Transliteration:( Wa iz qulnaa lil malaaa'ikatis judoo li Aadama fasajadooo illaaa Ibleesa qaala 'a-asjudu liman khalaqta teena )
"And when We said to the angels, 'Prostrate to Adam,' they prostrated except for Iblis. He said, 'Shall I prostrate to one You have created from clay?' [135]"
(Kanzul Imaan Translation)
This was a prostration of respect which the angels performed before Hazrat Adam (عليه السلام) by placing their foreheads on the ground before him.
This was not a religious injunction, because at that time, no prophetic law (Shariah) had yet been revealed. Additionally, Shariah laws are for human beings, not for angels. This prostration occurred only once, and had it been a religious command, such prostration would have continued as part of worship, which it did not.
From this emerge a few important issues:
To put your own reasoning above Divine Command is infidelity and the practice of the devil.
Not respecting the inner Light of the Prophet, and referring to him merely as a creation of sand or an ordinary human, is a devilish attitude.
Disobeying Allah’s command is impiety, and denying it outright is an act of infidelity.
These reflections emphasize that the first act of arrogance and disobedience came from one who refused to acknowledge the divine wisdom in honoring Adam, and by extension, the noble status of those chosen by Allah.
61. And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves unto Adam.” They prostrated themselves except Iblis. He said: “Shall I prostrate myself to one whom You created from clay” 62. He said: “See this one whom You have honored above me, if You give me respite to the Day of Resurrection, I will surely, seize and mislead his offspring, all but a few!”
Allah mentions here the enmity of Iblis, may the curse of Allah be upon him and his progeny. This is an ancient hatred, dating from the time that Allah created Adam, when He commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam, and all of them prostrated except Iblis, who was too arrogant and he haughtily refused to prostrate to him. He said in a tone indicating contempt:
(He said: “Shall I prostrate myself to one whom You created from clay”) According to another Ayah, he said:
(I am better than he. You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.) ﴿7:12﴾ He also said, speaking to the Lord with disbelief and insolence, but the Lord bore it patiently:
(He said: “See this one whom You have honored above me…”) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, “He is saying, `I am going to dominate his offspring, all but a few.”’ Mujahid said (it means), “I am going to surround them.” Ibn Zayd said (it means), “I am going to lead them astray.” All of them are close in meaning, and the meaning of the Ayah is, “Do You see this one whom You have honored and made greater than me If You give me time, I will lead his descendants astray, all but a few of them.”
(17:61) And recall when We asked the angels[73] to prostrate themselves before Adam; all prostrated themselves except Iblis,[74] who said: Shall I prostrate myself before him whom You created of clay?
73. That is, We showed you such things during the Miraj so that they should have the first hand knowledge of the reality from a truthful and honest man like you and be warned by it to the right way. They, however, began to make fun of you, though We had already warned them through you that their evil ways would force them to eat of the Az-zaqqum. Instead of this they began to scoff at you, saying, just consider the logic of this man. On the one hand, he says that there is an awful fire burning in Hell and, on the other, he says that trees are growing in it.
74. Please also refer to (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 30-39); (Surah An-Nisa, Ayat 117-122); (Surah Al-Aaraf, Ayat 11-25); (Surah Ibrahim, Ayat 22); (Surah Al-Hijr, Ayat 26-43). This story has been cited here to impress upon the disbelievers that their attitude of arrogance and indifference towards Allah is exactly the same as was adopted by Satan. As a matter of fact, they were following Satan who is the avowed enemy of man, and were being entangled in the snare spread by him who had challenged the progeny of Adam at the very beginning of human history that he would allure and ruin them.
[759]- See footnote to 2:34.
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