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qāla yā-ʾiblīsu mā manaʿaka ʾan tasjuda li-mā khalaqtu bi-yadayya ʾa-stakbarta ʾam kunta mina l-ʿālīna
He said, ‘O Iblis! What keeps you from prostrating before that which I have created with My [own] two hands? Are you arrogant, or are you one of the exalted ones?’
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Sad - Verses 75-78
75. “(Allah) said: ‘O’ Iblis! What prevented you from prostrating yourself to one whom I have created with My hands? Are you proud or are you of the exalted ones?’”
76. “(Iblis) said: ‘I am better than he: You created me from fire and You created him from clay’.”
77. “(Allah) said: ‘Then get out of it for verily you are driven away’.”
78. “And verily on you shall be My Curse till the Day of Judgment.”
According to what the Prophet of Islam (S) said, the objective meaning of the Qur’anic term /‘alin/ is a group of beings who are higher than the angels and who originate from another rank, stage, and place.6 Perhaps, the purpose of the holy Prophet (S) is the same thing that in Jami‘ah Supplication, addressing Ahl-ul-Bayt (as), we recite:
“Allah created you as lights and set you in His ‘Arsh and He even favoured on us by you, and for making human kind able to reach your guidance, He set you in some parts of the earth to be the cite of the call of Monotheism, (Allah knows).”
However, in this holy verse, Iblis was taken to task and questioned. The verse says:
It is evident that the application of the Arabic word: /yadayy/ (two hands) does not mean the bodily hands, because He is far from being a ‘body’, but hand here denotes to power, since man usually uses his power by hands. So, this word is used abundantly in daily conversations in the sense of ‘power’. It is sometimes said that the so and so country is in the hand of so and so group; or and so temple or great building has been built by the hand of so and so person. Sometimes it is said: ‘My hand is short’ or ‘your hand is full’. According to Imam Sadiq’s statement (as), the purpose of ‘two hands’ is the hands of power and knowledge.7
And in neither of the usages, hand does not mean the special limb of the body, but all of these ironically mean Power and Sovereignty. And since man does the important actions by his two hands, and using the two hands is the sign of man’s utmost attention and interest to a thing, mentioning this meaning in the above mentioned verse indicates to the special regard of Allah and applying His absolute power in the creation of man. Then, it continues:
No doubt none can claim that his honour and position is above this that he prostrates for Allah (or for Adam by the command of Allah). Therefore, there remains only the second probability, that is, pride. Some of the commentators have rendered the Qur’anic word /‘alin/ here in the sense of those who are always in the way of pride, and therefore the sentence means: ‘Are you proud only just now, or have you ever been so?’ but the first meaning seems more suitable.
The second verse implies that, with utmost surprise, Satan chose the second item, and he believed he was better than this that he would be ordered such a command. Therefore, with a full insolence, he tried to reason his disobedience to the command of Allah by this statement:
Indeed, he wanted to negate, as he thought, the command of Allah by three premises: The first is that he said he was created from fire while Adam was created from clay, and this has been a fact, as the Qur’an testifies it:
The second premise is that whatever is created from fire is better than whatever was created from clay, because fire is more superior than clay. The third premise is that never a superior being should be ordered to prostrate in front of a non-superior being. And the whole mistake of Iblis was in these two recent premises, because, firstly, Adam (as) was not from only clay, but his greatness was because of the Divine spirit which was inspired in him, else how clay could be compared with those honours, talents and developments.
Secondly, not only soil is not lower than fire, but also it is very higher than it. The entire elements of life, living, and main sources come from soil. Plants, flowers, and all living creatures get help from soil. All precious mines are hidden in the soil, and, shortly speaking, soil is the origin of kinds of blessings, while fire, with all the importance which has in man’s living, never reaches the position of soil. It is only a mean for taking benefit from the earthly mines, a dangerous and distractive means. Moreover, the kindling matters are often produced by soil: (wood, coal, oil, and the like).
Thirdly, the subject of obeying Allah and performing His commandments is a duty for all servants and they should be obedient to His orders. However, if we cleave the Iblis’ reasoning we will reach a wonderful infidelity. By this statement, he wanted both to negate the knowledge of Allah and to count His orders invalid. This state of his denotes to his utmost ignorance, because if he said his carnal desire hindered him, or pride did not let him, and the like, he would confess to only one sin, but now that for adjusting his disobedience he negates the infinite Wisdom and Knowledge of Allah, the circumstance shows that he has fallen to the lowest stage of infidelity.
Moreover, a created being has no independence from himself before the Creator. Whatever he has is from Him. And the tone of Iblis shows that he had considered a sovereignty and independence for himself in the face of the sovereignty of Allah, and this is one of other sources of infidelity. However, the cause of Satan’s aberration had been a mixture of self conceit, pride, ignorance and envy. These satanic qualities worked with together and brought him down from the peak of honour, the one who was the companion and even the teacher of the angels for many years.
How dangerous are these ugly qualities wherever they are found? Ali (as) in one of his sermons said:
“You should take a lesson from what Allah did with Satan; namely He nullified his great acts and extensive efforts on account of the vanity of one moment, although Satan worshipped Allah for six thousand years… but he lost it for the sake of pride in one moment. Then how is it possible that a person does the same thing that Iblis did and be safe from the punishment of Allah?” 9
Yes, an important and glorious building may be built during some long years but it can be ruined in a moment by a strong bomb. The third verse indicates that it was here that this foul being should be sent out from the rows of the angels of the high world. So, addressing him, Allah ordered him as follows:
Yes, the one, who is within forbidden degree, must go out from here because it is not its place anymore. Here is the place of the purified ones and the near-stationed ones not the cite of disobedient and polluted ones. The Arabic word /rajim/ is derived from /rajm/ in the sense of ‘to stone’, and since its necessity is exclusion, sometimes it is used in this sense, too. In the fourth holy verse Allah denotes that Satan is always banished from His mercy, where He says:
Footnotes