Teaching Adam the Names

The Divine Secret Within Adam

«وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا»

"And He taught Adam the names — all of them." (Al-Baqarah 2:31)

This is the secret of the ability to symbolize — to use names as symbols for their referents. The ability to name people and things with words that represent them. This is a capacity of immense value for human life on Earth.

Consider the enormous difficulty if human beings were not given the ability to use names as symbols! To communicate about something, you would need to bring that very thing in front of the people. If the subject were a palm tree, you could only discuss it by bringing an actual palm tree. Life would be impossible!

The angels did not have this capacity because it served no function in their role. When Allah tested them, they could not identify the names:

«قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا»

"They said: Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us." (Al-Baqarah 2:32)

The Two Types of Knowledge

The success of the human being in knowing two things guarantees him a higher life: knowledge of the Creator (Iman/Islam) and knowledge of the sciences of the Earth. Each complements the other. This is what qualifies humans for the role of khalifah.

Key Vocabulary