Eve (Ḥawwāʾ) and the Expulsion (Ikhrāj) from Paradise in the Brill Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (Letter E): Human Origin and Moral Transition in Qurʾānic Thought

Abstract

The Qurʾānic narratives concerning Eve (Ḥawwāʾ) and the Expulsion (Ikhrāj) from Paradise constitute a foundational discourse in Islamic anthropology, ethics, and theology. This study examines these narratives within a unified conceptual framework inspired by thematic entries of Brill Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān (Letter E section), emphasizing their role in constructing a theory of human origin as moral transition rather than metaphysical fall. The Qurʾān presents the primordial human condition as grounded in a single soul (nafs wāḥidah), from which a paired human existence emerges. Within this framework, Eve (Ḥawwāʾ) is understood as a co-constitutive agent of human origin, while the Expulsion (Ikhrāj) represents a structured movement from pre-moral existence to ethical responsibility in temporal life. The study argues that Qurʾānic anthropology rejects inherited guilt and instead establishes a model of shared moral agency, immediate repentance, and continuous divine mercy. The narrative thus functions not as a story of loss, but as an epistemic and ethical transition into human moral history.