Forgiveness to Adam and Eve
How was Adam forgiven? Allah commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam, and they obeyed. He also commanded Iblis to prostrate to Adam, but he disobeyed. As for the angels, they obeyed the legislative command, as they are "those who do not disobey Allah in what He commands them and do what they are commanded" (66:6). As for Iblis, he disobeyed the legislative command, but through his disobedience, he fulfilled the creative command (amr takwini), for he had no choice but to comply with it.
Prostration signifies the subjugation (taskhir) of the angels to Adam, as well as the subjugation of Iblis, though the two types of subjugation differ. The subjugation of the angels is assistance in goodness and guidance to truth, while the subjugation of Iblis is a sign of evil and a leading astray from truth. Adam is torn between the pull of goodness from above and the pull of evil from below, yet in both states, he journeys toward Allah.
"And He has bestowed upon you His blessings, both apparent and hidden” (31:20). The apparent blessings are well-being, while the hidden blessings are afflictions. All of these are forms of mercy, even though human selves tend to recoil from afflictions and find comfort in well-being. However, Allah, exalted is He, says: "Fighting has been enjoined upon you while it is hateful to you. But perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you. And Allah knows, while you know not." (2:216) All misfortune lies in the deficiency of knowledge.
If you envision the first human being at the threshold between animality and humanity, and you envision him as the head of the arrow of evolution, then you have imagined Adam, the vicegerent (khalifa) on earth. He is in a stage of his development stemming from distant beginnings, but it is a transformative stage that he entered through a unique leap. This leap resulted from the accumulation of various virtues he gathered during his long and arduous evolution from those distant beginnings.
This leap is what is expressed in His saying, Exalted is He: "Then We developed him into another creation" (23:14) from the noble verses: "And We created man from an extract of clay. Then We placed him as a sperm-drop in a firm lodging. Then We made the sperm-drop into a clinging clot, and We made the clot into a lump [of flesh], and We made [from] the lump, bones, and We covered the bones with flesh; then We developed him into another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators." (23:12-14)
This is the same as what is expressed in His saying, Exalted is He: "And I breathed into him of My spirit" (38:72). From the two noble verses: "And [mention] when your Lord said to the angels, 'I will create a human being out of clay from an altered black mud. So, when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down to him in prostration.'" (15:28-29)
"So when I have proportioned him" refers, with miraculous conciseness, to the series of evolutionary stages that began with water vapor, when the heavens and the earth were a single cloud, and to the point where the place became ready for the divine spirit to be breathed into it.
We have said that the divine spirit is "the will for freedom" that crowned the "will for life" and suddenly elevated the human being above the higher animals. The will for freedom did not appear suddenly out of nothing; rather, it emerged after a long dormancy. It is like the cream churned from the milk of life through struggle.
We previously discussed it and mentioned that it entered into a struggle with the will for life, and that the mind is the result of this encounter.
The will for life grew from the earth, with the factors of the heavens present within it, though they are weaker than the factors of the earth. The will for freedom originated from the earth, but the factors of the heavens within it are strong. Through it, the human figure rose to stand upright on two legs, dedicating them to walking, thus freeing the hands for tasks more closely related to the mind.
This will also enable the head to turn easily and smoothly to observe its surroundings and what is above, allowing the human to see the sun, the moon, and the stars, and to walk upright, guided on the paths of the earth and the ways of the heavens: "Then is one who walks fallen on his face better guided, or one who walks upright on a straight path?" (67:22).
Adam, in existence, is torn between the angels from above and the devils from below. He is the isthmus (barzakh) of all existence, and in that, he is also the mind of existence. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, refers to him when He says: "He released the two seas, meeting [side by side]; between them is a barrier [so] neither of them transgresses." (55:19-20)
The two seas here are: the sea of the higher spirits, which radiated with obedience, and the sea of the lower spirits, which darkened with disobedience.
The mind of Adam, within Adam, is torn between the "will for life" - which is the self, from below - and the "will for freedom" - which is the spirit, from above. He is also an isthmus, and Allah, Exalted is He, refers to him in the aforementioned noble verses. He is their inner meaning, while Adam is their outward meaning.
The self is governed by the law of seeking pleasure by any means and avoiding pain by any means as well. For this reason, it complies with the creative command, but the legislative command (amr tashri‘i) weighs heavily upon it, as it imposes limits. In this, it resembles Iblis.
The spirit is governed by the law of permissible and forbidden. It seeks from the self (nafs) to abstain from immediate pleasure if it is forbidden, in pursuit of delayed permissible pleasure, and to avoid the pain that results from indulging in forbidden pleasure, whether this pain is immediate or delayed.
For this reason, the spirit rises from compliance with the creative command (amr takwini) to compliance with the legislative command. In this, it resembles the angels.
Adam, in this primitive stage of his development, was told: "Eat from this, and do not eat from that" - that is, he was told: "This is forbidden (haram), and this is permissible (halal)." If he could overcome the self (nafs) and its command toward evil, and abstain from what is forbidden, he would have managed his freedom well and would deserve to have it increased. Allah, Exalted is He, says: "Is the reward for good [anything] but good?" (55:60). The reward for goodness (ihsan) is multiplied, and this is pure grace.
Listen to His saying: "Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times the like thereof [to his credit], and whoever comes with an evil deed will not be recompensed except the like thereof; and they will not be wronged." (6:160). It may be multiplied many times over, or even without limit. Listen to Him, Blessed and Exalted is He, when He says: "The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a seed [of grain] that sprouts seven ears; in every ear is a hundred grains. And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing." (2:261) Here, the single grain produced seven ears, and in each ear were a hundred grains, making those seven hundred times. Then He said, beyond that: "And Allah multiplies [His reward] for whom He wills" - as if it could be seven thousand times or seventy thousand times. And when He said: "And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing" (2:261), it transcended numbers and entered into absolute abundance.
If he could not overcome it (the self), weakened before its temptations, and indulged in fulfilling its forbidden desires, then he mismanaged his freedom and thereby exposed it to confiscation. If his misconduct violates any right of the rights of the community, his freedom would be confiscated in accordance with the law of retribution in the Shari‘ah. Its proof from the Book of Allah is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: "And We ordained for them in it: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth, and for wounds [legal] retribution. But if anyone remits [this] as charity, it is an expiation for him. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is they who are the wrongdoers." (5:45)
If his misconduct affects only himself without impacting others, his freedom is confiscated in accordance with the law of retribution in reality. Its proof from the Book of Allah is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: "So whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it." (99:7-8)
Let no one think that the principle of reciprocity in Shari‘ah was always applied with the same strictness as stated in the Torah, later affirmed by the Gospel, and ultimately confirmed and endorsed by the Quran. This is because it is a law that evolves with the evolution of human society and is influenced by the level of precision in the human mind and its ability to emulate the law of reality, which is its origin. The law of reality has always been, and remains, in ultimate precision - it leaves nothing, small or great, without accounting for it.
The precision that belongs to the law of retribution in reality, which many of its aspects surpass in the law of retribution in Shari‘ah, is evident in how both laws work together to confiscate the freedom of one who fails to fulfill the obligations of freedom. This is done without there being two punishments for a single transgression at the same level of punishment.
The closest laws of retribution in Shari‘ah to the precision of the laws of retribution in reality are the hudud (prescribed punishments), which are four: adultery (zina), slander (qadhf), theft (sariqah), and highway robbery (qat‘ al-tariq). These return to two fundamental principles: the preservation of honor and the preservation of wealth. These two principles were the first two laws to emerge in primitive human society, and they were instrumental in making society possible.
Following these hudud is the punishment for intoxication (had al-sukr), and then come the laws of retribution such as a life for a life and an eye for an eye.
The recompense for an evil act is to counterbalance it by placing pain against the pleasure experienced by the self. The purpose of this is to balance its powers so that they become moderate and do not deviate, driving the self to indulge in pleasure without the guidance of an illuminating book.
