Volume 10 Surah 12 - 15 - Enjoy Islam

Al-Ĥijr | MAN AND HIS SWORN ENEMY
God simply says that this has happened without saying how. Hence, the event
itself is a fact that the human mind cannot deny. Yet it cannot prove it by any
interpretation it invents, other than accepting what God has said. Man is a creature
with a beginning, and as such, he cannot judge what is eternal, or how the eternal
creates. When the human mind accepts this point, it stops expending its power in
futile argument.
What happened after God issued His order to the angels to prostrate themselves
before Adam? “Thereupon, the angels, one and all, prostrated themselves.” (Verse 30) That
is in the nature of this aspect of God’s creation, the angels. They obey God’s orders
whatever they are, without argument or delay. However, something else also took
place at the same time: “Not so Iblīs, who refused to be among those who prostrated
themselves.” (Verse 31)
Iblīs belongs to a different type of creation, separate from the angels. He is created
out of fire while they are created out of light. They do not disobey God, whatever His
command may be. He, on the other hand, disobeyed God, rejecting His command.
For certain, then, he is not, and never was, one of the angels. That we have here a
form of exception, more strongly pronounced in the Arabic text, refers to what is
called in Arabic linguistics ‘inconsequential exception’. It is acceptable to say in
Arabic: “The Joneses have come except for Ahmad”, when you know that Ahmad
does not belong to the Jones family, but is always with them. Now since the order
stated here has been issued to the angels, how could it apply to Iblīs? That the same
order was issued to Iblīs is clearly stated in Sūrah 7, The Heights. There the order to
Iblīs is mentioned in a later verse, when God questions him: “What has prevented you
from prostrating yourself when I commanded you?” (7: 12) This is clear proof that Iblīs
was given the same order. He might have been included in the order given to the
angels, if he was with them at the time, or perhaps a separate order was issued to
him. However, this is not mentioned here and this shows that he is of a far lesser
position than the angels. Furthermore, the texts we have, and Satan’s own behaviour,
all demonstrate that he was not one of the angels.
It should be also mentioned that we are dealing here with matters that belong to a
different realm, and that we cannot fathom their nature or how they took place,
except within the meaning of the texts we have. Neither human reason nor
imagination has any role to play here.
“God said: ‘Iblīs! What is your reason for not being among those who have prostrated
themselves?’ [Iblīs] replied: I am not one to prostrate myself to a human being whom You
have created out of sounding clay, out of mud moulded into shape.’“ (Verses 32-33) Thus
the nature of this creature, who was created out of the fire of scorching winds, has
surfaced. We see that arrogance, conceit and disobedience are part of his nature. Iblīs
mentions the clay and mud, but does not mention the sublime spirit that mixes
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