of the Holy Qur’ān, and runs as follows: “Allāh created Adam and then He touched his back with His right hand and brought forth from it children, and said, ‘These I have created for Paradise and they will do the works of the inmates of Paradise;’ again He touched his back and brought forth children and said, ‘These I have created for the fire and they will do the works of the inmates of the fire’ (MM.1:4—ii). This does not mean that, in creating men, God had decreed one portion for Paradise and another for the fire. It denotes only the all-comprehending knowledge of God. However, if we read the verse of which this ḥadīth is said to be an explanation, we shall find that the two have nothing in common except the idea of bringing forth offspring. The verse in question is: “And when thy Lord brought forth from the children of Adam, from their loins, their descendants, and made them bear witness about themselves: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes; we bear witness” (7:172). It will be seen that the ḥadīth contains no explanation of the verse at all, which speaks of something quite different.

The real explanation of the verse occurs in another ḥadīth, and undoubtedly there was some misunderstanding on the part of some narrator, which misled him into giving an explanation having nothing in common with the original and, indeed, quite opposed to the Quranic text of which it is alleged to be an explanation. Quoting the verse, Ubayy ibn Ka‘b explains it thus: “He gathered them and made them pairs, gave them forms and made them speak so that they talked. Then He took a promise and agreement from them and made them bear witness about themselves, saying, Am I not your Lord? They said, Yes. He said, I call to witness against you the seven heavens and the seven earths, and I call to witness against you your father Adam, lest you say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We did not know this.’ Know that there is no God but I, and there is no Lord but I, and do not associate anything with Me; I will surely send to you My messengers who will remind you of this My promise and this My covenant, and I will reveal to you My books. They said, ‘We bear witness that Thou art our Lord and our God; we have no Lord besides Thee and we have no God besides Thee’ (MM. 1:4—iii).

If we take the verse itself, we find it so clear that not only does it