Abstract:

The story of Adam which takes place both in the Qur’an and in the Book of Genesis is indeed quite interesting. Traditional Muslim scholars particularly commentators on the Qur’an have understood and explained such key concepts as paradise and the fall in their literal meaning. They have also used lots of mythological information in explanation of these concepts. On the other hand, when we take the literal meaning as a base to understand this story, it obviously contradicts some other verses of the Qur’an. To us, the best way to solve the problem is to accept that it is in fact a metaphorical/imaginative story. Similar stories are also found in Sumerian mythology. From the point of the message of the Qur’an, whether the story of Adam has a historical fact is not so important since the basic aims in such stories are religious and ethical messages. As far as we understand Allah, with this story, describes the experience of trial of humanity. Adam in this description presumably refers to human being.

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