Perfection

The first man to be created by God, in both Christianity and Islam, was Adam. The first woman created was then created from Adam’s rib, and her name was Eve. This idea of the first human beings has persisted in almost all the forms of religion due to its significance. In Christianity, it is believed that God created mankind in his own image. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”[1]. While in Islam, God made Adam and Eve out of clay.[2] In the most literal sense, mankind is meant to reflect God and his holiness. The importance of this can be seen in artistic representations of Adam and Eve Qisas al-anbiya by Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm[fig 5] as they are both shown to be generally attractive and perfect in terms of physique.[3] They also notably have white skin. Since the first two human beings on earth were meant to be reflections of God, ancient Christian and Muslim societies firmly believed that being in perfect physical shape was a sign of purity. It is an idea that can still be seen today, as people that are in decent shape are generally seen as being more “attractive” or “appealing.” However, this idea went further than just body size and fitness. In these societies, people who had whiter skin and perfect physical features were superior to those who didn’t and were more likely to find success in marriage as a result.