Different interpretative views regarding the teaching of names to Adam(as) as compared with the Old Testament

Among the divine traits which God has bestowed upon Adam(as), the first of human beings and their father, is the teaching of names which is by and large put forward in relation to his position as a religious leader. As the names were introduced by God to the angles and they found themselves incapable of learning them, he taught them to Adam(as), hence granting him the status of the teacher for the angles. In earlier interpretations there are three general assumptions about the nature of names: names as verbal concepts, conceptual notions and as objective truth. Through the examination of the existing evidence, the present article will conclude that the third assumption is in harmony with other evidences and is consistent with narratives. The article seeks to investigate the relation between the teaching of names in the Quran and the doctrine of “naming” in genesis and their differences, which leads to the Quran’s distinctive view with respect to its subject, method and purpose.