Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 551
18 May 1908 551 that was his homeland. So then are the people in different parts of the world such as America and Australia etc. , the progeny of that Adam? Answer: The Promised Messiah as said: I do not believe this, nor do I follow the Torah in this matter that this world had its beginning six or seven thousand years ago with the birth of Adam, and that there was nothing before that as if God was idle. Nor do I propose that the entire human race which is present in different regions of the world at this time, is the progeny of that same last Adam. I believe that the human race was present even before this Adam as is evident from the words of the Holy Quran. God said that: 1 ْيِّنِا ٌلِعاَج يِف ِضْرَاْلا ًةَفْيِلَخ ْيِّنِا ٌلِعاَج يِف ِضْرَاْلا ًةَفْيِلَخ Khalifah means ‘Successor’. From this it becomes clear that the creation existed even before Adam. Therefore, I cannot say if people of America and Australia etc. are from the progeny of this last Adam or from the progeny of some other Adam. A saying of Hazrat Muhy-ud-Din ibn Arabi relates very much to your question. He writes [about a vision] that: ‘I went for Hajj and there I met a person who I thought was Adam. I asked him if he, indeed, was Adam? He replied, “Which Adam you are asking about? There have been thousands of Adams. ”’ Question: Do you believe in evolution? Meaning, do you believe that man has evolved from an inferior state to a superior 1. I am about to appoint a vicegerent in the earth ( S u rah al-Baqarah, 2:31). [Publisher]