Why did you do That?
Woman from Man, for Man, against Man? Vol 3/3
As we understood from the previous parts (Vol 1/3 and Vol 2/3) the Qur’an neither says the woman was created from a rib bone of a man nor presents men as superior to women while most of the believers think that these narratives belong to the Qur’an. In this final part, we are going to look at the final claim that says the woman is the cause of the first sin committed by mankind.
The verses in the Qur’an and Bible about the first sin committed by mankind are striking for many reasons. First of all, they wonderfully describe the nature of human beings who are greedy, forgetful, and prone to making mistakes. Next to warning us about the downsides of our nature they also give us hope by mentioning our potential to take responsibility for our mistakes, to show humbleness towards our creator, and to improve ourselves. Then it warns us about the consequences of our irresponsible actions and finally, they inform us not only about our own essence but also about our Creator. Since they show us the justice and the mercy of God towards humankind.
However, these wonderful messages given by the Book are generally missed in the established Islamic tradition. Because, instead of emphasizing these core messages, the general narrative in the Muslim communities emphasizes that Adam was deceived by “a woman”, who was his wife Eve, into committing a great sin by being persuaded to eat the forbidden apple. Thus, the woman is put in a position of deceiving man, and the way that leads to the many of the problems that women are exposed to in society opens up.
The strange thing here is that the Qur’an, the only source of Islam, does not mention that it was Eve who brought the apple to Adam! Moreover, the Qur’an does not even give the information that the forbidden fruit was an apple and the name of Adam’s wife was Eve. Because this information is simply not relevant to the main message that is wanted to be given in the story. Also, strangely enough, when the Qur’an talks about this sin committed by the first humans, it does not blame the women or point out the woman. Instead, it places the responsibility equally on both genders as it can be seen in the following verses;
“But the devil whispered to them, to reveal their bad sides which were hidden from them; and he said, “Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree except that you would become angels, or you would be immortals.” 7:20
“So they both ate from it, and their bad sides became apparent to them…” 20:121
“So, the devil tricked both and he brought both of them out from what they were in…” 2:36
As we see, according to the Qur’an the initial cause of the first sin is not the woman. It is the devil who tricks Adam and his wife both. Then, in the end, both genders followed the devil’s whisper with their free will and were punished by being expelled from their place of residence (Garden). In the following part of the story both genders regret their wrongdoings, ask forgiveness from God. Also, while they are asking forgiveness it should be noted that they do not blame each other or the devil, whereas they both take responsibility of their own action;
They said, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, then we will be of the losers!” 7:23
Even though the Qur’an does not put the blame on women for causing mankind to be expelled from the garden, this belief was imported into the Islam understanding by misinterpreting the relevant verses of the Old Testament. Infect, in the Old Testament, the gender of the person who brought the apple has also nothing to do with the core message of the narrative. In the end, one of them brings the apple, the other takes it, and they both violate God’s prohibition by eating it together. Basically, they both showed greediness that caused the subsequent problems by taking and consuming something from their environment wich is not ment for human.
So, the belief in the society which presents women as deceptive and as someone that needs to be controlled by men due to her sinful ontological structure has no basis. However, defining women’s nature as a sinful deceiver by looking at this wrong “first sin interpretation”, creates the basis for the sexism issues in the society. For example, suggestions like “women’s mental capacity and faith are weaker” or “women should not occupy managerial positions” are all come from this basis. This wrong interpretation that put women against men can even influence the judgments of society, so people start to look for excuses to justify a guilty man in the cases like femicide, harassment, rape, etc. by accusing the woman who was attacked of dressing provocatively or going outside too late or even being alone at the street without the control or permission of a husband, brother or father. I don’t want to bother you with these kinds of issues too much but you got the concept.
In conclusion, the perspective of the Qur’an regarding who is responsible for the first sin is as given in the above verses. However, even if Eve was the only responsible one for the first sin, wouldn’t the perception created in society towards women would be still wrong? Because according to the Qur’an everybody can only be kept responsible for their own actions. So the one who is responsible for the actions of Eve was only Eve rather than all the women. Wasn’t it?
“None can carry the sin of another and even if one calls on another to bear part of one’s sin, no other can carry any part of it, even if they were relatives…” 35:18
Let’s end the Vol 3/3 with this nice reminder of Qur’an.
Amen.
Sources;
https://www.canertaslaman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/islamvekadin.pdf
