Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Particles in Adam's Backbone


In this post, I like to present a tradition that on the surface has a very clear point and message. However, what caught my eyes is the part that is not considered the main message of this tradition. 

First, I will post this Authentic tradition, then I will mention what I have in mind.

Arabic Text:

مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ يَحْيَى عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنِ ابْنِ مَحْبُوبٍ عَنِ الْحسينِ بْنِ نُعَيْمٍ الصَّحَّافِ قَالَ سَأَلْتُ أَبَا عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع عَنْ قَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ فَمِنْكُمْ كافِرٌ وَ مِنْكُمْ مُؤْمِنٌ (64:2) فَقَالَ عَرَفَ اللَّهُ إِيمَانَهُمْ بِوَلَايَتِنَا وَ كُفْرَهُمْ بِهَا يَوْمَ أَخَذَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمِيثَاقَ فِي صُلْبِ آدَمَ ع وَ هُمْ ذَرٌّ

Farsi Translation:

حسين بن نعيم صحاف گويد: از امام صادق (ع) پرسيدم از قول خدا عز و جل «برخى شما مؤمن باشيد و برخى كافر»(64:2)  فرمود: خدا ايمان آنها را به ولايت ما و كفر آنها را هم به محك ولايت ما شناخته است از روزى كه ميثاق از آنها بر گرفت و آنها ذره‏ اى بودند در پشت آدم (ع)

English Translation:

Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from ibn Mahbub from al-Husain ibn Nu‘aym al-Sahhaf who has said the following:

“Once I asked abu ‘Abd Allah, peace be upon him, about the words of Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Gracious: ‘. . . certain persons of you have accepted the faith and others of you have not. . . .’(64:2) The Imam said, ‘God knows their faith and their disbelief through [their position on] our Wilayah [guardianship] since the day He took their covenants in the backbone/spinal cord/Rachis/loin of Adam (peace be upon him) and they were small particles.

Source:
Al-Kafi, Volume 1, Page 413, Tradition #4

The very clear message from this tradition is that the standard through which the people of faith and disbelievers are separated is the wilayah [guardianship] of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them).  In other words, very bluntly put, based on this tradition, whoever that rejects or has rejected the Wilayah of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them) cannot be considered faithful to God. The belief in Wilayah of our Imams is a necessary pre-condition for having faith. If one has rejected their wilayah then his or her deeds cannot help him or her when the deeds are accounted for. However, if one has not rejected their wilayah and is rather in search of the Truth, his or her good actions will bring him/her to accept the wilayah of our Imams.

Now, this was not the part that grabbed my attention, since the followers of Ahlul Bayt (as) are already quit aware of the significance of Wilayah. What captured my attention was the part regarding our existence in the body of Adam (as) prior to our physical birth.  

According to this tradition, which is in line with the Quran, every one of us gave our pledge to Allah before we were born in this world. The nature of our existence prior to our birth is a very complex topic. Many scholars have delved into this topic and have written much about it. However, as we know, the words and sayings of Ahlul Bayt (as) always override the words, conjectures and statements of any scholar.  

In the following segment I state what I think we could take from the latter part of this tradition.  Please, do not blindly take what I say to be correct.  What I am about to mention is solely based on my own research and comprehension of this tradition.
According to this tradition: 

·         We did exist prior to our births in this world.

·      We made a covenant with Allah prior to our birth in this world.  The nature of this covenant is not stated in this tradition. 

·         We made this pledge with Allah inside the صُلْبِ of Adam (as).  I looked to see if I can find an accurate definition or translation for this term. According to the medical dictionary the term “صُلْبِ” means backbone or rachis. I further looked into the definition of “rachis” and discovered that it means spinal column.  The medical definition of spinal column is the following: 

                                    Spinal column n.
                                     The series of articulated vertebrae, separated by intervertebral                                       disks and held together by muscles and tendons, that extends from                                        the cranium to the coccyx, encasing the spinal cord and forming                                         the supporting axis of the body. Also called backbone, rachis,                                          spine, vertebral column.

Since  صُلْبِ is regularly translated as loins, I looked and found that loins could be understood as the area between the lower rib cage and the hip bones; in other words, the lumbar segment of the spinal cord.  Subsequently, I looked to see if any studies have been done to link this segment of the body with male reproductive system and I found the following studies, which were published in 2008 and 2011.  




According to these studies, the neurons in this area are essentially responsible for ejaculation in males. This finding made me curious and I looked further into the link between spinal column and sexual functions in men. I found the following study from 2011. In it you can study and learn the complex relationship between the male brain, the male spinal cord and the male sexual functions. 


According to this paper, “The lumbar spinal segments are of particular interest because they contain several neural circuits that, in association with neural circuits of the thoracic and sacral spinal cord, are important in eliciting male sexual responses (i.e., erection and ejaculation)” Furthermore, it states, “specific population of LSt [Lumbar Spinothalamic] neurons in the third and fourth lumbar segments of the spinal cord acts as a “spinal ejaculation generator” because toxins that selectively cause lesions in galanin-expressing neurons in this region completely eliminate ejaculation in rats while other aspects of male sexual behavior remain unaffected.” This study confirms that this segment of our spinal cord is essential and necessary for ejaculation in males.

There’s much much more that could be learned from reading this paper.  Our spinal cord or our backbone or our loin, as many of us can probably assume, is extremely important for our sexual functions.

·         According to this tradition, we were present as particles inside Adam.  This entails that we existed physically in one way or another inside Adam.  Perhaps, Adam as the first evolved human was the first being who had within him the complete human gene pool, which in turn is used by each and every one of us. In this sense, we all existed inside Adam, and the future generations exist within us.


This topic is, without a doubt, a complicated topic. We can only hope that in the near future through our scientific discoveries we will learn more about this topic and refine our views and understanding of it and in turn this tradition from our Imam (as).

In the end, if you disagree with my views in this post or if you would like to mention anything about this post, please leave a comment. Your feedback is always welcomed and appreciated.

I hope what I said in this post encourages some of us to look at our Imams' traditions from a natural and scientific perspective, as opposed to purely conceptual and non-natural perspectives. Even if you disagree with everything that I said in this post and consider it irrelevant, I can only hope that reading this post would motivate some of us to examine the traditions of our Imams from different dimensions and through multiple lenses.