His Creation
Imam Ahmad has narrated a Hadith from Abu Musa that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, "Surely, Allah created Adam from clay selected from the different regions of the world. So, the children of Adam went after the earth – some of them turned out to be white, some red, some black and others between them. They turned out to be evil and good, and simple and tough; and there were those between the extremes".
When Adam (as) was fashioned, Allah let the angels know that once He breathed into him they should prostrate. Until then, the angels used to see him and stood in fear of him. Iblis was also scared of him and whenever he passed by he would strike him and the body would resonate with the sound of pottery as, indeed, Allah has said,

'From sounding clay like pottery.' (Surah Ar-Rahman, 55:14)

Iblis entered the body from its mouth and came out from the posterior and reported to the angels that they need not fear him for he was empty while Allah is Everlasting and Independent. 'If I was allowed I would destroy it'. Finally the time arrived when Allah decided to blow His spirit into it. When He blew into him, the spirit entered his head and he sneezed. The angels taught him to say, Alhumdulillah, which he did and Allah said ‘Your Lord have mercy on you’ in return. When the spirit entered his eyes, he saw the fruits of Paradise, and as the spirit entered his inside, he felt hungry. So, he leaped hastily towards the fruit even before the spirit had reached his legs. That was when Allah said,

‘Man was created of haste’ (Surah Anbiya, 21:37)

Disobedience of Iblis

As we know, Iblis refused to prostrate to Adam (as).  Allah states in Surah Al-A’raf about the creation of man and Jinn and He has narrated the story of the devil’s disobedience.  Allah says,

‘And certainly We created you, then We fashioned you, then We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam.”  So they all prostrated except Iblis – he was not of those who prostrated.  Allah said, “What prevented you that you did not prostrate, when I commanded you?” Iblis said, “I am better than he, You created me of fire, while You created him of clay.”  Allah said, “Get you down from here.  It is not for you to show arrogance here, so go forth; surely you are among the degraded”.’

Adam (as) and Hawwa (as) lived in Paradise until they ate from the forbidden tree and were expelled from Paradise and sent down to Earth.  There is a difference of opinion as to where they descended to on earth.  The places suggested for Adam (as) are, Dihna between Makkah and Ta’if and some place in India.  Hawwa (as) is said to have descended in Jeddah, it is also however, stated that they descended at Safa and Marwah respectively.

His lifestyle on Earth

Ibn Jarir (ra) has said on the authority of Ibn Abbas (ra), that the first food that Adam (as) ate was the wheat which Jibril (as) brought him.  He bought him seven grains of wheat and Adam (as) asked him what they were and he said, ‘These are from the tree that you were forbidden to approach but you ate from it’.  So Adam (as) asked, ‘What shall I do with them now?’ Jibril (as) said, ‘Sow them into the earth’.  Adam (as) cultivated the grain each of which weighed over one thousand grams as we know today.  Adam (as) worked hard and not only harvested the grain, he ground them, knead them and baked bread from which he ate.

The first cloth that Adam (as) and Hawwa (as) wore was from sheep’s wool.  They separated it and spun it and made out a dress for each of them – a long cloak for him and a dress suit (armour and veil) for her.

Of the children of Adam (as), it is said that in every birth they had a male child and a female child as twins.  They were commanded to marry the male of one to the female of the next and the male of that to the female of the first but they were disallowed to marry a brother with a sister of the same birth.

His Death

Muhammad ibn Ishaq has said, ‘When death was near, Adam (as) made a commitment with his son Shith (as) and taught him the hours of the day and night.  He also taught him the acts of worship during these hours.  It has also been said, that the lineage of mankind today goes back to Hazrat Shith (as) for all the children of Adam (as) except him had died without leaving offspring.

Adam (as) died on a Friday.  Ubayy Bin Ka’b narrated that when death approached, Adam (as) said to his sons, ‘I long for the fruits of Paradise.’  So they went out to search for them, they encountered the angels on the way who brought embalmment and the shrouds with digging tools from Allah, from Paradise.    They said, ‘O children of Adam, what do you intend and what is it that you search?’  They answered, ‘Our father is ill, and he longs for the fruits of Paradise’.  The angels said, ‘Return, for the time has come for your father to die’.  So they all came and Hawwa (as) recognised them.  She clung to Adam (as) and he said, ‘Leave me! For I surely came before you.  Let me alone with the angels of my Lord, the Majestic.’  Then they took out his soul, gave his body a bath, shrouded the body, embalmed it and dug a grave for him and enshrouded him, offered his funeral prayer and lowered him in the grave and closed the grave over him with earth.  Then they said, ‘O children of Adam…this is to be your tradition’.

The most favoured opinion is that Adam (as) was buried near the mountain in India where he had descended from Paradise.  Hawwa (as) passed away a year later.

According to the lunar calendar, Adam (as) lived for one thousand years - nine hundred and fifty seven years on earth and forty three years in Paradise.