Selected Exegesis

After Satan’s temptation led to Adam’s descent to earth, Adam realized his mistake and sought to make amends. He received words from his Lord for repentance and rectification. With those words, Adam repented, and God accepted his repentance, for He is the Acceptor of Repentance, the Merciful.

The term “receiving” (talaqqī) suggests that Adam eagerly and consciously sought the words and knowledge as an act of obedience. It may also refer to a detailed learning of the names that were initially taught in summary form to Adam during the teaching of the names, as mentioned in “and He taught Adam the names, all of them.”

According to a less common reading where Adam is the object of fa-talaqqā and the words (kalimāt) are its subject, the words themselves went to Adam. This implies that spiritual blessings are a result of God’s favor and bestowal, rather than solely human effort.

The words received by Adam could be seen as the detailed form of the names initially taught in summary—these are not just words or concepts but represent external realities, including the existential signs (āyāt) of the Ahl al-Bayt (a.s.). As these words, understood as objective realities, manifest uniquely in the world, all interpretations in narrations concerning them are valid, reflecting lower stages of those same realities.

The reception of these words varies in degrees, depending on the nature of the words themselves. Sometimes, the word refers to a literary sentence, understood through hearing and mental perception. Other times, it refers to an external essence, received as an actual presence in the material world. There are also instances where the word denotes divine decree, received as an intuitive connection to the immutable divine tablet, transcending ordinary fate.

Thus, the term “word” is not confined to mere expressions or conceptual meanings, nor is its reception limited to sensory perception. What Adam (a.s.) received encompasses both intelligible and sensory levels, with the degrees of reception corresponding to the levels of the words and the spiritual rank of the recipient.

The apparent meaning of the verse under discussion suggests that God’s bestowal and Adam’s (a.s.) reception were direct, without any intermediary or veil. However, the possibility of the other two forms of divine communication mentioned in Surah al-Shura, verse 51 also exists.

The use of the explanatory fāʾ in describing the reception of the words indicates that Adam (a.s.), after his error of engaging in the forbidden act, immediately turned towards and sought the bestowal of the appropriate divine words. Adam’s quickness to seek divine pleasure shows that the effects of Satan’s whisperings were short-lived. Consequently, the wrathful divine punishment was swiftly replaced with a compassionate address, and with the pure water of the bestowed words from the Kawthar, the disobedient Adam became once again chosen and guided.

Perhaps the reason for using the masculine pronoun is that Adam was considered the origin and Eve the branch, or because Adam’s transgression was regarded as more significant than Eve’s. Therefore, terms such as forgetting the covenant, lack of determination, disobedience, and misguidance were attributed solely to Adam.