Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:35
And We said, "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers."
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted — Whose praise is sublime —: وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ
(And We said: "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden.")
Abū Jaʿfar said: In this verse there lies a clear indication of the soundness of the saying of the one who said: Iblīs was expelled from the Garden after he had refused out of arrogance to prostrate before Adam, and Adam was placed into it before Iblīs descended to the earth. Do you not hear how Allah — sublime is His praise — says: وَقُلْنَا يَا آدَمُ اسْكُنْ أَنْتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ وَكُلا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ * فَأَزَلَّهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ عَنْهَا فَأَخْرَجَهُمَا مِمَّا كَانَا فِيهِ
(And We said: "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden and eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish, but do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers." * Then Satan caused them to slip from it and drove them out from that in which they had been.)
It has thus become clear that Iblīs caused them to slip from obedience to Allah only after he had been cursed and had shown his arrogance, for the prostration of the angels before Adam took place after the spirit had been breathed into him, and it was at that moment that Iblīs refused to prostrate before him, and at that refusal the curse befell him. As:—
708 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related this to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of men among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: that the enemy of Allah, Iblīs, swore by the might of Allah that he would surely mislead Adam and his progeny and his wife, except His sincere servants among them — after Allah had cursed him, and after he had been expelled from the Garden, and before he descended to the earth. And Allah taught Adam all the names.
709 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: When Allah was finished with Iblīs and with His rebuke of him, and the latter desired nothing but disobedience, He caused the curse to descend upon him, and then He expelled him from the Garden. Then He turned to Adam, after He had taught him all the names, and said: يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ (O Adam, inform them of their names) up to His saying إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ (Verily, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise).
Then the exegetes differed concerning the state in which Adam's wife was created and the time at which she was made a companion to him. Ibn ʿAbbās said what follows:—
710 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related this to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of men among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: Iblīs was expelled from the Garden when he was cursed, and Adam was placed in the Garden. He walked about in it in solitude, without having a wife with whom he might find rest. Then he fell into a sleep and awoke, and behold, beside his head sat a woman whom Allah had created from his rib. He asked her: "Who are you?" She said: "A woman." He said: "And for what were you created?" She said: "So that you might find rest with me." The angels said to him — in order to see how far his knowledge reached —: "What is her name, O Adam?" He said: "Ḥawwāʾ (Eve)." They said: "And why was she named Ḥawwāʾ?" He said: "Because she was created from something living (ḥayy)." Then Allah said to him: "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden and eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish."
This report thus shows that Ḥawwāʾ was created after Adam was dwelling in the Garden, and that she was made a companion to him there.
Others said: No, she was created before Adam dwelt in the Garden.
* Mention of who said that:
711 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: When Allah was finished with the rebuking of Iblīs, He turned to Adam, after He had taught him all the names, and said: يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ (O Adam, inform them of their names) up to His saying إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ (Verily, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise). He said: Then He caused slumber to descend upon Adam — according to what has reached us from the People of the Book among the adherents of the Torah, and from others among the people of knowledge, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās and others — then He took a rib from his ribs on his left side, and filled its place with flesh, while Adam was sleeping and did not awaken from his sleep, until Allah created from that rib of his his wife Ḥawwāʾ, and fashioned her as a woman so that he might find rest with her. When the slumber was removed from him and he awoke from his sleep, he saw her at his side, and he said — according to what they claim, and Allah knows best —: "My flesh and my blood and my wife", and he found rest with her. When Allah — blessed and exalted is He — gave her to him as a wife and made for him a companion from his own self, He said to him, face to face: "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden and eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish, but do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers."
Abū Jaʿfar said: One calls the wife of a man "zawj" (without the letter hāʾ) and "zawja" (with the hāʾ). The form "zawja" with the hāʾ occurs in the language of the Arabs more frequently than the form without the hāʾ. Of the form "zawj" without the hāʾ it is said that it is a dialectal form of the tribe of Azd Shanūʾa. But the "zawj" concerning which there is no disagreement among the Arabs, that is the husband of the woman.
The explanation of the saying: وَكُلا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا
(And eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: As for "al-raghad": that is ample provision, the pleasant which costs its possessor no effort. One says: "arghada fulān" when someone obtains an ample and pleasant provision, as Imruʾ al-Qays ibn Ḥujr said:
While you see the man living in luxury, secure against misfortune, in an abundant (raghad) existence.
712 — And as Mūsā ibn Hārūn related this to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of men among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "And eat thereof in abundance (raghadan)", he said: al-raghad is the pleasant.
713 — And Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying "raghadan", he said: there is no reckoning for them.
714 — And al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
715 — And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of al-Qāsim ibn Abī Bazza, on the authority of Mujāhid: "And eat thereof in abundance (raghadan)", that is to say: there is no reckoning for them.
716 — And it was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb ibn al-Ḥārith, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish", he said: al-raghad is the ampleness of provision.
The meaning of the verse is therefore: And We said: O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden, and eat of the Garden an ample and pleasant provision wherever you wish.
717 — As Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in the Garden and eat thereof in abundance wherever you wish": then the trial that had been prescribed over creation was also prescribed over Adam, just as the creation before him was tried; for Allah — sublime is His praise — permitted him to eat of everything that was in the Garden, in abundance wherever he wished, except from one single tree which was forbidden to him and concerning which a command was given to him. And the trial did not cease from him until he fell into that which had been forbidden to him.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ
(And do not approach this tree.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: "Al-shajar" (the trees/the woody growth) means in the language of the Arabs: everything that stands upon a trunk. To this belongs the word of Allah — sublime is His praise —: وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ [Surah al-Raḥmān: 6] (And the plants and the trees prostrate), by which He means with "al-najm" what comes up from the earth of vegetation, and with "al-shajar" what rises upon a trunk.
Then the exegetes differed concerning the precise tree of which Adam was forbidden to eat the fruit. Some of them said: It was the ear of grain (al-sunbula).
* Mention of who said that:
718 — Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Aḥmasī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Ḥimmānī related to us, on the authority of al-Naḍr, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The tree of which Adam was forbidden to eat the fruit, that was the ear of grain.
719 — And Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, Hushaym related to us — and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn ʿUtayba related to us — both on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik, concerning His saying: "And do not approach this tree", he said: It is the ear of grain.
720 — And Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Ibn Mahdī related to us — and Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us — both said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of Abū Mālik, the same.
721 — And Abū Kurayb and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, they said: Ibn Idrīs related to us, saying: I heard my father, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, concerning His saying: "And do not approach this tree", he said: The ear of grain.
722 — And Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda, who said: The tree of which Adam was forbidden, that was the ear of grain.
723 — And al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: al-Qāsim related to us, saying: a man of the Banū Tamīm related to me, that Ibn ʿAbbās wrote to Abū al-Jald and asked him about the tree of which Adam ate, and the tree at which he showed repentance. Then Abū al-Jald wrote back to him: "You asked me about the tree of which Adam was forbidden, and that is the ear of grain; and you asked me about the tree at which Adam showed repentance, and that is the olive tree."
724 — And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of a man of the people of knowledge, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to say: The tree of which Adam was forbidden, that was wheat (al-burr).
725 — And al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us, saying: Ibn ʿUyayna and Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of al-Minhāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The tree that Allah forbade to Adam and his wife was the ear of grain.
726 — And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of someone of the people of Yemen, on the authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih al-Yamānī, that he used to say: It was the wheat, but its grain in the Garden was like the kidneys of an ox, softer than butter and sweeter than honey. And the adherents of the Torah say: It was the wheat.
727 — And Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Yaʿqūb ibn ʿUtba: that he was told that it was the tree against which the angels would rub themselves in order to live eternally.
728 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Ibn Yamān related to us, on the authority of Jābir ibn Yazīd ibn Rifāʿa, on the authority of Muḥārib ibn Dithār, who said: It is the ear of grain.
729 — And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, who said: It is the ear of grain which Allah has made provision for his progeny in this world.
Abū Jaʿfar said: And others said: It was the grapevine (al-karma).
* Mention of who said that:
730 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of al-Suddī, on the authority of the one who related to him, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: It is the grapevine.
731 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī in a report he mentioned, on the authority of Abū Mālik and on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās — and on the authority of Murra, on the authority of Ibn Masʿūd, and on the authority of a number of men among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ: "And do not approach this tree", he said: It is the grapevine, but the Jews claim that it is the wheat.
732 — And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: The tree is the grapevine.
733 — And Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra, who said: It is the grapes, in His saying: "And do not approach this tree".
734 — And Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Khallād al-Ṣaffār, on the authority of Bayān, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra: "And do not approach this tree", he said: The grapevine.
735 — And Ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Khālid al-Wāsiṭī related to us, on the authority of Bayān, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra: "And do not approach this tree", he said: The grapevine.
736 — And Ibn Ḥumayd and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, they said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Jaʿda ibn Hubayra, who said: The tree of which Adam was forbidden, was the wine tree (the tree of wine).
737 — And Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad al-Zubayrī related to us, saying: ʿAbbād ibn al-ʿAwwām related to us, saying: Sufyān ibn Ḥusayn related to us, on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn Muslim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, concerning His saying: "And do not approach this tree", he said: The grapevine.
738 — And Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Aḥmad related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, who said: The grapes.
739 — And al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Maʿshar, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Qays, who said: Grapes.
And others said: It was the fig tree (al-tīna).
* Mention of who said that:
740 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of some companions of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: The fig.
Abū Jaʿfar said: The statement concerning this, in our view, is that Allah — sublime is His praise — informed His servants that Adam and his wife ate of the tree of which their Lord had forbidden them to eat, and thus committed the sin which He had forbidden them to commit by eating of that of which they ate — after Allah — sublime is His praise — had pointed out to them the precise tree of which He had forbidden them to eat, and pointed it out to them with His saying: "And do not approach this tree". But Allah — sublime is His praise — has placed no indication for His servants to whom the Qurʾān is addressed concerning which of the trees of the Garden it was that He forbade Adam to approach, neither by explicit mention by name, nor by an allusion. And if there had been for Allah any satisfaction in the knowledge of which tree precisely it was, then He would not have left His servants without setting up an indication for them by which they might come to the knowledge of the precise tree, so that they might obey Him through their knowledge of it — just as He has done with everything in the knowledge of which there is satisfaction for Him.
The correct view concerning this, therefore, is to say: Allah — sublime is His praise — forbade Adam and his wife to eat of a particular tree among the trees of the Garden, to the exclusion of the rest of its trees, and they went against that which Allah had forbidden them and ate of it, as Allah — sublime is His praise — has described them. And we have no knowledge as to which tree precisely it was, because Allah has placed no indication for His servants concerning it in the Qurʾān, nor in the authentic Sunna. How then could that knowledge come to us? It has been said: It was the wheat tree; and it has been said: It was the grape tree; and it has been said: It was the fig tree; and it is possible that it was one of these. This is a kind of knowledge which, when one possesses it, brings the one who possesses it no benefit, and which, when someone does not know it, does the one who does not know it no harm.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted — Whose mention is sublime —: وَلا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
(And do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The grammarians of Arabic differed concerning the explanation of His saying: "And do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers".
Some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: The explanation of it is: And do not approach this tree, for if you were to approach it, you would be among the wrongdoers. Thus the second verb takes the place of the answer of the conditional construction. And in the answer of the condition the first part of it operates, as when you say: "In taqum aqum" (If you stand, I stand), where you place the second verb in the jussive by the jussive of the first. So it is also with His saying "fa-takūnā" (lest you be among): since the fāʾ came to take the place of the condition of the first, the verb was thereby placed in the accusative (naṣb) and put on an equal footing with "kay" in its placing of future verbs in the accusative, because of its inseparable connection with the future — since the origin of the conditional construction is the future.
And some of the grammarians of Baṣra said: The explanation of it is: Let not the approaching of this tree proceed from you, and consequently the being among the wrongdoers. However, he claimed that it is not permissible to make "an" visible alongside "lā", but that it is suppressed and indispensable, so that the sentence may be correct by the coupling of a noun — namely "an" (with the verb) — to the noun. Just as it is not permissible in their saying "ʿasā an yafʿala" (it may be that he does) to say "ʿasā al-fiʿl", nor in your saying "mā kāna li-yafʿala" (it was not for him to do) to say "mā kāna li-an yafʿala".
This second statement is refuted by the consensus of all of them that the saying of the one who says "Sarranī taqūmu yā hādhā" (it pleased me that you stood, O you there) is incorrect, while he means "Sarranī qiyāmuka" (it pleased me your standing). So likewise, according to this view, the saying of the one who says "Lā taqum" (do not stand) must also be incorrect when the meaning is: let no standing proceed from you. And in the consensus of all of them — concerning the correctness of the saying of the one who says "Lā taqum", and the incorrectness of the saying of the one who says "Sarranī taqūmu" in the meaning "it pleased me your standing" — lies the clear proof for the incorrectness of the claim of the one who claims that alongside the "lā" in His saying "And do not approach this tree" there stands a suppressed "an", and for the correctness of the other statement.
And in His saying "fa-takūnā mina al-ẓālimīn" (lest you be among the wrongdoers) there are two possible modes of explanation:
The first is that "fa-takūnā" is intended as coupled (in coordination) with His saying "wa-lā taqrabā" (and do not approach); the explanation of it would then be: And do not approach this tree and do not be among the wrongdoers. In that case "fa-takūnā" would be in the meaning of the jussive, placed in the jussive by that through which "wa-lā taqrabā" is placed in the jussive — as one says: "Do not address ʿAmr and do not wound him", and as Imruʾ al-Qays said:
Then I said to him: "Go gently and do not drive the horse too hard, lest it throw you off from its hindquarters, so that you fall."
He placed "fa-yudhrika" (lest it throw you off) in the jussive by that through which "lā tajhadannahu" (do not drive it too hard) had been placed in the jussive, as though he repeated the prohibition.
And the second is that "fa-takūnā mina al-ẓālimīn" is in the meaning of the answer to the prohibition. The explanation of it would then be: Do not approach this tree, for if you were to approach it, you would be among the wrongdoers. As you say: "Do not revile ʿAmr, lest he revile you", as a requital. In that case "fa-takūnā" would be in the accusative (naṣb), because it is a particle that couples to something that is not of the same form, since in "wa-lā taqrabā" there stands a particle that operates upon it, and it is not correct to repeat that in "fa-takūnā" — so it stands in the accusative according to what I have set forth at the beginning of this question.
As for the explanation of His saying "fa-takūnā mina al-ẓālimīn": by it He means: then you would be among those who transgress toward something other than what is permitted to them and what is allowed to them. What He means by it is: if you were to approach this tree, you would be on the path of whoever oversteps My bounds, disobeys My command, and holds as permitted that which I have forbidden — for the wrongdoers are allies of one another, and Allah is the Protector of the God-fearing.
The origin of "al-ẓulm" (wrongdoing) in the language of the Arabs is: the placing of something in a place that is not its own. To this belongs the word of al-Nābigha of the Banū Dhubyān:
Except the remains of tent-pegs which I can scarcely make out, and the drainage trench like a basin in the wronged (maẓlūma) hard ground.
He called the earth "wronged" (maẓlūma), because the one who dug the trench in it dug in a place that was not a place for digging, and thus he made it wronged, on account of the placing of the dug hole in it in a place that was not its own. To this also belongs the word of Ibn Qamīʾa in the description of rain:
The downpour of a greedy cloud wronged (ẓalama) the valley-beds (al-biṭāḥ), and the water-drops became clear for him shortly after it had cleared.
And his "ẓulm" to it (to the valley-beds) is: its coming outside its time, and its pouring down upon a place that was not its place of pouring down. To this also belongs: "ẓalama al-rajulu jazūrahu", namely that he slaughters his slaughter-camel without necessity. That, among the Arabs, is the placing of the slaughter in a place that is not its own.
The concept "ẓulm" branches out further into meanings which, if we were to enumerate them, would make the book too long, and we will set them forth in their places when we come to them, if Allah — the Exalted — wills. And the origin of all this is what we have described: the placing of something in a place that is not its own.
