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300chapter fivebegin to cover their bodies immediately after they discovered theirnakedness? The answer is that the text, even though it links the twoevents together, that is, a) the manifestation of the nakedness and b)‘sewing together leaves of the garden’, uses the conjunction wa- (and),not in order to indicate cause and effect (because of their nakednessthey collected leaves) but rather to narrate the sequence of events(first nakedness, then the collection of leaves). Why can it not be acausative wa-? Because we are told, in another verse, that Allah hasassured Adam and his wife that they will not ‘go hungry or naked,suffer thirst or the sun’s heat’:…their shame became manifest to them, and [wa-] they began to sewtogether the leaves of the garden over their bodies… ( Al-A#r§f7:20–22)“There is therein (enough provision) for you not to go hungry or to gonaked, * nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the sun’s heat.” (•§-H§"20:118–19)We understand that Allah placed Adam and his wife in His Gardenwhere both cannot go hungry (fruits of the earth are plenty), orthirsty (water everywhere), or be harmed by the sun’s heat (noshadow required). Hence, Allah does not request saturation (whichis permanent), nor does He want them to get dressed (nakedness isnormal). Allah does not ask them to still their thirst (it is permanentlystilled), nor does He want them to seek shelter in the shade (no heatcan harm them). Allah only asks them not to come near the tree.But Allah’s creation consists of fallible human beings who are weakand forgetful, and indeed Adam ended up as a sinner because of hisforgetfulness:We also commanded Adam before you, but he forgot and We foundhim lacking in constancy. (•§-H§"20:115, AH)After Adam disobeyed his Lord and went astray, he was expelled toan open land where hunger and thirst reigned. He discovered theneed to dress against the cold and to seek the cooling shade againstthe sun. They suddenly faced the need to work which was particularlypainful for women because in matriarchal societies womenworked more and harder than men. And yet, the reason why Adamand his wife ‘began to sew together the leaves of the garden overtheir bodies’ was not because of the cold but because of a childishimpulse to hide their wrongdoings as soon as they realised the gravityof their sin. When they realised this—and note that the emergence