This page explains the Islamic description of Prophet Adam as the first human and discusses various views regarding the creatures said to have existed on earth before his arrival.
The Story of Prophet Adam: Who Were the Creatures Before Prophet Adam?
Adam (Hebrew: אָדָם; Arabic: آدم, means earth, human or light brown) is a figure from the Book of Genesis, the Old Testament, the Qur'an and the Kitáb-i-Íqán. According to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, he is the first human, and according to Abrahamic religions as well, they are the parents of all humans in the world. The details of the story of Adam and Eve differ between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.
According to Islamic teaching, Adam is a perfect human, walking upright on two feet, dressed to cover his private parts, speaking fluently with millions of words. He is a prophet who received revelation from Allah and was given special law for humans of that time. Adam's character is described as very civilized, possessing great knowledge. He is a creature inhabiting Paradise with advanced civilization. His descent to earth can be said to be [as] a human from a civilization far more advanced and far more intelligent, which is why Allah appointed him as khalifah (leader) on earth, and he is said to be the newest kind of creature on earth that had never existed before.
In his description he is an extremely intelligent creature, greatly honored by Allah, possessing perfect excellence compared to other creatures before him and created in the best form (created by Allah as the most Perfect creature). According to Surah al-Isra' 70, which states:
And indeed, We have honored the children of Adam, We have carried them on land and sea, We have provided them with good provision and We have favored them with complete excellence over most of the creatures We have created (al-Isra' 17:70)
In Surah at-Tin, verse 4, which states:
Indeed, We have created humans in the best form. (at-Tin 95:4)
The Qur'an tells the story of Adam in several surahs, including Surah al-Baqarah verses 30 to 38 and Surah al-A'raf verses 11 to 25
According to Islamic law, humans were not created on earth, but rather were sent down to earth as humans and appointed/chosen by Allah as khalifah (successor/heir) on earth or as a successor creature, which certainly means there was another creature to be replaced; in other words, Adam is 'not the first creature' on earth, but he is 'the first human' in Abrahamic religious teaching, and Allah did not say [He would replace] the humans before, but [rather] the replacement of creatures who had caused corruption and shed blood on earth, which became the angels' displeasure.
Before the advent of humans, there were many communities consisting of angels, jinn, animals, plants and so forth, because in the Qur'an Allah's creation is also called by the word 'community'. According to one of Surah al-An'am 32, which states:
There is not an animal on earth nor a bird that flies on its wings except that they are communities like you. We have not neglected anything in the Record; then to Allah they will all be gathered. (al-An'am 6:32)
From Surah al-Baqarah 30, there are many questions about who is the creature that caused corruption that the angels mentioned in the verse above. In archaeological literature, based on fossils found, there is indeed another creature before humans. They were almost like humans, but had very primitive and uncultured characteristics.
Their brain volume was smaller than humans, therefore their ability to speak was very limited because they could not produce many vowel sounds. This group of creatures was later named by archaeologists as Neanderthals.
Surah al-Hijr verse 27 explains that the creatures before humans are the jinn:
And We created the jinn before (Adam) from a blazing fire. (al-Hijr 15:27)
The name of the creature mentioned by archaeologists above was then linked to the views of exegetical scholars. One of them is Ibn Jazir, in the tafsir book of Ibn Kathir he said: "What is meant by the creature before Adam was created is al-Jann who liked to cause mischief."
According to one hadith narrator named Thawus al-Yamani, one of the inhabitants and also the ruler/leader on earth was from the jinn race. There are also those who say that there were 3 main communities before Adam. Two of them were from the jinn race, while the third community was from a group different from the jinn, because they had blood and flesh.
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