Adam Dwelled in an Earthly Paradise (Part 2)

 

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In an article I wrote on this blog some four years ago I made the case for the Paradise in which Allah placed Adam and his wife in, the Garden of Eden, being a location on this planet Earth, in this mortal realm.

The story of Adam and Eve being deceived by Satan and thereafter, as a consequence, being expelled from the Garden of Eden, is repeated throughout the holy Quran because there is great significance in the moral lesson it contains for mankind. Allah Most High created Adam and ordered the Angels, the category of His creation blessed to be in His Presence and constantly glorifying and praising Him, to make obeissance to Adam. Apparently a person named Iblis was likewise included in this order to make obeissance to Adam. For this reason, some Muslim scholastic authorities have opined that Iblis is a “fallen Angel” whose original name was Azazel. However, Allah says in the Quran concerning the Angels:

لَّا یَعۡصُوۡنَ اللّٰہَ مَاۤ اَمَرَہُمۡ وَیَفۡعَلُوۡنَ مَا یُؤۡمَرُوۡنَ

They do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but they do as they are commanded

(Juz 28, Surah 66, Ayah 6)

In fact, it is made clear in the Quran that Iblis is a Jinn:

کَانَ مِنَ الۡجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنۡ اَمۡرِ رَبِّہٖ

He was of the Jinn; and he disobeyed the command of his Lord

(Juz 15, Surah 18, Ayah 50)

When Iblis obstinately refused to prostrate before Adam, due to his arrogance, his jealousy, his hatred for man, and his feeling of superiority, Allah Most High at that instant expelled him from His Presence:

قَالَ فَاہۡبِطۡ مِنۡہَا فَمَا یَکُوۡنُ لَکَ اَنۡ تَتَکَبَّرَ فِیۡہَا فَاخۡرُجۡ اِنَّکَ مِنَ الصّٰغِرِیۡنَ

Allah said: Depart hence. It behoves you not to be arrogant here. Get out, you are surely of those abased

(Juz 8, Surah 7, Ayah 13)

قَالَ فَاخۡرُجۡ مِنۡہَا فَاِنَّکَ رَجِیۡمٌ

Thereupon Allah commanded: Get out hence, for you are rejected

(Juz 14, Surah 15, Ayah 34; Juz 23, Surah 38, Ayah 77)

Since the Quran makes clear that Iblis was expelled from Allah’s Presence when he refused to prostrate to Adam, the question arises how was Iblis able to return to Paradise and deceive Adam and Eve, after which they were all expelled from Paradise? (Juz 8, Surah 7, Ayah 24) An ignorant person argued that when Iblis was ordered to leave Paradise, he asked for respite and Allah granted his request, therefore, he remained a little longer in Paradise in order to beguile Adam and Eve and then was at last expelled with them thereafter!

But this absurd theory is easily refuted by the Quran:

لَئِنۡ اَخَّرۡتَنِ اِلٰی یَوۡمِ الۡقِیٰمَۃِ لَاَحۡتَنِکَنَّ ذُرِّیَّتَہٗۤ اِلَّا قَلِیۡلًا

[Iblis said]: If You will grant me respite till the Day of Resurrection, I will most surely reduce his posterity to subjection except a few

قَالَ اذۡہَبۡ فَمَنۡ تَبِعَکَ مِنۡہُمۡ فَاِنَّ جَہَنَّمَ جَزَآؤُکُمۡ جَزَآءً مَّوۡفُوۡرًا

[Allah] said: Get out. Hell shall be the recompense of you all, you and those who follow you from among them: an adequate recompense

وَاسۡتَفۡزِزۡ مَنِ اسۡتَطَعۡتَ مِنۡہُمۡ بِصَوۡتِکَ وَاَجۡلِبۡ عَلَیۡہِمۡ بِخَیۡلِکَ وَرَجِلِکَ وَشَارِکۡہُمۡ فِی الۡاَمۡوَالِ وَالۡاَوۡلَادِ وَعِدۡہُمۡ ؕ وَمَا یَعِدُہُمُ الشَّیۡطٰنُ اِلَّا غُرُوۡرًا

Go ahead and entice whomsoever of them you can, with your voice, and mount assaults against them with your horse and your foot and be their partner in wealth and offspring, and make promises to them. And Satan promises them naught but deceit

(Juz 15, Surah 17, Ayat 62-64)

This passage makes clear that despite granting Iblis respite, Allah ordered his immediate expulsion from His Presence. So it could not have been there where Adam and Eve were dwelling and somehow Satan sneaked back in to beguile them.

*Interestingly, the last Ayah quoted mentions Satan’s voice, horse and foot as the means for him to entice and misguide mankind. The voice of Satan is a reference to his and the ability of the other devils and demons to whisper evil suggestions into the hearts of humans, and it may also be a reference to the evil lyrics and sounds of music, poetry and the recited scriptures of pagan religions. The horse of Satan is a reference to the Satanic cavalry, the generals and ranking officers of his army, while his foot is a reference to the Satanic infantry of lesser foot soldiers who likewise do his bidding in waging spiritual warfare against Islam.

Those who insist the Paradise from which Adam and Eve were banished as a consequence of their disobedience in eating from the forbidden Tree is the everlasting Paradise of the Afterlife should know that Allah says no one will ever be expelled from that Paradise:

وَّمَا ہُمۡ مِّنۡہَا بِمُخۡرَجِیۡنَ

Nor shall they be ejected therefrom

(Juz 14, Surah 15, Ayah 48)

Furthermore, Allah says, according to a Hadith Qudsi, concerning Paradise:

أَعْدَدْتُ لِعِبَادِي الصَّالِحِينَ مَا لاَ عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ وَلاَ أُذُنٌ سَمِعَتْ وَلاَ خَطَرَ عَلَى قَلْبِ بَشَرٍ

I have prepared for my righteous servants what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human heart can imagine

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Yet this Hadith Qudsi will apparently be falsified if it is admitted that Adam and Eve were present in that Paradise.

In his monumental Tafsir of the Quran, Imam Fakhruddin al-Razi quotes the opinion of two Mu’tazilite theologians, Abul-Qasim al-Balkhi and Abu Muslim al-Isfahani, who argued that the Paradise in which Allah made Adam and Eve dwell was a Garden of the Earth and not the eternal Paradise of the Hereafter:

الْمَسْأَلَةُ الرَّابِعَةُ اخْتَلَفُوا فِي الْجَنَّةِ الْمَذْكُورَةِ فِي هَذِهِ الْآيَةِ هَلْ كَانَتْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَوْ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَبِتَقْدِيرِ أَنَّهَا كَانَتْ فِي السَّمَاءِ فَهَلْ هِيَ الْجَنَّةُ الَّتِي هِيَ دَارُ الثَّوَابِ أَوْ جَنَّةُ الْخُلْدِ أَوْ جَنَّةٌ أُخْرَى فَقَالَ أَبُو الْقَاسِمِ الْبَلْخِيُّ وَأَبُو مُسْلِمٍ الْأَصْفَهَانِيُّ هَذِهِ الْجَنَّةُ كَانَتْ فِي الْأَرْضِ

(Tafsir al-Kabir; v.3, p.3)

One of the objections to the idea that the Garden which Adam and Eve dwelt in was in the Earth is that Allah says:

قَالَ اہۡبِطُوۡا بَعۡضُکُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ عَدُوٌّ ۚ وَلَکُمۡ فِی الۡاَرۡضِ مُسۡتَقَرٌّ وَّمَتَاعٌ اِلٰی حِیۡنٍ

[Allah] said: Go forth, some of you will be enemies of others. And for you there is an abode on the Earth and a provision for a time

(Juz 8, Surah 7, Ayah 23)

The objection is that how could Adam and Eve be expelled from a place that was on Earth only to be told that the Earth is their abode. Imam al-Razi has quoted the response of the Mu’tazilite theologians:

وَحَمَلَا الْإِهْبَاطَ عَلَى الِانْتِقَالِ مِنْ بُقْعَةٍ إِلَى بُقْعَةٍ كَمَا فِي قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى اهْبِطُوا مِصْراً

The meaning of the going forth is movement from one place to another like how the Most High says ‘Go into a settlement’ (Surah 2, Ayah 61)

(Tafsir al-Kabir; v.3, p.3)

In other words there is no problem in the idea that Adam and Eve were expelled from one part of the Earth and told to live anywhere else in the rest of the Earth, just as the Prophet Moses told some of his people who were complaining about having to be limited to eating one kind of food that they should therefore go into some settlement and find the food they want. Being told to go into a settlement does not imply that they were not already present in a settlement.

Another argument quoted from the Mu’tazilite theologians who argued that the Paradise from which Adam and Eve were banished was on Earth is that Satan tempted them to eat from the Tree by saying that if they did so they would attain immortality:

وَقَالَ مَا نَہٰکُمَا رَبُّکُمَا عَنۡ ہٰذِہِ الشَّجَرَۃِ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡ تَکُوۡنَا مَلَکَیۡنِ اَوۡ تَکُوۡنَا مِنَ الۡخٰلِدِیۡنَ

[Satan] said: Your Lord has forbidden you this Tree only lest you become two Angels or that you should live forever

(Juz 8, Surah 7, Ayah 20)

فَوَسۡوَسَ اِلَیۡہِ الشَّیۡطٰنُ قَالَ یٰۤـاٰدَمُ ہَلۡ اَدُلُّکَ عَلٰی شَجَرَۃِ الۡخُلۡدِ وَمُلۡکٍ لَّا یَبۡلٰی

But Satan tried to entice him away and said: Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of eternity and to a kingdom that never declines?

(Juz 16, Surah 20, Ayah 120)

If the Paradise in which Adam and Eve were dwelling in was the Paradise of eternity into which the Believers shall enter in the Afterlife, then how could Satan be successful in tempting Adam and Eve to disobey Allah with a promise of immortality?

Now it should be strongly established that the Jannah in which Adam and Eve dwelt was the Garden of Eden, a paradise on Earth. Khwaja Ghulam Farid (1845-1901), a poet and mystic from south Punjab, is quoted as saying:

یہ جو مشہور ہے کہ حضرت آدم اور بی بی حوا کو بہشت سے نکالا گیا اور یہ کہا جاتا ہے کہ آسمان سے زمین پر پھینک دیے گۓ یہ بالکل صحیح نہیں ہے بلکہ حقیقت یہ ہے کہ ملک یمن کے قریب ایک باغ تھا جو بہشت کی طرح نہایت ہی دل آویز اور دلکشا تھا حضرت آدم اور بی بی حوا اس باغ میں رہتے تھے اور یہی ان کی بہشت اور جنت تھی

The popular view that Adam and Eve were banished from Heaven and thrown down to the Earth is totally incorrect. Rather, the fact is that there was a garden near the country of Yemen which was extremely delightful like Heaven. Adam and Eve used to reside in that garden which was their Heaven and Paradise (Maqabis ul-Majalis, p.799)