In His infinite mercy, He called man time and again back to Him.

In His infinite mercy, He called man time and again back to Him. This He did through a long series of prophets from Adam to Muhammad whose number was, according to tradition, 124,000. This divine insistence on our salvation through prophetic guidance implies two important but paradoxical principles. It implies first that man is a sinner, capable of great evil. The second principle is that man is nonetheless God's viceregent in the earth whose ideal goal is prophetic existence.

These two principles are dramatically expressed in the Qur'anic portrayal of Adam as the crown of creation before whom angels had to bow down in respectful obeisance. In contrast, the Qur'an portrays Adam and Eve as disobedient sinners begging for divine mercy and forgiveness. [^6] The story of Adam's creation, fall and restoration as related in the Qur'an is an instructive commentary on the biblical account which the Qur'an accepts in its broad outlines.

When God decided to create Adam, He announced to the angels: 'I am about to make a viceregent in the earth.' The angels protested: 'Will you place in it one who would spread corruption in it and shed blood while we proclaim Your praise and sanctify You?' Then God told Adam all the names, which may be regarded as the first act of divine revelation to man in history.

God then challenged the angels to name the things whose identities He revealed to His viceregent, but they admitted their ignorance and sought God's mercy. 'Praise be to you, we have no knowledge save that which You taught us....' Adam, who was taught by God the art of language with all its symbolism, was higher than the angels.

Thus they were ordered to prostrate themselves before him in veneration, not worship; they all did except Iblis (Satan) who refused and was puffed up with pride (2: 30-34).' [^7] In an interesting colloquy between God and Satan, reported in the Qur'an, we see both the reason for man's exultation and for Satan's pride. God asks Iblis: 'What prevented you from prostrating yourself before one whom I fashioned with my two hands . . .

?' Satan answered: 'I am better than he; you created him of clay and created me of fire' (38: 75). [^8] Thus God expelled the arrogant Satan from his presence and placed Adam in the garden of Paradise. Adam, however, was made not for Paradise but for the earth. God therefore gave Satan authority over Adam and his descendants in order that the eternal battle between good and evil should rage on its legitimate stage, earth.