Real Original Sin:
Blaming “The Woman” for the Fall of Man from Paradise
The real Original Sin, if you ask me, was not “The Woman” bringing about the Fall of Man from Paradise by being an Instrument of the Devil and persuading Adam to eat of the Forbidden Fruit.
The real Original Sin was Jews and Christians accusing “The Woman” falsely of that Crime Against Humanity and then heaping upon her all kinds of abuses throughout the ages on account of that false charge.
This was indeed the mother of all blame games throughout history.
Blaming “The Woman”: The Mother of All Blame Games
The Devil (Shaitan) is the father of what the world today calls the Blame Game.
He invented the Original Blame Game. He got the world blaming “The Woman” for something that “The Man” did.
And, if you ask me, it is part of the real "Original Sin," which the world got so completely wrong in putting the blame on our beloved mother, Eve, God Bless Her.
It is not Eve, may Allah bless her, as everyone claims, who was the author of the Original Sin.
In truth, it was a figment of our imagination, this business of Original Sin I mean, for which we blamed “The Woman,” and then proceeded to persecute the women of the world for thousands of years, based on that entirely false and baseless allegation.
This, if you want to call it that, was one of the saddest and most disastrous of Jewish and Christian contributions to human civilization.
First, the Jews and the Christians falsely accused the Woman of being an Instrument of Devil and blamed her of having caused the Fall of Man from Heaven.
And then, they, the Jews and the Christians, set about subjecting “The Woman” to all kinds of insults, abuse and persecution for much of their history on earth on account of that.
The Qur’an Set “The Woman” Free
The Qur’an came to set “The Woman” free from this false charge of being the cause of the Fall of Man. And to exonerate “The Woman” forever from that baseless accusation.
And to sanctify Motherhood and the perpetuation of the human race through conception and childbirth as most pure, blameless and divine.
In other words, Islam came to restore the honor and dignity of our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters that some others such as Jews and Christians had taken away from them.
The Qur’an does this in the most simple and straightforward manner. That is, by stating the facts as they occurred on that day when the Devil first approached Adam and Eve with his evil design to have them thrown out of paradise.
The Qur’an tells us that the Devil, while addressing both Man and Woman in the same breath, actually singled out “The Man” as the main target of his Master Plan. So, the Devil makes Adam “an offer,” as the Godfather Movie puts it, that Adam could not refuse.
And, if you ask me, it is an offer that no man can really refuse. For, the way the Devil had crafted it, and framed it, it was one hundred percent a “Man Thing.”
More of that later, but right now let us get this straight: It was “The Man,” and not “The Woman,” who got us into this mess – and got us kicked out of Paradise.
Jews and Christians Had It 180 Degrees Wrong
And the Jews and the Christians got it 180 degrees wrong. And in doing so, they wreaked havoc with our world for thousands of years, contaminating everything from our religion and culture to our language, politics and customs.
So, according to the Qur’an, it was not Ms. Eve, “The Woman,” but Mr. Adam, “The Man” himself who was behind the transgression of eating of the Forbidden Tree.
And it was Mr. Adam who was approached directly by the Devil, and it was he, Mr. Adam, who was dealing with the Devil all the time.
The Other Original Sin
So, the Original Sin people talk about had nothing to do with Lady Eve getting Mr. Adam kicked out of the Garden of Eden through her collusion with the Devil. The Real Original Sin was the Jews and the Christians falsely blaming “The Woman” for the Fall of Man.
And, thereafter, the Other Original Sin was the Devil telling God that it was God himself who in fact “mislead him,” the Devil that is – the poor innocent creature that he was.
Qwaala Rabbi Bima Aghwaitanee…
“My Master, since you misled and caused me to go astray…”
Master of Excuses
The Devil was also a Master of Excuses.
When God asked him why he did not prostrate before Adam, a being that God created with his own two hands, especially when God had asked everyone to do that, the Devil said to God, what I am broadly paraphrasing here from the Qur’an:
God to Iblees, the original name of the being that became the Devil through his transgression and defiance of God’s command:
“O Iblees, why would you not prostrate before what I created with my own two hands?”
Meaning Adam.
Iblees to God:
“Why, don’t you know, I am better than he? You created me from fire, whereas this Adam thing, you made him from dirt! So why would Fire kneel before Dust?”
Or, following Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s English, should I have said: “I am better than him?”
Who knows, right? You figure that out. I don’t care either way.
A Psywar and Psyops Superstar
In any case, that was the Devil’s Logic. And the Devil was a Master Logician, no matter how perverse his logic may have been.
To go along with all this, the Devil was also a Master Manipulator.
A great Propaganda Artist, if you will.
Call him a Psywar and Psyops Specialist and Superstar if you will.
No modern-day propagandist, or Psyops specialist, or even a “Public Relations” Genius, could have done any better than the Devil did on his first encounter with Adam.
When I say “Public Relations,” I mean the kind that is actually propaganda – the worst and the “blackest” kind – pretending and masquerading as PR. Otherwise, true PR is – or at least it ought to be – about telling the truth.
And it is – or at least it ought to be – about working to build a better world for all.
Moreover this job of building a better world for all should be undertaken using the most upright and honorable means and methods available.
Not only that, true Public Relations is also doing the good things you do, not driven by base and vile motives, but with the purest and noblest of intentions.
That is true PR. It is Public Relations at its best. And it is Public Relations as it ought to be.
And it is PR that is cast in the mold of Islam.
The Rest of the Story
Here is the rest of that story from the Qur’an:
Then Shaitan got through to him and said, Hey Adam, you want to know the secret to Eternal Life and Ever-Lasting Power? All you need to do is to eat of the tree that God told you not to approach.
Fa Waswasa Ilaihish Shaitaanu Qwaala Yaa Aadamu, Hal Adulluka 'Alaa Shajaratil Khuldi wa Mulkin Laa Yablaa?
Thus did the Devil fool them both – using an intricate Web of Lies and Deceit, Standard Operating Toolkit of All Propaganda and Psyops and Psywar Undertakings in all subsequent ages!
The Devil thus opened the gates of Hell and damnation before the children of Adam and Eve forever – tempting them with the Holy Grail of Eternal Life and Everlasting Power.
The Devil’s Bag of Tricks:
Lies, Deception and False Propaganda
And how exactly did he do it?
The Devil did it weaving, as I said before, an intricate web of lies, deceit and manipulation around Adam and Eve both – giving them false information; making them false promises; and offering them false hope.
In other words, the Devil did it by unleashing a barrage of false and malicious propaganda at Adam and Eve.
And he swore to them sacred oaths that he had nothing but their best interests at heart:
Wa Qwaasamahumaa Annee Lakumaa La-Minannaaswiheen.
God Almighty summarizes the Devil’s entire house of cards in these words:
Fa-Dallaahuma Bi-Ghuroor.
The great scholar and pioneer English translation of the Qur’an Allamah Yusuf Ali translates this Aayat thus:
“So by deceit he brought about their fall.”
It is fine the way Yusuf Ali does it. But I probably will be happier saying something along following lines:
“In this manner, he led them both to their downfall, using all manner of deceit and falsehood.”
Along the Way, a Little Bit of Interfaith Dialogue
While we are at it, here is a little bit of Interfaith Dialogue for all: Muslims as well as Christians and Jews and the rest of the world.
First of all, it is time for every one of you to stop blaming “The Woman” for the Downfall of “Man.”
The simple fact is: She Did Not Do It.
And, since there was no “Butler” around, it was the Master Himself who did it.
And so says God in the Qur’an:
Wa 'Aswa Aadamu Rabbahu Fa-Ghawaa.
Paraphrase:
“Adam disobeyed his master, so he went astray.”
If you want to add – not that anyone should be adding anything to what God says, or subtracting anything from it – feel free to do it. You probably will not be completely off base if you said:
And he, Mr. Adam, took his wife, Ms. Eve, with him.
Then, after that, what you all need to do is to stop blaming Islam and Muslims for all the sins and crimes you and your ideological variations amassed over the millennia, especially against “The Woman.”
And it is time for all of you to acknowledge, openly and without reservation, how Islam and Muslims have been your true benefactors over the past millennium and a half.
For, it was Islam – and Muslims – who rescued “The Woman” from the Hell-on-Earth in which the Jews and Christians had imprisoned her for thousands of years.
So, next time, you think Islam, think about how Islam and Muslims freed all the women in your life from the Hell of Original Sin. And how Islam and Muslims set you free from the infamy and slander of being a Child of Sin, cursed to be conceived and brought forth in this world in sin – bathed and dripping in the Original Sin of your mother Eve.
Islam and Muslims set you free from all that. So, next time you think Islam and Muslims, tip your hat a little.
It will be the right – and the honorable – thing to do.
END