SERPENT

Arabic ḥaiyah ( حية‎ ), occurs in the Qurʾān once for the serpent made from Moses’ rod ( Sūrah ii. 21 ). The word used in another place ( Sūrah vii. 104 ) is s̤uʿbān ( ثعبان‎ ). The Hebrew ‏תַּנִּין‎ tanneen is also used for a large serpent in Muslim books, but it does not occur in the Qurʾān. In the Qurʾān, Sūrah ii. 34 , it is said Satan made Adam and Eve to backslide and “drove them out from what they were in,” but no mention is made of the serpent. The commentators say that when the devil attempted to get into Eden to tempt Adam, he was stopped by the angelic guard at the gates of Paradise, whereupon he begged of the animals to carry him in to speak to Adam and his wife, but they all refused except the serpent, who took him between his teeth and so introduced him to our first parents. ( Tafsīru ʾl-ʿAzīzī , p. 124.)