Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 7 (“The heights” and “The Jinn”)
Today I’m going to be looking at two chapters of the Qur’an, one long (#7) and one reasonably short (#72).
Surah 7 – “The heights” (Al-Araf)
Mankind is reminded to follow Allah and also reminded of the cities which He destroyed to punish unbelieving people. The scales of judgement which weigh good deeds are also recalled.
The fall of Satan is described, in an almost identical pattern to Surah 38 (“The letter sad”). The narrative continues, however, describing the Fall of Adam and Eve. Allah told them “do not approach this tree, lest you be among the wrongdoers”. The nature of the tree or the consequences of eating from it were not really explained. Rather than saying that they will be like gods (as in the Genesis narrative), Satan promised that if they eat the fruit they will “become angels or become of the immortal”. Once they have eaten, they recognize their nakedness and sew together leaves as clothes. God arrives and chastises them. We don’t see “the blame game” which we see in Genesis, where Adam blames Eve (and ultimately God) and Eve blames the serpent.
A few weeks ago I wrote 
It has been a while since I’ve posted a debate between a Christian and Atheist. This is one which took place a couple of months ago between David Wood and Michael Shermer: