Surah Al-Baqarah — Verse 34

Allah reveals that He told the angels to prostrate to Adam out of recognition and respect, so they prostrated to him, eager to do as He told them, except for Iblīs, or Satan, who was originally from the jinn. Due to the excellence of his worship, Allah had entered Iblīs into the company of the angels; but he then returned to his lowly nature, refusing to prostrate as Allah told him to, and becoming proud towards Adam, leading to him becoming a disbeliever.

And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam." And they prostrated except Iblis (Shaytan), he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers (disobedient to Allah)(34)

This Ayah mentions the great honor that Allah granted Adam, and Allah reminded Adam's offspring of this fact. Allah commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam, as this Ayah and many Hadiths testify, such as the Hadith about the intercession that we discussed. There is a Hadith about the supplication of Musa, "O my Lord! Show me Adam who caused us and himself to be thrown out of Paradise." When Musa met Adam, he said to him, "Are you Adam whom Allah created with His Own Hands, blew life into and commanded the angels to prostrate before?"

Iblis was among Those ordered to prostrate before Adam, although He was not an Angel

When Allah commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam, Iblis was included in this command. Although Iblis was not an angel, he was trying - and pretending - to imitate the angels' behavior and deeds, and this is why he was also included in the command to the angels to prostrate before Adam. Satan was criticized for defying that command, as we will explain with detail, Allah willing, when we mention the Tafsir of Allah's statement,

إِلاَّ إِبْلِيسَ كَانَ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِ

(Except Iblis (Satan). He was one of the Jinn; he disobeyed the command of his Lord.)(18:50)

Similarly, Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn 'Abbas said, "Before he undertook the path of sin, Iblis was with the angels and was called 'Azazil.' He was among the residents of the earth and was one of the most active worshippers and knowledgeable persons among the angels. This fact caused him to be arrogant. Iblis was from a genus called Jinn."

Qatadah commented on Allah's statement,

وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ

(And (remember) when We said to the angels: "Prostrate yourselves before Adam.")

"The obedience was for Allah and the prostration was before Adam. Allah honored Adam and commanded the angels to prostrate before him." Some people said that this prostration was just a prostration of greeting, peace and honor, hence Allah's statement,

وَرَفَعَ أَبَوَيْهِ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ وَخَرُّوا لَهُ سُجَّدًا ۖ وَقَالَ يَا أَبَتِ هَٰذَا تَأْوِيلُ رُؤْيَايَ مِن قَبْلُ قَدْ جَعَلَهَا رَبِّي حَقًّا

(And he (Prophet Yusuf) raised his parents to the throne and they fell down before him prostrate. And he said: "O my father! This is the interpretation of my dream aforetime! My Lord has made it come true!")(12:100)

The practice of prostrating was allowed for previous nations, but was repealed for ours. Mu'adh said to the Prophet , "I visited Ash-Sham and found that they used to prostate before their priests and scholars. You, O Messenger of Allah, are more deserving of prostration." The Prophet ﷺ said,

لَا لَوْ كُنْتُ آمِرًا بَشَرًا أنْ يَسْجُدَ لِبَشَرٍ لَأَمَرْتُ الْمَرْأةَ أنْ تَسْجُدَ لِزَوجِهَا مِنْ عِظَمِ حَقِّهِ عَلَيْهَا

(No. If I was to command any human to prostrate before another human, I would command the wife to prostrate before her husband because of the enormity of his right on her.)

Ar-Razi agreed with this view. Also, Qatadah said about Allah's statement,

فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ

(And they prostrated except Iblis (Shaytan), he refused and was proud and was one of the disbelievers (disobedient to Allah).)

"Iblis, the enemy of Allah, envied Adam because Allah honored Adam. He said, 'I was created from fire, and he was created from clay.' Therefore, the first error ever committed was arrogance, for the enemy of Allah was too arrogant to prostrate before Adam." I - Ibn Kathir - say, the following is recorded in the Sahih,

لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ مِنْ كِبْرٍ

(No person who has the weight of a mustard seed of arrogance in his heart shall enter Paradise.)

Iblis had disbelief, arrogance, and rebellion, all of which caused him to be expelled from the holy presence of Allah, and His mercy.

The episode recounted in the foregoing verses has shown how the angels came to learn that Adam was superior to them in so far as he possessed the forms of knowledge necessary for the function of divine vice regency, while they themselves did not, nor did the jinns. Now, Allah willed to manifest this superiority in a visible and concrete form. So, He commanded the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam (علیہ السلام) in his honour. They obeyed except Iblis ابلیس or Satan who, in his pride, refused to do so.

If we go by the words of the Holy Qur'an, the command was given to the angels alone, but, in excepting Iblis ابلیس from those who obeyed, the text also suggests that the command was given to all the created beings that existed at that time and possessed understanding, including the jinns as well as the angels. But the Holy Qur'an mentions the angels alone, because when superior beings like the angels were required to show their respect for Adam (علیہ السلام) ، inferior creatures like the jinns must, it goes without saying, have been ordered to do the same.

Angels prostrate before Adam

(1) In this verse, the angels have been commanded to prostrate themselves before Adam (علیہ السلام) . Another verse of the Holy Qur'an tells us that the parents and the brothers of Yusuf (علیہ السلام) (Joseph) on reaching Egypt, prostrated themselves before him (12:100). Evidently such a prostration cannot have been intended as an act of worship, for worshipping anyone other than Allah is an act of association (Shirk شرک) and infidelity (Kufr کفر), and hence cannot possibly be allowed by any Shari` ah. So, it appears that in the days of the ancient prophets prostrating oneself before somebody must have been just an act of courtesy or a way of showing one's respect, and enjoyed the same value as we do in our own days things like a simple greeting, a handshake, the kissing of hand, or standing up in someone's honour. Imam Al-Jassas has said in his Ahkam al-Qur'an that it was permissible in the Shari` ah of the earlier prophets (علیہم السلام) to prostrate oneself in honour of one's elders, but that the Shari'ah of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has forbidden gestures like prostrating oneself, or bowing down very low or standing with one hand placed on the other in the manner of the Salah before someone, all of which may suggest an act of worship, and has allowed only greeting (Salam) and hand-shake as a gesture of courtesy or respect.

It is easy to understand the raison d'etre of such a prohibition. Association, infidelity and the worship of anyone other than Allah are things which in their nature go against the very principle of 'Iman ایمان (faith), and cannot therefore be tolerated by any Shari' ah. There are, however, certain acts and gestures which are not in themselves acts of 'association' or infidelity, but may, on account of the ignorance or indifference of people, become a prelude to 'association' and infidelity. So, the Shari` ahs of the earlier prophets did not forbid such acts in an absolute manner, but prevented them from being used as the instruments of 'association' and infidelity. For example, making pictures of living things is not in itself an act of 'association' or infidelity, and was hence permissible in the earlier Shari'ahs. In speaking of how the jinns used to serve Sulayman (علیہ السلام) (Solomon) the Holy Qur'an itself says: يَعْمَلُونَ لَهُ مَا يَشَاءُ مِن مَّحَارِ‌يبَ وَتَمَاثِيلَ :"They made for him whatever he liked - places of worship, and pictures." (34:13) Similarly, prostrating oneself before somebody as a gesture of respect was permissible in the earlier Shari` ahs. But gradually the practice opened the way to 'association' and infidelity on account of people's ignorance and thoughtlessness, and even caused grave distortions in the Shari` ahs of different prophets, which had to be rectified by other prophets and other Shari` ahs.

Since the Holy Prophet ﷺ is the last of all the prophets and messengers of Allah, and his Shari'ah is the last of all Shari` ahs and is to remain valid upto the end of time, Allah has, in order to protect it against all distortion, stopped every chink through which 'association' or idolatry could possibly enter. That is why this Shari'ah has strictly forbidden all those practices which had at one time or another served as a means towards 'association' or idol-worship.

For example, making pictures of living things has been totally banned; prostrating oneself before somebody, even as a mark of respect, has been forbidden; it is not permissible to offer one's Salah (prayer) at those hours of the day which the infidels had reserved for worshipping their gods, for even this slight and external correspondence might lead to 'association'; and, according to a Hadith reported by Muslim, one is not allowed to call one's slave an "` abd" عبد ، nor is a slave allowed to call his master a "rabb رَبّ " - the words respectively signify "a slave" and 'one who gives nurture', and are as such harmless, but they can be misconstrued, and may mislead ignorant slaves or helpless and subjugated people into the worship of their masters: hence the prohibition.

With regard to the question of prostration, we may add that, according to some authentic scholars, Salah, the basic form of Islamic worship, comprises of four kinds of actions - standing upright, bowing, sitting down, and prostrating oneself; the first two of these, standing up and sitting down, are actions which one habitually does in the course of one's daily chores, and which one also performs as acts of worship in the course of a Salah (prayer), but the other two, bowing down and prostrating oneself, are actions which one does not go through as a matter of habit, and which are characteristically associated with Salah (prayer) and ` Ibadah (worship); hence it is that the Islamic Shari'ah has identified them with acts of worship, and forbidden the Muslims to bow down or prostrate themselves before anyone other than Allah.

Given that the Holy Qur'an itself speaks of prostration as a mark of respect, one would wish to know on what grounds it has been affirmed that the Islamic Shari'ah has forbidden this practice. As to this question, we may point out that several well-known narrations coming down to us from the Holy Prophet ﷺ through quite a large number of his blessed Companions, are there to establish that prostrating oneself before somebody as a mark of respect is unlawful (haram حرام). To cite only one such narration, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said that, if he could allow people to prostrate themselves before anyone other than Allah as a mark of respect, he would have ommanded wives to prostrate themselves before their husbands. This clearly shows that prostration as a mark of respect is absolutely forbidden, and no allowance can, in this respect, be made in favour of any created being. We may add that the Hadith we have just referred to has come down to us through twenty Companions, while, according to Tadrib al-Rawi, the famous book on the fundamentals of the science of Hadith, a Tradition which has been reported by only ten Companions is called Mutawatir متواتر ، and enjoys the same authority in the matter of injunctions as the Holy Qur'an.

(2) The Holy Qur'an describes Iblis or Satan شیطان as an infidel. His infidelity does not arise from disobedience in his action, for, according to the Shari'ah, giving up an obligation in practice is only a sin and a transgression, and does not constitute infidelity. Iblis became an infidel, because he had defied and challenged a divine commandment, and had, in refusing to prostrate himself, virtually said that, in his opinion, Adam علیہ السلام was not worthy of it.

(3) Iblis had attained such a high degree in science and knowledge that he was called طاؤس الملأکہ Ta’ us al-Mala'ikah: "The Peacock Among the Angels." How did he, then, come to commit such a suicidal error? Some scholars say that it was because of his pride and vanity that Allah took back from him the wealth of knowledge and understanding, and hence he came to act like an ignorant fool. Others have suggested that his error was due to self-love and ambition. The famous commentary, 'Ruh al-Bayan' resolves the question by quoting a line of verse in Arabic which shows that once the aid of Allah has been withdrawn from a man, he can no longer save himself from sins, and all the effort he makes only serves to push him farther and farther into misguidance. May Allah, in his mercy, save all of us from such a fate! The commentary draws from it the conclusion that one should not be vain about one's learning or one's deeds or even about one's Iman ایمان (faith), for Iman ایمان is valid only if it lasts till one's final breath and into the first stage of one's journey to the other world.

The word literally means one who was far from the truth, and from the mercy of God.