THE UNIVERSAL ADAM:
About 100,000 to 50,000 years ago, the earth saw the emergence of a being of marvelous beauty and stature, who burst forth among other beings that were then still pre-human. Archeologically, this was the appearance of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens, the advent of modern humanity. This “first man” of the earth was NOT the “historical” or “partial” Adam of the Quran and Bible, as there have been many such “partial” Adams who have each inaugurated Cycles like ours. This being was the Primordial Man, the Adamic in the truest sense, the first earthly being to have free will and intelligence. He is known as the original and Universal Adam (Adam al-awwal, Adam i-kull).
This Adam was vested with the primordial Imamat; he was the “First Imam” of humanity. He was the Primordial Imam, the first repository and foundation of the Imamat, the divine institution which by preserving the esoteric meaning of all the Revelations gives mankind the possibility of mystical salvation. As the Imam, Adam possessed the quality of infallibility and was “immunized” against all sin. He would then transmit these qualities to the Most Pure Imams descended from him, from Cycle to Cycle. He appeared in an area with perfect climatic and astronomical conditions along with twenty-seven other companions – the total number of twenty eight corresponding to the number of lunar stations. Among these twenty-seven persons the primordial earthly Adam shined like the Sun amid the other heavenly bodies. The Brethren of Purity designate him as the Rising Sun (Shams Talia). He was among them the Precursor, just as the Universal Intellect is the Precursor of the spiritual world.
Adam began the Cycle of Cycles, a period of Epiphany, when the abstract truths (Haqiqat) of existence were accessible to all and man lived in a state of physical and spiritual beauty, a sort of an earthly paradise. It is said that this Cycle of Epiphany lasted about fifty thousand years.
It the context of the evolution of man, it cannot be said that Adam was a single being who evolved first. Rather, he and his companions were a group of the first fully evolved human beings. Traditions indicate that this group appeared on the island of Ceylon, which is modern day Sri Lanka.
It is then said that Adam sent twenty-four of his companions to various parts of the world. He commissioned twelve Hujjahs of the Day (those who would be manifest) and twelve Hujjahs of the Night (those who would be concealed).
Adam was the first Imam to complete the work which is undertaken by each Imam in his own time. Adam imparted the Gnosis of Resurrection to all the fallen souls and by virtue of this divine knowledge these souls attained purification. The Imamat of Adam was continued among his chosen descendants, from Cycle to Cycle.