20. [Taha, Mecca 45]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s Version:
فَوَسْوَسَ
إِلَيْهِ
الشَّيْطَانُ...
20: 120. But Satan whispered evil to him:
قَالَ يَا آدَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَى شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَى ﴿١٢٠﴾
he said, "O Adam! shall I lead thee to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?"
C2643. The suggestion of Satan is clever, as it always is: it is false, and at the same time plausible.
It is false, because;
- that felicity was not temporary, like the life of this world, and
- they were supreme in the Garden, and a "kingdom" such as was dangled before them would only add to their sorrows.
It was plausible, because;
- nothing had been said to them about Eternity, as the opposite of Eternity was not yet known, and
- the sweets of Power arise from the savour of Self, and Self is an alluring (if false) attraction that misleads the Will.
فَأَكَلَا
مِنْهَا فَبَدَتْ
لَهُمَا سَوْآتُهُمَا...
20: 121. In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them:
C2644. Hitherto they knew no evil. Now, when disobedience to Allah had sullied their soul and torn off the garment, their sullied Self appeared to themselves in all its nakedness and ugliness, and they had to resort to external things (leaves of the Garden) to cover the shame of their self-consciousness..
...وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِن وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ...
they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden:
...وَعَصَى آدَمُ رَبَّهُ فَغَوَى ﴿١٢١﴾
thus did Adam disobey His Lord, and allow himself to be seduced.
C2645. Adam had been given the will to choose, and he chose wrong, and was about to be lost when Allah's Grace came to his aid. His repentance was accepted, and Allah chose him for His Mercy, as stated in the next verse.
ثُمَّ
اجْتَبَاهُ
رَبُّهُ فَتَابَ
عَلَيْهِ
وَهَدَى ﴿١٢٢﴾
20: 122. But his Lord chose him (for His Grace):
He turned to him, and gave him guidance.
قَالَ اهْبِطَا
مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا
بَعْضُكُمْ
لِبَعْضٍ
عَدُوٌّ...
20: 123. He said:
"Get ye down, both of you -- all together, from the Garden, with enmity one to another;
C2646. The little variations between this passage and 2:38 are instructive, as showing how clearly the particular argument is followed in each case.
Here ihbita ('get ye down') is in the dual number, and refers to the two individual souls, our common ancestors.
in 2:38 ihbita is in the plural number, to include all mankind and Satan, for the argument is about the collective life of man.
On the other hand, "all together" includes Satan, the spirit of evil, and the enmity "one to another" refers to the eternal feud between Man and Satan, between our better and Evil.
...فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَى ﴿١٢٣﴾
but if, as is sure, there comes to you guidance from Me, whosoever follows My guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall into misery.
C2647. For the same reason as in the last note, we have here the consequences of Guidance to the individual, viz.: being saved from going astray or from falling into misery and despair.
In 2:38, the consequences expressed, though they apply to the individual, are also appropriate taken collectively: "on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
وَمَنْ
أَعْرَضَ عَن
ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ
لَهُ مَعِيشَةً
ضَنكًا...
20: 124. "But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down,
...وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَى ﴿١٢٤﴾
and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment."
C2648. Again, as in the last two verses, there is a variation from the previous passage (2:39).
The consequences of the rejection of Allah's guidance are here expressed more individually: a life narrowed down, and a blindness that will persist beyond this life.
"A life narrowed down" has many implications:
- it is a life from which all the beneficent influences of Allah's wide world are excluded;
- in looking exclusively to the "good things" of this life, it misses the true Reality.
قَالَ
رَبِّ لِمَ
حَشَرْتَنِي
أَعْمَى وَقَدْ
كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥﴾
20: 125. He will say: "O my Lord! why hast thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?"
C2649. Because Allah gave him physical sight in this life for trial, he thinks he should be favoured in the real world, the world that matters! He misused his physical sight and made himself blind for the other world.
Asad’s Version:
20:120
But Satan whispered unto him, saying: "O Adam! Shall I lead thee to the tree of life eternal;
and [thus] to a kingdom that will never decay?" 106
20:121
And so the two ate [of the fruit] thereof: and thereupon they became conscious of their nakedness and began to cover themselves with pieced-together leaves from the garden. And [thus] did Adam disobey his Sustainer, and thus did he fall into grievous error. 107
20:122
Thereafter, [however,) his Sustainer elected him [for His grace], and accepted his repentance,and bestowed His guidance upon him,
(20:123) saying: "Down with you all 108 from this [state of innocence, and be henceforth] enemies unto one another! None the less, there shall most certainly come unto you guidance from Me: and he who follows My guidance will not go astray, and neither will he be unhappy.
(20:124) But as for him who shall turn away from remembering Me - his shall be a life of narrow scope; 109 and on the Day of Resurrection We shall raise him up blind. "
106 This symbolic tree is designated in the Bible as "the tree of life" and "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis ii, 9), while in the above Qur'anic account Satan speaks of it as "the tree of life eternal (al-khuld)". Seeing that Adam and Eve did not achieve immortality despite their tasting the forbidden fruit, it is obvious that Satan's suggestion was, as it always is, deceptive. On the other hand, the Qur'an tells us nothing about the real nature of that "tree" beyond pointing out that it was Satan who described it - falsely - as "the tree of immortality" : and so we may assume that the forbidden tree is simply an allegory of the limits which the Creator has set to man's desires and actions: limits beyond which he may not go without offending against his own, God-willed nature. Man's desire for immortality on earth implies a wishful denial of death and resurrection, and thus of the ultimate reality of what the Qur'an describes as "the hereafter" or "the life to come" (al-akhirah). This desire is intimately connected with Satan's insinuation that it is within man's reach to become the master of "a kingdom that will never decay" : in other words, to become "free" of all limitations and thus, in the last resort, of the very concept of God - the only concept which endows human life with real meaning and purpose.
107 Regarding the symbolism of Adam and Eve's becoming "conscious of their nakedness", see note 105 above as well as the reference, in 7:26-27, to "the garment of God-consciousness", the loss of whichmade man's ancestors "aware of their nakedness", i.e., of their utter helplessness and, hence, their dependence on God.
108 See surah 7, note 16.
109 I.e., sterile and spiritually narrow, without any real meaning or purpose: and this, as is indicated in the subsequent clause, will be a source of their suffering in the hereafter.
20:125
[And so, on Resurrection Day, the sinner] will ask: "O my Sustainer! Why hast Thou raised
me up blind, whereas [on earth] I was endowed with sight?" (20:126) [God] will reply: "Thus
it is: there came unto thee Our messages, but thou wert oblivious of them; and thus shalt thou
be today consigned to oblivion!"