Absolute Justice, Kindness and Kinship — Page 125
— Part I 124 the religion of the people of the right path. (S u rah al-Bayyinah; Ch. 98: V. 6) The Paradise of Adam as The Divine law vouchsafed to Adam as could not be any different from this universal principle. The above verse describes the relationship between man and God. As for the relationship between man and man, the principles governing this relationship, i. e. the law bestowed to Adam as , are described in the Holy Quran in two verses. The first of these verses, although widely quoted, is as widely misunderstood. It deals with the injunction of God to Adam as regarding the two types of trees of paradise. In relation to one type, Allah permitted Adam as and Eve to eat the fruit thereof as they pleased without inhibition. But regarding the other type, God warned Adam as to keep his distance from that tree. This is mentioned as the evil tree. Ordinarily people think in material terms and consider them to be fruit-bearing trees as we know them here on earth. As this description is very similar to that found in the Old Testament, an attempt has been made by scholars in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to understand the underlying meaning of this metaphoric expression. I do not want to go into a detailed account of what different scholars have inferred from this, but without doubt these two trees refer to the teaching of the Divine law given to Adam as comprising do’s and