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Surah 20. Ta-Ha, Ayah 120

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فَوَسْوَسَ إِلَيْهِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنُ قَالَ يَـٰٓـَٔادَمُ هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ ٱلْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ
Fawaswasa ilayhi a l shshay ta nu q a la y a a damu hal adulluka AAal a shajarati alkhuldi wamulkin l a yabl a
But Satan whispered unto him, saying: "O Adam! Shall I lead thee to the tree of life eternal, and [thus] to a kingdom that will never decay?"106
  - Mohammad Asad

This symbolic tree is designated in the Bible as "the tree of life" and "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" (Genesis ii, 9), while in the above Qur'anic account Satan speaks of it as "the tree of life eternal (al-khuld)". Seeing that Adam and Eve did not achieve immortality despite their tasting the forbidden fruit, it is obvious that Satan's suggestion was, as it always is, deceptive. On the other hand, the Qur'an tells us nothing about the real nature of that "tree" beyond pointing out that it was Satan who described it - falsely - as "the tree of immortality": and so we may assume that the forbidden tree is simply an allegory of the limits which the Creator has set to man's desires and actions: limits beyond which he may not go without offending against his own, God-willed nature. Man's desire for immortality on earth implies a wishful denial of death and resurrection, and thus of the ultimate reality of what the Qur'an describes as "the hereafter" or "the life to come" (al-akhirah). This desire is intimately connected with Satan's insinuation that it is within man's reach to become the master of "a kingdom that will never decay": in other words to become "free" of all limitations and thus, in the last resort, of the very concept of God - the only concept which endows human life with real meaning and purpose.

- But Shaitan seduced him saying: "O Adam! Should I show you the Tree of Immortality and an everlasting kingdom?"
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
But Satan whispered to him, saying, 'O Adam! Shall I show you the Tree of Immortality and a kingdom that does not fade away?'
  - Mustafa Khattab
But the Devil whispered to him, saying: O Adam! Shall I show thee the tree of immortality and power that wasteth not away?
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
But Satan whispered evil to him: he said "O Adam! shall I lead thee to Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?" 2643
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The suggestion of satan is clever, as it always is: it is false, and at the same time plausible. It is false, because (1) that felicity was not temporary, like the life of this world, and (2) they were supreme in the Garden, and a "kingdom" such as was dangled before them would only add to their sorrows. It was plausible, because (1) nothing had been said to them about Eternity, as the opposite of Eternity was not yet known, and (2) the sweets of Power arise from the savour of Self, and Self is an alluring (if false) attraction that misleads the Will.

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