Allah said to Iblis: “Get out of it, disgraced and expelled. Whoever among them follows you—I will surely fill Hell with all of you.” (al-A‘raf, 18)

“And O Adam, dwell—you and your wife—in Paradise, and eat from wherever you both wish; but do not approach this tree, lest you become among the wrongdoers.” (al-A‘raf, 19)

“Then Satan whispered to them, seeking to expose to them what had been concealed from them of their private parts. He said, ‘Your Lord has forbidden you this tree only lest you become angels or become among the immortals.’ And he swore to them, ‘Indeed, I am a sincere adviser to you both.’” (al-A‘raf, 20–21)

“Get out of it, disgraced and expelled,” that is, censured. The terms al-dhaym and al-dhaʾm denote the gravest form of censure. One may say dhaʾamahu, yadhʾamuhu, dhaʾman—“he censured him,” “he censures him,” “censuring him”—hence madhʾūm, “censured”; and dhāmahu, yadhīmuhu, dhāmman—hence madhīm, “censured”—just as one says sāra, yasīru, sayran: “he travelled,” “he travels,” “travelling.” Madhūr means one who is driven far away and expelled. One says dāharahu, yadhharuhu, daḥran when he drives someone away and expels him.

Ibn Abbas said: “Madhʾūm means detested.” Qatadah said: “Disgraced and expelled” means cursed and banished. Al-Kalbi said: “Disgraced and expelled” means excluded from Paradise and from every good.

“Whoever among them follows you,” that is, among the children of Adam—“I will surely fill Hell.” The prefixed lām is oath-emphatic. “With all of you,” that is, with you, your offspring, and all the disbelievers among Adam’s offspring.

“Then Satan whispered to them,” that is, he whispered to them. Whispering is speech that Satan casts into a person’s heart. “Seeking to expose to them what had been concealed from them of their private parts,” that is, to reveal to them what had been covered and hidden from them of their nakedness. It is said that the lām here denotes the eventual outcome: Iblis did not whisper to them for this purpose, but this was the eventual outcome of their affair—namely, the exposure of their nakedness. This is like Allah’s saying: “But Pharaoh’s people picked him up, only for him to become an enemy and a source of grief to them” (al-Qasas, 8).

He then explained the whispering, saying: “And he said”—that is, Iblis said to Adam and Eve—“Your Lord has forbidden you this tree only lest you become angels,” meaning, lest you become angels who know good and evil; He forbade it to you because He did not want you to become angels. “Or become among the immortals,” that is, among those who remain and do not die, as he said elsewhere: “Shall I show you the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that never decays?” (Ta-Ha, 120).

“And he swore to them, ‘Indeed, I am a sincere adviser to you both,’” that is, he swore and took an oath to them. This is a reciprocal verbal form that may be used when the action is performed by one party alone. Qatadah said: “He swore to them by Allah until he deceived them. A believer may be deceived when Allah is invoked. He said: ‘I was created before you, and I know more than you; so follow me, and I will guide you aright.’” Iblis was the first to swear falsely by Allah. When he swore, Adam assumed