The story of Adam and Eve is also mentioned in Christian and Jewish traditions. However, there are some differences and certain misconceptions which Islam does not support:
1. Satan was a serpent – Satan came to Adam and Eve in Paradise and tempted them to eat from the tree. However, we don’t believe he came in the form of a snake or serpent.
2. Eve tempted Adam – Islam does not indicate that Eve was weaker than Adam or that she tempted him to disobey God. They were both responsible, were both rebuked by God and both repented to Him.
3. Childbirth pains are due to Eve’s sin – Islam does not hold that pains experienced by women during childbirth as a result of Eve tempting Adam to disobey God.
4. Original sin – Islam does not believe that due to this original sin committed by Adam and Eve, all their descendants are being punished. In Islam, no one bears the sins of another. God is fair and just, and He does not hold to account people who came millennia later for the actions and decisions of their ancestors.
5. God forgave Adam and Eve – The Quran is very explicit in that God forgave both Adam and Eve. Therefore, there would be no reason to hold them or their descendants responsible for eating from the forbidden tree.
In Islam, Adam and Eve were equally responsible for their actions, and after repenting, they were both forgiven by God, with no concept of inherited sin or punishment for their descendants.
Original sin. (7:26) 0 Children of Adam! Indeed We have sent down to you a garment which covers your shame and provides protection and adornment. But the finest of all is the garment of piety. That is one of the signs of Allah so that they may take heed.Araf 7:26 So, here is my question. How come we need clothing to cover our shame when Adam and Eve did not from the beginning. What changed? and Who did?
We are no longer in the Garden as Adam and Eve were in the beginning. The rules are different.
The passage you shared has a context and you are taking it out of context without looking at what is before it and after it.
Look at 7:11-27
You should look at the commentary as well to understand this better.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden initially and had not been exposed. Once, they disobeyed the command of God due to Satan’s whispers, their nakedness was exposed and they covered themselves from the leaves in the garden. 7:25
http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Al-Araf/Shaytans-Deceit-with-Adam-and—
They were sent down to earth and they had offspring. They were commanded to cover their nakedness.
http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Al-Araf/Sending-Them-All-Down-to-Earth
http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Al-Araf/Bestowing-Raiment-and-Adornmen—
For more see this
http://www.englishtafsir.com/Quran/7/index.html#sdfootnote15sym
15In this passage, the Qur’an has used the story of Adam and Eve for the eradication of the evil of nakedness. Satan had seduced the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period into believing that clothing was meant merely for the purpose of decorating and protecting the body from the hardships of weather. Accordingly they totally disregarded its real purpose and paid no heed to cover their shameful parts and did not hesitate to uncover them before others in the open. Above all, they would go round the Ka’abah in perfect nudity during the Haj season; and their women were even more shameless than their men. That was because they considered it a religious act and did this as if it were a virtuous deed.
The whole human race has been addressed because this evil was not confined to the Arabs alone but many people of the world had been (and even today are) guilty of this. Therefore the whole human race has been warned, as if to say, “O children of Adam! Nudity is a clear manifestation of the fact that you have been seduced by Satan. As you have discarded the Guidance of your Lord, and rejected the Message of His Prophets, you have given yourselves up to Satan who has misled you from the way of natural modesty into that shameful state, in which he intended to mislead your first parents. If you consider it seriously, you will come to the inevitable conclusion that you can neither understand rightly the demands of your nature nor fulfill them without the Guidance of the Messengers.”
16This passage brings out clearly the following facts about clothing:
(1) The need of clothing has not been artificially created in man, but it is an important urge of human nature. That is why Allah has not created a natural covering for the human body, as He has done in the case of all other animals. Instead, He has instilled inherently the feelings of modesty and shyness in human nature. Besides this, He has not made his sex organs as merely sex organs, but has also made them shameful organs, which, by his very nature, he does not like to expose before others. Moreover, He has not given man any ready-made covering for hiding the shameful parts, but has ingrained in the human nature that man should hide them with a clothing. This is what v. 26 implies. Allah has inspired man with the urge to hide the shameful parts of the body. Therefore man should understand the nature of this inspired urge and make clothing for himself from the material provided by Him.
(2) The fact that in v. 26 the covering of the shameful parts precedes the protecting and decorating of the body, is a clear proof that more importance has been attached to the moral than the physical function of clothing. Thus it is obvious that the human nature is quite different from the animal nature. That is why Nature has made provision for the protection and decoration of the body of the animals, but has ingrained no urge in them for the covering of their shameful parts. But when the human beings discarded the Guidance of Allah and began to follow the guidance of Satan, they reversed the above order as if to say, “Your clothing is merely to protect and decorate your bodies just as the skins cover the bodies of the animals. As regards the covering of the shameful parts, garments have absolutely no importance, for these are merely sex organs and not shameful organs.”
(3) The garments should not only be the means of covering the shameful parts and of protection and decoration but should also enable man to attain piety. The dress should, therefore, be such as to conceal those parts of the body that should be hidden from others; it should neither be too expensive nor too poor with regard to the position of the wearers; it should not smack of haughtiness nor arrogance nor hypocrisy. Moreover, the garment of piety demands that the male should not wear the female dress and vice versa, and that the Muslims should not imitate blindly the non-Muslims in dress. It is obvious that only those who believe in the Guidance of Allah and follow it, can attain the desired standard of the garment of piety. But those who discard the Guidance of God and make satans their guides, are misled by them into one error or the other in regard to clothing.
(4) Clothing is one of Allah’s many Signs which are spread all over the world and which lead men to the recognition of the Reality, provided that one sincerely seeks it. If one seriously considers the above-mentioned three facts about clothing, one can easily understand how clothing is an important Sign of Allah.
The teachings of Islam were sent down by God during the ministry of the final messenger, Muhammad. We do not take our religious regulations from before that time period, rather the ministry of Muhammad is where the final commands of God are taken from.
I invite you to learn more about the Islamic dress code.
https://www.newmuslims.com/category/155/dress-code
God bless you.
https://www.newmuslims.com/category/155/dress-code
Original Sin. Nowhere in the Bible teaches me that I am responsible for the sin of Adam and Eve, On the final day, the day of Accountability, each one will respond for their own sin. What we refer as original sin, is the fact that neither you nor I are born in Paradise anymore, we no longer enjoy the company of our Maker directly as our forefather did, and we have sinful desires that were not part of the original creation Did you see that the voice that tempted Adam and Eve came from the outside? Yes, because their hearts/ fitra was so pure that nothing from within them was tainted by selfishness. Of course, God is fain and will not punish me from a sin that I did not commit, but to deny that the first disobedience had consequences that ,
I love this thank you.
Thank you so much for this information. I never believed these things anyway and it is so good to know that what I felt in my heart was not right about the Adam and Eve story is not correct in Islamic belief.
Thanks for the Article. However what is the story of Creation according to Islam. I see more of what christians and judaism believe but what is our version. What is the story of Adam and Eve islamically?
Hi Zainab! As salamu alaikum.
There will be a coming webinar for that. Please watch out on your email for the announcement! I can’t wait! It is very exciting!
Thank you so much,
NMA Helpdesk
I love this teaching! It is truth. When I was a Christian I never believed in original sin. Just another reason for conversion for me. There are many reasons for my conversion.
Clear, crisp and to the point!
I think it is important to understand that there was never a hierarchy – males were not ‘better’ than females.
Salaam Alaikum. JazakAllah for this knowledge shared as it has been a question I wondered about and have been asked about as well. Now I have a better way of explaining this topic insha Allah if it is presented to me again.
Mustafa