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The number of the children of Aadam

Question

assalamo alaikum. how many children do adam (pbuh) nad eve have?is it cain and abel only?

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 is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

We have not come across a narration of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) which clarifies the number of children of Aadam  may  Allaah  exalt  his  mention but the history books mentioned that he had 40 children.

Ibn Al-Jawzi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: "Hawaa' (Eve) gave birth to 40 children, boys and girls, from Aadam, in twenty pregnancies, and it is said that she was giving birth to twins each time, a boy and a girl. The first of his children were the twins Qabeel and Qaleemah, and it is also said that her name was Qaythamah, and his last children were twins Abdul-Mugheeth and Amatul-Mutheeth."

However, it is reported that Ibn 'Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him said that Eve's first son's name was 'Abdur-Rahmaan. Moreover, Imaam At-Tabari and Ibn Al-Atheer  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them stated as well that the number of the children of Aadam  may  Allaah  exalt  his  mention was forty children, boys and girls.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 83733 and 87711.

Finally, it should be noted that not knowing such matters does not harm in any way, and therefore a Muslim should be preoccupied instead in acquiring the knowledge of Islamic rulings, which if he did not know, he is harmed.

Allaah Knows best.

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