Just recently, The Essential Ismaili released another of Mr Andani's talks (originally delivered at Harvard in March 2013) and we were asked by our friends at Ismaili Gnosis to review it. This is our response.
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Adam
God didn’t abandon Adam and Eve completely. When they had obeyed God they had been covered with His honour and felt no shame, even though they were naked. Now that they had lost God’s honour they saw their nakedness and knew their shame.
One day, the devil tempted woman to eat the food from the tree that was forbidden. The woman listened to the devil and ate the fruit. Then she gave it to her husband to eat. Both of them disobeyed God’s command. Disobeying God’s command is sin. God is righteous and holy. He must punish sin. God cast the man and the woman out of the garden, and their relationship with God was broken. Human beings and God were now separated forever.
Adam and Eve were our great, great, great ... grandparents. They are our first parents. Their name is our name. Their shame is our shame.
Imagine your father was a traitor to his community, or your mother was the village prostitute.
God placed the man and woman in a beautiful garden to live. They had a very good relationship with Him and with each other. He told them to take care of the garden and enjoy everything. He gave them a special command: they could eat from every tree in the garden except one. If they ate from that one tree, they would be punished and die. The man and woman listened to God and had a wonderful relationship with Him in the garden. God created us to have a wonderful relationship with Him forever!
Adam and Eve lived in perfect community. They were safe and honored in the eyes of each other and also in the eyes of Almighty God. It was bliss, but bliss that didn't last.
Adam and Eve did not honor Almighty God as obedient members of His community. Instead, they listened to Satan, God’s enemy.
There is only one God, and He is the Most High God. He existed in the beginning before there was anything else. The Most High God is the Creator. He created everything on earth and in heaven and is all powerful over everything. When God began to create things, He just used His words. He spoke and everything came to being.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" - Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." - John 1:1