The following sentence exists in Ibn Arabi’s book: "I remembered a hadith in which the Prophet (pbuh) said, 'Allah created one hundred thousand Adams.'" How should this statement be understood? What is meant by it?

The following sentence exists in Ibn Arabi’s book: "I remembered a hadith in which the Prophet (pbuh) said, 'Allah created one hundred thousand Adams.'" How should this statement be understood? What is meant by it?

Dear Brother / Sister,

There is a hadith mentioned in Ibnul-Arabi’s "Futuhat al-Makkiyya". Hz. Prophet (pbuh) said,

"One hundred thousand Adams passed; we are the children of the last one."

According to another hadith, one hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets came after Hz. Adam. All of those prophets taught people the same truths, that is, what Allah informed them about and resurrection after death. (Prof. Dr. İbrahim Canan, Kütüb-i Sitte Muhtasarı, IV/63)

Besides, he wanted to indicate this with that statement: “every being has an origin; every species has an ancestor like Adam.” When we think that human beings were created after the other non-living and living things, his expression “before Adam…” becomes more meaningful. Otherwise, we have no sound knowledge about the existence of another group of humanity that lived before human beings. There is no such information in the Quran and hadiths.

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