فَأَكَلَا مِنْهَا فَبَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْءَٰتُهُمَا وَطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ عَلَيْهِمَا مِن وَرَقِ ٱلْجَنَّةِ وَعَصَىٰٓ ءَادَمُ رَبَّهُۥ فَغَوَىٰ
And they both ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them, and they began to fasten over themselves from the leaves of Paradise. And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.
Taha 20:121 — Sahih International
Answered by Nouman Ali Khan
Adam (AS) is described here as the head of the household, the one chiefly responsible. When an army fails, it is the general who failed. When the general fails, it is the king. There is a hierarchy of leadership and accountability being described.
Adam (AS) is being specified as the head of the household who should have put a stop to it. And there is a powerful lesson in this: we as heads of households are often very much under the influence of our spouses, and under that influence we can become comfortable with disobeying Allah. Even Adam became that way.
So it could be read that even if she was disobeying, he should have stopped it. He is being held to the higher standard of responsibility as the leader. This does not erase Hawwa's role — the text says "they both ate from it" — but the specific attribution of responsibility in terms of leadership is placed on Adam.
Where this was answered
- Ramadan Day 12 - BTV Live