30. " when your lord said to the angels : ` i am appointing on the earth
a deputy', they said: ` will you place therein one who will make
mischief therein and shed blood, while we celebrate your
praise and extol your holiness? ' he said:
`assuredly i know what you know not'."
31. " and he taught adam all the names,then he presented them before the
angels, and said: `tell me the names of these if you are right'."
32. " they said: ` glory be to you! of knowledge we have naught save
what you have taught us. surely, you (alone) are the
all-knowing, the all-wise'."
33. " he said: ` o' adam, tell them their names'. and when he had told
them their names, he said: `did i not say unto you that i surely
know the unseen things of the heavens and the earth, and (that)
i know what you reveal and what you were hiding ?' "


commentary :
man, allah's deputy on earth !

through the previous verses we have understood that allah has
created all the endowments on the earth for man, whereas in these
verses the leadership and vicegerency of man is formally proclaimed.
thus, here, man's spiritual rank and worthiness of all these merits, are
exposed.

in these verses, which begin from verse no. 30 and end with
verse 39, the creation of adam (the first human) is referred to and the
following three fundamental subjects are set forth:

1. allah informs the angels about man's vicegerency on the earth
and their questioning of him.

2. angels are commanded to prostrate before the first human,
adam. this situation is referred to in numerous verses in the holy
qur'an concerning different circumstances.

3. the illustration of the situation of adam and his life in heaven
and the events causing him to be sent out from heaven, and then, his
repentance and the order that he and his children were to live on the
earth, are pointed out.

the verses under discussion speak about the first stage. it was
his will, so he created a being on the earth to be his vicegerent. the
attributes of this deputy would be a reflection from the rays of allah's
attributes, and his position somehow higher than that of the angels. it
was his will that the earth and all its endowments, i.e. forces, treasures,
mines, and all its potentials be subjected to the will of such a human
being.

such a being must have a vast share of wisdom, intelligence,
conception and a special capacity so that he can undertake the
leadership and mastership of the earthly beings.

therefore, in the first verse, it says:

" when your lord said to the angels:
` i am appointing on the earth a deputy ',..."

according to what the leading islamic scholars and learned men,
and experts in commentary, have said, the objective meaning of
`khalifah' (deputy) is the divine vicegerent on the earth, because the
question which the angels asked later, saying that the human race may
make mischief and shed blood on the earth while they (the angels)
celebrate his praise, reinforces this very meaning, that allah's
vicegerency on the earth is incompatible with these deeds.

also, teaching the names to adam, whose explanation you will
read in the following verses, is good evidence supporting this claim.
again, the angels' humility and veneration before adam is another
witness to this idea.

however, allah was pleased to create a being above all the
creatures of the universe, the best creation, appropriate for being a
divine vicegerent, allah's deputy on the earth.

commenting on these verses, imam sadiq (a.s.) in a tradition has
referred to the same meaning and said that the angels, after recognizing
the position of adam, realized that he and his children were deserving
to be the deputies of allah on the earth and serve as his guidance
among peoples. 1

then, in the current verse, the angels put forth a question, in
order to understand the reality and not to protest, as it says :

"...they said: `will you place therein one who will make mischief therein
and shed blood, ..."
"...while we celebrate your praise and extol your holiness? '..."

but, here in this verse, allah's answer to them is a complicated
reply whose details will be given in later verses.

"...he said: ` assuredly i know what you know not '."

as it is realized from their words, the angels had comprehended
that this human was not a docile one : he makes mischief, sheds blood,
does wrong, etc. but how did they know it?

it is sometimes said that allah had previously told the angels the
future of man in brief, while some others have cited that maybe the
angels had comprehended the idea themselves from the term /fil'ard/
(on the earth). they knew that man would be created from soil; and,
because of the complexity of `matter' , naturally it is the center of
conflict and difficulties. for, this limited world of matter cannot satiate
the avaricious nature of human beings, even if the whole world were
given to a single one, he would not be satisfied. this status can
sometimes be the main cause of mischief and bloodshed particularly
when there is not enough sense of responsibility.

some of the other commentators believe that the predication of
the angels resulted from the fact that adam was not the first human
creature on the earth, but, before him, there had also been some other
humans who had lived on the earth and had committed corruption and
shed blood. this bad record caused the angels' suspicion about adam
and his descendants.

these three commentaries are not so contradictory to one
another; viz, they, comprehensively, may have caused the attention of
the angels to be attracted towards this subject. and, incidentally, this
fact that they expressed was never denied by their lord in his answer
to them, but, besides this fact, he pointed out that there were some
other more important facts about man and his capabilities that the
angels did not know.

they thought that if the purpose were only for worshipping and
servitude, they would be the best examples, because they were always
praising him and were the most appropriate ones for being the
vicegerents! they did not consider that when lusts, wrath and various
desires have no chance to influence on their behaviours and selves,
their worshipping is different from the servitude and worshipping of
man whose lusts and desires have surrounded him and satan's
temptations attack him from every side. what a long distance there is
between the obedience of this feeble being and the adoration of those
holy and pure angels!

they did not know that in the seed of adam there would come
such great prophets as mohammad (p.b.u.h.), abraham (a.s.), noah
(a.s.), moses (a.s.), jesus (a.s.), and some imams as the twelve sinless
imams (ahlul-bait) (a.s.) in addition to many pious believers, martyrs,
and a great many men and women who lovingly donated the whole of
their properties in the way of allah. there would be some offsprings
of adam whose one hour of contemplation is equal to years of
worshipping of the angels.

it is noteworthy that the angels emphasized on three aspects
about their characteristics: /tasbih/ (glorification), /hamd/ (praise,
eulogy) and /taqdis/ (sanctification). undoubtedly, both the first and the
second mean : celebrating his praises and knowing him and his glory
absolutely pure and perfect, free from any impurity or imperfection or
from anything derogatory. but what is the main objective meaning of
/taqdis/ `sanctification'? some have considered it as the purification of
allah from any imperfection which is, in fact, an emphasis again on
the very meaning of /tasbih/ `glorification'.

some others believe that the term /taqdis/ is derived from the root
/quds/ which means: ` to purify the earth from the wicked and
corruptors', or ` to purify oneself from anything bad, evil and immoral in
order to clarify the soul and body for the sake of allah '. they have
considered the term /laka/ (for you) in the phrase /nuqaddisu-laka/, ` we
extol your holiness (for you) ', as its witness. the angels did not say:
`we extol you', but they meant to say: `we purify ourselves and assist
those who obey you, for you, or towards you'.

in fact, they wanted to say: if the purpose is obedience and
servitude, they are obedient; and if it is worship, they are always busy
doing it; and if the purpose is the purification of themselves or
throughout the expanse of the earth, they are doing that too. but this
matter-made human is both immoral, himself, and makes mischief on
the earth.

to clarify the facts completely for the angels. he set them on
trial in order that they themselves might confess that there was a great
difference between them and adam.

angels on trial

adam, being given effective faculties by divine favour, had an
extraordinary receptive potential for the facts of the world of being,
and as the qur'an says:

" and he taught adam all the names, ..."

the commentators, from the point of view of their various styles
of commentary, have delivered different ideas on the phrase `teaching
names', but it is certain that its aim is not that of teaching some
insignificant words or meaningless `names', because this could not be
counted an honour for adam. the aim is teaching the nature of these
names and the concepts and the things that they refer to.

of course, this acknowlegement of the nature and the facts of the
world of creation and the secrets of the world of being with its different
properties in different creatures, was a great honour for adam.

it is narrated in a tradition that imam sadiq (a.s.) was asked about
the meaning of this verse and he (a.s.) said: " the purpose (of names) is:
lands, mountains, valleys, riverbeds (and on the whole, all things). then he
looked at the rug under him and said that even that rug was among the
things he taught adam." 2

therefore `teaching names' has not been something like teaching
words but it refers to the philosophy and secrets of the properties and
qualities of things. he taught adam this knowledge in order that he
could use the merits and advantages of this world alongside the path of
his development towards perfection.

he (s.w.t.) also taught him the capacity of language learning and
the skill of writing with its proper application to be able to nominate
objects and whenever he needs them, instead of showing them, he
merely calls their names. this is a very great bounty of the lord
bestowed on man. we can comprehend the importance of this subject
when we observe that what modern science and human beings have is
under the shade of the existence of language and writing. all the
scientific and cultural, historical ancient records have been kept and
preserved as treasures in man's written collections generation after
generation. if he could not use language and pen, it would be
impossible for him to convey the knowledge and experimental data
from old generations to the recent nations and the coming ones.

"...then he presented them before the angels, and said: `tell me the
names of these if you are right'."

* * * *

but the angels, who were in lack of such knowledge, failed in
that trial and could not pass the divine examination successfully. so,
their response to him was such:

" they said: ` glory be to you ! of knowledge we have naught
save what you have taught us. ..."
"...surely, you (alone) are the all-knowing, the all-wise".

they said that they did not know anything regarding this matter
and their question was simply because of their lack of knowledge. they
were unaware of the capacity and wonderful power of adam (a.s.), his
god-given endowment. it was a great privilege to him above the
angels. they accepted that adam (a.s.) really deserved to be the
vicegerent of allah on the earth and in the world of all beings, where
without him, the whole creation would remain incomplete.

* * * *

then, it was adam's turn, by the command of allah and in the
presence of angels to speak and explain the names and secrets of beings
in his creation along with the insight to the knowledge of the realities
or the latent properties or the hidden native endowments in each of
them.
 
" he said: ` o adam, tell them their names '. ..."
"...and when he had told them their names, he said: `did i not say
unto you that i surely know the unseen things of heavens and the earth, and
(that) i know what you reveal and what you were hiding ?' "
 
allah, having the knowledge of all the hidden things of the
heavens and the earth, knew also what the angels did hide in their
imaginations, which was that they deemed themselves more deserving
of the high office of being the deputy of allah among his creation.
this belief of the angels made them inquire into the divine will about
adam's being the vicegerent.

but when adam (a.s.) spoke and the angels observed that
surprising glory in him, they respected adam for the vast knowledge
and immense information and worthiness that radiated from him. thus,
it was made clear for them that it was only adam (a.s.) who was apt
enough to be his deputy on the earth.
1 tafsir-i-almizan, vol. 1,p.121
2 majma`ul-bayan, vol.1,p.76