Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
No, Adam (peace be upon him) was not compelled to eat from the tree. Rather, he ate from it by his own choice and will, even though Allah, Exalted is He, had already decreed, through His knowledge, writing, and will, that Adam would eat from it and descend to the earth. Divine decree does not mean coercion; rather, it means that Allah knew all things, wrote them down, and decreed their causes before they occurred.
Allah, Exalted is He, says:
“Indeed, We have created everything according to a decree.” [Al-Qamar 54:49]
Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, encompasses everything with His knowledge, has written what will occur, willed its occurrence, and brought it into existence according to His knowledge and wisdom.
Among these matters is that Allah decreed that Adam (peace be upon him) would descend to the earth, and He decreed the cause through which this descent would occur: his eating from the tree.
It is authentically reported in the two Sahihs from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said regarding the debate between Adam and Moses (peace be upon them):
“Adam and Moses debated. Moses said to him: ‘You are Adam whose sin caused you to be expelled from Paradise.’ Adam said to him: ‘You are Moses whom Allah chose above people through His messages and with whom He spoke, yet you blame me for a matter that Allah had decreed for me before I was created.’” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then said: “Thus Adam defeated Moses in the debate twice.” Narrated by al-Bukhari (3409) and Muslim (2652).
In another narration by al-Bukhari (6614), it states:
“Do you blame me for a matter that Allah decreed for me before He created me by forty years?”
Thus, Adam’s departure from Paradise had been decreed before his creation, just as all events are decreed before they occur.
No. The fact that an action is decreed does not mean that the person who performs it was forced to do so.
Allah knows, before an action occurs, what the servant will choose, and He has written that in the divine decree. However, Allah’s prior knowledge does not compel the servant to perform the action.
There is a clear distinction between actions that happen to a person without his choice and voluntary actions. A person does not control, for example, the movement of his intestines, whereas he chooses to move his hand, walk with his feet, and speak with his tongue.
Likewise, Adam’s eating from the tree occurred by his own will and choice, even though Allah had known of it and decreed it before it occurred.
Therefore, it is incorrect to say: “If Adam had free choice, then his departure from Paradise could not have been decreed,” because choice itself is included within Allah’s decree.
It is incorrect to say: “If Adam had not eaten from the tree, we would all have remained in Paradise,” because this supposition separates the cause from the outcome, whereas Allah decreed both together.
For example, if Allah decrees that a person will have children, He also decrees the means through which this will happen, one of the greatest of which is marriage. It cannot therefore be said: “If he had not married, he would not have had children,” as though marriage were outside the divine decree; rather, marriage itself is part of the decree through which Allah brings about the existence of children.
Likewise, Allah decreed that Adam would descend to the earth, and He decreed the cause through which this would take place.
The fact that Adam (peace be upon him) was initially placed in Paradise and then descended from it to the earth does not indicate purposelessness or contradiction in the ultimate purpose. Allah does whatever He wills, and He does nothing except with wisdom.
Among the evident wisdoms in the story of Adam (peace be upon him) are demonstrating the enmity, lies, and deception of Iblis; showing the harmful consequences of disobedience; and demonstrating the virtue of repentance and Allah’s acceptance of it, along with other wisdoms contained in the story.
Thus, Adam’s life in Paradise followed by his descent to earth was not something outside the purpose Allah had decreed. Rather, all of it was included within His decree and wisdom.
The stronger opinion is that the Paradise in which Allah placed Adam (peace be upon him) was the eternal Paradise, and this does not mean that it was outside Allah’s knowledge and decree, nor that Adam’s presence there contradicts the fact that he would live on earth.
Rather, his entering Paradise, eating from the tree, leaving it, and descending to the earth were all events encompassed by Allah’s decree and wisdom.
A distinction must be made between believing in divine decree and using it as an excuse to justify sin.
A servant does not know what Allah has written for him before an action occurs. He only knows that he is required to believe, obey, avoid sin, and that he possesses will, ability, and choice.
Therefore, appealing to divine decree is not a valid excuse for abandoning obligations or committing prohibited acts, because the person did so by his own will and choice.
If a person is not qualified to investigate doubts and respond to them, then he should not put himself forward to debate atheists and skeptics. Entering into such discussions without knowledge may cause him confusion regarding his religion, and weakness in responding may also lead to the person he is debating being further led astray.
Al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted from Sufyan a warning against listening to religious innovations, and then said: “Most of the leading scholars of the early generations adopted this warning. They regarded hearts as weak and doubts as swift to seize them.” See Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’ (7/261).
Adam’s departure from Paradise was decreed before his creation, and his eating from the tree was likewise included within Allah’s decree. However, this does not mean that he was compelled to do so.
Adam (peace be upon him) ate from the tree by his own choice and will, while Allah already knew that this would happen before it occurred, and He decreed and wrote it.
Likewise, Adam’s descent to the earth was not a sudden event that contradicted the purpose of creating human beings. Rather, it was included within Allah’s decree and wisdom. The story of Adam contains many lessons and wisdoms, including the manifestation of Iblis’s enmity, the danger of disobedience, and the virtue of repentance.
And Allah knows best.