DRAFT
Preamble
The Quran 2:4 defines the pious as those who believe in The Quran, as well as in the scriptures revealed before it, going on to state that those are the ones who are upon guidance from their Lord, and those are the ones who will be successful (Q2:5).
Comparing the Adam narrative in the scriptures, there seem differences and disconnects in the texts and the translations. As both The Torah and The Quran are from God, the reason for the apparent disconnects must be due to our lack of knowledge of the whole story. Perhaps, they describe different aspects of the story, or different events from the life of Adam.
For example: As Joseph's story helps us unravel Adam's story, there were three distinct events, separated by time, in which Joseph's shirt was mentionable. In the first, his brothers took his shirt; in the second, the lady tore his shirt; in the third, he himself gave his shirt to heal his father's blindness.
The following is an effort to reconcile the learnings about Adam's fall, and the human condition, from The Quran, with the narrative in Genesis 3. May Allah increase us in knowledge.
As there are discrepancies in the translations, an effort is being made to quote and compare various sources. May Allah bless and accept.
DRAFT
Full Text
The Quran, Surah TaHa informs us that a covenant was taken from Adam before, but he forgot. The narrative about Adam begins in Q20:115. As per the sequence of the narrative, a covenant was taken from Adam even before the command to all angels to prostrate. Iblis, the snake, refused to prostrate, exposing his arrogance, and establishing his enmity towards Adam and his progeny.
The Forbidden Tree & The Nafs
In Genesis 2 15-17, God had commanded and warned Adam thus:
Genesis 2 15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying: 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'
After erring, Adam prayed that they had 'wronged' or 'put in darkness' their nafs. The nafs is essential for a flourishing life in The Garden of Eden. In fact, that life is The Life that we are being invited to.
On a daily basis, our nafs is removed in sleep, and returned when we awake. Upon death, the nafs is permanently removed. The scriptures also inform us that upon death, the vision becomes clear, and the dying person is able to see the angels. Regarding the Day of Resurrection & Judgment, Q50:22 states that the vision will be 'hadid' i.e. literally iron, and generally translated as 'sharp', 'keen', 'piercing', because the cover will have been removed. The greatest losers in the Hereafter will be the ones who will permanently lose their nafs, and be put in Hell.
So, when The Lord told Adam that if he eats from Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he will surely die, it was a true statement, in that Adam could no longer remain in the Garden while his nafs was in such a state of darkness. They were naturally expelled from The Garden.
All sins are against our own nafs, increasing it in wrong / darkness. Repenting and reforming, doing good deeds, spending in charity, remove some of the wrong / darkness.
Genesis 3 1-7 in Arabic
The Serpent in The Garden & The Warnings
Genesis 3 1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman: 'Yea, hath God said: Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'
Early on in The Quran, we read that Adam was pre-warned about Iblis' enmity, so that he could take precautions against his deceptions, and not be beguiled by him:
وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِين
And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree lest ye become wrong-doers
[Al-Quran 2:35, Translation: Pickthal]
Reading the narrative in Surah TaHa, we learn:
وَلَقَدْ عَهِدْنَا إِلَىٰ آدَمَ مِن قَبْلُ فَنَسِيَ وَلَمْ نَجِدْ لَهُ عَزْمًا
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ
فَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ إِنَّ هَـٰذَا عَدُوٌّ لَّكَ وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلَا يُخْرِجَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ فَتَشْقَىٰ
إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَىٰ
وَأَنَّكَ لَا تَظْمَأُ فِيهَا وَلَا تَضْحَىٰ
And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot, and We found no constancy in him
And when We said unto the angels: Fall prostrate before Adam, they fell prostrate (all) save Iblis; he refused
Therefor we said: O Adam! This is an enemy unto thee and unto thy wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden so that thou come to toil
It is (vouchsafed) unto thee that thou hungerest not therein nor art naked
And that thou thirstest not therein nor art exposed to the sun's heat
[Al-Quran 20:115-119, Translation: Pickthal]
The Temptations
Genesis 3 2 And the woman said unto the serpent: 'Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
Genesis 3 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said: Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'
Genesis 3 4 And the serpent said unto the woman: 'Ye shall not surely die;
Genesis 3 5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.'
The Quran does not mention the conversation between the serpent and the woman. It mentions the reason the serpent whispered to them, that is, both to Adam and to his wife, and the temptation he presented to them:
فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ لِيُبْدِيَ لَهُمَا مَا وُورِيَ عَنْهُمَا مِن سَوْآتِهِمَا وَقَالَ مَا نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَـٰذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَ
Then Satan whispered to them that he might manifest unto them that which was hidden from them of their shame, and he said: Your Lord forbade you from this tree only lest ye should become angels or become of the immortals
[Al-Quran 7:20, Translation: Pickthal]
Satan knew exactly what harm he would lead them to by fooling them into eating from the forbidden tree.
The Quran also focuses on the specific temptations whispered to Adam:
فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ الشَّيْطَانُ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ
But the devil whispered to him, saying: O Adam! Shall I show thee the tree of immortality and power that wasteth not away
[Al-Quran 20:120, Translation: Pickthal]
Genesis 3 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
… and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, …
Now that’s a strange statement: seeking wisdom, even though Allah had already imparted knowledge to Adam (Q2:31-33).
The next verse of Genesis informs us that their eyes were opened. Weren’t their eyes already open when they were considering that tree? Or are we being informed about the ‘third eye’ being opened?
Genesis 3 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.
فَأَكَلَا مِنْهَا فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْآتُهُمَا وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِن وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ ۚ وَعَصَىٰ آدَمُ رَبَّهُ فَغَوَىٰ
Then they twain ate thereof, so that their shame became apparent unto them, and they began to hide by heaping on themselves some of the leaves of the Garden. And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray
[Al-Quran 20:121, Translation: Pickthal]
The Quran places the responsibility upon Adam for his disobedience, citing it as the cause for his going astray. Q20:115 begins with the mention of the covenant taken from Adam, which he forgot, and Q20:121 mentions Adam disobeyed.
Genesis 3 8-19 in Arabic
Screenshot from arabicbible.com
Genesis 3 8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden toward the cool of the day; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Genesis 3 9 And the LORD God called unto the man, and said unto him: 'Where art thou?'
Genesis 3 10 And he said: 'I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.'
Genesis 3 11 And He said: 'Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?'
Genesis 3 12 And the man said: 'The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.'
Genesis 3 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman: 'What is this thou hast done?' And the woman said: 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.'
Genesis 3 14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent: 'Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
upon thy belly...
In Surah al-Mulk, we read:
أَفَمَن يَمْشِي مُكِبًّا عَلَىٰ وَجْهِهِ أَهْدَىٰ أَمَّن يَمْشِي سَوِيًّا عَلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
Is he who goeth groping on his face more rightly guided, or he who walketh upright on a straight road
[Al-Quran 67:22, Translation: Pickthal]
... dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.
Quoting https://creation.com/snakes-do-eat-dust
There is an organ in the roof of a snake’s mouth called ‘Jacobson’s organ’. This helps the snake to smell in addition to its nose. Its darting, forked tongue samples bits of dust by picking them up on the points of the fork, which it then presents to its matching pair of sensory organs inside its mouth. Once it has ‘smelt’ them in this way, the tongue must be cleaned so the process can be repeated immediately.
Therefore serpents really do lick dust and eat it.
Genesis 3 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; they shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise their heel.' {S}
Genesis 3 16 Unto the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy travail; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.' {S}
Genesis 3 17 And unto Adam He said: 'Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying: Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.
Genesis 3 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
Genesis 3 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
Genesis 3 20-24 in Arabic
Mother of All Living ????
Genesis 3 20 And the man called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Revisiting Genesis 2:15-17, quoted at the beginning of this post, eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil caused them to 'die' or put their nafs in a state of zulm (injustice || darkness || wrongdoing). Q2:35 informs us that Adam was warned to not even go near that tree lest becomes zalimeen (unjust || darkened || wrongdoers). Just before starting the first narrative about Adam in The Quran, we read:
كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَاتًا فَأَحْيَاكُمْ ۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُم مَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَسَوَّاهُنَّ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ ۚ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
How disbelieve ye in Allah when ye were dead and He gave life to you! Then He will give you death, then life again, and then unto Him ye will return
He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things
[Al-Quran 2:28, Translation: Pickthal]
Babies do not seem to have the 'knowledge of good and evil'. Furthermore, in Surah an-Nur, 24:31 -32, the believing men and believing women are directed to 'lower their gaze':
... قُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّوا مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِمْ
Tell the believing men to lower their gaze ...
... وَقُل لِّلْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَغْضُضْنَ مِنْ أَبْصَارِهِنَّ
And tell the believing women to lower their gaze ...
Q24:32, which is a long ayat, also mentions the innocence of young children:
... أَوِ الطِّفْلِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَظْهَرُوا عَلَىٰ عَوْرَاتِ النِّسَاءِ ...
... or children who know naught of women's nakedness. ...
So, when Adam named her 'mother of all living', he meant that those who come from her womb will not have the 'knowledge' of good and evil, and thus their nafs is in a pristine state!
As Surah TaHa informs us:
ثُمَّ اجْتَبَاهُ رَبُّهُ فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ وَهَدَىٰ
قَالَ اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَىٰ
Then his Lord chose him, and relented toward him, and guided him
He said: Go down hence, both of you, one of you a foe unto the other. But when there come unto you from Me a guidance, then whoso followeth My guidance, he will not go astray nor come to grief
[Al-Quran 20:122-123, Translation: Pickthal]
Clothing
Genesis 3 21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. {P}
The Quran is quite explicit that the clothes are a sign from Allah, and that they were stripped off from our parents.
Surah TaHa (Q20) mentions blue-eyed criminals, and the criminals being resurrected blind. The surah also mentions the specie of the snake (حَيَّةٌ) which is the cobra. Snakes periodically shed skin. Just before they are ready to shed their skin, their eyes become blue, and they go temporarily blind.
Genesis 3 22 And the LORD God said: 'Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.'
The Quran mentions The Cursed Tree of Zaqqum, which will be a trial upon resurrection. The Quran also informs us that the people of Hell: they will neither live nor die. They will have lost their nafs, and they will suffer perpetually.
Genesis 3 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Genesis 3 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life. {S}
The Quran informs us that The Tree of Zaqqum grows from the midst of Hell:
أَذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ نُّزُلًا أَمْ شَجَرَةُ الزَّقُّومِ
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهَا فِتْنَةً لِّلظَّالِمِينَ
إِنَّهَا شَجَرَةٌ تَخْرُجُ فِي أَصْلِ الْجَحِيمِ
Is this better as a welcome, or the tree of Zaqqum
Lo! We have appointed it a torment for wrong-doers
Lo! it is a tree that springeth in the heart of hell
[Al-Quran 37:62-64, Translation: Pickthal]
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