Adam held Responsible - not his Wife

MSA stated: Both Adam and his wife had disobeyed Allah, and both of them sought His forgiveness. But Allah forgave only Adam (cf. 20:122). His wife was never pardoned. So she remained under Allah's curse throughout her life on earth. Her offspring, if she had produced any, were also cursed and their descendants remain cursed even today!

Answer: According to the Quran, it was Adam who had disobeyed his Lord. The blame is not placed on Adam's wife anywhere in the Quran! The progeny of Adam is also not blamed for the sin of Adam. However, we suffer from the consequences since we inherit the DNA, as I've discussed in my blogpost: Adam's Attempt to Improve upon Allah's Creation - Outcome: Mutated, Non-Functional Genes
http://signsandscience.blogspot.com/2015/11/mission-of-messengers-iii.html 

In the passage from Surah Taha quoted below, Quran 20:115 speaks of a covenant being taken from Adam, and no firm resolve found in him. Quran 20:117 states that Adam was warned that Iblis is an enemy to you and your wife, so do not let him get you both out of the Garden and landed into misery. Quran 20:120 informs us that Iblis whispered evil suggestions to Adam. Quran 20:121 informs us that both Adam and his wife ate from the forbidden tree, but the verse also goes on to place the blame only on Adam stating that Adam had disobeyed his Lord and erred. The next verse then informs us that Adam was pardoned and granted guidance.   

The following verses highlight the importance of the guidance for us, the progeny of Adam, and why it is imperative that we heed the guidance! 

113 Thus have We sent this down - an arabic Qur'an - and explained therein in detail some of the warnings, in order that they may fear Allah, or that it may cause their remembrance (of Him). 114 High above all is Allah, the King, the Truth! Be not in haste with the Qur'an before its revelation to thee is completed, but say, "O my Lord! advance me in knowledge." 115 We had already, beforehand, taken the covenant of Adam, but he forgot: and We found on his part no firm resolve. 116 When We said to the angels, "Prostrate yourselves to Adam", they prostrated themselves, but not Iblis: he refused. 117 Then We said: "O Adam! verily, this is an enemy to thee and thy wife: so let him not get you both out of the Garden, so that thou art landed in misery. 118 "There is therein (enough provision) for thee not to go hungry nor to go naked, 119 "Nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the sun's heat." 120 But Satan whispered evil to him: he said, "O Adam! shall I lead thee to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?" 121 In the result, they both ate of the tree, and so their nakedness appeared to them: they began to sew together, for their covering, leaves from the Garden: thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced. 122 But his Lord chose him (for His Grace): He turned to him, and gave him Guidance. 123 He said: "Get ye down, both of you,- all together, from the Garden, with enmity one to another: but if, as is sure, there comes to you Guidance from Me, whosoever follows My Guidance, will not lose his way, nor fall into misery. 124 "But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment." 125 He will say: "O my Lord! why hast Thou raised me up blind, while I had sight (before)?" 126 (Allah) will say: "Thus didst Thou, when Our Signs came unto thee, disregard them: so wilt thou, this day, be disregarded." 127 And thus do We recompense him who transgresses beyond bounds and believes not in the Signs of his Lord: and the Penalty of the Hereafter is far more grievous and more enduring. 128 Is it not a warning to such men (to call to mind) how many generations before them We destroyed, in whose haunts they (now) move? Verily, in this are Signs for men endued with understanding. 129 Had it not been for a Word that went forth before from thy Lord, (their punishment) must necessarily have come; but there is a Term appointed (for respite). 130 Therefore be patient with what they say, and celebrate (constantly) the praises of thy Lord, before the rising of the sun, and before its setting; yea, celebrate them for part of the hours of the night, and at the sides of the day: that thou mayest have (spiritual) joy. 131 Nor strain thine eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to parties of them, the splendour of the life of this world, through which We test them: but the provision of thy Lord is better and more enduring. 132 Enjoin prayer on thy people, and be constant therein. We ask thee not to provide sustenance: We provide it for thee. But the (fruit of) the Hereafter is for righteousness. 133 They say: "Why does he not bring us a sign from his Lord?" Has not a Clear Sign come to them of all that was in the former Books of revelation? 134 And if We had inflicted on them a penalty before this, they would have said: "Our Lord! If only Thou hadst sent us a messenger, we should certainly have followed Thy Signs before we were humbled and put to shame."135 Say: "Each one (of us) is waiting: wait ye, therefore, and soon shall ye know who it is that is on the straight and even way, and who it is that has received Guidance."
http://searchtruth.com/chapter_display.php?chapter=20&translator=2 

Adam's Clothes

MSA & IQ discussing the previous reply to MSA's query regarding Head Cover: 

IQ: "If Allah wants women to hide themselves with hijab, why are women not born with one?"

MSA: Good question. I would have also placed the same question before Allah, if I could reach Him!!

Answer: According to my study of the Quran, Adam and his wife were indeed clothed before they ate off the forbidden tree. I understand that if we are forgiven and eligible for the Garden of Eden, our DNA will be repaired and our original clothing (libas-ut-taqwa) restored on the Day of Judgement. 

Following are excerpts from my blogpost: 

Mission of the Messengers - III
No change should there be in the creation of Allah [Quran 30:30] 
Adam's Attempt to Improve upon Allah's Creation
Outcome: Mutated, Non-Functional Genes  

The Garden

Quran 20:118 informs us that there was enough in the Garden for Adam and his wife to neither go naked nor hungry.

The popular belief across religions is that Adam and his wife were naked, but only not aware of it. The Quran clearly states that they were not naked. I think this is a key to understanding what happened and the lesson for us in the story of Adam.  

Satan’s Deception: Desire and Temptation

Quran 20:120 informs us of Satan (Iblis)’s attempt to seduce Adam: Then whispered to him Shaitaan, he said, "O Adam! Shall I direct you to (the) tree (of) the Eternity and a kingdom not (that will) deteriorate?"  

The verses of the Quran are very clear that Adam sought Immortality and A Kingdom that Never Decays. According to scientific knowledge, we now know that changes in the genome cause fundamental changes in the organism. Modern science promises to increase longevity and eradicate disease by making sufficient advances in genomics.  Eugenics, Transhumanism, Posthuman and eventually Posthumanism all seek to transcend the human into a utopian superbeing, who will then no longer be a ‘human’. However, as illustrated by Adam’s example, efforts in this direction can only cause depletion and loss. God’s perfect creations cannot be improved upon!

Clothing Stripped Off

[Quran 20:121, Translation: Sahih International]  And Adam and his wife ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.

When Adam and his wife were placed in the Garden, they were not naked. When they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, their clothing was stripped off them and thus their nakedness became apparent. Consequently, they started covering themselves with leaves, repentantly praying that they had wronged themselves. They were forgiven and clothing was then again bestowed upon humans to cover themselves. 

...

...

Humans are among the rare creatures whose skins are bare and not covered with fur, feather, shell or some other form of covering to hide their body.

Scientists have discovered pseudogenes (mutated, inactive genes) in humans, which indicate that perhaps sometime in the distant past, human skin was covered in fur or feather.

Scientists have also discovered a faint glow (bioluminescence) being emitted from the human body. 

Perhaps before Adam and his wife ate of the cursed tree, the clothes were growing upon or glowing off their body, and were shed off due to mutation caused in the genes upon eating the forbidden fruit? Or perhaps, the clothes were not connected to their body, but were to be worn externally like we do here on Earth.  Either way, perhaps this is what is meant by ‘libas-ut-taqwa’, the one that Allah designed for humans. After all, nothing can excel Allah’s design – it has to be the best! Regarding the Hereafter, the Quran provides imagery of clothes made of silk and brocade, and adornments of gold and silver. Noteworthy is the fact that the imagery given is of only one kind of dress, that the ‘muttaqi’ will be adorned with in the Garden. There is no mention of any fancy wardrobe to pick and choose from. Therefore, I infer, that the ‘libas-ut-taqwa’ that the ‘muttaqi’ will be wearing in the Garden will be part of their body, covering and attached to their skins.  

Warning for the Progeny of Adam

Quran 7:27 warns us that: O Children (of) Adam! (Let) not tempt you [the] Shaitaan as he drove out your parents from Paradise, stripping from both of them their clothing to show both of them their shame. Indeed, he sees you - he and his tribe from where not you see them. Indeed, We have made the devils friends of those who (do) not believe.

Signs, Science & Creature from the Earth

MSA objected to my literal approach to studying the Quran 

My Response: Of course, Allah knows best! 

I try to understand through whatever little knowledge of science we have, but science itself is in the toddler stage - discovering and learning, and then unlearning to learn better. 

From the little we think we know, an organism's genome (complete set of DNA) contains all the information needed to build and maintain that organism. In humans, all cells with a nucleus contain a copy of the entire genome, about 3 billion DNA base pairs. We have come to know that the DNA molecule is a double-helix. We have also come to know that the heart muscle is also a double-helix. Though science has not yet established any connection between the shape of the heart and the shape of the DNA, it has discovered neurons in the heart which communicate with the brain. 

Quran and prior scriptures inform us of the huge importance of the heart. The more we discover, the more we begin to understand, the deeper the realisation of how much we do not know. All I know is that the Creator who taught us speech has complete command over language and thus the guidance He has sent us must be literally accurate and lucid. Since the Quran repeatedly exhorts the use of 'aql', I try to make sense of what I read. I may understand this, I may not understand that, but as I try to understand, I continue on this amazing, wondrous journey of fascination with the text of the Quran. 

Samiya 

http://signsandscience.blogspot.com/  

MSA responded: "I try to understand through whatever little knowledge of science we have, but science itself is in the toddler stage - discovering and learning, and then unlearning to learn better."

Agreeing with the above stipulation, I humbly submit that placing science side-by side with the Quran is unfair to the former.

For: 

-Science has been existing from time immemorial. It picked up speed only after humans started thinking 'scientifically.' Science took off like a phantom in the late 1700s. If considered the age of science from this angle, it is about 400 years old.

-Science does not claim that what it says about something is final. Science is based on experiments. It conducts them, repeats them, checks and rechecks its findings and when science is relatively confident with them, only then it shares its experiments and findings with us. But when the finding of an experiment is found to be defective or untrue, science reverses itself and continues to experiment to go to the bottom of the matter at hand.

-Despite its young age, science has given us so many things that we can hardly count just in one go. The internet that we have been using for communication is a gift of science. The cell phone, which we use so often is also a gift of science. The instruments that surgeons use to perform surgery on human hearts came from science. The life-saving drugs owe their origin to science.

-Conversely, what the Religious Scriptures tell us is final. No experiment is required, nor any proof is called for, or is ever produced.

Religions cannot reverse what these taught their adherents. One example should suffice here: 

-Three major religions of the world tell us that the first two humans were created in heaven, and then pushed to the earth after the couple disobeyed their creator's order. The creation of those two humans cannot be replicated on earth, nor can it be proven with

any testimony or evidence. Just believing in what the Scriptures tell us is the "belief" that their followers must follow without asking questions. The Quran makes believing in the "Unseen" a cardinal belief for all the Muslims.

-Islam is the latest monotheistic religion. To a great extent, it succeeded Judaism and Christianity. Islam is over 1400 years old. If compared with science, Islam is older to it by about 1000 years.

-Despite being around for such a long period of time, we can hardly find any scientific contribution from this religion. It does not mean that Muslims have contributed nothing to the wellbeing of mankind. They have, but it was not due to Islam, as what the Jews, Christians and the followers of other religions have given to humanity was also not due to the their religious beliefs.

-Scientists were curious, asked questions, sought answers and thus their scientific contributions, which we see all around us today, came to their grip in the form of answers to questions they asked of themselves and of others who had answers to them. 

-In the world of religions, asking questions is often a taboo. Seeking truth is covertly forbidden. Inquiring into unknown is not generally encouraged, or appreciated. Sharing thoughts that are not religiously sanctioned is frowned up, and often the bearers of such thoughts are scorned, sanctioned, ex-communicated or declared unwanted in the societies they belong to.

Therefore, I strongly believe science and religions cannot be partners in endeavors that many humans undertake to make our lives easier and comfortable. Religions are more interested in the devotions of their followers. Offering Salat five times a day, is one of them.

In short, the life of hereafter for the religionists takes precedence over all things and matters on earth! Science is above this; it places no demands on the beneficiaries of its inventions, nor does it ask for a 'thank you' from the people who get a new life with its help!! 

My Response: [Quran 27:82] And when (is) fulfilled the word against them, We will bring forth for them a creature from the earth speaking to them, that the people were, of Our Signs, not certain. 

[http://islamawakened.com/quran/27/82/ ]

You state that 'Science is above this; it places no demands on the beneficiaries of its inventions, nor does it ask for a 'thank you' from the people who get a new life with its help!!'  

The day is not far when Science will demand thanks, and those who did not strengthen their faith will knowledge will be deceived into worshipping the science which would appear to benefit them. 

[Quran 36:69,70] And not We taught him [the] poetry, and not it is befitting for him. Not it (is) except a Reminder and a Quran clear, To warn (him) who is alive and may be proved true the Word against the disbelievers. 

[http://islamawakened.com/quran/36/69/ ; http://islamawakened.com/quran/36/70/ ] 

AP asks: Can  you tell me, Samyia, what is the point of your message. What are you trying to proof with the Qur'an verses you sent? thanks 

Answer: Just reminding those who believe that eventually our faith will be put to the test, hence it is essential that we have assured faith. To my mind, that is only possible through studying the scriptures and understanding the verses, employing all our faculties of reasoning and logic. MSA contends that science should not be employed to understand the verses of the scripture. I disagree. Employing science helps us verify if the scripture claiming divine origin is indeed so or not, and if it is from the Creator, then understanding what it says becomes the duty of the recipient. After all, it's a message from The Lord of the Worlds!