Iblis or the Serpent?

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الامين

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

ِAllah, Holy and Exalted is He, says,

فَاَزَلَّہُمَا الشَّیۡطٰنُ عَنۡہَا فَاَخۡرَجَہُمَا مِمَّا کَانَا فِیۡہِ

But the Satan caused them both to slip by means of it [the Tree] and drove them out of the state in which they were

(2:36)

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

But the Satan whispered to them both to make apparent to them both that which was concealed from them both of their shame. He said, “Your Lord did not forbid you both from this tree except that you become two angels or become of the immoral”

(7:20)

فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ الشَّيْطَانُ قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ

Then the Satan whispered to him, he said, “O Adam, shall I direct to the tree of eternity and a kingdom that never decays?”

(20:120)

These passages are referring to the episode in which the Satan, Iblis, deceived Adam and Eve, who succumbed to his temptation and ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. The story is told at the beginning of the Bible, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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” (Genesis 2:15-17), “Now the serpent was more subtil 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 every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 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. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1-5)

Now one of the stark differences between the Quranic and Biblical narratives is that a snake is never mentioned as the creature that tempted them to eat from the forbidden tree. Is it possible the Bible refers to the Devil as a snake figuratively? The Book of Revelation identifies the serpent as none other than Satan, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9), “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan” (Revelation 20:2)

One of the difficulties is that the Quran says that Iblis, Satan or the Devil, was cast out of Heaven when he refused to prostrate to Adam (7:13; 15:34; 38:77). How then was he able to re-enter Paradise and tempt Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden tree? The Muslim scholars and exegetes offer various opinions. Some say Iblis was not physically present there but has the ability to whisper into the hearts of men from a distance, and the Quran does confirm that Satan was “whispering” to them (7:20; 20:120). But the early Muslim scholar, Wahb bin Munabbih, narrated a version of events that closely aligns with the Biblical account, that Iblis entered into the body of a snake and that is how he managed to gain access to the Garden he was previously expelled from:

نا عَبْدُ الرَّزَّاقِ قَالَ أرنا عُمَرُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ دُرِّيَّةَ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ وَهْبَ بْنَ مُنَبِّهٍ يَقُولُ لَمَّا أَسْكَنَ اللَّهُ آدَمَ الْجَنَّةَ وَزَوْجَتَهُ نَهَاهُ عَنِ الشَّجَرَةِ وَكَانَتِ الشَّجَرَةُ غُصُونُهَا يَتَشَعَّبُ بَعْضُهَا فِي بَعْضٍ وَكَانَ لَهَا ثَمَرٌ تَأْكُلُهَا الْمَلَائِكَةُ لِخُلُودِهِمْ وَهِيَ الشَّجَرَةُ الَّتِي نَهَى اللَّهُ آدَمَ وَزَوْجَتَهُ ‌فَلَمَّا ‌أَرَادَ ‌إِبْلِيسُ ‌أَنْ ‌يَسْتَزِلَّهُمَا ‌دَخَلَ ‌فِي ‌جَوْفِ ‌الْحَيَّةِ وَكَانَتِ الْحَيَّةُ لَهَا أَرْبَعُ قَوَائِمَ كَأَنَّهَا بُخْتِيَّةٌ مِنْ أَحْسَنِ دَابَّةٍ خَلَقَهَا اللَّهُ فَلَمَّا دَخَلَتِ الْحَيَّةُ الْجَنَّةَ خَرَجَ مِنْ جَوْفِهَا إِبْلِيسُ فَأَخَذَ مِنَ الشَّجَرَةِ الَّتِي نَهَى اللَّهُ عَنْهَا آدَمَ وَزَوْجَتَهُ فَجَاءَ بِهَا إِلَى حَوَّاءَ فَقَالَ انْظُرِي هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ مَا أَطْيَبَ رِيحَهَا وَأَطْيَبَ طَعْمَهَا وَأَحْسَنَ لَوْنَهَا فَأَكَلَتْ مِنْهَا ثُمَّ ذَهَبَتْ بِهَا إِلَى آدَمَ فَقَالَتِ انْظُرْ إِلَى هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ مَا أَطْيَبَ رِيحَهَا وَأَطْيَبَ طَعْمَهَا وَأَحْسَنَ لَوْنَهَا فَأَكَلَ مِنْهَا آدَمُ فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْآتُهُمَا فَدَخَلَ آدَمُ فِي جَوْفِ الشَّجَرَةِ فَنَادَاهُ رَبُّهُ يَا آدَمُ أَيْنَ أَنْتَ قَالَ هَأَنَذَا يَا رَبِّ قَالَ أَلَا تَخْرُجُ قَالَ أَسْتَحِي مِنْكَ يَا رَبِّ قَالَ مَلْعُونَةٌ الْأَرْضُ الَّتِي خُلِقْتَ مِنْهَا لَعْنَةً تَتَحَوَّلُ ثِمَارُهَا شَوْكًا قَالَ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ فِي الْجَنَّةِ وَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ شَجَرَتَانِ أَفْضَلَ مِنَ الطَّلْحِ وَالسِّدْرِ ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا حَوَّاءُ أَنْتِ الَّتِي غَرَّرْتِ عَبْدِي فَإِنَّكِ لَا تَحْمِلِينَ حَمْلًا إِلَّا حَمَلْتِهِ كُرْهًا فَإِذَا أَرَدْتِ أَنْ تَضَعِي مَا فِي بَطْنِكِ أَشْرَفْتِ عَلَى الْمَوْتِ مِرَارًا وَقَالَ لِلْحَيَّةِ أَنْتِ الَّتِي دَخَلَ الْمَلْعُونُ فِي جَوْفِكِ حَتَّى غَرَّ عَبْدِي مَلْعُونَةٌ أَنْتِ لَعْنَةً تَتَحَوَّلُ قَوَائِمُكِ فِي بَطْنِكِ وَلَا يَكُونُ لَكِ رِزْقٌ إِلَّا التُّرَابَ أَنْتِ عَدُوَّةُ بَنِي آدَمَ وَهُمْ أَعْدَاؤُكِ حَيْثُ لَقِيتِ أَحَدًا مِنْهُمْ أَخَذْتِ بِعَقِبِهِ وَحَيْثُمَا لَقِيَكَ شَدَخَ رَأْسَكِ قَالَ عُمَرُ فَقِيلَ لِوَهْبٍ وَهَلْ كَانَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ تَأْكُلُ قَالَ يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ مَا يَشَاءُ

Narrated to us Abd al-Razzaq: He said: from Umar bin Abd al-Rahman bin Durriyyah. He said: I heard Wahb bin Munabbih say: When Allah settled Adam and his wife in Paradise, He forbade him from the Tree. The Tree had branches that branched out from one another, and it had fruit that the Angels would eat for their immortality. It was the Tree from which Allah forbade Adam and his wife. So when Iblis wanted to make them slip, he entered the belly of the snake, which had four legs, like a camel, one of the most beautiful creatures that Allah had created. When the snake entered Paradise, Iblis came out of its belly and took from the tree that Allah had forbidden Adam and his wife, and brought it to Eve and said, “Look at this Tree, how pleasant is its smell, how pleasant is its taste, and how beautiful is its color!” So she ate from it. Then she went with it to Adam and said, “Look at this Tree! How pleasant is its smell, how pleasant is its taste, and how beautiful is its color!” So Adam ate from it, and their private parts became apparent to them both. Then Adam entered the belly of the Tree, and his Lord called to him, “O Adam, where are you?” He said, “Here I am, O Lord.” He said, “Will you not come out?” He said, “I am ashamed of You, O my Lord.” He said, “Cursed is the earth from which you were created, a curse. Its fruits turn into thorns.” He said there were not in Paradise or on the earth two trees better than the Talh and the Lote tree. Then He said, “O Eve, you are the one who deceived My servant. For indeed, you do not bear a burden except that you bear it unwillingly. So when you desire to give birth to what is in Your belly, you have been on the verge of death repeatedly. And He said to the snake, “You are the one into whose belly the accursed one has entered until he has deceived My servant. You are cursed, you are a curse. You will slither on your belly and you will have no provision except dust. You are the enemy of the children of Adam, and they are your enemies. Wherever you meet one of them, you seize him by the heel, and wherever he meets you, he smashes your head.” Umar said, “So it was said to Wahb, Did the Angels eat?” He said, “Allah does what He wishes” (Tafsir Abd-ul-Razzaq al-San’ani, v.2, pp.76-77, #892)

I generally agree with the idea that Iblis tempted Adam and Eve by whispering into their minds, which could even be a kind of telepathic communication. But it also seems that he physically appeared to Eve in the form of a snake. The Garden in which Adam and Eve had been placed is not necessarily the celestial Paradise of the Afterlife, but a place that was on this Earth, explaining how Iblis was able to enter it. It was called Paradise because it is described as a place where there was no hunger or excessive heat,

إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَىٰ

وَأَنَّكَ لَا تَظْمَأُ فِيهَا وَلَا تَضْحَىٰ

Indeed, for you, wherein you will not hunger nor be naked

And indeed, you will not thirst therein nor suffer the heat

(20:118-119)

Allah and His Apostle know best!