Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Ĥijr | MAN AND HIS SWORN ENEMY
earth.’“ (2: 30) As the angels wondered at this appointment, the reason for which was
not readily apparent to them, they were told some of its aspects: “He taught Adam the
names of all things and then turned to the angels and said, ‘Tell Me the names of these things,
if what you say is true.’ They said, ‘Limitless are You in Your glory! We only know what You
have taught us. Indeed, You alone are All-Knowing, Wise.’ He said, Adam! Tell them their
names.’ When he had told them all their names, He said, ‘Have I not said to you that I know
the secrets of what is in the heavens and the earth, and I know all that you reveal and
conceal?’” (2: 31-33) The sūrah then relates how the angels prostrated themselves
before Adam while Iblīs, or Satan, arrogantly refused. It tells how Adam and his wife
resided in heaven before they were seduced by Satan and then their expulsion from
heaven and fall to earth so that they could assume their vicegerency, having gone
through such a painful experience and repented and asked God to forgive them.
Comments on the story as told in Sūrah 2 are given in the form of an admonition to
the Children of Israel to remember God’s grace and honour their pledges to Him.
This closely relates to the appointment of Adam, the father of mankind, as vicegerent
on earth and the covenant he made with God.
In Sūrah 7, The Heights, emphasis is placed on the long journey from heaven and
back again, highlighting Satan’s unabating hostility to man from the very start. One
group will go back to heaven from where Satan drove out their first parents, and
these go to heaven by virtue of their disobedience of Satan. Another group, however,
will go to hell because they follow the footsteps of Satan, their eternal enemy. Hence,
as related in Sūrah 7, the story tells of the angels’ prostration before Adam while
Satan arrogantly refused to do so. Satan then requested God to give him respite till
the Day of Judgement so that he could seduce Adam’s offspring, the cause of his
original expulsion. The sūrah then speaks of Adam and his wife situated in heaven
where they could eat of all its fruits except for one tree. This prohibited fruit is made
the means to test man’s will and obedience. It tells us the details of how Satan tried
hard to persuade Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit until they responded to
him, when their nakedness was exposed. It speaks of God’s admonition of them and
their fall to earth where the great battle takes place. “Said He: ‘Get you down hence,
[and be henceforth] enemies to one another, having on earth your abode and livelihood for a
while.’ ‘There shall you live,’ He added, and there shall you die, and from there shall you be
brought forth [on the Day of Resurrection].” (7: 24-25) The sūrah then follows all the
stages of the journey until all have returned and stood before God on the great wide
stage, before going their separate ways to heaven and hell: “And the inmates of the fire
will cry out to the dwellers of paradise: Pour some water on us, or give us some of the
sustenance God has provided for you. They will reply: ‘God has forbidden both to the
unbelievers.’“ (7: 50) At this point the curtains fall.
Here, in this sūrah, as we shall see, emphasis is placed on the secret of Adam’s
creation and the essential factors in man’s constitution, leading him to follow either
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