And he said:

“We have never made peace with them since the day we fought them.”(1)

Concerning the verse in Sūrah Tā Hā—“Go down from it, both of you together; some of you will be enemies to others” (Tā Hā 123)—this is a command addressed to Adam and Iblīs; Eve follows Adam, and the serpent follows Iblīs. Others have maintained that the order is directed to all of them but expressed in the dual form, as in His words: “And David and Solomon, when they passed judgment concerning the field into which the sheep of some people had strayed by night; We were Witnesses to their judgment” (al-Anbiyāʾ 78).

The sound view is that, because a judge only rules between two parties—the claimant and the defendant—He said: “We were Witnesses to their judgment.”

As for the repetition of the command to descend (hubūṭ) in Sūrat al-Baqarah:

“We said, ‘Go down, all of you; you will be enemies to one another, and on the earth you will have a dwelling-place and provision for a time.’ (36) Then Adam received words from his Lord, and He turned toward him in mercy—indeed, He is the Ever-Relenting, the Most Merciful. (37) We said, ‘Go down from it, all of you. When guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve. (38) But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs—such are the people of the Fire; they shall abide therein forever.’” (al-Baqarah 36–39),

some commentators said that the first descent was from Paradise to the lowest heaven, and the second from the lowest heaven to the earth. This is weak, for in the first instance He says, “and on the earth you will have a dwelling-place and provision for a time,” which shows that by the first command they were sent down to the earth. Allah knows best.

The correct explanation is that the wording is repeated, although the event is one, and that with each repetition a separate ruling is attached: the first establishes their mutual enmity, and the second stipulates that whoever follows the guidance He will subsequently send down is blessed, while whoever opposes it is wretched. This style of discourse has parallels elsewhere in the Noble Qur’an.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir narrated—from Mujāhid—that Allah commanded two angels to expel Adam and Eve from His presence. Gabriel removed the crown from Adam’s head, and Michael removed the diadem from his brow. A branch caught hold of him, and Adam thought that the punishment had overtaken him at once; he lowered his head, saying, “Pardon, pardon!” Allah said, “Are you fleeing from Me?” He replied, “No; rather, it is out of shame before You, my Lord!”(2)

Al-Awzāʿī reported—from Ḥassān, meaning Ibn ʿAṭiyyah—that Adam remained in Paradise for one hundred years; in another narration, for sixty years. He wept over Paradise for seventy years, over his sin for seventy years, and over his son when he was killed for forty years.(3) Ibn ʿAsākir related this as well.

Ibn Abī Ḥātim said: Abū Zurʿah narrated to us—ʿUthmān ibn Abī Shaybah narrated to us—Jarīr narrated to us—from Saʿīd—from Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: Adam (peace be upon him) was sent down to a land called Dahnā, situated between Mecca and Ṭāʾif.(4)