A non-Prophetic report about Aadam’s garment in Paradise

5-5-2008 | IslamWeb

Question:

Kindly analyze the evidence that the nails that exist on the ends of our fingers were originally the clothing all over Aadam ('alayhi-s-salaam) and his wife prior to their initial disobedience of Allaah ('azza wa jalla), after which they lost most of it and their nakednes became obvious to them.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

It is reported that Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “When Allaah admitted Aadam to Paradise, He clothed him with a garment of nail, and when Aadam committed the sin, Allaah withdrew from him the garment and it [the garment] remained only on the tip of his nails.”

He also said: “The original clothing of Aadam was nails, like feathers are to birds, and when he disobeyed his Lord, his clothing was dropped and the nails were left (for him) as an adornment and to benefit from.” He further said: “The tree from which Allaah forbade Aadam and his wife, may Allaah exalt their mention, to eat was the spikenard, and when they ate from it, their nakedness appeared and it was their nails that covered their nakedness.”

These statements were reported from Ibn ‘Abbaas by Ibn Abu Haatim, ‘Abdur-Razzaaq, ‘Abd ibn Humayd and Ibn Al-Munthir and others however, this was not reported from the Prophet as far as we know.

Finally, it should be noted that investigating this matter does not yield any benefit.

Allaah Knows best.