How many generations of women have lived and died to get from Eve to me? Her DNA vibrates in my body as sure as blood flows through my veins. The first woman to walk on Earth and the first woman to give birth, Eve was the first wife and the first mother.

How many mothers have passed through this life leaving off spring to bring forth the next generation of mothers? I have known great-grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers in my lifetime. I am a mother myself but I was not selected to bring forth Eves.

Eve stepped out of Paradise into a world of unknown. She has since been portrayed by men as the person answerable for the sins of mankind. The most despised woman on Earth because it was her fault that we were banished from the Garden. This is only the misogynistic outlook of a few pompous men because Adam was just as guilty of munching on the fruit as Eve. They had both been told not to eat it yet they both did. So how come Eve ended up as the bad girl?

Chapter 2, verses 35-36
We said, “Adam, live with your wife in Paradise, and eat therefrom generously as you please but do not approach this tree, lest you sin. But the devil duped them and caused their eviction therefrom. We said, “Go down as enemies of one another. On Earth shall be your habitation and provision for a while.”

So Eve is out of Paradise and walking about on planet Earth. The sun rises in the morning, the moon shines at night and the stars fly past above her. Life has a habit of changing over-night and you wake up one morning and nothing is the same as the day before. Everything changes in a split second sometimes. Life can be here today and gone tomorrow. Life can be hard. Especially when you realise that your body is naked and you have to fend for yourself.

Chapter 7, verse 22
He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them, “Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?”

What would you do, given that Eve was not equipped with an iPhone or internet access? Eve only had her God given brain to fall back on. So, you are stuck with a guy who said to God, “It wasn’t me it was her!” While pointing an accusing finger so you would get the blame, by future generations, for being kicked out of the holiday home.

Eve also had to deal with the death of a child and the first murder to be committed by one of her sons (5:27-32). They argued about who in the sight of God was more worthy, and one became jealous of the other.

Chapter 5, verse 30
His ego provoked him into killing his brother. He killed him and ended up with the losers.

Women are told that their monthly menses are a punishment to remind them that because of Eve they are evil creatures, dirty during this time and forbidden from joining in daily life and religious ceremonies and duties. Women are forced to cover themselves to protect the piousness of men and have been thrown onto the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands. Women have been burned at the stake for being witches when they were in fact healers, persecuted and abused by Adam’s male descendants because of a lie.

Eve is not mentioned by name in the Quran, she is referred to as Adam’s wife. (The only woman mentioned by name in the Quran is Mary, the mother of Jesus.) Her name is not important. She was the first woman on Earth to bear the burdens of life and she was put through the tests all of us must endure. The first couple on Earth, Adam and Eve, I wonder what their first fight was about?

Chapter 7, verse 26
O children of Adam we have provided you with garments to cover your bodies, as well as for luxury. But the best garment is the garment of righteousness. These are some of God’s signs, that they may take heed.