The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 137
PT. 16 ṬĀHĀ 118. Then We said, 'O Adam, "this is an enemy to thee, and to CH. 20 وَلِزَوْجِكَ فَلَا يُخْرِ جَنَّكُمَا مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ thy wife; so let him not drive فَتَشْقى اِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرُى you both out of the garden, lest thou come to grief. 2326 119. It is provided for thee that thou wilt not hunger therein, nor wilt thou be naked. 2327 a7:23; 18:51. process continues till the person comes to be loved by all good and righteous men on earth" (Bukhārī, Kitāb bad'ul-Khalq). Thus the command to the angels to submit to Adam applied to Iblis also. Elsewhere it is expressly stated in the Quran (7:13) that Iblis was also commanded to submit to Adam. So there is no point in the objection that as only the angels were commanded to submit, Iblis could not have been justifiably called to account for not carrying out this command. (he refused). Iblis refused to obey Adam because (1) he considered the teaching of Adam to be against his interests; (2) he looked upon Adam as of lower status to himself; (3) he regarded the ideals of Adam incapable of being achieved and because also (4) he led a life of deceit and falsehood. See also 2:35, 36, 37. 2326. Commentary: as (the garden) does not refer to Heaven or Paradise but only to the garden-like place where Adam was first made to live. The word cannot refer to heaven; first, because it was on the earth that Adam was made to live, as the words: "I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth" (2:31) indicate; and secondly, because heaven is a place from where no one having once entered it can ever be expelled (15:49), whereas Adam was compelled to leave the a referred to in this verse. Recent archaeological researches show that the place where Adam was made to dwell was the garden of Eden which lay near Babylon in Iraq, and which was given this name on account of the great fertility of its soil (Enc. Brit. under "Ur"). See also 2:35, 36. The Bible also lends support to this view. It says: "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom He had formed" (Gen. 2:8). 2051 The verse means to warn Adam that if he succumbed to the blandishments held out to him by Iblis and accepted his advice, he would become deprived of ai. e. the life of bliss, which he had formerly enjoyed. comfort and spiritual contentment 2327. Commentary: See next verse.