The garden of trial (where Adam dwelt)

جنة التجربة

Sha'rawi holds that the garden in which Adam and his wife dwelt was not the eternal Garden but a garden of trial for applying the method, since it carried a duty and the Hereafter has none, and that the Qur'an uses the word jannah for gardens of this world too 1 2 3.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Afterlife and eschatology

Summary

Sha'rawi holds that the garden in which Adam dwelt was a garden of trial for applying the method, not the eternal Garden 1. He argues from the duty it carried, since the Hereafter has no duty 3. See al-A'raf 19 and al-Kahf 32.

Argument from its features

He notes that God allowed Adam and his wife to eat as they pleased, and that the garden had many kinds of provision so that the soul would not tire 4. He holds that the garden was supplied with all that sustains life before they dwelt in it, as the earth was 3.

The word jannah in the Qur'an

He notes that the Qur'an uses jannah for gardens of this world too, such as the owners of gardens in the story of the Kahf and the people of Saba, and explains the word as covering, because the trees are thick 2 3.

Adam's purpose

He holds that Adam was created for khilafa on earth, and that those of his descendants who are righteous enter the eternal Garden in the Hereafter, so entering the Garden was not the first aim 3.

Not yet checked

This is Sha'rawi's reading. The views he rebuts are not named and have not been checked. No academic reading of the garden's place in the story is set out here, and none is checked.

Opinions on the question

The question: Which garden did Adam dwell in: the eternal Garden, or a garden of trial on earth?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Adam's garden was a garden of trial, not the eternal Garden

Sha'rawi answers those who say it was the Garden of the Hereafter, and those who say that without Adam's disobedience we would still be in the Garden. He holds that it was a garden of trial in which the method was applied {cite:tafsir-sharawi-khawatir-scan p.258} {cite:tafsir-sharawi-khawatir-scan p.260}.

Held by: Muhammad Mutawalli al-Sha'rawi

More opinions (2)

Academic viewSecondary opinion

An academic reading of the garden's place in the story is not yet added

No study of where the garden is placed in the story is set out in these pages; it needs a named source.

Other viewOther opinion

Other views of the garden are not yet added

The views Sha'rawi reports and answers are not named and have not been checked at their sources.

People and things also explored

Islamic eschatology· Loss and gain in time (al-khusr)· Companions of the Fire and of Paradise· The most beautiful names of God (asma' Allah al-husna)· Selling self and wealth to God (bay al-nafs wal-mal ila Allah)· The Dajjal· The transience of the world (fana al-dunya)· Ghurbat al-Islam (the strangeness of Islam)

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.258
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.259
  3. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.260
  4. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.263
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The garden of trial (where Adam dwelt)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/jannat-al-tajriba/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

Improve this page on GitHub · Report an error · JSON

Wing

Place

Cities, sites and routes on a map that moves through time.
Related

Islamic eschatology

Islamic eschatology is the part of the creed concerned with death, the signs of the Hour, resurrection, reckoning and recompense; the Tahawiyya and its Sharh devote a chapter to belief in the signs of the Hour, noting that scholars devoted whole works to its hadiths.