Which wording about the Prophet and Ādam did Ibn Taymiyyah distinguish?
2026-10-14
T171 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Original Q&A · Complete individual question and response within a collected question
One complete individual question and response from a collected question about reports circulated by storytellers and others. The quoted report in the question is presented for assessment, not endorsed. The answer gives Ibn Taymiyyah's own assessment.
النص العربي
السؤال الأصلي
ومما يروون عنه صلى الله عليه وسلم: "كنت نبيا وآدم بين الماء والطين، وكنت نبيا وآدم لا ماء ولا طين".
الجواب
الحمد لله، هذا اللفظ كذب باطل، ولكن اللفظ المأثور الذي رواه الترمذي وغيره أنه قيل: يارسول الله، متي كنت نبيا؟ قال: "وآدم بين الروح والجسد"، وفي السنن عن العرباض بن سارية، أنه قال: "إني عند الله لمكتوب خاتم النبيين، وإن آدم لمنجدل في طينته".
English translation
English translation prepared for SalafAlSalih.com from the cited Arabic source. It is not an official translation.
Original question
Among the reports they attribute to him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is: “I was a prophet while Ādam was between water and clay; I was a prophet when Ādam was neither water nor clay.”
Answer
Praise be to Allah. This wording is false and invalid. The transmitted wording, however, which al-Tirmidhī and others narrated, is that he was asked: “O Messenger of Allah, when were you a prophet?” He replied: “While Ādam was between spirit and body.” In the Sunan collections, al-ʿIrbāḍ ibn Sāriyah reports that he said: “With Allah, I was already recorded as the Seal of the Prophets while Ādam still lay in his clay.”
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 18/379–380
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Arabic collated with the cited edition and a second transcription: https://quranislam.github.io/fatwa/ibn-taymiyyah/fatwa291.html. Each individual report and its full reply is preserved within the larger collected question. Diacritics omitted and honorific glyphs expanded. Titles and scope notes are editorial.