Adam, Eve and the Forbidden Tree

The story of God’s prophets is the story of the true and happy life of divine guidance, love, and compassion. The lives of God’s prophets and the difficulties they endured in their mission to spread the word of God and in their efforts to establish the rule of God constitute a rich source that we can draw on to improve our understanding of life and strengthen our personal values and beliefs so as to better respond to and build on life’s vicissitudes. It is for this reason that the last divine book revealed to humankind, the Qur’an, repeats on numerous occasions the stories of the prophets and the obstacles they faced in the course of their ministries. And it is precisely this same rationale that has given rise to this book and will, God willing, bring the following volumes in this series—THE STORY OF GOD’S PROPHETS—into print.

The story of the human progenitors partakes of a special place within the larger story of God’s prophets. The story as told by Qur’an speaks to the quintessential reality that constitutes our humanity. The story of Adam and Eve’s creation, their fall from divine grace, and their redemption is the story of human divinity and human frailty. This story is not an easy one to tell to adults, let alone children. Nevertheless, we have tried our best to capture the genuine story as told by the Qur’an, remolding it in a form and style that children would enjoy and relate to. The story at hand is based solely on the verses of the Qur’an and the credible reports in the corpus of Shia tradition. We have especially benefitted from the chapter on Adam and Eve in the wonderful book written by Ayatullah Seyyed Hashem Rasuli Mahallati on the lives of God’s prophets. Inevitably, however, for the sake of consistency and readability an element of fiction has been interwoven into the story to fill in the blanks but not to distort it in any way. The integrity of the story as told by the Qur’an and the corpus of tradition is fully and faithfully preserved.

The purpose of this book is to allow you to share the inspiring story of the first humans created by God with your little loved ones. We hope that the little but illuminating time spent reading this book will go a long way in bringing home the true meaning of life and humanity, especially in these depraved times when the sanctity and spirituality that is at the core of humanity is the constant target of a diabolic cultural onslaught that aims to reduce humanity to a depraved brutality.