The stories of Adam and Eve

We all know the story of Adam and Eve, right?

If you think you do – which one?

Yeah – the title says “stories” of Adam and Eve.

I wrote something earlier today about “The problem of not knowing“.  By the time you reach the end of this, you’re probably going to want to read that article.  Because I can pretty much guarantee you there are things in here that you didn’t know.

The first story of Adam and Eve

To begin with (no pun intended), in the Bible, we see the “reader’s digest” version –

^{Ge 1:26} Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
^{Ge 1:27} So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

In the next chapter, we see the expanded version, with more details. –

Adam and Eve

^{Ge 2:4} This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, ⁶ but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— ⁷ the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
^{Ge 2:8} Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
^{Ge 2:10} A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. ¹⁴ The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
^{Ge 2:15} The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
^{Ge 2:18} The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
^{Ge 2:19} Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
^{Ge 2:23} The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”

^{Ge 2:24} For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
^{Ge 2:25} The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

The really short version of what happened – God created Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed life into him.
Eve was created by God from one of Adam’s ribs.

The second story of Adam and Eve

Thousands of years later, there was another story of Adam and Eve.  

IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE:

(1) READ in the name of thy Sustainer, who has created – (2) created man out of a germ-cell!
(3) Read – for thy Sustainer is the Most Bountiful One (4) who has taught [man] the use of the pen – (5) taught man what he did not know!  ¹Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an (Kindle Locations 16558-16567). The Book Foundation. Kindle Edition.

Yeah – a germ-cell,  Not from dust.

In case you don’t recognize this, it’s from the Qur’an.  As we go through this series, I’ll use multiple translations – as it’s the only way to try to figure out what’s being said.  Sometimes the differences are tremendous – as you’ll see below.

But let’s look at a different translation to see what it says –

[96:0]  In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[96:1]  Read, in the name of your Lord, who created.*
[96:2]  He created man from an embryo.
[96:3]  Read, and your Lord, Most Exalted.
[96:4]  Teaches by means of the pen.
[96:5]  He teaches man what he never knew.  ²Khalifa Ph.D., Dr. Rashad. Quran – The Final Testament – Authorized English Version of the Original (Kindle Locations 10211-10216). . Kindle Edition.

OK – now we’ve moved from a germ-cell to an embryo.

Now – for regular readers, you know I have issues when Bible translations use words that have a different meaning now than they did when the author originally wrote them.  We know that Muhammad received his revelations in the early 600’s – that’s 600 years after the Birth of Christ.
This begs a question – when did the word “embryo” first get used?  It sounds like an extremely technical term require a high level of knowledge about the formation of a human in the womb.  Well – the origin of the word “embryo” is that it’s a Greek / Latin term first used between 1580 and 1590.  That’s more than 900 years after Muhammad’s receipt of this particular portion of the Qur’an.
Obviously, what he originally intended was most certainly not that God formed man from an embryo.

Maybe “germ-cell”?
The word germ is European, between 1400 and 1450.  Closer then “embryo” to the time of the original revelation – but still about 800 years too late.  
Even the word cell came around the year 1150 – more than 500 years too late to have been known by Muhammad.  BTW – in it’s earliest usage, a cell was a room in a monastery.  It wasn’t used in medicine until the 17th century, which would be about a thousand years too late.
So – no, germ-cell wasn’t the intent either – since no such knowledge existed at the time.

So – the really short version is that we have no idea what was intended from these translations.
In any case – it’s clearly not dust with the breath of God like the Bible says.

Another creation issue

While we’re on the topic of whether God created Adam and Eve as “grown” people, rather than as “germ-cells” / “embryos” / whatever else may have been substituted, but certainly was not a “grown” person – we should also consider God’s other creations.

Throughout the creation history in Genesis – we see (should see) a common thread –

Do you see what all these creation events have in common?

Every single living thing – whether plant, animal or human – was created “grown”.  

God did not create seeds for plants – eggs for animals – embryos for people.

No.  God created everything in it’s “grown” form.
I keep putting “gown” in parenthesis, because we don’t really know whether they were young, middle aged, old, Etc.  Only that they were not too old to be unable to reproduce.  We know the part about reproducing, because

for plants we read the intended method of propogation was via their seeds –

^{Ge 1:12} The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.

the animals were told –

^{Ge 1:22} God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”

and for people, we read –

^{Ge 1:28} God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
^{Ge 1:29} Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

More confusion over dust versus embryo

Let’s look deeper into that “germ-cell” / embryo question.

While the first Sura we looked at was #96, it was actually the very first one in order of revelation.  I know – it makes it hard to related to what happens over time, but that’s what it is.  In a later article – we’ll get into why it’s record this way.

Anyway – in Sura 22, we read what claims to be an explanation of what we just read in Sura 96.  While that seems backwards – explaining in #22 something written in #96, the reality is that Sura 22 was actually the 103rd one in order of revelation.

[22:5]  O people, if you have any doubt about resurrection, (remember that) we created you from dust, and subsequently from a tiny drop, which turns into a hanging (embryo), then it becomes a fetus that is given life or deemed lifeless. We thus clarify things for you. We settle in the wombs whatever we will for a predetermined period.* We then bring you out as infants, then you reach maturity. While some of you die young, others live to the worst age, only to find out that no more knowledge can be attained beyond a certain limit. Also, you look at a land that is dead, then as soon as we shower it with water, it vibrates with life and grows all kinds of beautiful plants. ³Khalifa Ph.D., Dr. Rashad. Quran – The Final Testament – Authorized English Version of the Original (Kindle Locations 5228-5232). . Kindle Edition.

Now – some period of time and 102 Suras after the initial Sura 96 – somehow dust gets added into the creation formula, and there’s an explanation of how to get from dust to embryo that is as unknowable by Muhammad as was the original Sura.  The addition / substitution of words from the original to current translations makes it impossible to have any idea of what is actually being said. 

You may have noticed the little * in the verse.  It’s to provide the following footnote information –

The Quran’s mathematical miracle is based on the number 19. As it turns out, this number represents the Creator’s signature on His creations. Thus, you and I have 209 bones in our bodies (209=19×11). The length of pregnancy for a full term fetus is 266 days (19×14) (Langman’s Medical Embryology, T. W. Sadler, Page 88, 1985).
Khalifa Ph.D., Dr. Rashad. Quran – The Final Testament – Authorized English Version of the Original (Kindle Locations 5233-5235). . Kindle Edition.

Conclusion

So, these are the two stories of Adam and Eve.

They cannot both be true.

In the process of trying to provide too much “evidence” and too many claims – one of them shows major problems.

If you’d like to check out that article I mentioned about “The problem of not knowing” – now is as good a time as any, don’t you think?

Footnotes

• 1
  Asad, Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an (Kindle Locations 16558-16567). The Book Foundation. Kindle Edition.
• 2
  Khalifa Ph.D., Dr. Rashad. Quran – The Final Testament – Authorized English Version of the Original (Kindle Locations 10211-10216). . Kindle Edition.
• 3
  Khalifa Ph.D., Dr. Rashad. Quran – The Final Testament – Authorized English Version of the Original (Kindle Locations 5228-5232). . Kindle Edition.