Is the aim of this narration to expose Satan for what he is after being part of the leadership of the angels? Satan attained the position of having a crown because of his devotion. He was called the Peacock of Angels due to his adornment and beauty. Was the question, therefore, to bring out the stench in Satan that was covered in beauty and gorgeous adornment? But for this question and test, we would not have known the real nature of Satan. He would have remained with the angels in constant devotion to Allah and chanting:
Glory (to You), Most Holy (are You), Lord of the angels and the Spirit.
But he was exposed by this question and this test.
Or was the test to bring out the esteemed position of man in relation to other creatures?
Or is our attention drawn to the position of knowledge and scholarship, so we know that preferment in heaven is with knowledge, and occupying a higher position in the world is by expertise? For Allah is the All-Knowingl He who taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not; He giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he truly hath received abundant good. But none remember except men of understanding. (al-Baqarah: 269).
Why did Allah make His angels prostrate to Adam?
Was it a punishment to the angels for saying to Allah:
‘We celebrate Your Praise and glorify Your Holy Name’.
They attributed the work to themselves. Like someone will boast today and say, ‘O Allah, I pray when others sleep. I fast. I give out Zakah. I perform Umrah and Hajj yearly…’ taking pride in his good works. Self-praise for what you do to Allah? While it is Allah who guides you in whatever devotions you do, Allah says:
96. When Allah hath created you and what ye make? (as-Saffaat)
So, is it a punishment to the angels for speaking their minds when Allah told them to prostrate themselves before Adam? As if to say, ‘Then, come, prostrate yourselves before him whom you belittled as likely to make mischief and shed blood. Prostrate yourselves to him, for I do not need your prostration and glorification of Me.’ Could this be the reason for the narration?
Was the prostration really to Adam as a person, or was Adam only a direction for the angels’s prostration, a Qiblah, as we face the Ka’bah in prostration, but it is not the House that we worship but the Owner of the Ka’bah? Was Adam to the angels as Ka’bah is to us, or did they actually prostrate themselves to him? Did the angels put their foreheads on the ground in actual prostration, or did they bow their heads in respect, as did the brothers of Yusuf, to honour him?
100. And he placed his parents on the dais and they fell down before him prostrate, and he said: O my father! This is the interpretation of my dream of old. My Lord hath made it true, and He hath shown me kindness, since He took me out of the prison and hath brought you from the desert after Satan had made strife between me and my brethren. Lo! my Lord is tender unto whom He will. He is the Knower, the Wise. (Yusuf)
Did the brothers (all prophets of Allah) put their foreheads on the ground to adore a human being? Was what they did to Yusuf a linguistic prostration or a technical one, as used by scholars to describe worship to Allah? How could the brothers of Yusuf prostrate to a fellow human being when Allah has said:
79. It is not (possible) for any human being unto whom Allah had given the Scripture and wisdom and the Prophethood that he should afterwards have said unto mankind: Be slaves of me instead of Allah; but (what he said was): Be ye faithful servants of the Lord by virtue of your constant teaching of the Scripture and of your constant study thereof. (Aali-Imraam)
Still on this narration: was Satan a Jinni or an angel?
If the light is bright, the fire is also shining. Angels were created from light and Jinn from fire. Are the Jinn another species of the angels, or are they two separate entities? And if Satan was not an angel, what was he doing among angels?
The response of the angels, ‘Would You place therein one who will make mischief and shed blood,’ referring to an earlier scene where Jinns were put on earth, but they committed atrocities that Allah sent angels to annihilate them, spearing only Satan, who was then an infant, innocent, picked up and brought up by the angels in heaven?
Satan was created before Adam—no doubt about this. The Jinn were created before humans. The Jinn were created from fire. The Jinn will be judged on the Day of Distress because they have been ordered with what humans were enjoined. Among the Jinn are the good and the bad, as well as the Muslim and Faasiq. These are all questions and divergent positions among the scholars.
Again, how did the angels know that man will make mischief on earth and she blood?
30 Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?” He said: “I know what ye know not.”
How did they know this? Does their knowledge decrease or increase? Can angels know today what they did not know yesterday? Are all angels messengers? Are they all one species? Who among them are?:
20. They glorify (Him) night and day; they flag not. (an-Ambiyaa)?
Does this class of angels have any other assignment?
When they said:
They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood”? Was it a challenge? Was it an interjection? How could the angels challenge Allah or interject something while He was speaking when they have been described as:
Honoured slaves:
6. O ye who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire whereof the fuel is men and stones, over which are set angels strong, severe, who resist not Allah in that which He commandeth them, but do that which they are commanded. (At-Tahreem)
And:
26. And they say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son. Be He glorified! Nay, but (those whom they call sons) are honoured slaves;
27. They speak not until He hath spoken, and they act by His command. (Al-Anbiyaa)
Again, when they said:
They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood”?
Were the angels backbiting man even before he was created? Is this not backbiting?
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (Sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) as saying: Do you know what is backbiting? They (the Companions) said: Allah and His Messenger know best. Thereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: Backbiting implies your talking about your brother in a manner which he does not like. It was said to him: What is your opinion about this that if I actually find (that failing) in my brother which I made a mention of? He said: If (that failing) is actually found (in him) what you assert, you in fact backbitten him, and if that is not in him it is a slander.
Sahih Muslim 2589
Were the angels backbiting Adam before he was created? Oh Allah! Educate us and let us understand these issues.
