Allah – may He be Glorified and Exalted – created Adam in
his own image, sixty cubits tall. When He created him, He said to him: “Go and
greet that company of angels who are sitting there and then listen to what they
are going to say in reply to your greetings, for indeed that will be your
greeting and the greeting of your off-springs.”
So he said to them: “Assalamu ‘alaykum.” They replied to him: “Assalamu
‘alaykum wa rahmatullah.” So they increased upon his greeting, “wa
rahmatullah.” Everyone who enters
Paradise will be in the image of Adam. People kept getting shorter and shorter
after the time of Adam till now.
Benefits scholars ( such as Sharh Sahih Muslim, al-Nawawi,
17/179 and afhaat min Sabr al-‘Ulamaah, Abd al-Fattaah Aboo ‘Guddah, 24 )
extracted from this hadeeth along with some additions and references that i'll
make
1) The virtue of the islamic greeting " assalamu
`alaykum" is emphasized in this hadeeth. the very first speech of Adam a.s
was this blessed greeting. Our prophet (s.a.w) and his sahaaba (r.a.a) taught
us various benefits and virtues of spreading this islamic greeting,
unfortunately today which we fail to implement.
The number of ahadeeth on the virtue of greetings are too
many to enlist now, but some references are Saheeh Kalima at-Tayyib 22, Sunan
Abi Dawood (5200); Mu`jam al-Awsat fit tabraani (7987); Sunan at-Tirmidhi
(2694) ;; Shu`ab al-Emaan (8238) and many others.
2) This hadeeth also teaches us that the one greeting the
group (here adam a.s was greeting angels) should be the first one to initiate
the greeting. See other ahadeeth via Abu Hurayra affirming this command in
Sahih Bukhari 5880, Sahih Muslim 2160, Musnad Ahmad 10247
3) This hadeeth shows us the importance of travelling for
knowledge because from the wordings it is evident that the angels were not near
or beside Adam a.s but at some distant (unknown). So scholars have deduced the
importance of travelling to learn knowledge. How many ahadeeth and athaar do we
have affirming this?
4) This hadeeth also teaches the importance of asking or
learning from those who are knowledgeable (i.e scholars) [ See:
http://the-finalrevelation.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-obligation-and-importance-of.html]
5) This hadeeth shows that seeking knowledge began right
from Adam a.s. Imagine it's importance !
6) The command allah gave adam a.s to learn, is something we
should all ponder upon. Knowledge is obligatory to learn. There is a hadeeth
too with this wording, however it's authenticity is debated. Nevertheless, this
and many other narrations and verses show how it is mandatory to learn
knowledge. Imam ahmad and others among our sullaf explained that the knowledge
which falls under obligation is the one a Muslim needs in his day to day life
and not knowledge such as Uloom at-tafseer and it's likes
7) Also shows how scholars think so meticulously , pondering
on every wording and statement with such dedication so as to deduce so many
rulings just out of one hadeeth. A similar experience was when we debate with
barelvis and we can see how they deduce so many, yet all the wrong
understanding from one hadeeth or verse. So deduction with wisdom and in
accordance to Qur`an and sunnah is also important.
