The
Start of Sin
But what did Satan do? He hungered to
throw down Adam and Eve into sin, so what did he do? Allah, all praise and glory be is Him, says:
“But Satan
whispered to them to make apparent to them that which was concealed from them
of their private parts.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 20)
The Saying of the Truth “waswas” (to whisper evil) signifies
that the dialogue passed in whispers. Al-Waswasah [devilish insinuation or evil
whispering ] is temptation to do evil, for the one who calls to goodness does not
care if he spoke loudly; but calling to evil and sin is only spoken in hushed tones.
Al-Waswasah in Arabic language is the
ringing sound of gold. The ringing of gold and jewels is a sound that attracts
people, tempts them and engages their attention. In Waswasah (evil whispering)
there must be temptation, because if you wanted to turn people away from the
Law of Allah you must lure them with winning some worldly pleasure.
Here we must pause to interpret the
Saying of Allah, “But Satan whispered to them” because the common misconception
is that Satan first tempted Eve and then Eve tempted Adam and adorned to him
sin until he ate from the tree and were it not for Eve, Adam would have
remained in paradise!
We reply be saying that Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, has cleared Eve of that lie. The part of the Ayah
saying what means: “But Satan whispered to them ” is a proof that Satan has
adorned sin to Adam same as Eve. In other words, Satan misled both Adam and
Eve, and Eve was not the one who tempted Adam but Satan allured them
together.
But what was Satan’s aim from this evil
whispering? His aim was that Adam and Eve disobey their Lord and be punished as
he was punished by expulsion from Allah’s Mercy. The punishment here was the
appearance of the shameful (private) parts of Adam and Eve. The shameful parts
are the parts that make you feel shame to look at. Because the innate nature of
man makes him feel shame to have his private parts disclosed before
people.
Before Adam and Eve ate from the tree
none of them had ever seen the private parts of the other, not even his own
private parts. Adam neither saw his own private parts nor those of Eve. Also,
Eve neither saw her own private parts nor those of Adam. Allah has screened
them both from each other.
Scholars have exerted themselves in
trying to know how the private parts of Adam and Eve were screened from
themselves. Some said that they had coverings over them. Other said that the
nails of Adam and Eve were long, reaching their feet, and they covered the
private parts then by sin these nails disappeared.
We should not concern ourselves with
this, for Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, screened the private parts of
Adam and Eve however He willed. By a strong light, because when light is strong
we cannot see things through it. Light when weak allow us to distinguish things
and when strong hides them from us. Whether Allah, all praise and glory is to
Him, screened the private parts of Adam and Eve by cloth or nails or a light,
the important thing is that the private parts were screened before their eyes.
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