The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Adam: What is the tree that was porhibited for Adam PUH

This is a piece of Islamic theological/exegetical writing, likely an excerpt from a larger compilation of hadith commentary or religious narrative (the text references *M'ânee Al-Akhbâr* and transmissions from Imams Al-Ridhâ and Al-Sâdiq), and it belongs to the Shia Islamic tradition given its emphasis on 'Ali, Fâtima, Al-Hasan, and Al-Husain. The central question is the nature of the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, and the text resolves the apparent contradiction among various traditions (wheat, grape, fig, the tree of good and evil) by asserting through Imam Al-Ridhâ that the paradise tree was a single miraculous tree bearing all these forms simultaneously. A distinctively Shia theological claim drives the narrative of the Fall: Adam's transgression is attributed not to envy in the blameworthy sense but to *ghibta* (a form of longing or admiration for another's station), prompted by seeing the names of the Five (Muhammad, 'Ali, Fâtima, Al-Hasan, Al-Husain) inscribed on the Throne of God — figures God tells Adam are superior to him and the reason for creation itself. The text explicitly defends the sinlessness of prophets, arguing that because Adam was divinely protected, his act was a violation of a "purity prohibition" rather than a moral transgression, and that the tree is called "the tree of envy" only because envy was its cause, not its nature. Additional narrative details include a symbolic account of Adam's post-Fall black mole shrinking with each of the five daily prayers (establishing their institution), Eve's parallel temptation through longing for Fâtima's station, and brief traditions about Adam's beard and the brevity of the couple's stay in Paradise. The text would interest readers curious about Shia Islamic Adam-and-Fall narratives, particularly the theological investment in elevating the Ahl al-Bayt as the cosmological purpose of creation.

The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Adam: What is the tree that was porhibited for Adam PUH

Related pages View as graph →