Tafsir of Ta-Ha 20:115

"And We had already made a covenant with Adam..." It is said regarding the commands and injunctions of kings: "The king commanded so-and-so," "He gave him a directive," "He charged him," and "He made a covenant with him."

Allah (Glorified be He) connects the story of Adam to His saying: "...and We have diversified therein the threats that perhaps they might fear [Allah]" (Ṭā Hā: 113). The meaning is: We swore an oath that We commanded their father, Adam, and enjoined him not to approach the tree, and We threatened him with being counted among the wrongdoers if he approached it. This occurred before their existence and before We threatened them. Yet, he opposed what he was forbidden from, and he was threatened for committing that opposition, and he did not pay heed to the threat, just as they do not pay heed. It is as if He is saying: "The foundation of the affair of the Children of Adam is based upon this, and their roots are firmly established in it."

If you ask: What is meant by "forgetting" (nisyān)? I say: It is possible that it means the forgetting which is the opposite of remembering—that he did not attend to the commandment with sincere concern, nor did he secure it by binding his heart to it and restraining his soul, until that forgetting was born from it. It is also possible that it means "abandonment" (tark), meaning he abandoned what he was commanded to do regarding caution against the tree and eating its fruit. It has been recited as fa-nassāhu (so he caused him to forget), meaning: Satan caused him to forget.

"Determination" (ʿazm): It means resolve and proceeding to refrain from eating, and to be so firm in that resolve that it causes Satan to despair of whispering to him.

"And We found" (wujūd): It is possible that it means "knowledge" (ʿilm), in which case its two objects are "in him" and "determination." It is also possible that it is the opposite of non-existence (ʿadam), as if He said: "We did not find in him any determination."

"And [mention] when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam,' and they prostrated, except Iblis; he refused."