The Prophet heard one of them say to his companion...

The Prophet heard one of them say to his companion, “May God disfigure your face and of everyone who looks like you!” Thereat the Messenger of God (S) said, “O servant of God!

Don’t say that to your brother, for God, Almighty and Glorious, created Adam in his (His) image.”‘[^2] On this basis, marhum Majlisi has ascribed the tradition of Imam Baqir (A) to taqiyyah (dissemblance), and he has also suggested the probability that this statement of the Imam might be based on the presumption of acceptance [of the authenticity or the apparent import of the tradition][^3] Such a probability is very remote.

That which is probable is that the tradition of Hadrat Rida (A) refers to the first tradition, where the meaning of “Adam” in the last part of the tradition where it states: إنَّ اللهَ خَلَقَ آدَمَ عَلَى صُورَتِهِ. Verily, God created Adam in His image. may be that of the human species and the pronoun in على صورته refers to God, the Exalted.

And Hadrat Rida (A) considering that the narrator was incapable of understanding the meaning of the hadith , related the opening part of the tradition so that that person may imagine that ‘Adam’- means the father of the human race, with the pronoun in على صورته referring to that man; so take note.

And perhaps both the traditions are genuine in their origin and import, and the Messenger of God (S) might have stated the noble tradition without any previous background-and that is the tradition whose explanation is given by Hadrat Baqir (A) and, on another occasion, he might have made the statement with that background and Imam Rida (A) diverted the discussion to the other hadith with a background due to the incapacity of the narrator in understanding its meaning.

An evidence that supports this suggestion is that in some traditions there occur the word: على صورة الرحمان (in the image of the All-beneficent)[^4] instead of على صورته and This is not consistent with the tradition of the ‘Uyun . Moreover, even if it be assumed that this noble tradition is not authentic (in its import), its meaning is implicit in the noble traditions, as will be explained, God willing. Now we shall turn to explaining the meanings of the words of the noble tradition.