Chapter 2: Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow), verses 34-39

Translation:

And when We said to the angels: ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam.’ They all prostrated themselves except Satan, who, in his pride, refused, and became an unbeliever. To Adam We said: ‘Dwell with your wife in Paradise and eat of its fruits to your hearts’ content wherever you will. But never approach this tree or you shall become transgressors.’ But Satan made them forget this injunction and caused them to be driven out of the state of felicity in which they had been. ‘Go hence,’ We said, ‘and may your offspring be enemies to each other. The earth will be for a while your dwelling-place and sustenance.’ Then Adam received commandments from his Lord, and his Lord relented towards him. He is the Forgiving One, the Merciful. ‘Go down hence, all,’ We said: ‘When Our guidance is revealed, those that accept it shall have nothing to fear or to regret; but those that deny and reject Our revelations shall be the heirs of Hell, and there they shall abide forever.’

Tafsir (Commentary):

When God stood Adam up before the angels, as well as Satan and tested them by commanding them to prostrate themselves before Adam. He was giving the first man on earth a practical demonstration of the two paths that would be open to his progeny. Either they would follow the example of the angels and bow to God’s commandments, even if this meant bowing before an inferior creature; or else they would be proud like Satan, and refuse to bow before others. This is the test that man faces throughout his entire life. Here on earth man is constantly faced with two alternative courses of action. He can either follow the angelic course and carry out God’s commandments by bowing before truth and justice in all that he does; or he can act as Satan did and, letting himself be controlled by arrogance and contempt, refuse to concede the right of others.

This was the lesson of the forbidden tree: how man goes astray by letting himself be deceived by Satan, and exceeding the bounds that God has laid down for him. As soon as he eats of the “forbidden fruit,” he is deprived of God’s grace or, in other words, Paradise. But this loss is not an irretrievable one. Man still has the opportunity to turn in repentance to his Lord, rectify his actions and seek forgiveness for his sins. When he turns to the Lord in repentance, God relents towards him, and cleanses him of his sins as if he had never committed them.

The raising of the call to truth among men is a test of this nature. The preacher of truth is an “Adam”; it is for people to bow before him. If, carried away by pride and prejudice, they refuse to acknowledge his position, they are following in Satan’s footsteps.