Where was the Garden in which Adam was settled?

In his commentary on the verse of al-Baqara about Adam and his wife being settled in the Garden, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi devotes a question to where this Garden was: on earth or in heaven, and if in heaven, whether it was the abode of reward or another garden. He sets out four views. ^{1 2} This entry gives them as he reports them, without a verdict; on Paradise in general see Jannah.

Abu al-Qasim al-Balkhi and Abu Muslim al-Isfahani said it was on earth, reading the 'going down' as moving from one place to another, and argued: had it been the Garden of eternity, Iblis's deception could not have reached Adam; whoever enters it does not leave it; Iblis, once cursed, could not have reached the Garden of eternity; the delights of the abode of reward do not end; God's wisdom would not begin creation in a garden of everlasting reward without any obligation; and God created Adam on earth with no mention of moving him to heaven, which, being so great a favour, would have deserved mention. ^{1 2} The editors of the Dar al-Fikr printing note that al-Razi does not label this as the first view. ²

Al-Jubba'i said it was in the seventh heaven, arguing from the command to go down from it: the first descent was from the seventh heaven to the first, the second from heaven to earth. ²

The third view, held by most of al-Razi's school, is that it was the abode of reward: the definite article in 'the Garden' cannot mean every garden, since living in all gardens is impossible, so it must refer to the known Garden, and the Garden known among Muslims is the abode of reward. ²

The fourth view is that all are possible and the transmitted evidence is weak and conflicting, so one must suspend judgement and not decide. ²