The Quran in Faṣṣ Ādam

﴿وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ إِنِّى جَاعِلٌ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ ٱلدِّمَآءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ﴾

• إِنْسَانًا وَخَلِيفَةً¶4

  The title khalīfa echoes God's announcement 'innī jāʿilun fī l-arḍi khalīfa', and it is applied to Adam as the being named both human and vicegerent.

• وَسَمَّاهُ خَلِيفَةً¶5

  This refers to God's declaration 'إني جاعل في الأرض خليفة', and Ibn ʿArabī explains the title khalīfa as guardianship of the world through the image of the seal.

• «أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا»¶7

  The angels' objection to the creation of the khalīfa is quoted directly and read as the product of their own constitution.

• وَالخَلِيفَةُ غَيْبٌ¶14

  Draws on 'I am placing on the earth a vicegerent' (innī jāʿilun fī l-arḍi khalīfa) to identify the perfect human as the hidden counterpart of the witnessed world.

• ولهذا كانَ آدَمُ خَلِيفَةً¶16

  This echoes 'I am placing a khalīfa on the earth,' and grounds Adam's vicegerency in his comprehensiveness.

• فَما صَحَّتِ الخِلافَةُ إلَّا لِلإنْسانِ الكامِلِ¶17

  The term khilāfa echoes God's announcement in 2:30, «إني جاعل في الأرض خليفة». The whole Adam chapter is built on that verse, and here the vicegerency it announces is restricted to the Perfect Man.

﴿وَعَلَّمَ ءَادَمَ ٱلْأَسْمَآءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنۢبِـُٔونِى بِأَسْمَآءِ هَـٰٓؤُلَآءِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ﴾

• فَظَهَرَ جَمِيعُ مَا فِي الصُّورَةِ الإِلَهِيَّةِ مِنْ الأَسْمَاءِ¶6

  Echoes 'He taught Adam the names, all of them', read as all the divine names becoming manifest in the human constitution.

• وَبِهِ قَامَتْ الحُجَّةُ لِلّٰهِ تَعَالَى عَلَى المَلَائِكَةِ¶6

  Refers to God setting the names before the angels and challenging them to name them, which establishes His argument against their objection.

• وَعِنْدَ آدَمَ مِنْ الأَسْمَاءِ الإِلَهِيَّةِ¶7

  This alludes to «وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا», which he reads as the divine names that Adam held and the angels did not.

﴿قَالُوا۟ سُبْحَـٰنَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَآ إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَآ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ﴾

• وَمَا عَلِمَتْ أَنَّ لِلّٰهِ أَسْمَاءً مَا وَصَلَ عِلْمُهَا إِلَيْهَا¶6

  Echoes the angels' admission 'we have no knowledge except what You have taught us', applied to the names that lay beyond their knowledge.

﴿ثُمَّ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ ٱلْغَمِّ أَمَنَةً نُّعَاسًا يَغْشَىٰ طَآئِفَةً مِّنكُمْ ۖ وَطَآئِفَةٌ قَدْ أَهَمَّتْهُمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ يَظُنُّونَ بِٱللَّهِ غَيْرَ ٱلْحَقِّ ظَنَّ ٱلْجَـٰهِلِيَّةِ ۖ يَقُولُونَ هَل لَّنَا مِنَ ٱلْأَمْرِ مِن شَىْءٍ ۗ قُلْ إِنَّ ٱلْأَمْرَ كُلَّهُۥ لِلَّهِ ۗ يُخْفُونَ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِم مَّا لَا يُبْدُونَ لَكَ ۖ يَقُولُونَ لَوْ كَانَ لَنَا مِنَ ٱلْأَمْرِ شَىْءٌ مَّا قُتِلْنَا هَـٰهُنَا ۗ قُل لَّوْ كُنتُمْ فِى بُيُوتِكُمْ لَبَرَزَ ٱلَّذِينَ كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلْقَتْلُ إِلَىٰ مَضَاجِعِهِمْ ۖ وَلِيَبْتَلِىَ ٱللَّهُ مَا فِى صُدُورِكُمْ وَلِيُمَحِّصَ مَا فِى قُلُوبِكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِذَاتِ ٱلصُّدُورِ﴾

• فَالأَمْرُ كُلُّهُ مِنْهُ¶3

  The phrase echoes 'qul inna l-amra kullahu li-llāh' and restates it as the origin of all things from God.

﴿بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱتَّقُوا۟ رَبَّكُمُ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَآءً ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ٱلَّذِى تَسَآءَلُونَ بِهِۦ وَٱلْأَرْحَامَ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا﴾

• النَّفْسُ الواحِدَةُ التي خُلِقَ مِنْها هذا النَّوْعُ الإنسانيُّ¶19

  This paraphrases the verse's nafs wāḥida ahead of the explicit quotation.

﴿وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ بِٱلْحَقِّ ۖ وَيَوْمَ يَقُولُ كُن فَيَكُونُ ۚ قَوْلُهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۚ وَلَهُ ٱلْمُلْكُ يَوْمَ يُنفَخُ فِى ٱلصُّورِ ۚ عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ ۚ وَهُوَ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ﴾

• عَالَمَ غَيْبٍ وَشَهَادَةٍ¶14

  Recalls the divine epithet 'Knower of the unseen and the witnessed' (ʿālimu l-ghaybi wa-l-shahāda), recast here as the two-tiered created world (ʿālam).

﴿لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ ٱلْأَبْصَـٰرَ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ﴾

• فَلَا يُدْرِكُهُ أَبَدًا¶15

  This echoes 'lā tudrikuhu al-abṣār' ('sight does not attain Him'), and applies the verse's verb idrāk to the creature's inability ever to attain the Real's essential necessity.

﴿وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَـٰٓئِهِۦ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ﴾

• أَسْمَاؤُهُ الحُسْنَى¶1

  This echoes 'wa-li-llāhi al-asmāʾu al-ḥusnā' (also 17:110, 20:8, 59:24), and Ibn ʿArabī makes the Most Beautiful Names the standpoint from which God wills to be seen.

﴿وَلِلَّهِ غَيْبُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُ ٱلْأَمْرُ كُلُّهُۥ فَٱعْبُدْهُ وَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَيْهِ ۚ وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِغَـٰفِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ﴾

• وَإِلَيْهِ يُرْجَعُ ٱلْأَمْرُ كُلُّهُۥ¶3

  The verse is quoted verbatim to support the claim that the whole affair both begins from God and returns to Him.

• لِرُجُوعِ الأَمْرِ كُلُّهُ إِلَيْهِ¶13

  The passage echoes 'to Him the whole affair is returned' (wa-ilayhi yurjaʿu al-amru kulluhu) to explain in what sense God is the Last.

﴿يَمْحُوا۟ ٱللَّهُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَيُثْبِتُ ۖ وَعِندَهُۥٓ أُمُّ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ﴾

• على حَدِّ ما ثَبَتَ في أُمِّ الكِتابِ¶20

  'Umm al-kitāb' echoes 'God erases what He wills and confirms (yuthbitu), and with Him is the Mother of the Book'. Ibn ʿArabī uses it to claim that his table of chapters follows a fixed, heavenly archetype.

﴿فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُۥ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى فَقَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ سَـٰجِدِينَ﴾

• مَا سَوَّى مَحَلًّا¶2

  This echoes 'fa-idhā sawwaytuhu wa-nafakhtu fīhi min rūḥī' (so also 38:72), and the verse's sequence of fashioning Adam and then breathing into him is extended to every proportioned locus.

• عَبرَ عَنْهُ بِالنَّفْخِ فِيهِ¶2

  This refers to the divine 'I breathed into him of My spirit' (also 38:72, 32:9), and the verse's term nafkh is interpreted as the attainment of preparedness.

﴿قَالَ يَـٰٓإِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَىَّ ۖ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْعَالِينَ﴾

• بِاليَدَيْنِ اللَّتَيْنِ تَوَجَّهَتَا مِنْهُ عَلَى خَلْقِ الإِنْسَانِ الكَامِلِ¶14

  Refers to God's words to Iblīs, 'what I created with My two hands' (limā khalaqtu bi-yadayya), which Ibn ʿArabī reads as the pairs of opposed attributes joined in Adam.

• مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَىَّ¶16

  God's rebuke to Iblīs is quoted as proof that creating Adam with both hands was an honour, and he reads it as the joining of the two forms.

﴿سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ ۗ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ﴾

• وَذَكَرَ أَنَّهُ أَرَانَا آيَاتِهِ فِيهِ¶12

  This echoes 'We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and in themselves' (sanurīhim āyātinā fī l-āfāqi wa-fī anfusihim) to ground the claim that God is known by examining the originated being, above all ourselves.

﴿هُوَ ٱلْأَوَّلُ وَٱلْـَٔاخِرُ وَٱلظَّـٰهِرُ وَٱلْبَاطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ﴾

• مَعَ كَوْنِهِ الأَوَّلَ. وَلِهَذَا قِيلَ فِيهِ الآخِرُ¶13

  The passage draws on 'He is the First and the Last' and explains how both names apply to God at once.

• ظَاهِرٌ بَاطِنٌ¶14

  Echoes 'He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden' (huwa l-awwalu wa-l-ākhiru wa-l-ẓāhiru wa-l-bāṭinu) as God's self-description that grounds the structure of the world.