Page 746 - An Index to the Qur'an

straight with you, be straight with them. Allah And We make some things better to eat than oth-
loves those who guard against evil. How indeed! ers. There are Signs in that for people who use
For if they get the upper hand over you, they will their intellect. (13:4)
respect neither kinship nor treaty. They please Do you not see how Allah makes a metaphor of a
you with their mouths but their hearts belie their good word: a good tree whose roots are firm and
words. Most of them are deviators. (9:7-8) whose branches are in heaven? (14:24)
They respect neither kinship nor treaty where a The metaphor of a corrupt word is that of a rotten
believer is concerned. They are the people who tree, uprooted on the surface of the earth. It has
overstep the limits. (9:10) no staying-power. (14:26)
If they break their oaths after making their treaty Your Lord revealed to the bees: ‘Build dwellings
and defame your religion, then fight the leaders in the mountains and the trees, and also in the
of disbelief–they have no binding oaths–so that structures which men erect.’ (16:68)
hopefully they will stop. (9:12) When We said to you, ‘Surely your Lord encom-
passes the people with His knowledge.’ We only
TREE appointed the vision We showed you and the
We said, ‘Adam, live in the Garden, you and Accursed Tree in the Qur’an as a trial and temp-
your wife, and eat freely from it wherever you tation for the people. We frighten them, but it
will. But do not approach this tree and so be- only increases them in their excessive insolence.
come wrongdoers.’ (2:35) (17:60)
It is He Who produces gardens, both cultivated But Satan whispered to him, saying, ‘Adam, shall
and wild, and palm-trees and crops of diverse I show you the way to the Tree of Everlasting Life
kinds, and olives and pomegranates, both similar and to a kingdom which will never fade away?’
and dissimilar. Eat of their fruits when they bear (20:120)
fruit and pay their due on the day of their harvest, Do you not see that everyone in the heavens and
and do not be profligate. He does not love the everyone on the earth prostrates to Allah, and the
profligate. (6:141) sun and moon and stars and the mountains, trees
(Allah said,) ‘Adam, live in the Garden, you and and beasts and many of mankind? But many of
your wife, and eat of it wherever you like. But do them inevitably merit punishment. Those Allah
not go near this tree lest you become wrongdo- humiliates will have no one to honour them.
ers.’ (7:19) Allah does whatever He wills. (22:18)
Then Satan whispered to them, disclosing to By means of it (water) We produce gardens of
them their private parts that had been concealed dates and grapes for you, in which there are
from them. He said, ‘Your Lord has only forbid- many fruits for you and from which you eat, and
den you this tree lest you become angels or a tree springing forth from Mount Sinai yielding
among those who live for ever.’ (7:20) oil and a seasoning to those who eat. (23:19-20)
So he (Satan) enticed them to do it by means of Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.
trickery. Then when they tasted the tree, their pri- The metaphor of His Light is that of a niche in
vate parts were disclosed to them and they which is a lamp, the lamp inside a glass, the glass
started stitching together the leaves of the like a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an
Garden in order to cover themselves. Their Lord olive, neither of the east nor of the west, its oil all
called out to them, ‘Did I not forbid you this tree but giving off light even if no fire touches it. Light
and say to you, "Satan is an outright enemy to upon Light. Allah guides to His Light whoever He
you"?’ (7:22) wills and Allah makes metaphors for mankind
In the earth there are diverse regions side by side and Allah has knowledge of all things. (24:35)
and gardens of grapes and cultivated fields, and He Who created the heavens and the earth and
palm-trees sharing one root and others with indi- sends down water for you from the sky by which
vidual roots, all watered with the same water. We make luxuriant gardens grow–you could
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