Question:
Is it true that the Garden of Eden is located beyond the Seven Heavens? Why do the Jews and Christians believe that it was on earth?
Answer:
Al-`adnu means “residence” and the gardens thereof denote gardens of Paradise in which its people will reside. It was also said it is specifically the center of Paradise (Ibn Mas`ud in al-Tabari, Tawba 9:72). (Baydawi)
The latter also cites a weak hadith that states, “ʿAdn is the abode of Allah that no eye has seen and which has not dawned on the mind of any human being. None other than three types shall dwell in it: the Prophets, the Veracious, and the shahids. Allah will say, ‘Blessing to whoever enters you!’” Narrated from (i) Abū al-Dardāʾ by Ibn Khuzayma, Tawḥīd (1:322 §46); al-Dāraquṭnī, Muʾtalif (3:1151-1152); al-Ṭabarī and al-Thaʿlabī under al-Tawba 9:72, all with a very weak chain; (ii) ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ by Bazzār, Musnad (6:449 §2487 without the phrase “abode of Allah”), cf. al-Haythamī, Kashf al-Astār (2:233 §1591); (iii) ʿImrān b. Ḥuṣayn and (iv) Abū Hurayra by al-Ṭabarānī, Kabīr (18:160 §353) and Awsaṭ (5:120 §4849), cf. al-Haythamī, Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (10:420); (v) Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī by Ibn Surūr al-Maqdisī, Eden, unpubl. ms.
There is also in al-Tabari a report from Ibn `Abbas asking Ka`b al-Ahbar about it and he said it means grapes and vines.
The Jewish and Christian view appears based on the apocryphal Book of 4 Esdras 3:7 and 8:52.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
