The Height of Prophet Adam: At the Crossroads of Science and Scripture

An analysis of hadith on the height of Prophet Adam. This work explores scholarly efforts to treat the conflict between hadith regarding Prophet Adam’s height and extant empirical data. What may appear as a straightforward hadith about the father of humankind brings to the fore a web of interconnected disciplines: epistemology, science, archaeology, the status of the Ṣaḥīḥayn, the evolution of hadith analysis, and the isrāʾīliyyāt. This case study hopes to contribute to two broader conversations: (1) the conflict between science and hadith, a crisis of faith for many Muslims today, and (2) the notion that the scholars of Islam’s rich intellectual history were oblivious to the issues plaguing the minds of modern Muslims. Contents include an introduction, discussion of conflict or concord, a survey of premodern views, and methods for conflict resolution such as harmonization, prioritization, suspension of judgment, and considerations of miracles and laws of nature. An afterword by Jonathan A.C. Brown addresses the problem of the Isra'iliyyat.