Read · 8 min · Optional
What the classical commentators say, ayah by ayah. Take this one if you want to go deeper.
Seven ayat that move fast: a wide permission with one limit, a whisper, an oath, the eating, the exposure, two sentences of repentance, and the sending down. The three units below follow the way Ibn Kathir himself groups the passage.
Ayat 19–21 — The permission, the whisper, and the oath
The passage opens with a wide permission and one narrow limit. Iblis does not attack the limit directly — he rewrites the reason behind it.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir treats 19–21 as one movement. Allah allowed Adam and his wife to dwell in the Garden and to eat of all its fruits except one tree; he notes he has already discussed this passage in Al-Baqarah. Shaytan then envied them and plotted, whispering and suggesting treachery, wanting to strip them of the favours and the covering they were enjoying. On the words rendered “except that you become angels,” Ibn Kathir reads the particle as a negative purpose — so that you do not become angels or dwell here forever — meaning Shaytan was claiming that eating would win them both things at once. He cross-references 20:120, where Shaytan offers Adam “the Tree of Eternity and a kingdom that will never waste away,” and supports the “lest” reading from the same construction at 4:176 and 16:15.
Source summary: On wa qasamahuma, Ibn Kathir says Iblis swore to them by Allah, his argument being that he had been there before them and so knew the place better. Ibn Kathir then remarks plainly that someone who believes in Allah can sometimes be the one who gets deceived, and he reports Qatadah's comment on this ayah: Shaytan swore by Allah, saying that he was created before them and knew more than they did, so they should follow him and he would direct them.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn is terser and works at the word level. It reads wuriya as a passive form meaning what was covered over from them, notes that malakayn (“angels”) may also be read malikayn (“kings”), and glosses ayah 21 simply as his swearing to them both by God that he was a sincere adviser in this matter.
Optional source note
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Qurtubi on 7:20 gives the plain sense of waswasa: it is the faint, hidden sound, and it is also the talk of a person's own self. He notes the Arabs used the word for the low sound of a hunter and his dogs and for the jingling of jewellery, citing a line of al-A'sha. On saw'at he says the word is used because exposing it grieves the one it belongs to — the noun is built from the root meaning harm or distress. On the malikayn reading he reports that Ibn 'Abbas read it with a kasra, and that al-Nahhas classed that reading as anomalous.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: Three things will come up. The tree. Al-Jalalayn identifies it as wheat; Ibn Kathir does not name it here and refers back to Al-Baqarah, where he reports the disagreement without settling it. The Qur'an does not name it, and that is worth saying out loud as a method, not an evasion. What was covered. Al-Qurtubi reports, with “it was said,” that a light covered them, and alternatively a garment, ending with “and Allah knows best.” Those reports are not established, so they are off the participant pages; they are here so you are not caught out if someone raises them. The reading malikayn. It is a genuine discussion in the books, but it is not one of the canonical readings, and the room does not need it unless asked.
Reflection: The lie was not “this tree is good for you.” The lie was about what Allah meant by forbidding it — and it arrived as advice, under oath. The costume was most of the work.
Ayat 22–23 — The fall, and the two sentences that changed everything
What they did takes half an ayah. What they said afterwards is the reason the story does not end here.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir's comment on this unit is mostly about what happened next. On “they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise,” he reports that these were fig leaves, and says that statement has an authentic chain of narration going back to Ibn 'Abbas; Mujahid said they made the leaves into a garment. On ayah 23 he reports ad-Dahhak bin Muzahim saying that the words of 7:23 are the words Adam received from his Lord — that is, the same words referred to at 2:37.
Source summary: Ibn Kathir also reports, through 'Abdur-Razzaq from Qatadah, a contrast between the two who disobeyed: Adam asked what would happen if he repented and sought forgiveness, and was told he would be admitted into Paradise; Shaytan did not ask for forgiveness at all, but asked for respite. Each was given exactly what he asked for.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn glosses fadallahuma as his bringing them down in their standing by delusion, and states directly why the exposed parts are called saw'a: because exposing them shames — yasu'u — the person. On yakhsifani it reads “they began to piece together,” sticking the leaves onto themselves to cover up. It reads Allah's question “Did I not forbid you” as an affirmation rather than a request for information.
Optional source note
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Qurtubi on 7:22 explains how the deception worked. He reports Ibn 'Abbas saying that Iblis deceived them by means of the oath, because Adam did not think anyone would swear falsely by Allah, and Qatadah saying that he swore by Allah until he had deceived them. Qurtubi draws the general lesson that a believer can be taken in through Allah's own name, and cites alongside it the narration that the believer is open-handed and easily taken in. On yakhsifani he gives the concrete picture: they were cutting the leaves and sticking them together to cover themselves, the way a sandal is patched — the same verb used of a cobbler's work. He also holds that the ayah shows how grave the exposure of the 'awrah is, since the two of them moved to cover themselves at once.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: Al-Qurtubi relates here, introduced only with “it is narrated” and no chain, a story in which Adam went round the trees of the Garden asking for a leaf and was refused by each until the fig tree had mercy on him. It is not an established narration and it is excluded from the core exposition. Participants who have heard it will bring it; it is yours to handle. Al-Qurtubi also builds a fiqh point on this ayah about covering with leaves when nothing else is available, citing al-Shafi'i through an intermediary. Report it as scholarship if it comes up, not as a ruling for the room. The narration al-Qurtubi cites beside the oath discussion — that the believer is open-handed and easily taken in — is not on the hadith page: it is graded Hasan by Al-Albani at Sunan Abi Dawud 4790 but Da'if by Darussalam at Jami' at-Tirmidhi 1964 for the same wording, both as listed on Sunnah.com, and the passage does not need it.
Reflection: They did not explain themselves, and they did not blame the one who deceived them. “We have wronged ourselves” is the whole turn of the passage.
Ayat 24–25 — Down to earth, and the terms of the life that follows
The sentence is not only exile. It comes with a place, a provision, a fixed term — and a way back up.
Source summary: On “Descend,” Ibn Kathir reports that it was said to address Adam, Hawwa', Iblis and the snake, and notes that some scholars did not mention the snake, adding “and Allah knows best.” The enmity, he says, is primarily between Adam and Iblis, with Hawwa' following Adam in this. He cross-references 20:123. On where on earth they came down, he is blunt: those accounts are taken from Israelite tales, and only Allah knows whether they are true — if knowing them were of use in religion or in living, Allah would have mentioned it in His Book and His Messenger ﷺ would have mentioned it too.
Source summary: On “a place of settlement and enjoyment for a time,” Ibn Kathir reads it as dwellings on earth together with appointed terms already written. On ayah 25 he cross-references 20:55 — created from the earth, returned into it, brought out from it once again — and says the ayah covers the whole span: on earth the children of Adam live, on it they die and are buried, and from it they are raised.
Source summary: Al-Jalalayn reads the plural “go down” as Adam and Eve together with the descendants they carry, which is how a command to two becomes a command to many, and glosses “for a while” as until your fixed terms of life are complete. On the last word of ayah 25 it notes both readings: actively, takhrujun, you shall come forth, and passively, tukhrajun, you shall be brought forth.
Optional source note
Paraphrase from the Arabic: Al-Tabari on 7:24 sets out who was addressed. He reports as-Suddi that those sent down were Adam, Hawwa', Iblis and the snake, and Abu Salih that they were Adam, Hawwa' and the snake. On mustaqarr he reports Abu al-'Aliya glossing it by 2:22, “who made the earth a bed for you,” and a report attributed to Ibn 'Abbas that it means the graves — though that report reaches Tabari through an unnamed intermediary. Tabari's own conclusion is that the word is general: Allah did not restrict the settling place to the time of their living as against the time of their dying, so the statement stands at its widest.
Facilitator guidance
For the facilitator: Ibn Kathir's refusal to repeat the Israelite reports about where on earth they landed is itself the teaching point of this unit — it shows the room what a commentator does with a story he cannot verify. Use it, rather than skipping past it. Keep “enemies to one another” inside the text: it is about Iblis and the children of Adam, and it must not be turned into a statement about any present-day people or conflict. That caution is repeated on the facilitator notes.
Reflection: “Therein you will live, and therein you will die, and from it you will be brought forth” is one of the shortest descriptions of a whole human life in the Qur'an — living, dying, and being raised again. All three verbs are about the same handful of earth.
Sources and further reading
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English, abridged) — Consulted for every ayah of the passage; it comments on 19–21, 22–23 and 24–25 as three blocks, which is where this page's units come from. Ibn Kathir on 7:19–25, quran.com ↗
- Tafsir al-Jalalayn (English, trans. Feras Hamza) — Word-level glosses; consulted for every ayah. al-Jalalayn on 7:22, altafsir.com ↗
- Tafsir al-Qurtubi (Arabic) — Consulted on 7:20 for the sense of waswasa and saw'at and the readings of malakayn, and on 7:22 for how the oath worked and for the picture behind yakhsifani. al-Qurtubi on 7:20 ↗
- Tafsir al-Tabari (Arabic) — Consulted on 7:24 for who was addressed by “descend” and for the range of mustaqarr. al-Tabari on 7:24 ↗
- Quranic Arabic Corpus — Roots, forms, grammar and occurrence counts on the Arabic words page. Corpus, Al-A'raf word by word ↗
Lectures on this passage
-
Nouman Ali Khan
Returning Home to Paradise: Reflections on Surah al-A'raaf
58:30 · Darul Islah Media — the masjid that hosted the talk, not Bayyinah's own channel
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: The closest match to this week's passage. It works through Shaytan's approach to Adam and his wife and the wearing away of modesty — ayat 20 to 22. Our main full-length recommendation; listen for how the erosion is described as gradual rather than sudden.
-
Nouman Ali Khan
Story of Adam — Khutbah
26:45 · Bayyinah (official channel)
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: A khutbah on the Adam narrative as Al-A'raf tells it, built around the contrast between two responses to having done wrong — owning it, and arguing about it. Good preparation for Q2. Listen for what it does with ayah 23.
-
Yasir Qadhi with Shaykh Sajjad optional background
Quran Tafsir #7: Surah al-Araf
1:03:11 · EPIC MASJID — official host channel
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: One session covering Al-A'raf as a whole, rather than ayah by ayah. Background for placing this passage inside the surah; it pairs with the About the surah page rather than with the tafsir.
-
Mufti Menk optional background
Stories Of The Prophets 02 — Creation Of Aadam (AS)
47:26 · Mufti Menk (official channel)
Connection to the verses · editorial reflection: The narrative told straight through, from the creation of Adam to the Garden. Useful if you want the whole story around the seven ayat, and it reaches this passage in its later part.