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The question

Why did Allah Almighty address Adam alone with "Then He turned to him in forgiveness" in verse 37 of Surah Al-Baqarah, and not say "to them both," even though Eve participated in eating from the tree?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · imported Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The exegetes strove to discern the wisdom behind the singular pronoun in His (the Exalted) saying: (فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ) [then He turned to him in forgiveness], and not saying: (عليهما) [to them both], even though Adam and Eve both ate from the tree. This becomes clear from several reasons:

Firstly: The Qur'anic context focuses on Adam as the main figure, being the father of humanity and the first of the prophets. Most verses address him with a singular pronoun, so the verse followed the same context.

Secondly: The divine texts predominantly use the masculine pronoun to also include females, which is a common style in the Arabic language.

Thirdly: The singular pronoun reflects covering for the woman and encourages her to stay away from men's discussions in situations of error. Therefore, the Quran did not explicitly attribute the sin to Eve.

Fourthly: The styles of the Arabic language allow for this, where one of them can be mentioned, and it suffices for the other if the meaning is the same, as in His (the Exalted) saying: (وَاللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَحَقُّ أَنْ يُرْضُوهُ) [And Allah and His Messenger are more worthy that they should please Him], and His saying: (وَإِذَا رَأَوْا تِجَارَةً أَوْ لَهْوًا انْفَضُّوا إِلَيْهَا) [And when they saw a transaction or a diversion, they rushed to it], in adherence to conciseness and brevity.

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Source platform
Ftawy
Original fatwa ID
8500
Imported
Translation status
Source text, unreviewed
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