This verse begins with a very precise word: fa-azallahuma. God could have said that Shaytan “misguided” them, “expelled” them, or “drove them by force,” but He uses azalla, from the root Z L L: to cause slipping, to move someone from a firm place, to make the foot lose its stability. This choice is very important. Shaytan does not possess coercive authority here. He does not force them; he creates the condition of slipping. This agrees with the Qur'anic principle that Shaytan has no coercive sultan over God's servants, but invites, whispers, and beautifies.

So the error of Adam and his spouse was not of the same kind as the arrogance of Iblis. Iblis, after the command became clear, consciously refused and saw himself as great. But concerning Adam, the Qur'an says elsewhere: fa-nasiya wa-lam najid lahu azma; he forgot, and We did not find in him firm resolve. Therefore fa-azallahuma fits this image: slipping, losing stability, and falling from a prepared and secure state, not arrogant rebellion.

The next expression is also very subtle: fa-akhrajahuma mimma kana fihi. The verse does not say only, “he brought them out from the garden.” It says: he brought them out from what they had been in. In light of the previous verse, the garden is certainly the setting of this event, but mimma kana fihi is broader than physical location. It can also point to their state and condition: a state of stillness, education, openness, growth, unawareness of the heaviness of the earthly test, and gradual preparation before entering the field of khalifah. So the exit was not only exit from a place; it was exit from a condition.

Then comes the command: wa-qulna ihbitu. Here the addressee comes in the plural form, not the dual. If only Adam and his spouse were being addressed, one might expect the dual form; but the verse uses the plural. This plural can carry several possibilities. One possibility is that the address includes Adam, his spouse, and Shaytan, because Shaytan is also the cause of the slip in this scene and will have a role in earthly enmity. Another possibility is that the address is to Adam and his spouse as the beginning of the human line, together with their human continuation: humanity entering the earth, where human beings themselves will also enter enmity, rivalry, and conflict with one another.

Our inclination is that in this verse, the address ihbitu includes, at least in a broad and open way, all the parties involved in this condition: Adam, his spouse, and the shaytanic force that will now be present in the earthly field as an enemy and whisperer. The reasons for this inclination are several: first, the verb is plural; second, the sentence ba'dukum li-ba'din aduww speaks of reciprocal enmity; third, in other verses such as Taha 20:123, the structure of descent is joined with mutual enmity and the coming of guidance. Still, we should not state this more absolutely than the text allows, because the verse does not repeat Shaytan's name inside the command of descent itself.

The sentence ba'dukum li-ba'din aduww shows that the earth will not be a field without tension or conflict. Enmity can be between the human being and Shaytan, and also at the human level, between human beings. When the human being leaves the preparatory state of the garden and enters the earth, they face a world in which desire, fear, survival, power, ownership, family, lineage, language, tribe, wealth, and the self can all become fields of enmity. This is where khalifah is not merely a beautiful rank; it is a heavy responsibility inside struggle.

But the verse does not end with a curse. God says: wa-lakum fi al-ardi mustaqarrun wa-mata'un ila hin. The earth is not only a place of punishment; it is a place of settlement, benefit, experience, growth, trial, and temporality. Mustaqarr means a place of settlement, where the human being takes position and passes through a stage of the path. Mata' means a temporary benefit: not absolute ownership, not eternal residence. The earth is given to the human being, but only ila hin; until an appointed time. So descent is the beginning of the human being's time-bound mission, not the end of God's mercy.

As a result, verse 2:36 shows the moment when the human being exits the state of protected stillness and growth and enters the earth: an earth that is both settlement and field of enmity, both benefit and ending. Shaytan caused slipping, but did not force. Adam and his spouse slipped, but the door of repentance had not been closed. And the earth, with all its difficulty, is the same place that had been announced from the beginning for the human khalifah.

• Al-Baqarah 2:30— The announcement of the human khalifah on earth; showing that earth was present from the beginning in the plan of the human mission.
• Al-Baqarah 2:35— Freedom in the garden, the boundary of the tree, and the warning about becoming among the wrongdoers.
• Al-Baqarah 2:37–38— Receiving words, Adam's repentance being accepted, and the command of descent joined with the promise of guidance.
• Al-A'raf 7:20–24— The account of whispering, tasting from the tree, the exposure of saw'at, the confession of Adam and his spouse, and the command of descent.
• Taha 20:115–123— Adam's forgetfulness, lack of firm resolve, Shaytan's whispering, disobedience, then selection, repentance, guidance, and the command of descent.
• Al-Hijr 15:39–42— Shaytan's method of beautifying falsehood and the absence of his authority over God's servants.
• Ibrahim 14:22— Shaytan's admission that he had no authority over human beings; he only invited, and they responded.
• 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.