Surah Al-Hijr, Ayah 40

The Threat of Iblis to tempt Mankind, and Allah's Promise of Hell for him

Allah informed about the rebellion and arrogance of Iblis, in that he said to the Lord:

بِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى

(Because You misled me,) i.e., because You misled me and misguided me.

لأُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ

(I shall indeed adorn the path of error for them) meaning, for the progeny of Adam.

فِى الاٌّرْضِ

(on the earth,) meaning - I will make sin dear to them, and will encourage, provoke and harass them to commit sin.

وَلأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

(and I shall mislead them all.) meaning - just as You have misled me and have ordained that for me.

إِلاَّ عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِينَ

(Except Your chosen, (guided) servants among them.) This is like the Ayah:

The Command to Prostrate was Given to Angels - Iblis was to Follow Suit

Addressing Iblis in Surah Al-A` raf, it was said: مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْ‌تُكَ (What stopped you from prostrating when I ordered you? - 7:12). This shows that the command to prostrate was given, along with the angels, to Iblis as well. However, the verses you have gone through a little earlier apparently give the sense that the command was particular to the an-gels. This could mean that the command was originally given to the angels but, as Iblis too was present among the angels, therefore, he too was covered by this command as a corollary - because, when the command went forth for the most august creation of Allah Ta’ ala, that is, the an-gels, that they pay their homage to Sayyidna 'Adam (علیہ السلام) ، it was obvious that any other creation was bound to follow suit under this command. It was for this reason that Iblis did not respond by saying that he was never asked to prostrate to begin with, so he could not be charged with the crime of non-compliance of the order. Perhaps, the words of the Qur’ an here: ' أَبَىٰ أَن يَكُونَ مَعَ السَّاجِدِينَ ' (He refused to be among those who prostrated - 30) may contain a hint in that direction. Rather than say: أَبَىٰ أَن یَّسجُدَ 1 that is, 'he refused to prostrate', what was actually said was: ' أَبَىٰ أَن يَكُونَ مَعَ السَّاجِدِينَ ' he refused to be among those who prostrated. This indicates that the main prostraters were after all the angels but Iblis too, being present with them, was reason-bound to join the prostrating an-gels. So, the Divine wrath was against his failure to join.

An opportunity was presented to Satan to take a test and he failed in it. Now the best course would have been to admit his failure. Instead of that he levelled allegations against God, that whatever He had done was meant to misguide him. He wanted to blame God for that which had proved his own weakness. To blame others for one’s defeat amounts to following this characteristic of Satan. The reason given by Satan for refusing to prostrate himself before a human being was that the human being was made from earth, while he (Satan) had been made from fire. There is no particular reason to believe that fire is superior to earth. But according to Satan’s way of thinking, earth became contemptible and fire became a thing of a higher grade. This is known as glorification (taz’in). This is a psychological error and not a rational stand. Instead of admitting his mistake, Satan decided that he would make others commit the same mistake; that he would make all human beings suffer from that psychological weakness of which he himself was a victim. Satan said that he would misguide all except the selected servants of God. And who are these selected servants of God? They are those who have adopted the straight path commanded by God, that is, the path of submission. In other words, Satan would not be successful in leading astray those men and women who have realised their real position, that is, a position of total helplessness in comparison to that of the All-Powerful God.