The Glorious Quran is full of glad tidings with which Almighty God soothes distressed and troubled souls, and nourishes the hearts of believers with hope of guidance and light. In one of these verses Allah says:
{We said: Go down all of you, from hence, but verily there cometh unto you from Me a guidance; and whoso followeth My guidance, there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve} (Al-Baqarah 2: 38)
According to the scholars of tafseer (Quranic exegetes), this verse explains what became of man after his first deviation from guidance: he got expelled out of the Paradise, an abode of bliss and comfort, to the earth, an abode of loitering, hardship and discomfort.
But still, and despite all this, the Almighty Creator, out of His mercy, always opens His gate towards salvation for those whoever wish to trek that path.
{…verily there cometh unto you from Me a guidance; and whoso followeth My guidance, there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve}
More Than a Story
To me, according to my humble perception of this glorious verse, it has a general and wide-range application. It is not a mere narration of the story of man in the Garden of Eden during the genesis of life and creation.
It aims to open up our hearts and educate us about our nature as humans, created to offer a total submission to the will of the Almighty Creator and obey His orders.
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The verse also warns that whenever we allow Satan to overpower us and drive us from that path, this will inevitably drive us towards God’s wrath and expulsion from His mercy and blessing, leading us to degradation and falling to the bottom pit of discomfort and lack of peace:
{We said: Go down all of you, from hence…}
But still, and in line with the fact that the divine Will of God is never for making us suffer, even though our relentless stubbornness often drives us to that point, as He has made clear in other verses of the Quran:
{Allah desires ease for you, and He does not desire for you difficulty…} (Al-Baqarah 2: 185)
All-Embracing Mercy
So in line with this, Allah, the almighty always comes to our rescue, spraying on us His blessing and directing us back to the root, to the foundation of our existence, when He first created us and placed us in the Garden of Eden, it was mercy.
Yes, man’s existence on earth is based on the divine mercy and blessing of God, and that is the source of his guidance. We cannot obtain guidance save through God’s mercy.
But does that mean the origin of man’s creation is blanketed with sin?
I see that the answer is no. Man’s first disobedience and henceforth fall from heaven does not make his origin sinful; it’s rather a deviation from guidance, which is a product of divine mercy bestowed on man, even before his creation.
Can’t we observe this in God’s address to angels when He referred to man as His “vicegerent on earth”? What an honor!
And later, after creating the man, He blessed him with knowledge, i.e. full comprehension of many things. This lifted up the rank of man, earning him another great honor of angels prostration, in an act of showing respect. This is another instance of divine mercy.
Then he was placed in the Garden of Eden, and provided with abundance of bliss, comfort and pleasure. Was this by coincidence or chance?
Nay, it’s a product and sign of God’s divine mercy and blessing. Nothing in this earth is by chance or coincidence, as everything has been predestined and gets directed by His Supreme Will. But what I want to emphasize here is that even with this Supreme Will, Divine Mercy walks and moves side by side.
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