ONE HADITH A DAY
Narrated by Bukhari & Muslim · Authentic hadith
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: «احتجَّ آدمُ وموسى، فقال له موسى: يا آدمُ أنت أبونا خَيَّبتنا وأخرجتَنا من الجنة، قال له آدمُ: يا موسى اصطفاك اللهُ بكلامِه، وخطَّ لك بيدِه، أتلومُني على أمرٍ قَدَّره اللهُ عليَّ قبل أنْ يخلُقَني بأربعين سنةً؟ فحَجَّ آدمُ موسى، فحَجَّ آدمُ موسى».
“Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Adam and Mūsa debated with each other. Mūsa said to Adam: 'O Adam, you are our father. You did us harm and caused us to get out of Paradise.' Adam said to him: 'O Mūsa, Allah favored you with His talk (talked to you directly) and He wrote (the Torah) for you with His Own Hand. Do you blame me for an action which Allah had decreed on me forty years before He created me?' So Adam confuted Mūsa, Adam confuted Mūsa."”
Adam and Mūsa (peace be upon both of them) debated with each other and presented the evidence that support their arguments. This may have happened after Mūsa’s death. Perhaps the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) saw it in a dream, since prophets' dreams are part of the divine revelation. A Muslim has to accept such accounts with submission, as we are not able to know how they really happened. Mūsa said to Adam: "O Adam, you are our father. You did us harm and caused us to get out of Paradise." i.e. you are the reason for our misfortune and misguidance by committing the sin that resulted in getting you out of Paradise. Accordingly, we have become a target for the devils' misguidance. Adam answered him, saying: "O Mūsa, Allah favored you with His talk." Allah, the Almighty, selected Mūsa from among the messengers and honored him by speaking to him without intermediaries and letting him listen to His speech directly. Also, Allah, the Almighty, wrote the Torah for Mūsa with His Hand. A Muslim must believe in this writing without asking how, denying, distorting the wording or the meaning, or resembling Allah to any of His creation. "Do you blame me for an action which Allah had decreed on me forty years before He created me?" i.e. how can you blame me for something that Allah had written for me in the Preserved Tablet and in the pages and tablets of the Torah forty years before I was created? "So Adam confuted Mūsa." i.e. he defeated him with a logical argument. Adam refuted the argument of Mūsa, (peace be upon both of them) by stating that if Allah, the Al…