Texts of Islam

The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Adam: The reasons for getting Adam down from paradise to earth

Summary only - full text stays on its own separately-gated source. Read the full text at the source »

This is an Islamic religious text from the hadith tradition, drawing on narrations attributed to the Shia Imam Al-Sâdiq and the Prophet Muhammad, concerning Adam's expulsion from paradise. Its central content is a reported dialogue between Moses and Adam, in which Moses reproaches his ancestor for causing humanity's fall by disobeying God's prohibition, and Adam defends himself by arguing that Iblis (Satan) deceived him through a false oath sworn by God — a deception Adam found unimaginable, since he could not conceive of anyone swearing falsely by the divine name. The text then addresses a theological tension this story raises: that Adam's sin was predestined and recorded long before his creation, yet Adam (and humans generally) are treated as morally responsible agents, a paradox the Prophet adjudicates by declaring Adam the winner of the argument with Moses. The author's resolution to this predestination-versus-free-will problem is a "middle way": God possesses foreknowledge of every choice a creature will freely make, but that foreknowledge does not constitute compulsion — force belongs to God, genuine selection belongs to the responsible creature. This piece would interest readers exploring classical Islamic theodicy, Shia hadith literature, or comparative Abrahamic interpretations of the Adam and Eve narrative, particularly those curious about how Islamic tradition handles the tension between divine omniscience and human moral accountability.

The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Adam: The reasons for getting Adam down from paradise to earth

Related pages View as graph →