SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 33
قَالَ يَـٰٓـَٔادَمُ أَنۢبِئۡهُم بِأَسۡمَآٮِٕہِمۡۖ
فَلَمَّآ أَنۢبَأَهُم بِأَسۡمَآٮِٕہِمۡ
قَالَ أَلَمۡ أَقُل لَّكُمۡ إِنِّىٓ أَعۡلَمُ غَيۡبَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ
وَأَعۡلَمُ مَا تُبۡدُونَ وَمَا كُنتُمۡ تَكۡتُمُونَ
He (Allah) said, “O Adam! Inform them of their names.” Then when he (Adam) informed them of the names, He (Allah) said, “Did I not tell you that indeed I, I know the secrets of the heavens and the Earth, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?”
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He (Allah) said, “O Adam! Inform them of their names.”
This was an instruction to Adam. Adam obeyed the instruction. This was the second time that Adam obeyed Allah. Previously he was an obedient student when Allah taught him. Subsequent ayah will show more of his obedience.
After Adam’s creation, Allah was training him to be obedient. We too are to be obedient to Allah like our Father Adam
(a.s).
فَلَمَّآ أَنۢبَأَهُم بِأَسۡمَآٮِٕہِمۡ
"Then when Adam informed them of the names"
Allah then proudly told Adam(a.s) to showcase his knowledge to the Angels.
فَلَمَّآ = “Then when” = This time the word used is فَ “Fa” and not ثُمَّ “thumma” (as in the previous ayah).
“Fa” = then immediately Adam(a.s) informed them of the names.
The word “Fa” indicates that Adam showcasing his knowledge with ease. It was very easy for him. This was a human brain at its best, newly created. Like a bread just coming out of the oven, freshly baked and not stale.
It has not been filled with “junk” and “garbage” like we are now. We are just making use of a small percentage of our brain capability. That’s why we have difficulties in remembering or understanding.
Adam’s presentation to the Angels was prove that he knew, understood and remembered what he was taught.
The Qur'an encourages us to exercise our brain in thinking lots of things. The word "ULUL ALBAAB" = people who think, who uses their God-given intellect, is mentioned numerous times in the Qur'an.
In this scene, Adam had surpass the Angel in terms of knowledge. The Angels got a glimpse of the answer to their question on why this creature was created. More surprises will come from this "Khaleefah" on earth and Allah will proudly showcase them to the Angels time and time again.
قَالَ أَلَمۡ أَقُل لَّكُمۡ إِنِّىٓ أَعۡلَمُ غَيۡبَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ
He (Allah) said, “Did I not tell you that indeed I, I know the secrets of the heavens and the Earth."
From here we can guess that what Adam(a.s) learned was of things involving the Earth and the skies. There are still many secrets of the Earth and the skies that scientists are still exploring and learning.
From the ayaat, Allah proudly showcasing Adam(a.s) on his ability to gain knowledge and explaining to the Angels regarding numerous objects that Allah had created. Iblees (the Jinn) was also present in the gathering.
With the hatred and jealousy towards Adam(a.s), he would be tempted to say, "Hey, I can do that too!!" if Allah taught him what Allah taught Adam(a.s). But that was not the case. He may not have the capacity to learn as Adam(a.s) did.
We can conclude that the Jinn do NOT have this capability. Iblees had no other argument to put forward except to say that he is superior than Adam based on the material that was used to create Jinn as compared to Human. That was a lame argument.
Having Adam(a.s) learning vast amount of “things” showed that human is equipped with large amount of memory. Humans go even further in the ability of expanding the original knowledge that Adam(a.s) was taught. The ability to label/name things evolving from the root names that Adam was taught. Capable of absorbing and processing vast amount of expanding usable knowledge. Human knowledge and experience of one generation is passed on to the next generation and the knowledge got more and more. With this ability, the Human species are tasked to populate and manage Earth (Khaleefah on earth) on their own with the intellect and knowledge that started from Adam(a.s).
A responsibility that not even the Pure and Strong Angels are capable of doing.This was the reply to the Angels’ question.
This can also mean that the Jinns that have been existing on Earth long before mankind, do not have the capacity to grasp large amount of knowledge in order to manage the Earth. If they were able to expand knowledge with superior technology, they would have already physically made humans as slaves to them.
إِنِّىٓ أَعۡلَمُ غَيۡبَ
indeed I, I know the secrets ..
(Jumlah Ismiyyah, hence the repetition of “I”) = Indeed I, Only I know. Great emphasis in the sentence.
Some mistakenly thought that our Prophet s.a.w by himself knows of the unseen world. This was because in some hadith narrations, the Prophet s.a.w was talking about things in the unseen world.
Here Allah emphasized that nobody will know the unseen except if Allah reveals to him. The Prophet s.a.w was revealed certain things of the “unseen” and was not revealed on the rest of the “unseen”.
We only know of the “unseen” that were revealed in the Quran and the Hadith. Outside of these two, no one will know. Some people through their fantasy thought that some “Wali” (Saints) have knowledge of the unseen world outside of what was revealed in the Quran or the Hadith. The Jinn syaithan may be telling them lies in their dreams.
وَأَعۡلَمُ مَا تُبۡدُونَ وَمَا كُنتُمۡ تَكۡتُمُونَ
“and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?”
What do the Angels reveal and what do the Angels are concealing?
مَا تُبۡدُونَ "what you (all) reveal"
The Angels revealed the question that was in their mind to Allah. They have no secret agenda. They were not unhappy or rebellious toward Allah for deciding to create this new creature. They were only revealing the negative nature of what they assumed this new creature would be.
مَا كُنتُمۡ تَكۡتُمُونَ
“what you(all) were, you (all) conceal” (What you were concealing)
Two things that the Angels might have concealed:
(1) It is sensible for the Angels to realize that this Khaleefah must have some positive properties out of the Wisdom of Allah. They only revealed the negative and concealed the positive. Human able to act against its negative nature.
(2) There was a Jinn among the Angels that concealed what his thoughts were of the new creation. He concealed his unhappiness.
The Angels revealed what they thought of the new Khaleefah but concealed about the Jinn that was unhappy.
This Jinn had been living with the Angels as evidently mentioned in the Quran. However, no explicit evidence in the Quran and Sahih Hadiths on exactly how a Jinn can somehow end up living together with the Angels. We have educated guesses and Israelite stories told by Jewish Rabbis of old that have creeped into the narrative.
------- The narrative has been mixed with Israelite story without evidence from the Quran or the Hadith by some preachers ---------
It goes something like this:
Iblees was a pious Jinn and worshipped God for thousands of years until he rose up to the ranks of the Angels and was allowed to live among them. However, Earth being occupied by the Jinns, was in a state of chaos because of the evils committed by them.
God sent an army of Angels to battle it out with the rebellious Jinns on Earth. Iblees was in the ranks of the Angels to fight against his own kind. They were successful in demolishing the Jinns to restore order and they returned back to the heavens.
Once they were back, God gather all of them and announce the creation of a new Khaleefah to be placed on Earth. That was what surprised the Angels when they asked the question why create another Khaleefah that will spread corruption and spill blood since they had just came back from Earth (and seen it all).