—each one of you doing so on his own (1)?! How astonishing that pages and hearts are turned black with such ravings, and that they still find writers and readers who admire them and lend both heart and ear to them!

The correct view, then, is this: when Adam—upon him be peace—heard Allah’s enemy swear that he was only a sincere adviser, he couched his words in several layers of emphasis:

1. He began with an outright oath.
2. He cast the sentence in nominal, not verbal, form.
3. He prefaced it with a particle of emphasis.
4. He reinforced the predicate with the emphatic lām.
5. He used the active participle rather than a verb indicating a transient act.
6. He placed the object before the verb (2).

Adam never imagined that anyone would swear by Allah while lying—a yamīn ghamūs, an oath of perjury so grave that it plunges its utterer into sin—and thus dare to affront Allah with such audacity. Accordingly, Allah’s enemy deceived him with all that insistence and exaggeration. Adam took him for truthful, thinking that if he ate from the tree he would not be expelled from the Garden. Although eating entailed some harm, he judged that the benefit of everlasting life outweighed it, hoping that he might later rectify the harm of disobedience—whether by offering an excuse, by repenting, or by some other means.

You will notice the same rationale present in every person who truly believes in Allah and the Last Day whenever he embarks upon a sin. Compare this understanding with the fanciful interpretations advanced by those who tamper with the texts, and the difference between right and wrong will become clear to you. Allah is the One who grants success in reaching the truth.