Tafsir of Surah Al-Isra - Verse 62

The Story of Adam and Iblis

Allah mentions here the enmity of Iblis, may the curse of Allah be upon him and his progeny. This is an ancient hatred, dating from the time that Allah created Adam, when He commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam, and all of them prostrated except Iblis, who was too arrogant and he haughtily refused to prostrate to him. He said in a tone indicating contempt:

قَالَ أَءَسْجُدُ لِمَنْ خَلَقْتَ طِينًا

(He said: "Shall I prostrate myself to one whom You created from clay") According to another Ayah, he said:

أَنَاْ خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ

(I am better than he. You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.) 7:12 He also said, speaking to the Lord with disbelief and insolence, but the Lord bore it patiently:

قَالَ أَرَءَيْتَكَ هَـذَا الَّذِى كَرَّمْتَ عَلَىَّ

(He said: "See this one whom You have honored above me...") `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported that Ibn `Abbas said, "He is saying, `I am going to dominate his offspring, all but a few."' Mujahid said (it means), "I am going to surround them." Ibn Zayd said (it means), "I am going to lead them astray." All of them are close in meaning, and the meaning of the Ayah is, "Do You see this one whom You have honored and made greater than me If You give me time, I will lead his descendants astray, all but a few of them."

Commentary

The word: لَأَحْتَنِكَنَّ (subdue) in verse 62 is from: اِحتِنَاک (ihtinak) which means to exterminate or uproot something, or to subdue and overpower it completely. (Qurtubi) The word: وَاسْتَفْزِزْ (and entice) in verse 64 is from اِستِفزَاز (istifzaz) which basically means to cut off or to tear away from and at this place it means to tear away from the path of truth. This is followed by صَوتک (with your voice). Sawt صَوت the Arabic word for voice is well known. What is the voice of Shaitan? Sayyidna ` Abdullah ibn ` Abbas ؓ says: The voices of songs, musical instruments and the hullabaloo of fun and games are the voices of Shaitan that he employs to tear people away from the path of truth. (Qurtubi) This tells us that (singing or listening to) music and (playing or listening to) musical instruments are prohibited. (Qurtubi)

While refusing to prostrate before Sayyidna 'Adam (علیہ السلام) ، Iblis (the Shaitan) had said two things:

(1) That 'Adam was created from mud and he was from fire and that there was no reason why mud was given precedence over fire. This question was an effort to find out the wisdom of the order given to him before he could comply with the Divine command - something the one so commanded has no right to ask. That Allah, the Exalted, would let the commanded one have the right to demand the wisdom of His command is far out specially when we see in our everyday life that human beings themselves would not give their servant the right to say no to them. Think of a master asking his servants to do something and the servant demanding the master that he should first explain the wisdom of that assignment. Therefore, this question was considered unworthy of an answer and no answer was given. In addition to that, the answer is already obvious. Giving precedence to something over the other is the prerogative of the Being that created and nurtured everyone. Whenever and whatever He declares to be superior becomes exactly so.

The story of the angels and Satan shows the difference between the believers and the unbelievers. The believers see the truth as truth, therefore they do not find any difficulty in understanding it. They take no time in accepting it, just as the angels did at the time of the birth of Adam. On the other hand, there is another category consisting of those who see the truth in relation only to their own selves. This is how Satan saw the truth—in relation to his own self. Since the command to prostrate himself before Adam appeared to make him a lesser being than Adam, Satan refused to comply. Seen in the context of the challenge given by Satan to God, everyone who ignores the truth because acceptance of the truth would amount to belittling his own position, has fallen a prey to Satan.