The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page liii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION has been created is that he should know good from evil, and if this knowledge is forbidden to him, then what need was there to create him? If man could not have knowledge of good and evil, how could he be said to have been made in the image and likeness of God? Without an insight into moral facts and moral distinctions, man could not reproduce any likeness of God. If man was the image of God, it is wrong to think that he was forbidden to go near the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he was forbidden to go near the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then it is wrong to say that God created man in His own image. (2) In Genesis 2:17 we read: For in the day that thou eatest thereof (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) thou shalt surely die. In Genesis 2:9 we read: And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This verse can mean only one of two things: either that there was one tree which was capable of giving life as well as the knowledge of good and evil; or that there were two trees, one with life-giving powers and the other which gave the knowledge of good and evil. If, according to the verse, there was but one tree, then Genesis 2:17 is proved false, because verse 9 endows the tree with life-giving powers, not with death-like properties. If, according to Genesis, there were two trees and not one, then these two verses become contradictory. If Adam had eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death was not inevitable, because he could also have eaten of the life- giving tree. In fact, according to the Bible, when Adam ate of the tree of knowledge, he could also have eaten of the life-giving tree. If the consequence of eating the fruit of one tree was certain death, the consequence of eating the fruit of the other tree was eternal life. The situation in which Adam was placed is hard to understand; one tree offered him eternal life, another offered death. We know from the Bible that Adam and his wife ate of the tree of life. We read in Genesis 3:2-3: And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. From these verses it appears that Adam and his wife ate the fruit of all trees except the tree of knowledge. If this account of the Bible is true, then xxvii