In Muhammad Shahrur, Adam appears not as the very first human being in an absolute sense, but as a middle stage in humanization and a transition toward the conscious rational human being. His story is used to explain the emergence of consciousness, language, and responsibility, not to establish a rigid notion of instantaneous creation.
- Adam is not the first human in an absolute sense
- Adam is a transitional stage in evolutionary humanization
- Adam is a middle stage in humanization
- Repentance corrects human freedom
- The Garden in the story of Adam is earthly
- Human creation is evolutionary
- The tree is a symbol of the test of possession
- The Qur’an presents a cumulative development of the human being
- The Qur’anic stories reveal history and message as a human liberating trajectory
- In the Qur’anic stories, woman is not burdened with responsibility for temptation or inferiority
- Woman is not the cause of temptation
- The story of Adam establishes humanization, freedom, and conscience
- The story of Adam’s two sons builds human conscience