• And whoever turns away from My remembrance...

●And whoever turns away from My remembrance, his shall surely be a straitened life, and We will raise him, on the Day of Resurrection, blind” (124) . • He shall say: “My Lord! why hast Thou raised me blind, and I was a seeing one indeed?” (125) • He will say: “Even so: Our signs came to you, but you forgot them; even thus shall you be forsaken this day” (126) .

●And thus do We recompense him who is extravagant and does not believe in the signs of his Lord; and certainly the chastisement of the hereafter is severer and more lasting” (127) . The context, and particularly the opening words of the story, “Verily I am going to make in the earth a vicegerent”, clearly show that it was for the earth that Adam was created; it was the original plan that he should live and die in the earth.

Allah had temporarily placed the couple in the Garden to test them in order that their nakedness might be uncovered to them. Also the context in all three places shows that the order to the angels to prostrate before Adam, and then to Adam to stay in the Garden is a single, continuous, story. It all shows that Adam (a.

s.) was created specifically for the earth, and the way to send him down was through the Garden as mentioned in the Qur'an: It was shown that he was superior to the angels and, therefore, more qualified for the vicegerency of Allah; then they were told to prostrate before him, in acknowledgement of his superiority; then he was placed in the Garden but forbidden to go near a particular tree; so that on eating from it they should become aware of their nakedness and then be sent down to the earth.

It means that the last link in this chain was their becoming aware of their private parts - it was this factor which irrevocably showed that they were fit for this earth, ready for this life. ” as-Saw 'ah ”, ( السَّوأة literally means shame, disgrace, private part of the body. In this story it has been used in the last meaning, as may be seen from the words, “and they both began to cover themselves with leaves of the Garden”. That is why we have translated it as “nakedness”.

) However, their awareness of their pudenda proved that in addition to their spiritual qualities, they had also animal instincts and desires ingrained in them. It naturally made them dependent on nutrition and growth. Iblīs wanted them to become aware of their nakedness.

✦ ✦ ✦