excerpt from
Br. Estes Article
........... Think of Adam, peace be upon him. He was in the Paradise. His wife was there with him. They were told that they could eat of anything there in the Paradise. And they did.
But they were also told not to eat of a specific fruit. Did they do it?
Yes.
Why?
Because they had to in order for everything to be like it is.
Let me clarify for you. Almighty God always is in complete and total control. There is never a time when He is asleep or not paying attention to all that He has created. So He knows in advance everything that is going to happen and all of this that we call the universe and everything in it is under His control.
He did not have to put the fruit in there with Adam, peace be upon him, right?
He did not have to let the devil tempt them, right?
He did not have to kick them out of the Paradise as He did, right?
Of course.
So, why in fact, did Almighty God create everything?
It is for us.
It is a test.
Adam passed his test.
Eve passed her test.
How?
They were created to be human, not gods. So naturally, they are like you and I in the fact that they are weak and they do things that are wrong and even sinful.
Do you acknowledge that all of us are sinners? I do.
So how is it that I say that Adam and Eve PASSED their test?
After all, they ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree. That was bad. Right?
They did it.
What the Bible has lost is the true moral to the story. Others came along later and began to try to make a totally different meaning out it, even blaming Eve for the first sin and for influencing Adam to do the same. And then suddenly she is going to be punished with the affliction of menstrual periods and child birth and all of this is her punishment. Adam, according to the Biblical account is tossed out of the Paradise because of this sin, along with Eve.
According to Islam, the story is pretty close, but with the true moral understanding and teachings.
All along Almighty God was going to put them out of the Paradise into the earth so that they could be tested.
The real test was not whether or not they would eat the fruit. The real test is what they would do after they ate the fruit.
Repentance is the word that we are looking for here. After Adam and Eve were put out of the Paradise (near the Holy Land), Adam went one way and Eve wound up going some other way. They did not see each other for a while.
Adam, peace be upon him, repented and placed his head down on the ground...........