A Brief Reflection on the Story of the Fall and Ascent in the Quran

“Children of Adam, We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.” (7:26)

The Story of Fall in the Quran

“We established you [people] on the earth and provided you with a means of livelihood there––small thanks you give!  We created you, We gave you shape, and then We said to the angels, ‘Bow down before Adam,’ and they did. But not Iblis: he was not one of those who bowed down. 12 God said, ‘What prevented you from bowing down as I commanded you?’ and he said, ‘I am better than him: You created me from fire and him from clay.’  God said, ‘Get down from here! This is no place for your arrogance. Get out! You are contemptible!’ but Iblis said, ‘Give me respite until the Day people are raised from the dead,’ and God replied, ‘You have respite.’  And then Iblis said, ‘Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lie in wait for them all on Your straight path: I will come at them– from their front and their back, from their right and their left– and You will find that most of them are ungrateful.’  God said, ‘Get out! You are disgraced and banished! I swear I shall fill Hell with you and all who follow you! 19 But you and your wife, Adam, live in the Garden. 

[God said] But you and your wife, Adam, live in the Garden. Both of you eat whatever you like, but do not go near this tree or you will become wrongdoers.’  Satan whispered to them so as to expose their nakedness, which had been hidden from them: he said, ‘Your Lord only forbade you this tree to prevent you becoming angels or immortals,’ and he swore to them, ‘I am giving you sincere advice’– he lured them with lies. Their nakedness became exposed to them when they had eaten from the tree: they began to put together leaves from the Garden to cover themselves. Their Lord called to them, ‘Did I not forbid you to approach that tree? Did I not warn you that Satan was your sworn enemy?’ They replied, ‘Our Lord, we have wronged our souls: if You do not forgive us and have mercy, we shall be lost.’ He said, ‘All of you get out! You are each other’s enemies.  On earth, you will have a place to stay and livelihood– for a time.’  He said, ‘There you will live; there you will die; from there you will be brought out.’  Children of Adam, We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.  Children of Adam, do not let Satan seduce you, as he did your parents, causing them to leave the Garden, stripping them of their garments [innocence or God-consciousness] to expose their nakedness to them: he and his forces can see you from where you cannot see them: We have made evil ones allies to those who do not believe.” (7:10-27)

The Simile of Garment for Body and Soul

In the Bible, Genesis 3-23, the story of creation almost concludes the same as the Quran.  In the Bible, God doesn’t say to Adam and Eve that you will become “wrongdoers”, but God forbids them to eat from “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis: 2:17).  And Satan seduces them to eat from the tree.  In Bible, Serpent says: “You will not certainly die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (3:4) In the Quran, Iblis says: ‘Your Lord only forbade you this tree to prevent you becoming angels or immortals’.

In both Bible and Quran, being aware of their nakedness is the sign of knowing good and evil.  In the Quran, God tells them you will become “wrongdoers” if you eat from the forbidden tree.  This is a very interesting point: you will become aware of the desires of body and also the struggle for purification.  No animal knows it is naked; human beings are exceptional in having garments on.  In our time, there are nudist movements who think by taking off their cloth and overcoming the shame of nudity they can liberate themselves.  The Quran highlights the fact that this is the seduction of Iblis to lose your shame and objectify your body. 

Something happened after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  We obtained a sense of “self” and “freedom of the will” to see two different possibilities: to be graceless or graceful.  So, a path of evolution was set for us that, unlike Darwinian evolution, it is not only about “survival” but for achieving virtues and “God-consciousness” (taghva).  The Fall is the story of realizing the attachment and detachment from the body and coming to self-consciousness.  This self has to find the balance between good and evil and to choose: to be immersed in the pleasures of the body shamelessly (attachment) or in balance purify the body and soul in God-consciousness (detachment).

And a medium for this purification is “proper shame” that we attained after the Fall. The Fall and the experience of shame indicate both opening our eyes to a self (freedom of the will) and that “proper shame” is itself a way to purify the self, to become righteous and one in body and soul, to refrain from obscenities and indecencies. I call it coincidentia oppositorum: the very emotion of shame that was a symptom of the Fall is the medium of Ascent, keeping the garments of grace on us. Good and evil are separate but excess can turn good to evil. So, for example, shamelessness and toxic shame (excess) both trap the self in the body, but proper shame hinders our soul from being tainted by obscenities.  

The Quran plays with the word “garment” as a symbol of God-consciousness and grace.

“We have given you garments to cover your nakedness and as adornment for you; the garment of God-consciousness is the best of all garments– this is one of God’s signs, so that people may take heed.

Again, before the Fall, Adam and Eve had garment of innocence and were naked.  After having the forbidden fruit, they feel ashamed and seek a garment.  After the Fall, they must live on the earth and Iblis tries to seduce children of Adam to take off their garments and become naked.  But this time, this becoming naked is not going back to the God-consciousness and innocence of Garden of Eden but to swing from good to evil—to follow one’s desires and objectification of the body and losing shame.  When there was no shame there was also no knowledge of good and evil.  When they gained the seed of knowledge, they experienced shame.  Now if they lose their shame after eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil and become naked, which means living in lust and objectification of the body, they will lose their virtues and become graceless.

Look at the world now! In the West, losing the garment of grace: hedonism, shamelessness, gracelessness, and objectification of the body (especially for women) is a serious social issue. In the West, we see gender confusion and obscenity. In the East, losing the garment of grace occurs through totalitarianism, corruption, and hypocrisy. It seems to me that God could foresee the future, that how humanity, especially in the West, will fall into the trap of sexual liberation, nudity, and obscenity. So, in the Quran God forewarns us about nudity and gender confusion and calls for securing the garment of virtue for men and women.

Almost immediately after the story of the Fall, the Quran continues:

“Yet when [these people] do something disgraceful, they say, ‘We found our forefathers doing this,’ and, ‘God has commanded us to do this.’ Say [Prophet], ‘God does not command disgraceful deeds. How can you say about God things that you do not know [to be true]?’  Say, ‘My Lord commands righteousness. Direct your worship straight to Him wherever you pray; call on Him; devote your religion entirely to Him. Just as He first created you, so you will come back [to life] again.’  Some He has guided and some are doomed to stray: they have taken evil ones rather than God as their masters, thinking that they are rightly guided.  Children of Adam, dress well whenever you are at worship, and eat and drink [as We have permitted] but do not be extravagant: God does not like extravagant people.  Say [Prophet], ‘Who has forbidden the adornment and the nourishment God has provided for His servants?’ Say, ‘They are [allowed] for those who believe during the life of this world: they will be theirs alone on the Day of Resurrection.’ This is how We make Our revelation clear for those who understand. (7:28-32)