zohre ahvaraki

Regarding to the appointment of the Divine caliph, the Holy Qur’an mentions teaching the names to Prophet Adam (AS), namely those names presented to the angels who declared their ignorance: “And He taught Adam the Names, all of them; then presented them to the angels” (Q, 2:31). The quiddity and instances of these names have always been discussed and disputed by exegetes, which may be categorized into two: 1) God taught him the whole realities of the world. 2) God introduced him the souls of the Ahl Al-Bayt (AS), based upon three interpretive narrations. Analyzing the sanads and contents, this study assesses the three aforementioned narrations to be reliable, regarding Qur’anic and narrative evidence. Then, with regards to another group of narrations that are in contrast to these narrations, from among three approaches of the exegetes, the collective view between the two categories of narrations is selected. In order to solve the issues presented by some exegetes, it is concluded that the realities of all beings in the universe were taught to Prophet Adam, the highest instances of which were the souls of the Ahl al-Bayt (AS). However, the names presented to the angels, of which they were not aware due to their lower rank, were only the realities of Ahl al-Bayt (AS). The in-text evidence of the verse, such as the difference in the pronouns, the difference in the usage of the word “teaching” regarding to Prophet Adam (AS), and the word “inform” regarding to the angels, as well as the accuracy in using the words of the three narrations reinforces this idea. Therefore, the verse of “teaching the names” by referring to these three narrations indicates the lightening existence of Ahl al-Bayt (AS) and the precedence of their shining creation over the creation of Adam (AS).

During Adam and Eve's stay in paradise, God forbade them from approaching a particular tree. Despite the clear Divine prohibition, they ate from that tree anyway. The essence and reality of this tree has long been disputed amongst the exegetes. In this regard, some exegetes, by citing three particular interpretive narrations, have related the forbidden tree to the Ahlulbayt (the Holy Prophet and his immaculate progeny). Indeed, analyzing this claim and assessing it's authenticity with regards to whether it is able to indicate and prove the pre-existence of the Ahlulbayt and the light creation through a verse of the Qur'ān posseses great importance. This essay, by using an analytical-descriptive method, will analyze the three aforementioned narrations with respect to their chains of narration, their content, and their acceptance in the eyes of the exegetes and it will reach this conclusion that the forbidden tree possessed many different fruits however, amongst all those fruits, that which was attractive to Adam, the teacher and the subject of prostration of the angles, was the knowledge of Prophet Muhammad and his progeny (peace be upon them all). The desire to reach the position and status of the Ahlulbayt was what prompted Adam and Eve to eat from the tree. The contextual proofs confirm the conclusion extracted from these narrations. The interpretations of these three narrations affirm that the Ahlulbayt existed before Adam and Adam witnessed them in the form of lights and souls (metaphysical existence). Therefore, in accordance with this, it can be deducted that the verses that speak of the forbidden tree along with the narrations that interpret them indicates the pre-existence of the Ahlulbayt.