Hawwa

One soul, and its mate

Allah (﷾) made all people from a single soul, and made its mate of like nature. The Qur'an says this to every reader, because it means that we are all one family. Muslims understand that first pair to be Adam and his wife. Qur’an 4:1Qur’an 39:6

The Qur'an also says why Allah (﷾) made a husband and wife for each other. It counts the bond between them among His signs:

So the Qur'an honours her from the first time it mentions her. She is not an afterthought. She is Adam's mate, "of like nature", and the mother of every person who has ever lived. In the Garden Allah (﷾) spoke to her husband and to her, side by side. Her story is tied to his, and we will not tell his again: it is in the guide to Adam. Qur’an 4:1Adam

Together in the Garden

Allah (﷾) spoke to them both. "O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden", He said. Both of them were given the permission to enjoy its good things, and the one warning to keep away from a single tree. Qur’an 2:35Qur’an 7:19Qur’an 7:22

Satan whispered to both of them. The Qur'an says he swore to them both that he was their sincere adviser, and that "by deceit he brought about their fall". It was Satan who made them slip. Qur’an 7:20Qur’an 7:21Qur’an 7:22Qur’an 2:36

In Surah Ta-Ha the Qur'an speaks mainly of Adam. It says that Adam forgot and had no firm resolve, that Satan whispered to him, and that Adam disobeyed his Lord. Adam is the one the Qur'an addresses, and the one it names. But even there, the Qur'an says that they ate together: Qur’an 20:115Qur’an 20:120Qur’an 20:121

This is what the Qur'an says, and it is worth saying exactly. It never says that she tempted Adam. It never says that she ate first. It never gives her a punishment of her own.

They turned back together

When they saw what had happened, they did not blame each other, and they did not blame anyone else. The Qur'an gives their words as one prayer, said together: Qur’an 7:23

Allah (﷾) answered with mercy. Adam learnt words from his Lord, and his Lord turned towards him, for He is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful. The verse names Adam, since the Qur'an never gives his wife's name. Muslims understand that mercy to cover them both. They had asked for it together, and the promise of guidance that followed was made to them both. The Qur'an records no separate blame for her, no separate punishment, and no refusal of her prayer. Qur’an 2:37Qur’an 7:23Qur’an 20:122Qur’an 20:123

Then Allah (﷾) sent them down to the earth, with a promise of guidance. Together they were the first family, and the first people to learn that the door of repentance is always open. Qur’an 7:24Qur’an 2:38

Motherhood honoured, not punished

The Qur'an speaks of a mother's pain with tenderness. It never connects it to Eve, or to any punishment. It uses it as a reason to honour mothers: Qur’an 46:15

In another verse, Allah (﷾) says that a child's mother bore him "in travail upon travail", meaning hardship upon hardship. At the same time, He tells us to thank Him and to thank our parents. A mother's suffering is counted as a debt of love that her children owe her. Qur’an 31:14

The Prophet (ﷺ) taught the same. A man asked him who deserved the best of his company. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, his mother. The man asked who came next, and he said, his mother. The man asked a third time, and he said, his mother. Only when the man asked a fourth time did he say, his father. Sahih al-Bukhari 5971↗

Even the Qur'an's picture of a mother in labour is gentle. When Maryam was in the pains of birth, alone, a voice told her "Grieve not!", and Allah (﷾) provided for her. Her story is told in her own guide. Qur’an 19:23–26Maryam

And no one inherits what Adam and Eve did. Islam has no original sin:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said that every child is born upon the fitrah, the natural faith in one God (﷾). A girl is not born guilty because of what her first mother did. A boy is not born guilty because of what his first father did. Sahih al-Bukhari 1385↗Are children born in sin? Does Islam believe in original sin?

How the Bible tells it differently

The Bible tells the story of the first woman in Genesis. A good deal of Christian teaching has read it as a story that blames her. This differs from the Qur'an on several points. Muslims believe that Allah (﷾) revealed the Torah to Musa (Moses), and the Injil to Isa (Jesus): the Gospel Jesus himself preached in his lifetime. The Injil is not the New Testament. The four New Testament Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, were written by others, decades after Jesus was raised up. None of them names its author: the names were attached later. And the Torah we have today is not exactly as it was revealed. So where the Bible tells a story just as the Qur'an does, we believe it. Where it differs from the Qur'an or contradicts it, we do not. Where the Qur'an says nothing, we neither believe it nor deny it, as the Prophet (ﷺ) taught. Here are the main differences, with the verses. Does the Bible blame Eve, and women, for the first sin?Qur’an 5:48Qur’an 5:46Which of the four Gospels did Jesus preach from?Who wrote the Gospels?Sahih al-Bukhari 4485↗How should a Muslim read the Bible?

She eats first, and Adam blames her. In Genesis 3:6 the woman takes the fruit, eats it, and gives it to "her husband with her", and he eats. When God (﷾) asks Adam about it, he says: "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." And God's (﷾) words to Adam begin: "Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife". So many Christians have read the story as Eve leading Adam into sin. In the Qur'an, Satan whispered to them both, they both ate, and they both repented. It never says that she ate first, or that she led him to eat. Genesis 3:6 (KJV)Genesis 3:12 (KJV)Genesis 3:17 (KJV)Qur’an 7:20Qur’an 20:121Qur’an 7:23

The pain of childbirth, as a sentence on the woman. In Genesis 3:16, after asking her "What is this that thou hast done?", God (﷾) says to the woman: "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." Many Christians have read this as a punishment on women for Eve's part in the first sin. In the Qur'an, no such sentence is given. A mother's pain is a reason to honour her. Genesis 3:13 (KJV)Genesis 3:16 (KJV)Qur’an 46:15Qur’an 31:14

"The woman being deceived". In the New Testament, the letter 1 Timothy says: "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man". It gives a reason from the Garden: "Adam was first formed, then Eve", and "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression." Christian teaching has often used these verses to keep women from teaching men in church. The Qur'an draws no such conclusion from the Garden: it says that both were tempted and both turned to Allah (﷾). 1 Timothy 2:12–14 (KJV)Qur’an 7:20Qur’an 7:23

"The devil's gateway". One early Christian writer went further. Tertullian, writing around the year 200, tells Christian women in On the Apparel of Women: "You are the devil's gateway." He says it because of Eve. He was a writer of the early Church, not an author of the Bible, but his words show how the story was read. Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women 1.1 (New Advent)↗Does the Bible blame Eve, and women, for the first sin?

Paul puts the blame on everyone. Genesis also calls her "the mother of all living". In Romans 5:12, Paul writes that sin entered the world "by one man". Two verses later, he names that man: Adam. But Paul names Adam to make every person share in the death that followed the first sin: "and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned". The Christian teaching of original sin is built on this passage. The Qur'an lays the first sin on no one born since. Genesis 3:20 (KJV)Romans 5:12–14 (KJV)Qur’an 53:38How does the Bible treat women compared with the Qur'an?

The Qur'an's answer is short. Satan tempted them both. They both turned to Allah (﷾). Allah (﷾) showed mercy. And no one carries another's burden, so no woman is born under a sentence for what Eve did. Qur’an 7:20Qur’an 7:23Qur’an 2:37Qur’an 53:38Can someone else die for my sins?