Creation of ADAM

God first made the physical universe gradually and over a long time. Last of all, he made man and put him on Planet Earth as a free creature.

God and the angels had a conversation right before God made Adam, the first man. The Quran talks about this in these words:

"When your Lord said to the angels, 'I am putting a successor on earth,' they said, 'Will You place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood, while we glorify You with Your praise and admire Your holiness?' [God] answered, certainly, I know that which you do not know.' He trained Adam all the names, then He set them before the angels and said, 'Tell Me the names of these, if what you say be true.' They said, 'Glory be to You; we have no knowledge except whatever You have taught us. You are the All Knowing, the All Wise. Then He said, 'O Adam, tell them their names.' When Adam had told them the names, God said to the angels, 'Did I not way to you: I know the secrets of the heavens and of the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?" (2:30-33)

The question is why the Angels thought Adam wasn't good enough. What was the thing that made the angels happy after God answered their questions? In the Quran, this answer is given in an indirect manner. By figuring out what this indirect sign means, you can learn what God had in mind when he made people and how he planned to do it.

We find another such indication in this verse of the Quran:

We have indeed created man in the best of shape, then We cast him down as the lowest of the low, except for those who believe and do good deeds—theirs shall be an unending reward! (95:4-6)

This shows that God gave people a blessing that the Quran calls "honour" (17:70). That is, God made man with a lot of potential, gave him complete freedom, and gave him the chance to choose the right path for himself. Also, as a reward for his good deeds, God will promise him an eternal paradise. But most people didn't know about this divine plan and didn't understand it. By misusing their freedom, most people lost their right to go to paradise. Only a small number of people who understood God's plan were able to get in. By making good use of their freedom, they showed that they were good enough to go to paradise.

In light of these verses from the Quran, we can see that the angels, after looking at the whole human race, came to the conclusion that giving everyone complete freedom would lead to corruption and perversion in God's perfect world. God's answer to the angels was a demonstration that showed that even though people as a whole would do bad things, there would also be great righteous, and holy souls among them. They would make good use of their freedom, so the Lord would let them into his eternal paradise.

The verses of the Quran say that God showed the angels a demonstration of these rare events in human history. The angels knew that what they thought was not in line with God's plan for making the world. They thought about everyone as a whole, while God's plans were based on each person.

God knows that, in the human world, total freedom would lead to a jungle of oppression and corruption, but there would also be some exceptions. In this wilderness of oppression and immorality, extraordinary people would pop up like divine flowers among the thorns. God wanted to pick these beautiful flowers, so He told the angels to make a list of every person. Based on this record, the good will be put in place in the eternal gardens of Paradise, while the bad will be sent to hell.

In a simple way, Paradise is not a "luxury resort." Paradise would be a place where the best people from all of humanity live together. There, they will have the best infrastructure that a person could ever imagine. With the help of the angels, these chosen people will make a supercivilization come to life. In the world we live in now, civilization has come about because people have learned only some of nature's laws. In the Hereafter, on the other hand, the super civilization will come about when all of God's words come true.

The Quran has more to say about this in other places. One verse goes like this:

If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea [were] ink, with seven [more] seas added to it, the words of God would not be exhausted: for, truly, God is Almighty and Wise. (31:27)

According to such verses, a time will come when these infinitely expansive words of God will be revealed. This work will be done in the eternally magnificent surroundings of Paradise. The gathering of all the chosen people from across all of human history was to engage in the revelation of the Lord's words. Throughout all eternity, this work will continue. The Quran speaks to this activity as "enjoyable activities" (36:55)