Chapter
Four
Adam’s
Guilt… And Satan’s Guilt
We have concluded the last chapter by
stating that Satan wormed his way into the temptation of Adam from the
direction that Allah is The Ever-Mighty, The Ever-Rich, Who, by His
Sovereign-Self, is richly beyond need of any of His creatures. Allah, Blessed
and Exalted is He, says in the Divine Hadith concerning that meaning:
“Were the first of you and the last, the living and the
dead, the green and the withered (i.e., the young and old; or the obedient and
disobedient; or those who have knowledge and those who are ignorant) had the
heart of the man most pious among My servants, that would not add to My Kingdom
a mosquito wing. And were the first of you and the last, the living and the
dead, the green and the withered had the heart of the wickedest among My
servants, that would not decrease from My Kingdom a mosquito wing. And were the
first of you and the last, the living and the dead, the green and the withered
to gather at one highland and every man amongst you ask all he wishes for and
were I to grant each supplicant what he asked for, it would decrease nothing
from My Kingdom, any more than when one of you passes by the sea and immerses a
needle into it then raises it (back) to himself. This is because I am the Most
Generous, the Glorious, Do whatever I will. My Giving is words and My Torture
is words. Truly, My Command, when I will a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be!’
and it is!”
Thus, from the door of the
All-Mightiness of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, Satan crept to
misleading Adam. Satan succeeded to convince Adam that Allah has prohibited him
from eating of the tree because He does not wish him goodness, for us to beware
of Satan’s stratagem in temptation. For definitely, there is no goodness in a
seeming goodness that leads to Hellfire and disobedience, and there is no evil
in a seeming harm that leads to Paradise and obedience to Allah.
Satan tried to depict evil to man as
goodness. Therefore, he presented to Adam the act of disobedience as benefit.
So, when Adam ate from the tree and committed the sin, Satan fled!
The question that crosses the mind at this point is why did
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, forgive the disobedience of Adam and did
not forgive the disobedience of Satan? Adam disobeyed and Satan disobeyed,
Allah pardoned the first and accepted his repentance, and He cursed the second
and made him eternally abiding in Hell. What is the difference between the two
guilty acts?
The answer is that when Adam and Eve
disobeyed Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, they did not persist in
disobedience, and did not try to reject the decree of the Decreer. They did not
say, “Your Judgment is untrue,” as Satan did when he proclaimed, “I am better
than him (Adam). You created me of fire, and You created him of clay.” (7: 12)
They never did that but they admitted their guilt and begged Forgiveness and
Mercy from Allah. Regarding this, Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says
(what means):
“They said, ‘Our
Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy
upon us, we will surely be among the losers.’” (Al-A‘râf , 7: 23)
These are the words that Adam and Eve
both said after disobedience. Their words meant: O Lord Your Word is the Truth and Your Judgment is the Truth but we
failed to oblige our weak selves to abide by the Law, thus we indeed wronged
ourselves, we walked in the path of perdition and we beg from You forgiveness
and mercy. And if You do not bestow them upon us, we shall certainly be among
the losers who have lost their own selves on Resurrection Day.
Thus, Adam and Eve begged that Allah
would relent towards them. Regarding this incident, The Truth, all praise and
glory is to Him, says (what means):
“Then Adam received
from his Lord [some] words, and He accepted his repentance. Indeed, it is He
who is the Accepting of repentance, the Merciful.” (Al-Baqarah, 2: 37)
Repentance occurred in three stages:
the first stage is that Allah legislated repentance. The second stage is that
when they showed repentance He accepted it from them. And the third stage of
repentance is by not reverting to sin. Some people fail to comprehend the
Saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, which means:
“Then He turned to
them so they could repent. Indeed, Allah is the Accepting of repentance, the
Merciful.” (At-Taubah, 9: 118)
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