tajudeen_bin_tijani · p/islam · 3/21/2025, 10:42:51 AM

Iblis (The Default Caliph) of the Caliphate (Earth).

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q2025 · 3/21/2025, 3:30:00 PM · permalink

Bro I think the consensus is that the term khalifa (caliph) in 2:30 refers to Adam and humans. Adam itself literally means "earth (or land) creature".   
  
Also, the term khalifa means representative or successive authority as you've written. But the term "temporary god" is not the translation and will be misleading to many readers.   
  
Adam/human as representative also makes sense as God asks the angels to bow to Adam. If Iblees/Satan was to be the representative then God would have asked the angel to bow to him and there would have been no reason for Iblees to get jealous and revolt.   
  
The question arises, why the angels asked "Will You place in it someone who will spread corruption there and shed blood". Many scholars have given different theories about what the angels knew that would make them question this.   
  
Allah knows best but my understanding is that there was another race of human like people who were on earth before Adam (as). Quran references them a few times in various ayat but the language is vague so it's unclear if the verses are talking about older generations of humans or an older species than humans.   
  
Personally I think Quran is talking about the previous species of human like people. Possibly the Neanderthals or Denosovan. This race of people also spread bloodshed and corruption on earth and were wiped out and replaced with humans as a "successive authority". Since the former creation also spread bloodshed and corruption, maybe this is why angels ask this question from Allah when he announces creation of a khalifa. Further, I'm not sure but I think even after humans another creation might inhabit the earth.  
  
Surah 35:16 and 14:19 "If He wills, He can do away with you and bring forth a new creation."  
  
Allah knows best, but to me this concept also ties in with Quranic and biblical stories about people who allied with jinn and had greater powers than normal men. This would also explain the evolution of polytheism as people started worshipping these jinns and jinn+man entities.

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tajudeen_bin_tijani · 3/21/2025, 4:50:11 PM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/21/2025, 6:28:35 PM · permalink

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tajudeen_bin_tijani · 3/21/2025, 9:08:38 PM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/22/2025, 12:14:40 AM · permalink

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tajudeen_bin_tijani · 3/22/2025, 9:59:28 AM · permalink

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deletejuice · 3/22/2025, 6:55:07 AM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/22/2025, 11:10:42 AM · permalink

To be fair, since your primary concern is rise of polytheism, Mufti Menq also gives a very nice  explanation about the rise of polytheism in a purely Quranic light, before the time of Noah (as). I never figured out his source but his explanation is very interesting and insightful. And since he is a much bigger scholar I'll share his explanation first. 
![video](https://www.youtube.com/embed/c4QU3ssgVio)
I think both explanations can exist side by side as well. My **%%theory%%** about the rise of polytheism due to worship of jinn-humanoid associations and bloodshed, before Adam (as) and then rise of polytheism again before Noah (as) with Mufti Menqs explanation.   
  
Allah knows better. As I said, my theory is not 100% solid but it does explain:  
i. Angels question about mankind spilling blood,  
ii. Jinns losing their access to heaven, (15:17, 37:8, 72:9)  
iii. Ayat about Pharoah asking Moses (as) about former people (20:51). Scholars usually attributed this to his own ancestors but one could also assume he was asking about who built the pyramids and sphynx that even he couldn't explain.   
iv. Ayats referencing former people with greater cities (30:9) and striking power (43:8) %%without naming them.%% Quran often names Aad, Samood, People of Lot etc repeatedly but sometimes it just says former peoples and that makes me wonder why.   
v. Book of Enoch stories about Nephlihim giants and fallen angels marrying human women (sons of god going upon daughters of man), which may be a corrupted version of the story that Quran (72:6) clarifies with "And some men used to seek refuge with some jinn—so they increased each other in wickedness" and (6:100) "But they have attributed to Allāh partners - the jinn, while He has created them - and have fabricated for Him sons and daughters without knowledge. Exalted is He and high above what they describe" and (34:41) They will say, "Exalted are You! You, \[O Allāh\], are our benefactor excluding \[i.e., not\] them. Rather, they used to worship the jinn; most of them were believers in them."  
  
It also explains why cultures all over the world have very similar stories of aliens or supernatural beings at the start of humanity and a history of cave people that hid underground obviously due to a global catastrophe.   
  
Finally, we know Adam was made from earth, but in heaven Allah breathed the soul into him, and earth and jinn were made before Adam.  We also know man has a physical and a soul component. I have found nothing to (suggest or) contradict that Adam was the combination of a humanoid predecessor through evolution, with an additional element of soul and knowledge from Allah (2:31, 32:9, 38:72, 55:3-4 and more).   
  
Of course, we know Allah can command miracles and say "be and it is". However we also know that for the most part Allah has taken time to make most "miracles" explainable in logical, physical and scientific ways. What we read as six eon creation by Allah we see in terms of billions of years in our human/earthly terms due to time dilation. Interestingly, this concept of time dilation is also confirmed by Quran equating heavenly days in varying terms of earthly days in different places. So I don't find it impossible to believe that "fashioning" of Adam's form (15:29, 32:9, 38:72) is the evolution of humanoids over a million years in earthly terms with the final steps being the final chromosome mutation that created homo sapiens, and then Allah adding a soul and knowledge to make him Adam (as).   
  
This would also fit the evolution theory and that means... that since jinn and said humanoids were both on earth before Adam... well, I think it makes perfect sense that these humanoids could have worshipped jinn, or humanoids that had accepted unions with jinns, leading to bloodshed and corruption.  
  
Again, its just a theory, an imperfect, inquisitive mind's humanly flawed interpretation. I would welcome your criticisms and questions.  
  
Only Allah has perfect knowledge and Allah knows best.

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deletejuice · 3/26/2025, 7:31:24 PM · permalink

There are many theories regarding such things and even I have thought about them, however I tend to filter them out based on -

1\. if it goes against the Quran or articles of faith

2\. if there exists a hadith marfu' or mawquf (attributed directly to Prophet ﷺ or sahabi) directly in dispute or contradiction with the said theory

This is how I could reject the theory in this post of Iblees being a temporary god as it goes against Tawheed. Usually I try to not dive into these theories and stay with tafseer from early scholars so as to not create a deviant belief.

About the existence the humanoids before Adam, there's definitely no such hadith which says this. The closest that I've found something to hint at the presence of other lifeforms apart from mankind, jinnkind &amp; angels is 1:2 - *"...lord of all worlds"*. I know the tafseers don't say this, but I tend to think that it might be.

There is a mawquf narration by Ibn Abbas which goes: *"The jinn lived on earth for a long time before Adam. They caused corruption, shed blood, and spread mischief. So, Allah sent the angels against them, and the angels expelled them to far islands and into the seas. Then, Allah created Adam and placed him on earth."*

But this has uncertain chain of transmission and some scholars consider it from Isra'iliyat. So although it's not authentic, it does put some weight to the theory and also explains how Angels knew about human being able to cause bloodshed on Earth in 2:30.

Jinns losing access to heaven is explained in hadiths that they were able to overhear divine decrees before the Prophet ﷺ was sent but were stopped when revelation came. However, this does not support that they ruled over humanoid creatures, specifically, before Adam (AS).

Also, I don't think Adam was a combination of a humanoid predecessor through evolution since Quran clearly states that Adam was created directly from clay from scratch. There's also hadith saying Allah created Adam in his form. I see this as a direct contradiction to the evolution from past beings theory.

So what I can take away from this is the theory that - evidence of jinns existence on earth before Adam (AS) + their influence on humans after Adam (AS) is what sowed the seeds of polytheism. Although this doesn't explain to me how, according to an authentic hadith, humanity remained upon Tawheed for 10 centuries after Adam.

But as far as the theory of "humanoids" delving on earth alongside jinns before Adam goes, that is a no from me based on my current knowledge. It's definitely CAN be true but the potential evidences that I am presented with feel like an interpretation-stretch to me.

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q2025 · 3/27/2025, 2:17:59 AM · permalink

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apollopop · 3/23/2025, 1:59:49 AM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/23/2025, 3:04:34 AM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/23/2025, 4:10:23 AM · permalink

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apollopop · 3/23/2025, 10:28:56 PM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/24/2025, 1:02:53 AM · permalink

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apollopop · 3/24/2025, 10:51:55 PM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/25/2025, 12:41:47 AM · permalink

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apollopop · 3/25/2025, 2:32:12 AM · permalink

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q2025 · 3/25/2025, 6:19:00 AM · permalink

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apollopop · 3/25/2025, 6:36:09 AM · permalink

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Iblis (The Default Caliph) of the Caliphate (Earth).

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