The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 103
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH 36. And We said: 'O Adam, "dwell thou and thy wife in the garden, and eat CH. 2 BITSYLËS وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا therefrom هذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُوْنَا مِنَ الظَّلِمِينَ plentifully wherever you will, but approach not this tree, lest you be of the wrongdoers. '42 a7:20, 23; 20:117, 118. out hence, despised and banished. Whosoever of them shall follow thee, I will surely fill Hell with you all. " (7:12-19). Elsewhere God says to Iblis: Surely, thou shalt have no power over My servants except such of the erring ones as choose to follow thee (15:43). At yet another place, God says that Iblis was one of the jinn, i. e. a secret creation (18:51). And about the jinn God says: I have created the jinn and men only that they may serve Me. (51:57) As to the presence of good and evil in the world, it may be said that out of His infinite wisdom God has made man a free agent, giving him the power either to take the right path or be led into the wrong one as he likes. This system in which angels and Iblis both take part is quite in the fitness of things and is for man's own good; for without being a free agent man cannot deserve praise or be entitled to reward for his good actions; and if man is to become entitled to reward for good actions, he needs must also be responsible for his sins and shortcomings, because his being a free agent must function both ways. God has done more. He gives every man a good start in life by giving him a good and virtuous nature, and it is man himself who afterwards spoils 103 the goodness of his nature and takes an evil course. Says the Holy Prophet: "Every child is born with a good nature (i. e. the nature of Islam); it is his parents who later make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian" (Bukhārī). God further raises Prophets and sends down His revelation for the reformation of mankind so that, if through their own free choice or under the influence of some evil spirits or bad associates, men should go astray, they may thereby be called back to truth. See also note on 'Satan' under 2:37. 42. Important Words: شجر tree) is the singular of) شجرة (trees). It is derived from the verb ie. the. The Arabs say affair or case became complicated and confused so as to be a subject of disagreement and difference between them. means, a tree, because of the intermixing or confusion of its branches. also signifies, the stock or origin of a man. They say, abi. e. he is of a good stock or origin (Lane). (wrongdoers) is the plural of Jb being derived from which means: (1) he put a thing in the wrong place or in a place not its own; (2) he made one suffer loss; (3) he