Johnston/Earth, Empire, 6. ADAM AS GOD’S KHALĪFA: QUR’ANIC DATA

This chapter explores the use of khal ā fa as applied to Adam in the Qur’an, and, by extension, how it may apply to all his ancestors, the human race. Leaving aside for a time some of the hermeneutical insights of Chapters 4 and 5, I simply look at the qur’anic data and list the passages in which this word appears. I mostly leave the work of classical qur’anic commentators ( mufassir u n ) for the next two chapters. At first glance, this seems to be quite easy: there is only one verse in which khal ā fa in the singular is applied to Adam (sura 2, v. 30—from now on, Q. 2:30), and another in which it refers to David. My focus is on Adam, and therefore I will look at the contexts that contain material about creation, Adam’s disobedience, and his subsequent calling to make his home on this planet. This will also call for a brief look at some parallel passages.