Tafsir of Surah Ta-Ha - Verse 123

The Descent of Adam to the Earth and the Promise of Good for the Guided and Evil for the Transgressors

Allah says to Adam, Hawwa' and Iblis, "Get down from here, all of you." This means each of you should get out of Paradise. We expounded upon this in Surah Al-Baqarah.

بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ

(Some of you as enemies to others.) 2:36 He (Allah) was saying this to Adam and his progeny and Iblis and his progeny. Concerning Allah's statement,

فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُم مِّنِّى هُدًى

(Then if there comes to you guidance from Me,) Abu Al-`Aliyyah said, "This (guidance) means the Prophets, the Messengers and the evidence."

فَمَنِ اتَّبَعَ هُدَاىَ فَلاَ يَضِلُّ وَلاَ يَشْقَى

(Then whoever follows My guidance he shall neither go astray nor shall be distressed.) Ibn `Abbas said, "He will not be misguided in this life and he will not be distressed in the Hereafter."

وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِى

(But whosoever turns away from My Reminder,) This means, "Whoever opposes my command and what I have revealed to My Messenger, then he has turned away from it, neglected it and taken his guidance from other than it."

فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكاً

(verily, for him is a life of hardship,) meaning, his life will be hard in this world. He will have no tranquillity and no expanding of his breast (ease). Rather, his chest will be constrained and in difficulty due to his misguidance. Even if he appears to be in comfort outwardly and he wears whatever he likes, eats whatever he likes and lives wherever he wants, he will not be happy. For verily, his heart will not have pure certainty and guidance. He will be in agitation, bewilderment and doubt. He will always be in confusion and a state of uncertainty. This is from the hardship of life. Concerning His statement,

وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيـمَةِ أَعْمَى

(and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Resurrection.) Mujahid, Abu Salih and As-Suddi said, "This means he will have no proof." `Ikrimah said, "He will be made blind to everything except Hell." This is as Allah says,

وَنَحْشُرُهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ عَلَى وُجُوهِهِمْ عُمْيًا وَبُكْمًا وَصُمًّا مَّأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ

(And We shall gather them together on the Day of Resurrection on their faces, blind, dumb and deaf; their abode will be Hell.) 17:97 This is why Allah says,

رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِى أَعْمَى وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيراً

(O my Lord! Why have you raised me up blind, while I had sight (before).) This means in the life of this world.

قَالَ كَذَلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَـتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا وَكَذلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنْسَى

((Allah) will say: "Like this Our Ayat came unto you, but you disregarded them, and so this Day, you will be neglected.) Meaning, "When you turned away from the signs of Allah and dealt with them in the manner of one who does not remember them after they were conveyed to you. You neglected them, turned away from them and were heedless of them. Therefore, today We will treat you in the manner of one who has forgotten you."

فَالْيَوْمَ نَنسَـهُمْ كَمَا نَسُواْ لِقَآءَ يَوْمِهِمْ هَـذَا

(So this Day We shall forget them as they forgot their meeting of this Day.) 7:51 For verily, the punishment will be a retribution that is based upon the type of deed that was done. However, forgetting the words of the Qur'an, while understanding its meaning and acting upon its legislation, is not included in the meaning of this specific threat. Yet, forgetting the words of the Qur'an has been warned against from a different aspect. It has been reported in the Sunnah that it is absolutely forbidden and there is a serious threat against one who forgets Qur'an (that he previously memorized).

The اهْبِطَا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا (123) mean "both of you go down together". This command can be in reference to Sayyidna 'Adam (علیہ السلام) and the shaitan in which case the meaning of the phrase بَعْضُكُمْ لِبَعْضٍ عَدُوٌّ (some of you enemies of some - 123) is obvious, namely that the two of them will remain enemies in the world also. However if it is argued that the Shaitan had already been expelled from Paradise long before these events occurred, then it would be correct to assume that these words have been addressed to Sayyidna 'Adam (علیہ السلام) and Sayyidah Hawwa' (علیہا السلام) meaning thereby that their children would cherish hostile feelings towards one another and mutual hostility among the children embitters the lives of the parents.

God settled Satan as well as Adam on the earth and gave due warning in the very beginning that clashes of interest between the two would go on till Doomsday. Satan would make every possible effort to mislead mankind, therefore, people should make it a point to treat him as their greatest enemy and try to stay far away from his inducements. To give further guidance to man, God periodically sent him His messengers, or prophets, who instructed him in the reality of life in a language which was clearly intelligible to him. Now, the success or failure of man depends on his own acceptance or rejection of the Prophet’s guidance. One who accepts this guidance will once again be ushered into the comfortable life of paradise, whereas the life of one who fails to accept it will be a very severe one, from which he will never be able to escape. Those who turn away from God’s guidance will be reduced in the Hereafter to blindness, being deprived of both the eyes. The reason for this is that such people are given eyes in the world in order to be able to see and recognise God’s signs. But they live in such a manner that, when they encounter God’s signs, they fail to recognise them. Thus, they prove that, in spite of having eyes, they are really blind. So God will ask on that Day, what use it had been to give eyes to those who were determined to be blind.