Did Prophet Adam (pbuh) Committed Sin?
Question:
Our belief is that prophets make mistakes with good intentions but do not sin. In case of Adam pbuh eating the forbidden fruit, was that not a direct disobediance of a given command from God and hence a sin.
Answer:
I do not subscribe to the belief that you referred to. It is my understanding based on the Qur’an that the prophets make mistakes and sometimes these mistakes can be categorised as sins. There are many verses of the Qur’an that refer to prophets committing sins (40:55, 47:19, 21:87, 28:16). However there are different levels of sins. The sins of the prophets, due to their extreme piety, are so minor that for us they may not even be recognised as a sin.
Prophets are also protected in receiving revelation and passing it along with any other religious directive/clarification to their nations.
As for Adam, it is possible to offer technical justifications like, ‘God’s instruction was only an advice’, ‘Adam was not a prophet till he was out of the Garden’, etc. I do not see much reason or depth in these answers.
In my view the key to answering your question is 20:121. Note that after disobeying God’s instruction, Adam and Eve realised that they were naked and therefore started covering themselves. What does this mean? In my understanding this means that before this incident happening Adam and Eve were effectively unaware of the concept of evil and good. The awareness of evil and good was inbuilt in them, however it had not been yet activated. It was only after that disobedience that they came to understand evil and good. It was also after that incident that they realised the great ability that was given to them: ‘willpower’. It was also after that incident that they realised the dynamics of sin and repent.
So the whole incident actually served Adam and Eve (and human beings) to make them aware of all the mechanism of human being in terms of guidance and misguidance and the challenges they will face.
As an example, consider a teacher that allows his student to make a mistake in the first day of school only to realise what ‘mistake’ means, what its consequences are and what needs to be done to make up for it.
I therefore do not categorise the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden to be in the same category as sins that may committed at the era after the exit of Adam and Eve from the Garden.
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March 2014
Our belief is that prophets make mistakes with good intentions but do not sin. In case of Adam pbuh eating the forbidden fruit, was that not a direct disobediance of a given command from God and hence a sin.
Answer:
I do not subscribe to the belief that you referred to. It is my understanding based on the Qur’an that the prophets make mistakes and sometimes these mistakes can be categorised as sins. There are many verses of the Qur’an that refer to prophets committing sins (40:55, 47:19, 21:87, 28:16). However there are different levels of sins. The sins of the prophets, due to their extreme piety, are so minor that for us they may not even be recognised as a sin.
Prophets are also protected in receiving revelation and passing it along with any other religious directive/clarification to their nations.
As for Adam, it is possible to offer technical justifications like, ‘God’s instruction was only an advice’, ‘Adam was not a prophet till he was out of the Garden’, etc. I do not see much reason or depth in these answers.
In my view the key to answering your question is 20:121. Note that after disobeying God’s instruction, Adam and Eve realised that they were naked and therefore started covering themselves. What does this mean? In my understanding this means that before this incident happening Adam and Eve were effectively unaware of the concept of evil and good. The awareness of evil and good was inbuilt in them, however it had not been yet activated. It was only after that disobedience that they came to understand evil and good. It was also after that incident that they realised the great ability that was given to them: ‘willpower’. It was also after that incident that they realised the dynamics of sin and repent.
So the whole incident actually served Adam and Eve (and human beings) to make them aware of all the mechanism of human being in terms of guidance and misguidance and the challenges they will face.
As an example, consider a teacher that allows his student to make a mistake in the first day of school only to realise what ‘mistake’ means, what its consequences are and what needs to be done to make up for it.
I therefore do not categorise the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the Garden to be in the same category as sins that may committed at the era after the exit of Adam and Eve from the Garden.
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March 2014
