Title: Did the Angels Prostrate Before Adam only? Question: I know that Adam and Eve came from the same soul ( nafs wahida - Surah 4:1). However, if this is so then when the angels and jinn are told to bow in front of Adam are they also told to bow in front of Eve? Is Eve there? If she isn't there does this speak of an inequality between the sexes? Salaam Answer: The account of the referred event in the Qur'an and the Bible only tells us that after the creation of Adam (pbuh), God tested the angels (and others present) with the directive of prostrating before Adam (pbuh). Both of these sources only tell us that the directive was to prostrate before Adam. There is, however, room to interpret that Adam (pbuh) was named in this directive as the representative of the human race whereas the prostration was actually meant to be before both Adam as well as Eve, implying prostration before the human race. On the other hand, we may interpret the words of the directive to imply the apparent. That is, the angels were tested with a directive of prostrating specifically before the person named Adam. Thus, those who interpret "Adam" in the referred directive to imply "man" (as a generic noun for both man and woman) or "human" - which would not be wrong in certain cases - may interpret the directive to be general for humankind - Adam as well as Eve. While those who interpret Adam to imply only the particular person named may interpret the directive to be specific for that person. In my opinion, which can obviously be differed with, the directive was specific for the person of Adam (pbuh). Two important bases of my opinion are: There is, apparently, no reason to interpret the word "Adam" to imply "man" (as a generic noun) in the particular context in which this directive has generally been referred to in the Qur'an. The directive of the referred prostration is not to imply the superiority of Adam over Eve or that of Adam over the angels. The directive was only a test for all those who were present. Whatever the case may be it would not be very prudent to derive the concept of the superiority of the male gender over the female gender from this directive. This could have been a more plausible case if rather than the angels, Eve was directed to prostrate before Adam. 5 th December 1999