34. " and when we said to the
angels: ` prostrate yourselves before adam.'
they all prostrated themselves except iblis;
he refused and was full of pride,
and so he became one of the infidels."
35. " and we said: ` o' adam, dwell you and
your spouse in the
garden and eat of the plentiful therein (both of
you)
wherever you desire, but do not approach this
tree,
lest you become one of the unjust '."
36. " but satan caused them to fall
therefrom, and brought them out
from the state (of felicity) in which they had
been.
and we said: ` get down all of you, and be
enemies one of another,
and for you on the earth will be your dwelling
place and
your means of livelihood for a time'."
commentary :
adam in the garden
in the former statements, the high rank
and glory of man was
discussed. now, in these verses, another aspect of the subject is dealt
with. at first, to call upon our minds, the qur'an says:
" and when we said to the angels:
` prostrate yourselves before adam.'
they all prostrated themsevles except iblis;
he refused and was full of pride, ..."
yes, he was proud and it was for this very
pride that he became
one of the unbelievers:
"...and so he became one of the infidels".
it should be noted that the above verse is
the most valid piece of
evidence and a vivid witness to the magnificence and nobility of man
whom, after his being created, all the angels were commissioned to
make obeisance and pay homage to, and bow before that splendid
creation. he was really appropriate for the position of being the divine
deputy and his vicegerent on the earth. this one, who had such a high
glorious rank, that was apt to bring up, from his seed, some refined and
respectful children, some of whom would be prophets, was worthy of
such obeisance and honour.
you may consider the position of an ordinary learned person who
knows some definite formulas in a branch of science, and think of how
immensely we respect him. then, the position of adam with all of his
glory and vast knowledge about the world of being, is obvious.
explanations :
why did iblis disobey ?
we know that ` satan ' is a common noun
that envelops both the
first satan and all other satans. but, ` iblis ' is a proper noun which
refers to the same one that tempted adam (a.s.). according to the
verses of the qur'an, iblis was not of the same nature as the angels, but
he was from a different genus i.e. of the jinn, of the nature of matter,
who had been assembled among the angels. one of the verses wherein
iblis is spoken of as a jinn is as follows :
" and when
said we unto the angels: `prostrate ye unto adam': then
they (all) prostrated but iblis; he was of jinn,...", (sura kahf, no.
18,
verse 50).
his motive in this disobedience was
pride and a special bigotry
which had dominated his behaviour. he imagined that he was superior
to adam (a.s.) and he should not have been ordered to prostrate
himself before him (a.s.). he thought adam should prostrate before
him. the explanation of this idea will be discussed later, in comments
referring to sura al-a`raf, no. 7, verse 12.
the cause of his blasphemy was also that he considered the wise
command of allah rather inappropriate. he not only disobeyed
practically, but also protested theoretically. thus, his pride and
self-conceit annulled a life-time of his worshipping and rendered it
worthless! beware, pride has many effects of ` this kind ' !
the phrase: "...so
he became one of the infidels" shows that before
this command, too, he had changed his path from the path of angels
and obeying the command of allah, and had had ideas resulting from
pride in mind. perhaps, he had told himself that if the order of
obeisance were given to him, he would certainly never obey it. the
phrase:
"...what you conceal",
in verse 33, may hint to this meaning. this
idea is also referred to in a tradition from imam hassan `askari, the
eleventh imam (a.s.), cited in tafsir-ul-qummi.1
was the prostration
for allah or for adam ?
there is no doubt that /sajdah/ or a
formulated prostration with
the purpose of worshipping is deserved by none but allah alone and
the meaning of ` unity of worship ' means the same: that we worship
and make obeisance to none else other than allah, or it will be `shirk',
(i.e. associating the object with allah). therefore, it is beyond doubt
that the infallible beings like the angels prostrated themselves for
allah, but it was for the creation of such a splendid being, adam, that
they obeyed him by prostrating. or, if they prostrated for adam, their
prostration was a kind of `obeisance' not an act of worshipping.
in the book ` `uyun-ul-akhbar ' by shaykh saduq, it is cited that
imam ali-ibn-musa-r-rida (a.s.) said: "the angels' prostration was for the
adoration of worshipping allah, on one side, and for the obeisance and
respect of adam (a.s.), on the other side, because we (ahlul-bait) were in
his seed." 2
however, after that episode with iblis and
the trial of the angels,
adam was ordered that he and his spouse ought to abide in paradise:
" and we said: ` o' adam, dwell you and your spouse
in the
garden and eat of the plentiful therein (both of you)
wherever you desire, but do not approach this tree,
lest you become one of the unjust '."
it is understood from the verses of the
holy qur'an that adam
(a.s.) was created to live on the earth, this very terrestrial globe, but, at
the beginning he had temporarily placed him (and his wife) in a
beautiful and prosperous garden, bountiful with blessings and free
from any trouble and incommodity.
this arrangement occurred, maybe, because adam was not
acquainted with the process of living on the earth. it was difficult for
him to tolerate immediately all the troubles therein. therefore, at first,
he was to obtain some more information about the kind of life to
expect on the earth, and hence, it stood to reason that he should
remain for a length of time in the garden and learn the necessary skills
there in order to find out that life on earth is accompanied with
accepting some responsibilities and performing some duties whose
accomplishments would bring his felicity, development and continuity of
blessings, whereas, their refusal would cause him to be involved with
pain and hardship.
also, he must know that although he has been created free, this
freedom is limited. he cannot do whatever he wishes, but he must do
without some of the things existing in this world for his own good.
and again, he need know that it is not so that if he does a wrong
or an err all the doors of felicity and happiness will be closed to him.
he can return and repent and promise not to do anything against the
order of allah, and in such a case, when his repentance is accepted, he
will return to the divine blessings.
adam (a.s.) had to remain in that environment to gain some
experience in order to be able to recognize his friend and his enemy, to
learn how to live on the earth. yes, there were a series of skills which
were necessary for him to learn before stepping onto the earth.
those were the things that both adam (a.s.) and his children
needed for their future lives. hence, the one who was created to be
the vicegerent of allah on the earth might stay in the garden,
perhaps, so that some instructions could be given to him for his
information and practical use.
the following enlightening paragraph cited in almizan upon the
idea may also be mentioned here.
" it should not be overlooked that even when allah pardoned
them (the couple) after their repentance, he did not return them to
the garden ö they were sent down to the earth to live therein. if their
eating of the tree, the covering of their private parts and the life of this
world were not a confirmed divine plan, and an irrevocable
predetermined decree, they would have been returned to their place in
the garden as soon as they were forgiven for their mistake. in short, it
was the divine plan that they should spend some time in the garden to
get them prepared for the life in this world; and their removal from the
garden, according to the causal relation decreed by allah, was caused
by their eating from the forbidden tree and becoming aware of their
nakedness, and this happened because they listened to the whispering
of satan." 3
adam found himself in a position that it
was best for him to follow
the instruction of allah about restraining from eating of the forbidden
tree. the whisperer, satan, had sworn to be busy whispering and
making adam (a.s.) and his children stray. as some other verses of the
qur'an indicate, satan assured adam (a.s.) that if he and his wife ate
from that tree they would become angels and would live in the garden
for ever. satan even swore to them both that he was their sincere
adviser: "...most
surely i am a sincere adviser to you", (sura al-a`raf,
no. 7, verse 21).
" but satan caused them to fall therefrom, and brought
them out from the
state (of felicity) in which they had been. ..."
yes, they were removed from the garden
where they had been in
ease and tranquility, far from any pain and trouble. this event took
place as the direct result of the effect of satan's deceit.
then the qur'an says: "...and we said: ` get down all of you, and be
enemies one of another,...".
in this enmity, satan was on one side, and
adam (a.s.) and his wife were on the other side.
"...and for you on the earth will be your dwelling
place and
your means of livelihood for a time '."
it was at this time that adam (a.s.)
realized that he had really
done injustice to himself, because he was removed from the garden for
his submission to the whispers of satan, and was to sojourn in a place
full of pain, toil, and trouble. true that adam (a.s.) was a prophet and
was immaculate, but, as we will discuss later, if a prophet commits an
err, allah will react severely towards him as if an ordinary person had
committed it. it is the same for the ordinary people when they commit
sins.
the heavy forfeit paid
by adam
the late allamah tabatabaie pointed out his point of view about
this subject concerning adam (a.s.) and his spouse as follows:
" the injustice or wrong that they had done was against their own
selves; it was neither a sin (as this term is used in the shari`ah) nor an
injustice against allah. it shows that the prohibition was in the nature
of advice, pointing out to them what was good for their own comfort; it
did not have the force of an ordained law. adam and his wife did
wrong to themselves, because their disregard for that divine advice
caused their removal from the garden.
when a man commits a sin (i.e. offence, from the shari`ah point
of view), he is given a punishment. then if he repents and his
repentance is accepted, the punishment is completely removed, and he
is returned to his previous position as though he had not committed the
sin at all. if adam (a.s.) and his wife were guilty of such a sin, they
should have been returned to their place in the garden soon after their
repentance was accepted. but it was not done. it clearly shows that the
prohibition did not have the force of an ordained law; it was only
advice. even so, neglecting it had its natural effect on both of them and
they had to leave the garden. but this removal from the garden was
not a punishment for any sin or crime; it was the natural consequence
of the wrong they had done against their own selves." 4
for a more detailed explanation about the subject, an expressive
narration from hadrat rida, the eighth imam (a.s.), mentioned in
`uyun-ul-'akhbar, p. 108 & 109 which is also referred to in
bihar-ul-anwar, vol. 11, pp. 78 & 104, can be studied, as well as another
one on p. 156 from imam baqir (a.s.). muhammad jawad muqniyyah,
in his well-known
commentary:
at tafsir-ul-kashif, vol. 1, pp. 84-86 hasalso cited some considerable details upon the matter. all of these
references can surely be helpful in clarification of the meaning.