SURAH AL-BAQARAH
Ayah 34
وَإِذۡ قُلۡنَا لِلۡمَلَـٰٓٮِٕكَةِ ٱسۡجُدُواْ لِأٰدَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓاْ إِلَّآ إِبۡلِيسَ
أَبَىٰ وَٱسۡتَكۡبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ
And when We said to the Angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” then they prostrated except Iblees, he refused and was “istakbar”, and he was from the “Kafiroon” .
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Another Announcement came. All the Angels were again to gather near Adam(a.s). The Angels were ordered to bow down (prostrate) to Adam(a.s). All the Trillions and Trillions of Angels, some were bigger than others, prostrated to Adam a.s. Imagine Angels the size of GIANTS in comparison to the tiny Adam, bending down prostrating, showing him respect.
ٱسۡجُدُواْ لِأٰدَمَ
“Prostrate before Adam!”
This is a command. The default ruling of prostrating to other than Allah is = Haram. But if the command is directly from Allah, then it becomes = Wajib.
فَسَجَدُوٓاْ = Then they prostrated
فَ “Then (fa)” = Then immediately after
The Angels immediately prostrated without delay as they were told. They have no issue with this command.
Prostrating is done to someone who has a higher status. Meaning, by the Angels prostrating to Adam(a.s), they were in a position to provide service to Adam(a.s). The Qur'an depicted the honor and respectable status of human beings.
إِلَّآ إِبۡلِيسَ
“except Iblees”
This is the first time Iblees (the Jinn) is mentioned since the start of this story. As Iblees was among the Angels, he too was invited to the gathering of the Angels. He was also present at the first announcement of the placing of “Khaleefah” on Earth and when Adam(a.s) was telling the Angels the names of things.
Evidence in Surah Al-Kahf 18:50 saying that he is a Jinn and not an Angel:
“Prostrate before Adam,” so they all did—but not Iblees, who was one of the jinn”
Hence he was not an Angel as what the Christians believed.
أَبَىٰ وَٱسۡتَكۡبَرَ
"he refused and was “istakbar”"
The Angels obeyed Allah's command without any hesitation or procrastination for fear of their Master & Creator except this single Jinn, Iblis.
Iblis worked hard to be raised among the Angels. He too has a decision making capability. The Angels cannot decide to go against Allah's command, but Iblis decided to refuse.
Since Iblees has built a status for himself by being with the Angels, this was a test for him to prove his status of being a pious person. If he prostrate to Adam (a.s), then he will have passed the test. A senior who prostrate to a junior out of obedience to Allah. His status will probably become even higher.
However that was not the action that he decided for himself. He was used to making decisions back on Earth so this was another decision. (Later we will see how Adam a.s has never made a decision up to the point of the tree incident).
ٱسۡتَكۡبَرَ “istakbar” = the quick translation is “arrogant”.
Actually it was “wanting to become BIGGER”. The root letters are = ك ب ر
You often hear in the Adhan (call for prayer) = Allahu Akbar = Allah is the Greatest (the Biggest of everything). Biggest in importance, biggest in deserving our slavery, etc.
So Iblees decided to refuse Allah’s command and was “istakbar”. He wanted to become “BIGGER” than everyone else. To be big in status.
So what if Iblees replaced Adam(a.s) to be the "Khaleefah" on earth? What is the job of a "Khaleefah"? To worship Allah. Even to that extent Iblees was jealous of Adam(a.s). It's not the worshiping of Allah was his goal, but the status of becoming the greatest worshiper and respected by all the Angels was his target.
Therefore from here we learn that "istikbar" does not only happen in the worldly sense (i.e people competing for higher grade at workplace or because of wealth, etc) but also happen in the "religious" sphere where people wishing for religious recognition (eg. religious teacher and followers wanting to be bigger/greater than the other group, infighting in Mosques competing to be in the Management Board, etc).
كَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡكَـٰفِرِينَ
"he was from the Kafiroon”
“Kafiroon” = The quick translation is = Disbelievers.
However, Iblees did believe in the Oneness of Allah as his Creator and God. So the better translation is = Rebellious, Unfaithful after knowing the truth. So we cannot yet label any Non-Muslim as a “Kafir”. It may be that he has no knowledge and was not at all introduced to the truth. He might become a believer after knowing the truth.
كَانَ = “he was”. This is Past tense. So Allah already knew Iblees was a “Kafir” all along even though the Angels and Iblees himself were concealing it. The creation of Adam revealed Iblees true character.
To prostrate with your head at the level of a person’s feet is very degrading and shows that the person you prostrate to is superior than you in rank. That might be his ambition all along for the rest of the creations to bow to him and yet here he was being commanded to prostrate to Adam(a.s).
It was not a matter of seniority or rank but it was just a matter of following Allah's command.
He has worked hard for years to raise himself up to a high rank among the Angels hoping of becoming the boss and suddenly this new creation with no experience is out ranking him.
He saw his own greatness. Allah’s command seemed unfair. He refused to be humble. He wanted respect and honor to be given to him, not Adam.
Actually he should be able to execute the command because of his seniority in worshiping Allah, if he was sincere. From the years of experience, he should be the first one to acknowledge the wisdom of Allah.
He failed the test miserably because of his overwhelming arrogance. Years of worshiping Allah to boost his ego. He may have envisioned the Angels bowing to him but when they bowed to the new guy, he flipped and refused Allah’s command. This was insincerity. Meaning, he will only obey those commands that suit his agenda or Nafs (desire).
Having knowledge does not equate to sincerity. Getting knowledge is easy. To be 100% sincere is hard. If you are constantly being praised or constantly praising yourself in front of others will make Satan's job easier to corrupt you.
The greater knowledge you have, the more you bow in humility. A tree branch laden with fruits will bend even lower than those with less fruits.
When Allah asked him, why are you refusing? He answered:
[Quran 7:12]
قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِى مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُۥ مِن طِينٍ
He (Satan) said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay"
[Quran 38:76]
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay"
[Quran 17:61]
He said, "Should I prostrate to one You created from clay"
[Quran 15:33]
قَالَ لَمْ أَكُن لِّأَسْجُدَ لِبَشَرٍ خَلَقْتَهُۥ مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍۢ مِّنْ حَمَإٍۢ مَّسْنُونٍ
He said, "Never would I prostrate to a human whom You created from sounding clay from altered smelly black mud"
Iblees was proud with his remarks that he was created from fire while emphasizing that Adam was only created from mud. He said it on purpose just to lower Adam’s status. He was a Racist. Iblis was the first being to show RACISM. He feels that his kind (the Jinn) is more honorable than these humans out of smelly dirt.
A command from God is to be executed no matter what you think is logical or fair in your tiny mind. That’s why Allah made that strong emphasis of He knows what you don’t know.
What the scholars said: If Iblees was considered a “Kafir” for refusing to do one sujud to Adam (a.s), what about people who refused to do the daily sujud to Allah?
Both Iblees and us are commanded by Allah. However we are commanded to sujud to Allah Himself and not Adam (a.s). Which one is a bigger commandment? Sujud to Allah is a bigger command.
In regards to arrogance and chasing status in society:
We have to be careful not to end up like Iblees. We see people who at the start of their career already thinking of becoming the Boss (having status) and not sincere in their job. There is a difference between people who work with passion of the job compared to people who work to “shoe shine” the Boss.
If the employer is smart, he can see between people who work sincerely bearing responsibilities compared to people who work only for rank and status. This person’s goal is to be a leader getting respect and being proud of his status where people can be ordered to do his bidding. When some else gets promoted instead of him, you can see how this person is angry.
Iblees failed because his goal in life is just to achieve ranks and getting promoted to boost his ego unlike the Angels who did everything based only on sincerity following Allah's command.
- If you are very proud and arrogant of your religious knowledge, worship and activities, that’s Iblees.
- If you look down on other people while raising yourself with self-admiration, that’s Iblees.
- If you always passing off remarks praising yourself while making remarks to lower other people, that’s Iblees.
Sometimes people get popular and rich via religion. Religious speakers get celebrity status. Religion has become a competing industry. It has diverted the layman people of the purpose and definition of religion. People rushing to kiss the hand of a popular a’lim. It has a damaging effect to his eeman without him knowing. Satan will pounce over the opportunity to boost the ego of this person. To make him feel raised up in ranks among the people.
Some Ustaz are telling ridiculous stories from unreliable sources. Overly remarkable story from dreams in order to make his classes interesting drawing in more ignorant crowd. To be popular and respected by huge followings. When some of his errors or mistakes are highlighted by other knowledgeable figures, they and their followers will explode into “enemy” mode with hatred and jealousy. These behaviours are exactly what the Ayaat are warning us = The “Iblees” behaviour.
The “infected” religious group will want to be greater than the other religious group that they have disagreement with.
Arrogance is the trademark of Iblees. Examples of severe arrogance in a person:-
He thought that people were jealous of him and goes around telling others that so and so were jealous because of his religious knowledge (which is actually little). His arrogance super seed Iblees.
Person “A” having bad thoughts that person “B” is showing off his status to make “A” look small. “A” got angry. After many years he still cannot get rid of his grudge against “B”.
“A” worked hard in order to one day “show off” to “B”.
“A” felt this way because “status” and looking “big” are in his heart. Having grudge and to have revenge by showing off to “B”. His intention was to degrade “B”. That’s Iblees.
Iblees tried to degrade Adam (a.s) by looking at Adam (a.s) as dirt.
In Surah Al-'Araf, we see that Iblees was chased out of paradise right after he refused to prostrate.
[Surah Al-'Araf:12 to 18]
Allah asked, “What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?” He replied, “I am better than he is: You created me from fire and him from clay.”
Allah said, “Then get down from Paradise! It is not for you to be arrogant here. So get out! You are truly one of the disgraced.”
He appealed, “Then delay my end until the Day of their resurrection.”
Allah said, “You are delayed ˹until the appointed Day˺.”
He said, “For leaving me to stray I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path.
I will approach them from their front, their back, their right, their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.”
Allah said, “Get out of Paradise! You are disgraced and rejected! I will certainly fill up Hell with you and your followers all together.”