In the Islamic cultures, the Arabic term 'Adja'ib refers to the disconcerting “wonders" of creation and the world ordered by God, beyond the understanding of what is common but offered to contemplation: “Roam the Earth and observe how the creation was initiated.” (Quran 29, 19). Unlike the myths of the Ancients, where the divine forces or natural powers face a primitive disorder, a confusing front or a chaos, the creation of the world out of nothingness in the Quran is an act carried out in six days by an omniscient master. An infinitely generous God gave man an refuge/asylum, earth, under the protective canopy of the heavens.
The post-Quranic stories on the creation of Adam are similar with the Jewish tradition (Talmud, Genesis Rabbah, Midrash, Chronicles, etc.). They all turn Adam into the example of humanity, the figure who must devote himself to the worship of the creator.
The etymology of Adam’s name is in relation to earth. According to Mas'udi (The Meadows of Gold), Adam takes his name from Adim, the surface of the earth. Earth comes from different places in the world. In the Islamic tradition, the various origins and colours of the black, red and white material symbolize the different colours of peoples. Some commentators see the manifestation of the egalitarian ideology of the Islamic empire bringing together all believers. In Judaism, according to a Talmudic sage figure, the different lands were originally Adam’s organs, and their qualities (salty or rocky land) aim the strengthening of man in his hardships (exile). The human body is sacred. The land can never refuse burial under the pretext that dust comes from another part. In some Muslim traditions, the head and the heart are fashioned from the most beautiful lands, the land of Israel, or Mecca and even the Ka'ba.
Adam and his offspring have a special place in the story of creation. Adam is elected, the "Vicar of God" on earth (2, 28). Since the rejection of Iblis, the universe of immaterial powers is divided between the angels who "submitted" to God and are carriers of a legitimate science, and the rebellious demons. These maleficent beings sought to corrupt humanity and stray him away from the "right path" (7, 15) by exercising their seduction, particularly by the sihr, magical practices diverted from good magic, taught by Solomon. As demonic creatures, they sought to steal small parts of "celestial knowledge" (37, 6), but they were repelled by a "flamboyant stinger".
The Quranic story about the creation of man has been greatly expanded based on the religious commentaries and the isra'iliyyat "stories" by Jewish circles, whose literary sources were mainly the Haggadah and the Midrash. Adam, the first human creature, the first in the tradition of the prophets and the father of all humankind, is born from Earth, he was created and fashioned with the love and care of God. All the great stories of creation, both Mesopotamian and Biblical, share in common the material from which man was created: earth under its various aspects, silt, dust and mud. Adam was fashioned as Jesus from earth, usually clay: “And We have created man from a clay hardened and shaped.” (Quran 15, 26), or mud, the black and smelly "glutinous earth", or dust (22, 5), but in sura 96, regarded as the first sura to be revealed in Mecca, the term used is 'alaq, translated in English as a "clot of blood".
The Quranic story joins/links the first man with a companion: “He created from it [= man] its mate and sent forth from it many men and women” (4, 1), but the name of the first woman is not mentioned in the Quran [she will become Hawwa in Islamic tradition]. Adam stayed in the magnificent garden of Jannah. He did not suffer from thirst, nor from his nakedness or hunger. The couple could eat fruit (2, 33 and 7, 18) with the exception of a tree (19- 24), but was tempted by the devil (2, 30-37, 19-21). A satanic whisper made them hope for eternity, power and an angelic nature. The devil showed them “the tree of immortality and an everlasting kingdom” (20, 118). He seduced them (7, 21), he "made them slip" (2, 43). Having eaten the fruit, they saw their nakedness and had to "sew garments with the leaves of paradise" (20, 119). The forbidden couple was reduced "to the lowest level" and descended on earth (7, 23) for a while (2, 34). God sent them towards the right path. After the fall, Adam landed in Arabia, in the arid and stony valley of 'Arafa. This is where Eve found and "recognized" him.
Sufis have reflected on the divine generosity that created man in God’s image. Man is a microcosm of the universe. We find in him the three kingdoms, plant, animal and spiritual: the man grows as a plant, moves as an animal, and understands things through his heart. This "hidden correspondence", according to the mystic al-Ghazali, allows man to know God, but he must not forget his humble origin, clay, nor his oath (Quran 7, 172) to bear witness everywhere that only God is the Lord and that he is his servant. This servitude and the practice of purification can lead him to sanctity/holiness. These are some of the "wonders" of the story of creation of man in Islamic stories.