To complete our discussion about the creation of mankind, let’s discuss what happened after Iblees’ rebellion.
After Iblees’ rebellion and mankind’s knowledge and free will are highlighted, Adam and Hawwa (Eve) are in Paradise and they are commanded:
“eat therefrom in [ease and] abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers.” [2:35]
But Iblees deceives them, he promises them the tree will give them “eternal life” or “turn them into an angel”
And so they eat from the tree and make a mistake.
But their response was not of rebellion like Iblees…
Instead, using their ability to learn, Adam and Hawwa learn the words of repentance from Allah, they learn from their mistake and they seek forgiveness.
Now they were ready to go to Earth!
Allah did not send them to earth as punishment, rather it was the plan all along, as we saw in the first verse when Allah said He “is going to place a khalifah (successor) on earth.”
What do you think? Share your reflections below!
Want to be able to read and understand the Quran without translations?
Problem with the Muslim Luminaries is that they always take “ارض” to be this Earth whereas it has contextual meaning with the preceding noun! This post is hypothetical…! I suggest not to claim anything about Al-Quran with conviction!
In Arabic, same words can be used for differing contexts! So the word “Ardha” here may be a reference to the Multiverse-Universe that was the primary abode!
this is beautiful, Allah is the bestower of knowledge, and he has blessed you with amazing understanding. i am glad i stumbled across this post as i am a student and speaker of Islam, Quran and Sunnah. This notion which you have brought forth is very powerful, and gives us all a new perspective; “Now they were ready to go to earth.” SubhanAllah, may Allah bless you, Allah is the best of planners. Ameen. they needed to recognize that they were sinners, and they needed to recognize that their Lord was Forgiving and this is essential as a muslim; to recognize your faults, and to have hope in the mercy of Allah.
Thank you for sharing your reflection! We’re glad you benefited from this post 🙂
Well, my first response to this was a sudden choking up and stopping myself from breaking down and crying..I’m still feeling it just thinking about the word: Khalifah .. Allah made us the Khalifah.
Allah SWT entrusted all this AMAZINGNESS to us and what have we done? What have we done to His creation, to each other…we are just too weak, too violent, too corrupt. And too ungrateful and too arrogant. I’m ashamed of our failures, I’m ashamed to stand in front of Allah, SWT. It just makes me want to cry.
I just wish we could all make a concerted effort to be good, better out of love for and gratitude to Allah swt.
I also wondered about something…the word Khalifah (or successor) suggests that we are succeeding something or someone.. ?
Who?
What?
And then, will somebody, or something, succeed us?
I’m also wondering if our universe, considering certain moons and planets in the Universe resemble an “Earth gone wrong”, contained past civilizations/worlds where their inhabitants ended up destroying themselves, if one day we will be like Titan, for example, or Mars..?
All of this just makes us realize how fragile and LOST we are and how we are nothing without the help of Allah SWT.
And how Merciful He is despite our faults.
And that He ordered the angels to bow down to us?
Makes me want to cry all over again.
Have a nice day/evening.
Thank you, I had never looked at it this way. Given that I had Catholic schooling and they always imparted the thought that Hawwa led Adam astray because she was the one who was readily deceived by Iblees. Thus, she was the one who caused them both to sin.
From what you have shown, yes indeed it was all pre planned. He instilled in us humans a conscience at the time. To be able to differentiate between right and wrong, and when we do wrong then how to repent.
Allah has already pre planned everything hasn’t He? How easily we forget.
Also, Allah has been guiding us, teaching us all along. Without His will we would not be able to do anything let alone think and understand between right and wrong.
And He is forgiving, especially those who have a conscience and repent from the heart.