learned sorcery and had devils serving him, besides other matters detailed elsewhere.

In any case, when Adam and Eve ate from the tree, Adam had neither lost his reason nor experienced the annihilation of self-awareness in contemplation of the all-encompassing divine decree. Nor did he invoke that in his argument against Moses. Rather, he said: “Why do you blame me for something Allah decreed for me before I was created?” Thus, he appealed to the prior divine decree, not to his failure to distinguish between what was commanded and what was forbidden.

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With this understood, we say: the correct understanding of the account of Adam and Moses is that Moses blamed Adam only for the calamity that his action had brought upon him and his descendants—not on the grounds that someone who fails to obey a command is a sinner and disobedient. Hence he said: “Why did you cause us and yourself to leave Paradise?” He did not say: “Why did you disobey the command? Why did you sin?”

When calamities befall people, whether through human actions or otherwise, they are commanded to submit to the divine decree and acknowledge Allah’s lordship, as the Exalted says:

“No calamity befalls except by Allah’s permission. And whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart.”

Ibn Masʿūd, or someone else, said: “This is a man who is struck by a calamity and knows that it is from Allah, so he is content and submits.” In an authentic hadith, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “Strive for