Tafseer Taha : Ayat 121-123

Recap:

Previously, in one ayat, Allah says that He had given responsibility to Adam a.s. but he overlooked for a moment that responsiblity but We didn’t find any deliberation on his part [an honest mistake]
Allah addresses, acknowledges that it’s an honest mistake but Allah mentions it because of the higher standard accorded to someone of a higher caliber
then Allah told us that story and what transpired
it started with Allah telling the angels to make sujud to Adam a.s.
Iblies refused
in Ayat 117, Allah made Adam a.s. aware of the fact that Iblies is an enemy for him and his wife,so be careful so that Adam a.s. and his wife don’t fall into suffering
Allah told Adam a.s. not to go near the tree
Iblies came to Adam a.s. through different avenues from different angles to make Adam a.s. fall into this mistake
we talked about responsibility of husband and that’s why Allah solely addressed Adam a.s. when warning him
Iblies came through various means to try to confuse, delude, distract Adam a.s. from the command of Allah
the Quran itself shows us these different means
here, Iblies uses 2 means :

if you eat from this tree you get to enjoy all of this forever
you will have a kingdom that will never expire

so he comes from this motivation to live in jannah forever
the human ambition [don’t you want to achieve more?}
spiritual ambition [the only reason why Allah told you not to take from this tree is so you don’t become angels and become incapable of disobeying Allah]
these are deep profound ayaat because they show us so many natural inclinations of the human
the test a human being is born with
no one wants hardship, everyone wants ease forever as long as possible
to want, achieve, accomplish more
that motivation is built within the human being, no need to fight it but channel it towards achieving the akhirah
you can’t move forward n achievement of your goals of akhirah through the disobedience of Allah
analogy => robbing a bank to build a masjid
sounds like the most foolish thing you’ve ever heard in your life? It is foolish
Shaytaan is that tricky
this is subtly implied in story of Adam a.s.

Ayat 121

Sahih International

And Adam and his wife ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.

فَأَكَلَا مِنْهَا = so they both ate from it
فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا = it became exposed to them
سَوْآتُهُمَا = their private parts (awrah- part of body that you natural cover and need to cover when you go outside, that you feel inappropriate if not covered)
generally speaking, vulgarity is not acceptable within the deen
it’s not appropriate
there’s no khayr in being vulgar
it doesn’t make you cooler or more real
Prophet saw wasn’t vulgar
the Quran teaches us a lot about etiquette, when it talks about private parts, it doesn’t use a vulgar term
سَوأَة = is that something that you don’t want to disclosing, uncovering it in public or in front of others would be bad
when Quran talks about intimacy between spouses it uses appropriate terms, it literally translates into ‘intimate embrace’
when Quran talks about going to bathroom, it doesn’t even mention what passes through your body, it says ‘when someone needs to relieve themselves’ إذَا جَاءَ احَدُُ مِنُكُم إلاَ غَاءط
there may be need to talk about these things for purpose of education and certain demographics, but when we address the community as a whole, it’s prophetic in nature to be more appropriate and that’s from the Quran
this is brought up only because look at how the Quran presents this
immediately their clothes were gone
the blessings started to depart as disobedience of Allah began
we’re in no position to criticize His prophet, this is Allah talking about His prophet
any human being understands that disobedience of Allah doesn’t give you any advantage of the life of the hereafter
but at same time, the reason why people are sometimes willing to compromise their hereafter is for some type of immediate gratification in this dunya
what Allah is telling us here is that the second you commit disobedience of Allah, not only will you benefit in hereafter but you won’t benefit in this world either
whether you realize/see/know it or not, the blessings of Allah slip away as disobedience of Allah kicks in
وَطَفِقَا = this verb is specifically used in Arabic to precede another verb
it’s called افعَالُ شُرُوع, => e.g. أخَذَ جَعَلَ
the purpose of افعَالُ شُرُوع is you put them before another verb (like in front of a present tense verb)
if I’m talking about Zayd leaving, يَذَهَبُ زَيد, but I don’t want to say that [Zayd is leaving/Zayd leaves] I want to say Zayd started to leave right away, all of a sudden, immediately ;- اخَذَ زَيد يَذهَبُ/َخَذَ يَذهَبُ زَيد، جَعَلَ يَذهَبُ زَيد/طَفِق يَذهَبُ زَيد
so here, they both (Adam and Hawa a.s.) started to do
الخَصَف = to join, patch together
يَخْصِفَانِ= they both started to join and patch together
عَلَيْهِمَا مِن وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ= upon themselves from the leaves of the Garden of Paradise
the only thing they could find within their grasp were the leaves and they started to rip them and patched them together to cover their private parts
the fitrah of the human being regardless of female or male, that the second their private parts are exposed, in broad daylight, outside, their immediate reaction was to get whatever they could get their hands on to cover themselves
dressing appropriately, hiding one’s own private is part of the fitrah of the human being
no double standard here
this is what Allah speaks about here
Allah says ‘they immediately started to cover themselves up’
it’s something for us to ponder
unfortunately we live in a time where it increasingly becomes more and more common place/prominent to not cover oneself properly
maybe someone has gotten out of touch with their own sense of decency where it no longer bothers them, but if this person comes in front of others, aren’t the others naturally uncomfortable?
here it’s just Adam and Hawa, in Jannah, no shariah yet even, it’s a private Paradise and no one else is there
but it’s their immediate reaction, even if it be from leaves
وَعَصَىٰ آدَمُ رَبَّهُ = and Adam a.s. disobeyed his lord
Allah uses the word ‘disobey’ but we understand that as Allah saying that
from one of primary point of aqeedah, we believe that prophets are protected by Allah from falling into sin
so when Allah says it, this is Allah saying it to His prophets and it’s based on level of His prophets
Allah already said ‘he forgot’ and forgetfulness is not a sin
so this is not as how we understand it as a sin but this is a ‘sin’ for the level of Adam a.s.
hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah “Musa a.s. debated/argued/had a heated discussion with Adam a.s.. So he said, ‘Because of you people are no longer in Jannah, and you put humans in a lot of difficulty [these are brothers talking to each other, so that’s how we would take this]’. Adam responds ‘Oh Musa, you’re the one who Allah chose for His to be a messenger and to speak to Him. [look at how Adam a.s. responds] [now he’s building a premise, he compliments Musa a.s. first] And then after that you’re actually going to criticize me on something Allah had already written for me to do before I was even created?’ [Sunan Nasai and many books of Imam Ahmad]
Allah destined for Adam a.s. to commit this because it has a lesson fo all of humanity
this is part od divine plan of Allah
then prophet saw gave verdict at the end ‘Adam won the debate’
insight of playful fraternity moment between prophets
when someone make their own mistake, they shouldn’t use qadr as an excuse
Adam a.s. didn’t use qadr as an excuse for making the mistake which we will see later
what we are being taught through this hadith is that no other human being is in any position to come up to anyone and say “Oh you’re a terrible person because you made this mistake,etc” and the Qadr of Allah CAN be used to refute that
no one can judge a person based on his past because that is between him and Allah
it happened to Musa a.s. too, and Firawn was the one who did it
= فَغَوَىٰ
in general usage, غَوَى is used to mess up/making a mistake but it’s also contextually used as to be deprived/lack a blessing
Imam Qurtubi and many other mufasiroon and scholars have gone this route that غَوَى here means ‘to be deprived’
so Adam a.s. ‘disobeyed’ Allah (based on his status near Allah), so he was deprived [food, thirst, heat, clothing]

Ayat 122

Sahih International

Then his Lord chose him and turned to him in forgiveness and guided [him].

ثُمَّ اجْتَبَاهُ = then after that (will be explained in following ayat) He selected him (Adam a.s.)
but something will transpire in middle that will be explained in next following ayat, but now a lesson needs to be mentioned
the Quran explains other parts of the Quran
in Surah A’raaf and even in Al Baqarah
Sahih International

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]
what were those specific words that Allah received from Allah to beg forgiveness?
from Surah Al A’raaf :- رَبَّنَا ظَلَمنَا انفُسَنَا وَِن لَم تَغفِرلَنَا وَتَرَحَمنَا لاَ نَكُونَّنَا مِن الخَاسِرِين
this is one of the most powerful Quranic supplications
whenever Dua begins with Rabb, it means we are acknowledging all blessings that Allah has given us up to this point right here, implying that we;re not ignorant of those blessings that have brought us to this point
ظُلم means misappropriation but it can mean oppression as well
ظَلَمنَا = we have committed oppression against ourselves because when you disobey Allah you are harming yourself
وَِن لَم تَغفِرلَنَا وَتَرَحَمنَا = and if (conditional statement) You have not forgiven us and showers Your mercy upon us
if You have already not forgiven and showered Your mercy upon us
لاَ نَكُونَّنَا مِن الخَاسِرِين = we will definitely be from among those who are total losers
خَسَارَ is used in Arabic and Quranic context for loss of this world and more importantly of hereafter
مِن in Arabic means ‘from amongst’ = > we will be from among those people who will be the complete losers
not only are we losers but we are surrounded by other losers/in company of other losers
like a barrier of the disobedience of neglect from Allah that can’t even see the truth anymore
like mentioned in Yaasin 36:9
Sahih International

And We have put before them a barrier and behind them a barrier and covered them, so they do not see.
the neglect of Allah is built around them
Allah puts a wall right in front of them and then right behind them, a portion on top open but then Allah covered that too => plunge them into total darkness spiritually
in another place Allah says, رَبَّنَا ارِنَا الَّذَينِ اضَلاَّنَا مِن الجِنِّ وَلإِنس نَجعَلهُمَا تَحتَ اقَدَامِنَا لِيَكُونُ مِن الأَسفَلِين
the people of hellfire will want to stomp on each other
it’s like an unsupervised wild unkept prison yard where the prisoners were set loose on one another
So Allah selected Adam a.s. :- that selection is that Allah gave him the words to make taubah with
when Allah makes you cognizant of the mistakes you made and Allah teaches you on how to make up for that mistake, that’s selection from Allah
we need to understand that
secondly, scholars Allah mention that اجْتَبَاهُ رَبُّهُ can also refer to the fact that Allah made him into a prophet
because Allah uses the words إجَتِبَا إصطِفَا when selecting someone for prophethood
فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ = Allah accepts his repentance
repentance = to make a U-turn back to Allah
bumper sticker = God allows U turns
the wisdom of Prophet saw :- when someone has a lot of mistakes in their past, we say ‘they have a lot of baggage’. The Prophet saw says that the gate of Taubah is as vast as the distance from the east to the west
no matter how many baggage yo have, it will fit through that door
hadith Qudsi – Allah said “Oh human being, even if your sins were to reach the limit of the skies, and then after doing all of that, you ask Me for forgiveness sincerely once, I have forgiven you and it’s no big deal”
that’s who Allah is
وَهَدَىٰ = and then He guided him
this can mean a number of sins:-
from there on, Allah protected him from falling into sin or committing any type of forgetfulness or mistakes
some scholars say that this further establishes the fact that he is a prophet from here on now
some scholars say that then Allah gave him a code of life to be able to live this existence

Ayat 123

قَالَ اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ۖ بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ ۖ فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ فَلَا يَضِلُّ وَلَا يَشْقَىٰ

Sahih International

[ Allah ] said, “Descend from Paradise – all, [your descendants] being enemies to one another. And if there should come to you guidance from Me – then whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray [in the world] nor suffer [in the Hereafter].

here Allah fills in context when in Ayat 122 in ثُمَّ, it was mentioned that something happened here that will be explained later
اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا = both of you come down from it[Jannah]
هَبَط إهبِط is a command to come down
we don’t necessarily have to understand this to physically climbing down the ladder of Paradise
but it’s used figuratively as coming down to a lower existence in the dunya
جَمِيعًا = every single one
some scholars explain that this includes the progeny to come
in another place Allah says”قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا”

Sahih International

We said, “Go down from it, all of you. And when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. [Al Baqarah 2:38]
so it’s plural there but here it’s dual
so who is Allah talking to?
when plural is used, scholars say that Allah is talking to Adam a.s. and his wife, Hawa, and why Hawa is mentioned there is because she’s mentioned frequently and so Allah includes her in the address, and the third-party is shaytaan
but hasn’t shaytaan been kicked out already? it means that all of them will cohabit and co-exist in the dunya
so, here Allah is talking to Adam a.s. and Hawa and Adam a.s. and Shaytaan => both are valid
the second part of this ayah :بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ = some of you all will be enemy to others
if this is talking to Adam a.s. and Shaytaan, it’s understandable => there will be shaytaan amongst your progeny (shaytaan’s) that will be in complete opposition to Adam’s progeny
majorit of Mufasiroon say this is an address to Adam a.s. and Shaytaan
but Allah kept the wording very general so we have to take all possibility into consideration unless there is something in the context that restricts that
some say this is Allah talking to Adam and Hawa a.s.
this is Allah letting them know that because of the all the difficulty [فَتَشقَى] they will face in this dunya in arranging for food, drink, shelter, clothing, this effort will naturally result in a constant struggle and it will manifest itself when not managed properly and if the right spark is there, this can end up in an open all out conflict between people = People vs people
Allah is letting Adam and Hawa know that some of their progeny will be enemies of one another
this is a test for the human being
from the context of the surah we also see that => Musa a.s. vs Firawn , Firawn vs his people, Musa a.s. vs Bani Israel, Musa a.s & Harun a.s. & believers vs Samiri and his followers,
Prophet saw & believers vs Quraysh & disbelievers
how do you manage this?
فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى = if ever guidance arrives from Me
guidance doesn’t just come, but arrives
Allah doesn’t use the word يَجِي [it will come -> a heavier word for coming] but Allah uses the word إتيَان which is a lighter word for coming => for something to very gently generously arrive
guidance will be presented to you on a silver platter
it comes from Allah (from ME)
in the Arabic it makes sense to put the object before the extra additional parts of the sentence فَاعِل before the مُتَعَلِّق
here :- فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّي هُدًى
if we normally construct a sentence in Arabic by the book => فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم هُدًى مِّنِّي
but here it’s reversed
when that type of reversal happens, it’s usually to emphasize what is put our of sequence
this guidance, pay attention to where it’s coming from
a prophet and messenger will speak this guidance
sometimes a khateeb or YouTube video or book will tell you about this guidance but don’t lose sight where it originally comes from :- from Allah and solely from Allah
فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَايَ= so whoever closely follows My guidance
in other places in Quran it says تَبِعَ هُدَايَ
تَبِعَ means to follow
اتَّبَعَ means to very closely follow
اتَّبَعَ is like tailgating someone
فَلَا يَضِلُّ = that person will never go astray (in dunya or akhirah)
in dunya => they go off track, loses sight , focus, forget what’s important, become distant and disobedience to Allah
in hereafter => will be manifestation or outcome of losing way in dunya
Allah speaks about this in surah Hadeed where Allah talks about people losing their way in the hereafter
Sahih International

On the [same] Day the hypocrite men and hypocrite women will say to those who believed, “Wait for us that we may acquire some of your light.” It will be said, “Go back behind you and seek light.” And a wall will be placed between them with a door, its interior containing mercy, but on the outside of it is torment. [alHadeed 57:13]
Sahih International

The hypocrites will call to the believers, “Were we not with you?” They will say, “Yes, but you afflicted yourselves and awaited [misfortune for us] and doubted, and wishful thinking deluded you until there came the command of Allah . And the Deceiver deceived you concerning Allah . [alHadeed 57:14]
this conversation continues even though there is a door between them
“weren’t we with you?”
you distracted yourselves
that procrastination turned into doubt about the religion
and then when you were shaken up/told, you engaged in wishful thinking “ahh…it;ll be okay”
وَلَا يَشْقَىٰ = this person will not suffer [dunya nor akhirah]
isn’t suffering a part of life in dunya ? there is a difference between suffering and test from Allah
test of Allah has respite, reprieve, huge blessing waiting for you even in this dunya
إنَّ مَعَ العُسرِ يُسرََا إنَّ مَعَ العُسرِ يُسرََا
we see that from the life of the Prophet saw and sahabah
Abu Hurayrah would be so hungry that at times he would pass out from waiting for people to give him food
there were times when he wold sit wiping his nose with a handkerchief saying “look at you now Abu Hurayrah” بَخَّا بَخَّا يَا ابَا هُرَيرَه
suffering is a punishment from Allah, but for believers there are tests and trials but those tests always end with reprieve
suffering lasts throughout this world and permeates through every cell in the body
when a person suffers, it’s not just physically but also emotionally, psychologically, spiritually
tests and trials do not take away the tranquility of the person
so this person who will follow Allah’s guidance will not suffer in this dunya nor hereafter
this is the promise of Allah to the person who follows the guidance of Allah