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Bismillahi ar-rahmani ar-rahim

Dear brothers and sisters. We would like to hear what blessings (barakat) Allah has given you, or how you were able to be a blessing to others. Thank you to those who write back with their reflections on the ayahs we share. We are still an ummah, even if we are only connected online, and living far from each other.

Last time we concluded saying that while He sent Adam (aws) and Hawa away from the garden, Al Ghaffar (The Ever-Forgiving) gave them a promise (Al Baqara 2:38: whoever follows My guidance, no fear will come upon them). To understand the promise Allah gave, we need to understand the problem He is offering to resolve. So what happened?

Al A’rāf 7:20,21

فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ لِيُبْدِيَ لَهُمَا مَا وُورِيَ عَنْهُمَا مِن سَوْآتِهِمَا وَقَالَ مَا نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةِ إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَا مَلَكَيْنِ أَوْ تَكُونَا مِنَ الْخَالِدِينَوَقَاسَمَهُمَا إِنِّي لَكُمَا لَمِنَ النَّاصِحِينَ

Satan whispered to them to show them their hidden shame; he said, “Your Lord only forbade this tree to you lest you be angels or immortal.” He swore to them, “I am your advisor.”

Check also sura Tā Hā 20,120 for another version of what the Whisperer (whom we know well from sura An Nās 114,4) told our parents.

To know what happened in more detail, let us read the Tawrat.

Genesis 3:1-6

The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. But God did say, ‘You must not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.’ ” “You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “God knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will know things you have never known before. Like God, you will be able to tell the difference between good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree’s fruit was good to eat and pleasing to look at. She also saw that it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it.

Can you see, from both texts, what motivated Hawa and Adam (aws) to eat the forbidden fruit? It was a desire to be something they weren’t – immortal, all knowing – to be like Allah himself. Do you remember what motivated Iblis to sin? He was PROUD. Here we see him tempting our parents to be the same. He tells them – You can be more, but Allah does not want to give it to you. I am better to you than He is.

Pride makes people blind. When we disobey Allah, thinking we gain something that we don’t gain if we submit to Him, we always lose.

Did you ever do something you very much wanted, even if you knew it is not good before Allah?

If you did, do whatever it takes to set things right, and then actively seek forgiveness from Allah and from anybody who was affected by it.