Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 11

Prostration of the Angels to Adam and Shaytan's Arrogance

Allah informs the Children of Adam about the honor of their father and the enmity of Shaytan, who still has envy for them and for their father Adam. So they should beware of him and not follow in his footsteps. Allah said,

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَـكُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَـكُمْ ثُمَّ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَـئِكَةِ اسْجُدُواْ لأَدَمَ فَسَجَدُواْ

(And surely, We created you and then gave you shape; then We told the angels, "Prostrate yourselves to Adam," and they prostrated,) This is like His saying,

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَـئِكَةِ إِنِّى خَـلِقٌ بَشَرًا مِّن صَلْصَـلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ - فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى فَقَعُواْ لَهُ سَـجِدِينَ

(And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: "I am going to create a man from dried (sounding) clay of altered mud. So, when I have fashioned him completely and breathed into him the soul (which I created for him), then fall (you) down prostrating yourselves unto him.") 15:28-29. After Allah created Adam with His Hands from dried clay of altered mud and made him in the shape of a human being, He blew life into him and ordered the angels to prostrate before him, honoring Allah's glory and magnificence. The angels all heard, obeyed and prostrated, but Iblis did not prostrate. We explained this subject in the beginning of Surat Al-Baqarah. Therefore, the Ayah (7:11) refers to Adam, although Allah used the plural in this case, because Adam is the father of all mankind. Similarly, Allah said to the Children of Israel who lived during the time of the Prophet ,

وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَى

(And We shaded you with clouds and sent down on you manna and the quail,)2:57 This refers to their forefathers who lived during the time of Moses. But, since that was a favor given to the forefathers, and they are their very source, then the offspring have also been favored by it. This is not the case in:

وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنْسَـنَ مِن سُلَـلَةٍ مِّن طِينٍ

(And indeed We created man out of an extract of clay (water and earth.))23:12 For this merely means that Adam was created from clay. His children were created from Nutfah (mixed male and female sexual discharge). This last Ayah is thus talking about the origin of mankind, not that they were all created from clay, and Allah knows best.

Commentary

In the first verse, it was said: وَالْوَزْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ الْحَقُّ ` (And the Weighing on that day is definite). It means that the weighing of good and bad deeds on the day of Judgment is due and true. There is no room for doubt in it. Here, the hint given is that let no one be deceived by the idea that things which usually get to be weighed or measured are things having some weight or heaviness. Human deeds, good or bad, have no body or mass which could be weighed. How, then, would deeds be weighed? First of all, the reason is that the authority of Allah is absolute. He is powerful over everything. Why then, would it be necessary that something we cannot weigh could not be weighed by Allah Almighty as well? Then, other than that, we have before us, in our time, countless new instruments which claim to weigh or measure anything in the world. They no more need the traditional balance or scales or rod or tip. Modern instruments can weigh what nobody ever thought could be weighed, air, electric current, heat, cold, and so many other things. A meter is all you need. Now, if Allah Almighty, the Maker of makers, in His perfect power, could weigh or measure human deeds - with or without a device - what is there in it which would make it to be something far out to believe? Leaving this aside for a moment, the Creator of the Universe does have the power to transform our deeds at some time into a material presence, even give it some shape or form (interesting that people would believe something like this happening in a Speilberg movie, yet squirm at the religious view of things as would come to pass). There are many Ahadith from the Holy Prophet ﷺ ` which confirm that human deeds will appear in particular shapes and forms during Barzakh (the post-death - pre-resurrection state) and Mahshar (Resurrection). Good deeds of a person will, in forms beautified, become the companions of the grave - and evil deeds would crawl all over in the form of snakes and scorpions. A Hadith says that a person who has not paid the Zakah due against his wealth, that wealth will reach his grave in the shape of a poisonous snake to bite him and say: I am your wealth, I am your treasure.

Whatever God has bestowed upon man in this world has been given for the purpose of eliciting his gratitude. But this is the very thing which man does not offer to his Lord. The reason for this is that Satan contrives to distort his feelings and steers him away from any expression of gratitude. It becomes evident from the story of Adam and Satan what the real criterion is for the judgement of one’s case. Man is being judged at the point where feelings of jealousy and pride develop in the human heart. In this world of trial it happens again and again that one man rises above another; sometimes one man receives a greater share of wealth and honour as compared to his fellow men. Sometimes, in a deal between two persons, it happens that one of them considers his discharging of the other’s legitimate rights as degrading to himself. On all such occasions man is being judged whether he responds positively or reacts negatively.