child who had been born after such a long time, and after such a great deal of longing and prayer.

But, being a true believer, Ibrahim obeyed God without hesitation.

He took Hajra and Ismail to a deserted place as God had offered. On the way Hajra asked him ‘My Lord, where are you taking us and why?’ Ibrahim was quiet and did not answer. Hajra understood and asked, ‘Is this the will of God?’

‘Yes, it is,’ replied Ibrahim.

‘Then I will not question it and will fear nothing . Surely, God will protect us.’ said Hajra who was a brave and pious lady.

Ibrahim took them to a lonely place where there was no water and not a tree for miles around, and left them there. This place was Makkah. When he left Hajra and Ismail alone with not a soul in sight he felt very sad. It was a great sacrifice, but Ibrahim did not falter or weaken. When they were out of his sight, he stopped, turned his face to where the Kaa’ba is now, and prayed very earnestly to God, ‘O God! At your will, I am leaving my heir in a deserted place. O My God, I’ve left them so that they may keep praying to You here. Please protect them. Make people turn towards them, and provide for them (food) from Your earth, the they may always remain grateful to You.’

So saying, Ibrahim turned away and left them at the mercy of God.

God was so pleased with Ibrahim that he not only protected Ismail and Hajra but promised to make their descendants flourish after them. Our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) also came from the same family.

Now Hajra, deserted between two barn hills, Safa and Marwa, did not know what to do. When the child cried of thirst in the intense heat, her heart went out to her little baby, but what could she do? There was no water, no food, no shelter, and nobody in sight. She was a mother, how could she sit and see her child die? So she ran up to Safa to see if she could find any help on the other side, but it was all deserted. Then, she came running back to look at her thirsty child. Then again, she raced to the other hill, Marwa, to see if there was anyone whom she could ask for help on that side. There was no one at all.

In her agony, Hajra ran from one hill to the other, in search of help, returning each time to look at her thirsty and hungry child. After running to and from seven times, she sat down, exhausted, submitting to the will of God, and then, lo, God showed His mercy! Miraculously, a spring of water sprang up near the baby. It is called Zam Zam. Aab-e-Zam Zam (Zam Zam water) is supposed to be very refreshing, healing and invigorating (energy-giving). Even today, Zam Zam gushes forth its fresh, and healing water for millions of Muslims who go for Haj or Umra to Makkah from all over the world. Hajra could not believe her eyes. She was filled with joy. Both she and the baby were saved by God.

God liked Hajra’s faith and courgae so much that, to this day, millions of Muslim men, women, and children retrace the steps of this pious lady when they run between Safa and Marwa during Hajj.

Shortly after that, a caravan passing through this desert saw the water and and asked Hajra for permission to camp there.

‘By all means,’ she answered, ‘but don’t make the water your property. It will be free for everyone.’ They agreed. Then they stayed on because of the water. (It was very difficult to find water in Arabia then. Whenever there was water, people made their homes around it.) Thus Makkah became a busy habitation and Ibrahim’s prayer to God to protect his wife and his heir, and to make people turn to them was answered.

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