After the command to prostrate and the disclosure of the difference between the submission of the angels and the arrogance of Iblis, Adam now enters a new stage: the stage of dwelling, freedom, boundary, and responsibility. God says to Adam: uskun anta wa-zawjuka al-jannah; you and your spouse dwell in the garden. In this reading, the garden is not the final destination of the human being, because earlier, in verse 30, the destination of the human mission had already been identified as the earth. So the garden can be an initial stage of preparation, growth, and the awakening of choice, not the end of the human path.

In the verse, freedom comes before prohibition: wa-kula minha raghadan haythu shi'tuma. Eat from the garden freely, wherever you both wish. This shows that the basic space is openness, provision, freedom, and mercy, not constriction and prohibition. Only one boundary is set: wa-la taqraba hadhihi al-shajarah; do not approach this tree. The boundary is not there to suffocate freedom. It is there to awaken awareness, test choice, and preserve the proportion between capacity and responsibility.

The central point of the verse is at the end: fa-takuna mina al-zalimin. If you approach this tree, you will be among the wrongdoers. Zulm in the Qur'an does not only mean harming another person. Zulm means placing something outside its proper place, shifting a right, and disturbing the proportion between time, station, capacity, and command. Here, the zulm is not only wrongdoing against Adam and his spouse themselves; it can also be wrongdoing against the human role in earthly khalifah. If the human being still needs to pass through a stage of growth, discernment, patience, and preparation, then approaching something before having the required capacity becomes wrongdoing against the self and against the mission.

In the ta'wili layer, it can be said that this tree was not merely a simple physical object to be eaten from; it was an educational and existential boundary. God gave Adam wide freedom, but within that freedom He placed a limit so that the human being would understand that choice without boundary does not produce growth. Approaching the tree before sufficient readiness could have been an early entrance into a level of experience, awareness, or responsibility that the human being was not yet prepared to carry. So the “fruit” in this reading can point to a stage of development and experience which, if sought before its right time, does not become growth but becomes zulm.

In this verse, the address begins with ya adam; that is, the direct address is to Adam. Then God says: anta wa-zawjuka, and the later commands come in the dual form: kula, shi'tuma, taqraba, takuna. This shows that the command includes both of them. But the Qur'an does not explain the exact quality of the spouse's presence, how this address reached her, or the details of the relation between Adam and his spouse at this moment. So we should not make absolute claims about what the text has not said. What can be said is that because the opening address is to Adam and then the command belongs to both, Adam had a responsibility to preserve this boundary within the shared life and make his spouse aware of it.

So verse 2:35 is not the scene of unlimited freedom, nor is it the scene of an inherent curse upon humanity. It is the scene of the education of choice: the human being is placed in a field of mercy and openness, but faces one clear limit. If the limit is recognized and patience is kept, growth becomes possible. If it is approached before readiness, the human being becomes among the wrongdoers. Zulm here is not merely a personal slip; it is departure from the proportion between capacity, time, command, and mission.

For a broader explanation of this reading of the first garden, Adam's error, the rejection of inherited sin, and the understanding of the garden as a stage of growth and preparation, see the article The Garden of Eden: A Place of Growth and Development.

• Al-Baqarah 2:30— The earthly destination of the human being is announced from the beginning; a key to understanding that the garden was not the final destination, but a stage before the earth mission.
• Al-Baqarah 2:34— The difference between submission and arrogance; background for understanding the difference between Adam's error and Iblis' rebellion.
• Al-Baqarah 2:36–38— The slip, descent, receiving of words, repentance, and the promise of guidance after leaving the garden.
• Al-A'raf 7:19–23— A wider account of dwelling in the garden, whispering, the exposure of saw'at, and Adam and his spouse admitting wrongdoing against themselves.
• Taha 20:115— Adam forgot, and firm resolve was not found in him; the difference between Adam's slip and Iblis' arrogance.
• Taha 20:120–122— Satan's whispering, Adam's disobedience, then his being chosen, his repentance accepted, and his guidance.
• Al-An'am 6:164— No soul bears the burden of another; rejection of inherited sin and inherent pollution in the human line.
• At-Tahrim 66:6— The angels do not disobey God's command; the difference between the angelic station of obedience and the human field of choice and responsibility.
• The Garden of Eden: A Place of Growth and Development— A broader article on the first garden, Adam's error, repentance, descent, and the human responsibility on earth.