Adam was not a seed then became a clot then a lump of flesh...

Adam was not a seed then became a clot then a lump of flesh then bones clothed with flesh then a fetus then a suckling infant then a weaned child then a teenager then a man with the normal length and width. This is what they, who glorify Allah (S.w.T.) and deny embodying Him, can say to interpret this tradition.

But it was narrated by Abu Hurayra in these words: “Adam had been created corresponding to the image of the Beneficent (Allah (S.w.T.)).”[^4] Abu Hurayra had another tradition saying: “Prophet Moses (a.s.) beat the rock with his stick for the Israelites and water gushed out.

He said to them: “Drink water, donkeys.” Then Allah (S.w.T.) revealed to him: “You intended to compare the human beings, whom I had created according to My image, to donkeys.”[^5] This embarrassed those who defended Abu Hurayra and made them give in to this (pronoun) looking for another interpretation.

They interpreted Abu Hurayra’s sayings: (Allah (S.w.T.) had created Adam according to His image) and (Adam had been created according to the image of the Beneficent) and in his tradition about Moses (I had created them according to my image) that Allah (S.w.T.) had created Adam and his progenies according to the attributes of Allah (S.w.T.). Allah (S.w.T.) is alive, hearer, seer, talker, aware, willing and disliker. So He had given these attributes to Adam and his progeny.

They fell into what they fled from, because the attribute of Allah (S.w.T.) is far above comparison. This is agreed upon unanimously among those who believe in transcendence of Allah (S.w.T.). Especially when we say that His attribute is He Himself and that He is the Truth as it is fixed in our principles of jurisprudence. Abu Hurayra advanced in this tradition.

Sometime he narrated it as above and sometime he said: “If someone of you quarrels with another, let him avoid the face because Allah (S.w.T.) had created Adam according to His image.”[^6] Sometime he said: “If someone of you hits another, let avoid the face and not say: May Allah (S.w.T.) uglify your face and the face of whoever looks like you, because Allah (S.w.T.) had created Adam according to His image.”[^7] It was clear that he closed the way before his defenders to recede to any of the two interpretations.

The pronoun his in (according to his image) could not refer to Adam in either of the two traditions but it must refer to Allah (S.w.T.) in order to correct the meaning of the traditions.