That is, Adam is the highest similitude (al-mathal al-a’la) of God, His greatest sign, and the most complete manifestation and mirror of the tajalliyat of the Names and the Attributes, the Face of God (wajh Allah), the Eye of God (‘ayn Allah), the Hand of God (yad Allah) and the side or proximity of God (janb Allah).

He hears, sees, and holds by God, and God sees, hears and holds by him. [5]
This wajh Allah is the same ‘Light’ mentioned in the noble verse: God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. (24:35)
And Imam Baqir (A.S) said to Abu Khalid Kabuli in a tradition of the noble Kafi: They (i.e. the Imams) are, by God, the Light that He has sent down (64:8; 61:8; 39:69), and they, by God, are the Light of God in the heavens and the earth (24:36). [6]
And the noble Kafi narrates a tradition of Imam Baqir””may my soul be sacrificed for the dust of his feet that while expounding the noble verse: Of what do they question? Of the great tiding? (78:1-2)
He said, It refers to the Commander of the Faithful (‘Ali). And the Commander of the Faithful (A) used to say: “There isn’t a greater sign of God than me, and there isn’t a greater tiding of God than me! [7]
Hence, the Perfect Man, one of whose instances is Adam, the father of Men, is the greatest sign, manifestation, Name and Attribute of the Real, and he is the metaphor and sign of God, the Exalted. God, the Blessed and the Exalted, is above having a like (mithl) and a peer, but one should not negate the existence of a metaphor for His sacred Essence, as: And to Him belongs the highest metaphor (mathal). [8]
All the particles of the realm of being are the signs and mirrors of the revelations (tajalliyat) of the Beauty of the Beautiful One, Almighty and Exalted, though each one of them is such only to the extent of it existential capacity. But none of them is the sign of the greatest all-inclusive Name, that is, ‘Allah,’ except the all-inclusive being (kawn-e jami’) and the sacred station of the greatest mediation (maqam-e muqaddas-e barzakhiyyat-e kubra), glorious is his greatness with the Greatness of his Maker.

Hence, God, the Exalted, created the Perfect Man and the First Man in His all-inclusive Image, and He made him the mirror of His Names and Attributes. The Great Shaykh (Muhyi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi) has said, “Hence all that which was in the Divine Form of the Names was manifested in this human existent, and so it acquired the station of all-inclusiveness (al-ihatah wa al-jam’) with this existence and with it was established God’s argument against the angels:’ From this discussion is known the reason for God’s choosing and electing the all-inclusive human form from among the various forms of other entities, and the secret of God’s giving precedence to Adam (A.S) over the angels and His giving him a dignity over all other existents and His attributing his spirit to Himself, in the Noble verse: And I breathed into him (i.e. Adam) of My spirit. (15:29, 38:72)

As our intent in these pages is observance of brevity, we shall refrain from explaining the reality of the Divine breath and its character in Adam, and His singling him out for it from among all the existents. And all Praise belongs to God, firstly and lastly.

Notes:
[5] Usul al-Kafi, “kitab al-iman wa al-kufr,” “bab man adha al-muslimin,” hadith 7.
[6] Usul al-Kafi, i, 194, “kitab al-hujjah,” “bab anna al-a’immah nur Allah,” hadith 1.
[7] Usul al-Kafi, i, 207, “kitab al-hujjah,” “bab anna al-ayat al-lati dhakaraha Allahu fi kitabih…” hadith 3.
[8] 30:27

Taken from: Forty Hadith (An Exposition on 40 ahadith narrated through the Prophet [s] and his Ahl al-Bayt [A.S]By Imam Ruhullah al-Musawi Khomeini