Was the paradise from which Adam was expelled on earth?

Yes. The garden of Adam (as) was on earth. The story is symbolic. The garden stands for a life lived by God’s commandments, and the forbidden tree for whatever leads away from God.

Many people imagine the garden of Adam (as) as a place somewhere in heaven. The Holy Qur’an paints a different picture. Even before Adam (as) is created, God announces that He is placing a vicegerent on the earth. The story takes place here.

The account of the garden and the tree is told in symbolic language. We do not need to read this into the Holy Qur’an from outside, because it explains itself. Elsewhere it compares a good word to a good tree whose roots are firm and whose branches reach into heaven. An evil word is like an evil tree with no stability.

So the trees stand for good and bad teachings, and also for people who embody them. The garden is a life lived under God’s commandments. Whoever eats from the forbidden tree turns away from those commandments and so loses the peace of the garden.

Another verse makes this especially clear. The Holy Qur’an warns people of later times not to let Satan seduce them as he drove Adam (as) and his wife out of the garden. If that garden were a distant place in heaven, the warning would make no sense. People living on earth cannot be driven out of a heavenly garden they were never in.

The story of Adam (as) is therefore not a distant legend. It describes something every human being can experience. Whoever lives by God’s commandments is in that garden. Whoever turns away from them leaves it.