SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 35
وَقُلۡنَا يَـٰٓـَٔادَمُ ٱسۡكُنۡ أَنتَ وَزَوۡجُكَ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ
وَكُلَا مِنۡهَا رَغَدًا حَيۡثُ شِئۡتُمَا وَلَا تَقۡرَبَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلشَّجَرَةَ
فَتَكُونَا مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
We said, “O Adam! Dwell you and your spouse in Paradise and both of you eat freely from it anywhere as both of you please, but both of you do not approach this tree, or else both of you will be among the wrongdoers.”
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يَـٰٓـَٔادَمُ ٱسۡكُنۡ أَنتَ وَزَوۡجُكَ ٱلۡجَنَّةَ
"O Adam! Dwell you and your spouse in Paradise .. "
After a while, Adam(a.s) felt lonely as he was the only one of his kind in Paradise. So Allah created a spouse (partner) for him. One day, when he woke up from his sleep, he was surprised to see another person beside him that seems the same like him but a bit different. He asked, what are you? Hawwa replied, I am created to keep you company. He was very happy. Both of them enjoy the companionship.
The word used is spouse and not wife.
زَوۡجُكَ = your spouse ,
زَوۡجَتُكَ = your wife.
It is human nature that he or she needed someone close to interact with. Quran did not mention the name of his spouse but it is in the Hadith. Her name is Hawwa’ حَوَّاء (“life” and not Hawa هَوَى desire).
[Qur’an, 39:6]
“He created you from a single soul, then made from that soul its partner.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 3331] Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah 's Apostle said, "Treat women nicely, for a women is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely."
After the prostration episode, Adam was given a spouse and ordered to be living blissfully in Paradise. Later on we will see that “living blissfully in Paradise” was a Test from Allah on them.
Allah used the word ٱسۡكُنۡ “uSkun” = “stay for a while”. It was not “khuld” a permanent stay.
This shows that Allah had already predestined that Adam would have to come to Earth.
From the beginning of Adam's creation up to the prostrating scene, the ayaat did not mention where the process took place. Only in this Ayah 35, Gardens of Paradise is mentioned.
Question: Did the command “uSkun” “Stay!” means both of them were outside and now commanded to “Stay!” in Paradise OR they were already in Paradise and commanded to continue staying in Paradise (for a while)?
1st Opinion: Both Adam and spouse were outside and were commanded to go into Jannah.
2nd Opinion: Both Adam and spouse were created inside Paradise and now allowed to roam around and enjoy paradise.
أَنتَ وَزَوۡجُكَ
"you and your spouse"
Allah can say “both of you”, but He said “You and Your spouse”. Allah addressed Adam (a.s) first before mentioning Hawwa. This is an emphasis that the man needs to be in charge in the affairs of his wife and children.
The man of the house is only an employee, not the boss. In a business, the manager managed the business but he is not the owner. The father needs to take care of the family according to the guidelines of his Master (Owner/Boss). He cannot abuse the wife or kids. That will be a violation of the guidelines of the Master. He is made responsible in managing the family. He has the final decision and will face accountability by God. He has to make sure the people under his care is as obedient to Allah’s commandments like him.
Some say women must stand as tall as men. Does "equality" translate to "justice"?
In world-cup soccer matches, why not have an all-women soccer team against all-men soccer team? Why don’t heavyweight boxing matches allow men boxers against women boxers? That will be "Equality" but no "Justice".
Men and women are created differently by the Creator. There are some things that men are good at and there are somethings that women are better at. Giving both with the same rights would not be justice. Giving your boy and daughter the same present (eg. a Fire Truck each) would not be justice.
وَكُلَا مِنۡهَا رَغَدًا حَيۡثُ شِئۡتُمَا
".. and both of you eat from it as freely wherever both of you please"
Living in paradise was full of goodness everywhere they turned. Meaning there was no evil and therefore there was never a choice of right or wrong, permissible or prohibition, doing the right way or the wrong way. The meaning of living a righteous life is not relevant as there is nothing in Paradise that can make them sinning (yet).
Righteousness is refraining from doing evil. However there is no evil where they currently are dwelling.
Righteousness is also in doing good deeds to people. However there is no one in need of help in Paradise.
You can only be righteous or act righteously when you are on Earth which in turn will be deserving of you to enter Paradise.
وَكُلَا مِنۡهَا رَغَدًا = The English translation was "to eat freely".
Eat “freely”? What is the reason that we want to eat? We eat because we are hungry. If we don’t eat at all we will die. After eating our stomach are full and we stop eating. However in Paradise there is no such thing as Hunger, Full stomach or Death. Hence Eat “freely” means eating just for the sake of enjoyment. Adam and spouse were not hungry but were commanded to eat. He obeyed.
All this “blissfully living in Paradise” was actually a Test for both of them.
When everything is going fine in a person’s life, that is a big Test for him. People are enjoying lots of things eg. going for holidays, watching movies, eating out with family or friends, etc. those are Tests.
When life is “Good”, how is our character, behaviour, deeds, God conciousness, etc? When we are living luxuriously, what are our actions? If something negative happens, what are our reactions? Do we start blaming God?
It is hard for man to cope with the test of being in luxury as we shall see in this Adam story. Usually when your are rich and happy, you forgot God’s commandment and prohibition. Because of status, the person may fall into arrogance which is a fail in the test.
When someone is poor and needs Allah’s help, he will communicate and worship Allah more. Living a wretched poor life is also a test. It is not bigger a test than those who live in luxury. Both are the same in Allah’s view. Allah wants to see who pass the test. The poor too can blame Allah for not making them rich. Lack of material wealth made his heart sad. Meaning dunya is in his heart. Jelousy overtaking the heart when looking at another person’s material possession and convenient. A poor person can fail the test just as much as a rich person.
Peace in the heart does not depend on material possession. There are so many people who lead a very simple cheap life and their hearts are at peace. Live is not about finding happiness but about having a peaceful heart. People can do a lot of Haram things to find happiness. A tranquil heart is closer to Taqwa which is a criteria to Pass the Test.
The evidence in tnis ayah :-
[Quran 89:27-30]
"O (you) the soul in peace and tranquility! Come back to your Lord, Well-pleased (yourself) and well-pleasing (unto Him)! Enter you, then, among My (honoured) slaves, And enter you My Paradise!"
Proceeding with the story:
وَلَا تَقۡرَبَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلشَّجَرَةَ
"but both of you do not approach this tree"
This was a prohibition. A person who obeyed Allah’s prohibition is a righteous person of Taqwa. Before this command, there was ZERO prohibition in Paradise.
Therefore, a prohibition is new concept for Adam and Hawwa. They never experience it before. There were no rules before this.
The very first ruling = The prohibition to not approach or come near the tree. It was just a tree like any other tree in Jannah. Nothing special about this particular tree (opposite to what the Christians believed). The tree was just a test for Adam and Hawwa whether they will obey Allah’s command like the Angels or disobey like what Iblees did.
All the food and drinks in heaven is Halal and only one Haram. Surely with so many Halal to choose from, this one Haram will be an easy Test.
هَـٰذِهِ ٱلشَّجَرَةَ = This tree (not “that tree”). Meaning the tree was close to them. Imagine a Paradise that is lushes with lots and lots of trees. Out of the many trees all over Paradise in the vicinity allocated for both of them, Allah pointed to a tree. They can see the tree nearby. They recognize the tree hence there will be no such thing as accidentally (unknowingly) coming near the tree.
There is nothing special about the tree. It is just a random normal tree. It can be any other tree, no difference. The tree is not important. The lesson that Allah want to teach is the most important!
This is different from the Christian belief that it was a special guarded magical tree. Eating from the tree will cause both of them to be gods. And if they become gods, with their violent nature will cause havoc in the heavens. So God was furious at them for eating from the tree and banished them to Earth.
Quite dramatic in the Christian narrative of the tree while the Islamic narrative said that the tree was just a Test for Adam to make his very first decision in order to prepare him for life on Earth consisting of making many decisions and mistakes. God was not angry at both of them.
O.k, now we have Adam a.s and his wife, enjoying the times of their lives, with no restriction to fulfill their utmost desires, except this 1 ordinary looking tree. They have 99.99% of Halal with only 1 Haram.
Adam a.s has lots of knowledge, but there is 1 thing that he still has no experience of. That is DECISION MAKING. This is called WISDOM. A person can have lots of knowledge but NO WISDOM. So this single tree is a TEST of his judgement.
In the beginning there was only one Haram thing for human. Later on when human bred on Earth, the number of Haram things increase to suit the situation of the time. However the Haram list is still just a little compared to the Halal list.
Most Haram have the Halal equivalent. Eg.
Pork Haram ~ All other cattle meat Halal (i.e slaughtered accordingly),
Zina Haram ~ Marriage Halal,
Alcoholic drinks Haram ~ all other drinks are Halal, etc.
Is the Paradise that Adam was in the same paradise that righteous people will be entering after judgement day? Some scholars said that it was a different Paradise. These were their argument:
Definition of the actual Paradise :
- Is for people to enter only after the process of weighing the Reward and Sin on Judgement day.
- Does not have any forbidden items.
- Has no evil.
- Nobody will be leaving Paradise after entering it.
1st Opinion: The Paradise that Adam was in was a different Paradise:-
- There was no judgement of Reward to enter Paradise. However Adam and spouse were already in it.
- Had a forbidden tree.
- Evil in the form of Iblees whispering to Adam.
- Adam and spouse were taken out of Paradise.
2nd Opinion: However the stronger opinion was that this was the same Paradise. There was no evidence that this was another or temporary Paradise. The reasons:
- Human life on Earth has not begin. Judgement is not relevant yet.
- The forbidden tree was just a single item meant to Test Adam and his spouse. After that there is no more Haram in Paradise.
- This was Allah’s Paradise. He allowed Iblees for a moment to seduced Adam.
- Adam and spouse taken out of paradise because they are not meant to stay there at that time. They were to be tested on Earth.
They were shown Paradise to let them know this is human’s final destination after the test on Earth is over meant for those who “obey, “refrained” and “repented” during their lifetime of tests.
فَتَكُونَا مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
"or else both of you will be wrongdoers"
The first criteria of being a human was to have intellect (as mentioned in the naming of things).
Now we come to the second criteria of becoming a human. That was of making choices.
The human nature of curiosity and exploring made it even more tempting to approach the tree. They knew that approaching it is a prohibition but they never experience any prohibition before. Allah has warned that ignoring His command and prohibition will earn them sin (be wrongdoers).
فَتَكُونَا "else both of you will be"
= meaning both of them enjoyed Paradise together, both of them were warned of the tree and both of them will get repercussion if both of them approach the tree. In the next ayah, it was both of them that “slipped”. So do not blame on Eve (Hawwa) alone as some people did.
Allah cautioned us not to approach any Haram thing or Haram environment eg. bad companies, shamelessness, useless activities, places of idol worshipping, etc. else you may be influenced and commit sins as everyone around you is doing it too. When you go near those things, you may think that you have self-control but Satan is there to whisper and trigger you to commit sins.