Surah 7. Al-A'raf, Ayah 11
| وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَاكُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنَاكُمْ ثُمَّ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ لَمْ يَكُنْ مِنَ السَّاجِدِينَ |
| Asad | : | Yea, indeed, We have created you, and then formed you;9 and then We said unto the angels, "Prostrate yourselves before Adam!" - whereupon they [all] prostrated themselves, save Iblis: he was not among those who prostrated themselves.10 |
| Malik | : | Indeed We created you, then We fashioned you, then We asked the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam." They all prostrated accordingly except Iblees (Shaitan) who did not join those who prostrated. |
| Pickthall | : | And We created you, then fashioned you, then told the angels: Fall ye prostrate before Adam! And they fell prostrate, all save Iblis, who was not of those who make prostration. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | It is We who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels bow down to Adam and they bowed down; not so Iblis; he refused to be of those who bow down. 996 997 |
| Transliteration | : | wa- la- qad khalaqnaa -kum thumma s.awwarnaa -kum thumma qulnaa li- al- malaa'ikah usjudo li- 'aadam fa- sajado 'illaa 'ibles lam yakun min as- saajiden |
Note - 9The sequence of these two statements - "We have created
you [i.e., "brought you into being as living organisms"]
and then formed you" [or "given you your shape", i.e., as
human beings] - is meant to bring out the fact of man's
gradual development, in the individual sense, from the
embryonic stage to full-fledged existence, as well as of
the evolution of the human race as such.
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Note - 10As regards God's allegorical command to the angels to
"prostrate themselves" before Adam, see {2:30-34}, and
the corresponding notes. The reference to all mankind
which precedes the story of Adam in this surah makes it
clear that his name symbolizes, in this context, the
whole human race. Western scholars usually take it for
granted that the name "Iblis" is a corruption of the
Greek word diabolos, from which the English "devil" is
derived. There is, however, not the slightest evidence
that the pre-Islamic Arabs borrowed this or any other
mythological term from the Greeks - while, on the other
hand, it is established that the Greeks derived a good
deal of their mythological concepts (including various
deities and their functions) from the much earlier
South-Arabian civilization (cf. Encyclopaedia of Islam I,
379 f.). One may, therefore, assume with something
approaching certainty that the Greek diabolos is a
Hellenized form of the Arabic name for the Fallen Angel,
which, in turn, is derived from the root-verb ablasa, "he
despaired" or "gave up hope" or "became broken in spirit"
(see Lane I, 248). The fact that the noun diabolos
("slanderer" - derived from the verb diaballein, "to
throw [something] across") is of genuinely Greek origin
does not, by itself, detract anything from this
hypothesis: for it is conceivable that the Greeks, with
their well-known tendency to Hellenize foreign names,
identified the name "Iblls" with the, to them, much more
familiar term diabolos. - As regards Iblis' statement, in
the next verse, that he had been created "out of fire",
see surah {38}, note [60].
|
Note - 996It was after Adam (as standing for all mankind) had been
so taught that the angels were asked to prostrate to him,
for, by Allah's grace, his status had actually been
raised higher. Note the transition from "you" (plural) in
the first clause to "Adam" in the second clause: Adam and
mankind are synonymous: the plural is reverted to in vii.
14, 16-18.
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Note - 997Iblis not only refused to bow down: he refused to be of
those who prostrated. In other words he arrogantly
despised the angels who prostrated as well as man to whom
they prostrated and he was in rebellion against Allah for
not obeying His order. Arrogance, jealousy, and rebellion
were his triple crime.
|
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The sequence of these two statements - "We have created you [i.e., "brought you into being as living organisms"] and then formed you" [or "given you your shape", i.e., as human beings] - is meant to bring out the fact of man's gradual development, in the individual sense, from the embryonic stage to full-fledged existence, as well as of the evolution of the human race as such. |
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As regards God's allegorical command to the angels to "prostrate themselves" before Adam, see {2:30-34}, and the corresponding notes. The reference to all mankind which precedes the story of Adam in this surah makes it clear that his name symbolizes, in this context, the whole human race. Western scholars usually take it for granted that the name "Iblis" is a corruption of the Greek word diabolos, from which the English "devil" is derived. There is, however, not the slightest evidence that the pre-Islamic Arabs borrowed this or any other mythological term from the Greeks - while, on the other hand, it is established that the Greeks derived a good deal of their mythological concepts (including various deities and their functions) from the much earlier South-Arabian civilization (cf. Encyclopaedia of Islam I, 379 f.). One may, therefore, assume with something approaching certainty that the Greek diabolos is a Hellenized form of the Arabic name for the Fallen Angel, which, in turn, is derived from the root-verb ablasa, "he despaired" or "gave up hope" or "became broken in spirit" (see Lane I, 248). The fact that the noun diabolos ("slanderer" - derived from the verb diaballein, "to throw [something] across") is of genuinely Greek origin does not, by itself, detract anything from this hypothesis: for it is conceivable that the Greeks, with their well-known tendency to Hellenize foreign names, identified the name "Iblls" with the, to them, much more familiar term diabolos. - As regards Iblis' statement, in the next verse, that he had been created "out of fire", see surah {38}, note [60]. |
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It was after Adam (as standing for all mankind) had been so taught that the angels were asked to prostrate to him, for, by Allah's grace, his status had actually been raised higher. Note the transition from "you" (plural) in the first clause to "Adam" in the second clause: Adam and mankind are synonymous: the plural is reverted to in vii. 14, 16-18. |
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Iblis not only refused to bow down: he refused to be of those who prostrated. In other words he arrogantly despised the angels who prostrated as well as man to whom they prostrated and he was in rebellion against Allah for not obeying His order. Arrogance, jealousy, and rebellion were his triple crime. |
