In the previous part, we finished with the question of Adam’s tree and the so-called “sin” or mistake of Adam. What was the tree that Adam ate from, so that he was expelled from Jannah, from the Garden of Eden? And what was his sin, and was it a sin at all?
In the 35th verse of Surah al-Baqarah we read: “And We said: ‘O Adam! Dwell in Paradise, you and your wife, and eat from it as you please, but do not come near this tree, lest you be among the oppressors.'”
So it turns out that Adam ate from a tree, for example, an apple, and because of this he was expelled from Paradise? In fact, it is not quite so. The Quran was revealed in the language of symbols, codes. For example, when Allah says that people will be given a book on the Day of Judgement – the righteous on the right, and the wicked on the left – does this literally mean a book that needs to be leafed through, read, that has pages, a cover? It is clear that the word “book” has a figurative meaning here, that is, the righteous and sinners will be shown their deeds. Or a writing pen. Allah says: “Nun. wal kalami wa ma yasturun” – “Nun. I swear by the writing pen and what is written.” And the hadith says that Nun is the name of the Messenger of Allah (S), and kalam is a pen of light that writes on a tablet of light. But is this literally a pen, like a pen or a pencil? Of course not, but it is a certain reality of light that writes, records information, let’s say so…
All this is the language of symbols. And the same goes for the tree, the shajara of Adam. Let’s see what a tree can serve as a symbol for. Usually a tree has roots, a trunk, branches and leaves, that is, a certain branched structure. And therefore it resembles creation. That is why they talk about the tree of the universe.
A very important hadith for our topic was transmitted from Imam Askari (A). He says in the interpretation of the words of Allah: ““but do not come near this tree” – “that is, the tree of knowledge, the tree of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, peace be upon them, through which Allah singled them out from all creation, and this tree is only for Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and no one except them eats from it (fruits) by the command of Allah.
And Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, said: “Do not approach this tree,” trying to reach the level of Muhammad and the family of Muhammad (S) and their greatness, for Allah has marked only them with this tree, and this tree is such that whoever eats from it by Allah’s permission is inspired with the knowledge of the first and the last without any teaching.” That is, it was the tree of creation, the tree of knowledge that belongs to Ahl al-Bayt (A), those very Aliyin, the Highest, about whom Allah asked Iblis: a stakbarta au kunta mina l-Aliyin – “Are you arrogant or are you from among the Highest?” And approaching this tree or eating from it is like “climbing” up the ladder of creation. “Do not approach the tree” – that is, do not desire the position of Ahl al-Bayt.
Then Allah says in Surah al-Ahzab that Iblis said to Adam and Eve: ma nahaakuma rabbukuma an hazihi shshajara illa an takuuna malakeini – “Your Lord has forbidden you this tree only so that you do not become two angels” – au takuuna mina l-khaalidin – “or become eternal.” And in the hadiths it came that khaalidin, “eternal” is the same as Aliin, “the Highest”, that is, the light of Allah – Ahl ul-Bayt. And then Allah says: “And he swore to them that he is a good adviser to them.” And in the 120th verse of Surah Ta-Ha we read: fa waswasa ilaihi shshaytaanu kaal — “and the devil inspired him saying” — ya Adamu hal adulluka ala shajarati l-khuldi wa mulkin la yabla — “O Adam! Shall I not show you the tree of eternity and the everlasting power?” What is mulk la yabla, the everlasting power? Wilayat Ahl ul-Bayt! This is the same mulk about whom Allah says: wa aAtayna aala ibrahima l-kitaba wal hikma wa aAtaynahu mulkan Azima — “We gave the family of Ibrahim the scripture and wisdom, and We gave them great power” (4:54). And “the family of Ibrahim” here is Ahl ul-Bayt.
In the continuation of the same hadith from Imam Askari (A) it is said that Iblis entered Jannah, the Garden of Eden, hiding in the mouth of the serpent, and swore to Eve that Allah had already permitted them to eat from this tree. And she came up and ate from it. And seeing that nothing had happened to her, Adam did the same.
And when he did this, the ornaments and clothes that they were wearing flew off them, and they became naked, as Allah says: “And when they ate from the tree, their abomination appeared before them, and they began to sew for themselves leaves of Paradise.”
And Allah said: “Go down” – that is, leave the garden – “enemies of one another!” – Adam and Eve and their descendants are enemies of the serpent, and Iblis and the serpent and their descendants are enemies to you, as it is said in the hadith. “For you on earth is a place of residence and enjoyment for a time.”
What do we understand from these verses and the hadiths that explain them? We understand that Adam did not disobey Allah intentionally. On the contrary, his goal was to obey Allah and obtain those degrees that would bring him even closer to Allah. And Iblis came to him and swore that Allah had permitted him and Eve this tree, and that if he ate from it, he would obtain those degrees. It is not the case that Adam followed Iblis. Firstly, he did not know that it was Iblis. As we saw from the hadith of Imam Askari (A), the shaitan appeared to him and Eve in the mouth of the serpent. Secondly, Adam sought to understand the will of Allah, and when he heard the serpent swear that Allah had already permitted them this tree, he acted in accordance with what he understood about the will of Allah. And another hadith says that Adam did not think or suppose that there could be a creation that would swear falsely by Allah. And Iblis swore by Allah, speaking from the mouth of a snake, a snake that was, as the hadith says, one of the noblest creatures of Paradise…
The Quran does not say that Adam committed a sin – in Arabic, zanb. Allah says: wa Asa adamu rabbahu fa gawa – “and Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray.” That is, Adam did not commit a sin, not zanb, he committed disobedience, isyan. These are completely different things. Disobedience is broader than sin. Zanb, sin – is a type of disobedience that entails punishment from Allah. Whereas there can be a type of disobedience that does not entail punishment. I will give you an example. In the hadiths, there is what the Imam says: after eating fish, do not drink milk. I ate fish and drank milk after it. Did I disobey or not? I disobeyed. But does this mean that I committed a sin and thereby deserve punishment from Allah? I disobeyed in the sense that I did not act as the Imam instructs, but I did not commit a sin. I simply made things worse for myself, for my health and well-being, because milk after fish is harmful to health. The same is true for Adam. Adam “asa”, committed isyan, disobedience, in the sense that he still ate from the tree from which Allah ordered him not to eat. This is the result. But he ate from it as a result of deceiving Iblis and striving to get closer to Allah through this. This could in no way be a sin. But did Adam thereby fulfill what Allah ordered him to do? In the end, did he submit to Allah or not? No, he did not submit… That is, it is not a sin, but not submission either. And that is why Allah says: wa Asa adamu rabbahu fa gawa – “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray.”
“Gawa” means “to go astray” or “to deviate from the goal.” This does not mean that Adam went astray. “Misdirection” as a deviation from the straight path is called “zalal” in the Quran and Hadith. This is real error. Allah does not say that Adam went astray in zalal – fa zalla. He says that Adam is “gawa.” “Gawa” here means that Adam did not achieve his goal, which he desired, by eating from the tree, did not achieve that great position of Ahl al-Bayt, which he strove to achieve. To better understand this, I will give you an example: let’s say a father forbade his beloved son to do something because of his mercy towards him and the hardship and danger of this matter, but at some point the son thought that his father had nevertheless lifted his prohibition and that if he did this matter, he would deserve even greater mercy and pleasure from his father, and then he did it, and it harmed him, physically, for example… And then this son will be, so to speak, obedient in the form of disobedience. That is, through his disobedience itself, he will be obedient…
Iblis did not encourage Adam to disobey Allah by himself, because he knew that Adam would not respond to him then. And therefore he did not do this, and his goal was not this. His goal was to take Adam out of Jannah, out of the Garden of Eden, so that he and his descendants would live on this earth, experiencing hunger, thirst, fear, deprivation – and so it would be easier for Iblis to fulfill his promise to seduce them.
Then the question arises: if this was not a sin, then why did Allah subject Adam to such punishment, expel him from Paradise – him and all his descendants?
Look, Adam strove for the position of Ahl al-Bayt, he wanted to reach these lights shining above the Throne of Allah, but he did not know that he was not able to achieve them, and he did not know that this desire of his has certain consequences that will reflect on him, that is, his exit from Jannah. This is like if I decided to read a thousand rak’ahs of prayer in one night. In itself, this desire is good, I strive to get closer to Allah with this, and nothing more. However, the result will be that, firstly, I will not be able to do it because I will be tired or I will not have enough time. Secondly, my legs will swell and start to hurt. This does not mean that I have committed a sin – on the contrary, I deserve the reward of Allah. It is just that my action has certain natural consequences that it causes. In the same way, the action of Adam, which he did with the aim of drawing closer to Allah, had the consequence of his exit from jannah, because as a result of this, his creation underwent such changes that he could no longer remain there. This is similar to the result of my intention to perform a thousand rak’ahs in a night, my legs will swell, and I will not be able to walk after that, for example. Certain natural changes have occurred that prohibit me from performing certain actions. And here the same thing.
This is what Imam Sadiq (A) expresses in one of the hadiths as the “hirs” of Adam, that is, a strong desire, an ardent desire, which was the source of his action. He desired that position… This desire in itself was not forbidden, because he did not want to get that position instead of Ahl al-Bayt. He wanted to be with them, not instead of them. And in some hadiths, this “hirs” of his is also called “hasad”, that is, “envy”, because it was similar to envy from some sides. That is, this desire to be in that position, to get the same closeness to Allah…
The following is very important: Adam and Eve were sent to this earth not as a punishment for disobedience, but as a natural consequence of what they did. In short: the essence of this story is that Adam, for the sake of submission to Allah and drawing closer to Him, strove for the highest position of Ahl al-Bayt, and the consequence of this was that he experienced certain changes that made it impossible for him to continue to stay in the Garden of Eden.
One of these changes that Allah speaks about in the Quran is that Adam and Eve’s shameful parts became visible. That is, their sexual organs. What does this mean? Adam and Eve had heavenly clothes that corresponded to the material of which their bodies were composed. Of heavenly matter, let’s say… When their bodies acquired earthly, gross materiality, these clothes stopped covering them. “And they began to attach (or sew) heavenly leaves to themselves,” as Allah says. However, this did not help either, because these leaves were also made of heavenly matter, not earthly. To cover their shameful parts, earthly clothes were needed, and for this they had to leave the paradise of Barzakh.
Let me give you an example to make this clearer. Our thoughts, the images that are in our heads, also have their own matter, but this is not the matter of the external world in which we live, it is completely different. Now let’s imagine that one of the thoughts, one of the images in our heads suddenly became a thing, acquired reality in this world. Will other thoughts now be able to somehow obscure it or hide it? Suppose I imagined in my mind the image of a naked person and covered it with clothes. Now let’s suppose that the body of this person became real. Will I now be able to cover it with the clothes that I imagine in my thoughts? No. For this, real clothes from the earthly world are now needed. It is exactly the same here. The bodies of Adam and Eve acquired a different matter, different from the heavenly one. And therefore they could no longer live in it, they had to leave it.
Or this can be compared to the birth of a child from the mother’s belly. Once a child is born, it is impossible to bring him back because his body itself changes. If he is surgically sewn back into the womb of a pregnant woman, he will suffocate and die there.
The question arises: why did Adam do tawbah, repentance to Allah, if he did not commit a sin? Is tawbah possible except as a result of sin? Answer: yes, tawbah is possible without sin. If Adam had committed a sin and Allah was not pleased with him, then why does Allah say that He chose him? wa Asa adamu rabbahu fa gawa suma jtabaahu rabbuhu – “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray, then His Lord chose him…” But if Allah had been displeased with him, He would not have chosen him, would not have given him the status of being chosen. Adam’s tawbah was in the sense of resorting to Allah, in the sense of recognizing his status as an ubudi, a slave of Allah. Didn’t Imam Ali (A), for example, recite Du’a Kumail with tears in his eyes, although it contains words about repentance and repentance before Allah and asking for forgiveness? But did Imam Ali (A) commit any sin to ask for forgiveness? Just as it is reported that the Messenger of Allah (S) asked Allah for forgiveness a hundred times every day. But did the Messenger of Allah (S) sin every day? No one says this, not even the Wahhabis. No, asking for forgiveness and tawbah has a different meaning here. That is, he seems to be saying: “O Allah, I am your slave. My fate and my affairs are in your hands. You are so great that I cannot reach Your greatness and pay tribute to Your greatness… So turn to me and forgive me!” Now another question: was Adam and his descendants destined to come to this dunya, to this earth with all its hardships, or could he have remained in paradise of barzakh if he had not done what he did? Answer: he was destined to come to this earth, and this was Allah’s original plan. In the hadith of Imam Reza (A) it is said that he came to earth from jannah li yatimma makadiira llah – “so that the predestination of Allah would be completed”. If Adam and his descendants had remained in jannah, then the believer among them would not have been separated from the unbeliever, the good from the bad, because there would have been no test for them. The situation is not as Christians believe, that the race of Adam was cursed and punished for the sin of their forefather. No, the race of Adam was predestined from the very beginning to come to this earth. Then another question arises: if Adam’s eating from the tree was the fulfillment of Allah’s plan, then Allah should have commanded him to eat from it, not forbade him, and Iblis, by persuading him to do so, committed a good deed, not a crime…
Answer: Iblis, by inspiring Adam to eat from the tree, pursued his own goals, not divine ones. He wanted to remove Adam from jannah so that he would settle on this earth with all its hardships, where it would be easier for Iblis to fulfill his promise to corrupt his offspring. However, through this, Allah’s program and His plan were fulfilled. This is similar to how Pharaoh brought sorcerers to destroy Musa and his prophecy, but the result of this was that, on the contrary, the sorcerers believed, and the position of Musa (A) only strengthened.
As for the question of why Allah forbade this tree for Adam, instead of ordering him to eat from it, this prohibition was not a religious prohibition, which implies punishment for not following it, but an indication of the limits of Adam’s capabilities. Allah indicated to him that he would not be able to reach the position of Ahl al-Bayt. However, as it is stated in another hadith, Allah wanted Adam to eat from it, and thus the decree of Allah was fulfilled.
So you see that the whole story of Adam revolves around Ahl al-Bayt. When Iblis refused to prostrate to Adam, and Allah asked him: “What prevented you from prostrating when I ordered you?” He said: ana khayrun minh – “I am better than him” – halaktani min naarin wa halaktahu min tyn – “You created me from fire, and you created him from clay.”
Iblis made a qiyas here, a judgment by analogy, deciding that fire is better than clay because it shines more. But he did not know that Adam’s essence is a radiance that is greater than the radiance of Iblis’s fire. It is the radiance of light, nura. Yes, Adam’s appearance is clay, but his essence is light.
And here I will tell you this, and be attentive here and understand this correctly… Because here lies the key to all the secrets of this story… Everything that Adam has is from Ahl ul-Bayt. In other words: Adam was created as a manifestation or, relatively speaking, as a carrier, as a vessel or as a reflection for Ahl ul-Bayt. That spirit, that spirit that Allah breathed into him is from Ahl ul-Bayt, it is the radiance from the light of the mind of Ahl ul-Bayt. What the angels worshiped is the light of Ahl ul-Bayt in his loins. What Adam strove for after eating from the tree is the position of the wilayat of Ahl ul-Bayt. And when he performed tawba, he also performed it through Ahl ul-Bayt, in their names: wa talaqqa adamu min rabbihi kalim wa taba Alayhi – “and Adam accepted the words from his Lord, and He turned to him.” And in the hadith: “words” here are the names of Ahl ul-Bayt.
And here before us is revealed the secret of the creation of Adam, which Iblis did not know, or knew, but did not want to acknowledge. This secret is that Adam is a reflection of the rays of a higher creation, in whose image and likeness he was created. Christians say that man was created in the image and likeness of God. No, he was not created in the image and likeness of God, because God has neither image nor likeness, but he was created in the image and likeness of the Supreme creation of God. This is true.
And Adam became the bearer, the vessel of this creation, which would come forth from his loins in the form of his descendants. And for this he was created. And in our sources, and even in Sunni sources, there is this hadith, where Allah says to Adam: “If it were not for Muhammad, Fatima, Ali, Hasan and Hussein, I would not have created you.” Everything that Adam and his descendants have is from Ahl al-Bayt. From beginning to end…
Someone might ask: aren’t Muhammad, Ali, Fatima, Hasan and Hussein and the nine Imams from the descendants of Hussein, aren’t they themselves descendants of Adam? Are they not people? The answer is: yes, in their earthly form, in which they were revealed to the human race, they are descendants of Adam. But in their true essence, they are infinitely higher than them. In essence, they are the first word of Allah, they are the will of Allah, they are the light of Allah, about which He says: “the example of His light is like a niche, in it a lamp, a lamp in glass…”. They are Aalun, they are khalidun… A completely different creation…
However, Allah’s plan was to place their light in the loins of Adam, and then to manifest this light in the form of the descendants of Adam himself. Because the light of Allah cannot be manifested to people as it really is. Then they would not be able to accept it or even see it… They would simply burn… Doesn’t the hadith of the miraj say that even Jabrail refused to go further with Muhammad (S), into the depths of his essence, to the heights of his position, saying that he would burn? Then what can we say about us? And therefore this light of Allah cannot be revealed to us except in the form of the same descendants of Adam, having earthly bodies, speaking our language, walking in the markets, as it is said in the Koran…
And all the prophets and the entire religion of monotheism and all the scriptures are only branches of the branches of the tree of their wilayah. That tree to which Adam approached…
