Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics

(Jacob Rumans) #1

Adam and Eve.


According to the Koran, on the other hand, Adam does
ask Allah for pardon, and Allah forgives him.[10] For
Muslims, that is the end of the matter. There is no hint that
Adam’s sin affects the human race in general in any way.
Muslims do not call Adam’s sin ‘‘original sin,’’ as do both
Catholics and Protestants, but instead the ‘‘first’’ and the
‘‘forgiven’’ sin.


However, the Islamic denial of the consequences of
Adam’s sin raises questions about the Koranic account:



  1. If Allah pardoned Adam and Eve, why did He expel
    them from the garden?


This expulsion in itself is unexplained if Allah accepted
Adam’s repentance. Even more pointedly, however, another
version of the same story in the Hadith has Adam explicitly
bearing responsibility for humanity’s exile from Paradise:
‘‘Allah’s Apostle said, ‘Adam and Moses met, and Moses
said to Adam ‘‘You are the one who made people miserable
and turned them out of Paradise.’ ’’[11] Clearly this assumes
that the human race somehow shares in Adam’s exile. So
some idea of the fall of mankind exists in the Hadith, even
though it is contradicted by some verses of the Koran.



  1. Adam and Eve were naked after they sinned. They
    realized their nakedness and covered it. But if Allah had
    forgiven Adam, why did he still feel guilt?


Once Allah forgave Adam, he would again walk in the
complete innocence he had before the Fall. But the Koran,

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