Adam was a test for Satan and Satan was a test for Adam.

Allah created Adam and ordered the Angels to prostrate to him who all succeeded in the test, but Satan failed who refused to obey and said: {I am better than him, You created me from fire and created him from clay} (Quran 7:12)

So, because of his disobedience, refusal to prostrate, and major sin, Allah punished him severely. He ordered him to leave the garden forever and told him that he will be thrown into the hellfire later on. Allah says: {get out from this, despised and expelled. If any of them followed you, I will fill hell with you all.}

Satan hated Adam, and he decided to try to deviate him from the right way and to deviate his children after him.

So, he went to Allah and asked Allah again the permission to live until the Day of Judgment {give me respite till the day they are raised up. Allah said: You will be among those who have respite}

So, Allah gave him the permission to live till the Day of Judgment.

After taking this respite, he swore by Allah that he will spend every effort to mislead Adam and his children and his offspring. Iblis said: {then, by Your power, I will lead them all astray except Your sincere and purified servants}

At another verse, satan swore that he will be extremely positive in misleading the children of Adam {because You have thrown me out of the way, I will lie in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will assault them from before them, and behind them, from their right, their left, and you will not find, in most of them, gratitude for Your mercies}

On the other hand, Allah granted Adam the garden, and created a wife for him. Then Allah allowed him to eat from everything and enjoy everything except one tree. This was the test of Adam. Allah says: {for you not to go hungry, nor to go naked, nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the sun heat}

So, Adam had everything in the garden, every food, drinks, clothes, and good weather, then the test of Allah came {enjoy its good things as you wish, but do not approach this tree, lest you become of the unjust}

Look to the expression of the Quran, do not approach, even approaching is forbidden, not just eating to avoid completely falling in the unlawful.

This is a nice hint from Allah and a nice advice.

If you really want to avoid any type of sin, do not approach it. Do not do things that are between halal and haram, things that you are in doubt if it is halal or haram.

However, as all of us know that Adam failed the simple test.

Some may wonder; how Adam fails this simple test? Why he ate from this simple tree although he has a countless number of trees?

We may wonder, however, most of us fail again in different types of simple tests. Every day we repeat the mistakes of our father Adam, and we should know why? Why he failed, and why we sometimes fail?

We need to read the Quran deeply and understand it accurately to find the keys of success and to find the causes of failure.

When we read the Quran again, we will find that Adam failed in the test because of two main reasons:

1- The presence of Iblis who carries in his heart absolute hatred to Adam and his offspring

2- The weak will of Adam or the weak human soul

These two factors combined together led to this failure.

So, if we reread the Quran, we will find:

1- The warning of Allah to Adam, which is indicated in the verse: {Then We said: o Adam, verily this is an enemy to you and your wife, so do not let him get you both out of the garden, so that you are landed in misery}

2- The weak soul of Adam forgot the order of Allah and could not resist the Satan {We have already, beforehand, taken the covenant of Adam, but he forgot, and we found on his part no firm resolve}

The struggle started between Satan and Adam. Satan did not forget his promise to deviate Adam and his offspring, however, Adam forgot. Allah says: {Satan whispered evil to him: he said: O Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of eternity and to a kingdom that never decays}

It seems to us that the situation is strange; Satan tries to fool Adam by wrong things. Why Adam is looking for eternity although he saw no death in the garden? Why he was looking for a kingdom though he has everything in the paradise?

It seems strange for him to look for something other than the paradise; however, he forgot the warning of Allah that Iblis is an enemy for him?

He forgot that Allah warned him: {this Satan will try to get you out of the paradise}.

It seems also that Adam was hesitating in disobedience. He forgot that Satan is an enemy for him, but he still remembered that Allah forbade him from eating from this tree.

So, Satan continued his evil trial, Allah says: {he said: your lord forbade you this tree, lest you should become angels or such beings as live forever}

Again it is strange for Adam to look for being angel, although he saw the angels prostrating to him and honoring him (by order of Allah).

• Adam is still hesitating, and Satan is still whispering, Allah says: {and he swore to them that he was their sincere adviser.}
• Finally, Adam obeyed Satan and disobeyed Allah.
• The weak soul of Adam failed to resist the strong whisper of Satan.
• The punishment was severe, Allah says: {Allah said: get you down with enmity between your selves}
• Adam lost everything and he felt the major sin he did, he returned back quickly to Allah and asked him repentance and forgiveness. And Allah, out of his mercy, accepted his repentance {but his lord chose him “for his grace”: forgave him and gave him guidance.}
• However, Adam lost the garden, and Allah put some obligations for him, if he obeyed Allah in them, He will grant him the paradise again, and if he failed, the punishment will be a hellfire.

To conclude the lessons from this sad story, we can say:

1. The struggle between us and Satan is continuous, serious and will not end till the day of judgment.
2. Satan has only one job in this world, this job is to prevent the offspring of Adam from entering paradise and to direct them to the hellfire, he is dedicated to this work, serious, clever, smart, and hard worker.
3. We have a big objective in this world; to enter the paradise, to achieve this goal, we have to defeat Satan in the struggle between him and us.
4. We have a weak soul that can easily respond to the whisper of Satan if we are not taking the struggle seriously.
5. The best benefit from this story is to try to know two main things:

• What are the methods and ways used by Satan to deviate us? If we know these methods, we can avoid them.
• How we can struggle our souls to the degree that we can discover the misleading of Satan and even defeat him.

Source: http://islamstory.com/