Chapter Three
Adam and Satan
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him,
expelled Satan and got him out of what he once had. Satan got out expelled,
cursed and disparaged. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, has threatened
whoever follows the devil, with torment in Hellfire.
Allah, The Most Exalted and
Ever-Majestic, has prepared in Paradise – as we have previously mentioned –
places to accommodate all His creatures, since the time of Adam (peace be upon
him) till the Last Hour befalls. And He has also prepared in Hellfire places to
all His creatures, since Adam till the Last Hour befalls. If all creatures
obey, Allah’s Blessings in Paradise will be great enough for them all and if
all creatures disobey, Allah’s Torment in Hellfire will come upon them all.
Allah willed that Adam and Eve should
undergo a practical experience on how they and their offspring can confront the
evil insinuations of the devil to be fortified against him, and learn for sure
that the devil is a liar in his promises and he only brings evil, misguidance
and loss of blessings.
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him,
says what means:
“And ‘O Adam,
dwell, you and your wife, in paradise and eat from wherever you will but do not
approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 19)
From this glorious Ayah we learn that
Adam and Eve have dwelt in a paradise or a garden but many scholars said that
the meant garden in the glorious Ayah is the Paradise of Eternity in the
Hereafter, which drove some orientalists and others to ask: “How can Satan
enter the Paradise of those obedient to Allah and whisper evil to Adam and Eve
and tempt them into sin? How can Satan, the sinner and the outcast from Allah’s
Mercy, who is doomed to eternal torment in Hellfire, enter the Paradise of
Eternity?”
And how can Adam and Eve enter the
Paradise of Eternity and get out of it? Although Allah, all praise and glory is
to Him, has decreed that whoever enters the Paradise of Eternity will live in
it forever?
We say to them all that you did not
understand the import of “Jannah” (Paradise) in the Noble Qur’an. There is what
we call in Arabic language “prevalent usage”; the word has many meanings but is
usually used for one, so whenever man says it that meaning specifically comes
to mind. From that cause when we hear the word “Jannah” we only think of the
Paradise of Eternity, because it is the true Paradise. But Allah, all praise
and glory is to Him, has used “Jannah” in the Noble Qur’an to refer to various
meanings.
Linguistically, Al-Jannah means
As-Satir [veil, screen, cover, shelter…], therefore it is used to designate a
shady place rich in ample, diverse trees so that when man walks therein these
trees shade and conceal him with their interlaced branches from those outside
this Jannah, thus they no longer can see him. At the same time he finds in it
all the means of living, hence he does not need to get out of it and that is
the linguistic meaning of Jannah.
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