… He (Allah) said, “Did I not tell you, that I know the unseen of the skies and the earth and I know that which you manifest and that which you hide?1
Following verses provide context to the above question, they are presented here for analysis:
2-30 — Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
And when your Fosterer said to the angels {4}, “I am going to make a successor in the earth.” They said, “Are you going to make (him, the successor) in it, who would act corruptly in it and shed blood, when we glorify You by praising You and exalt Your Holiness?” He (Allah) replied, “I know that which you do not know.”2
وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَنْ يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
2-31 — Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
And He taught Adam all names (a name normally indicates the purpose or use of a thing), then He presented them (things) before the angels and said, “Inform Me of the names of these if you are right (in your objection to Adam being made the successor on earth).”3
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا ثُمَّ عَرَضَهُمْ عَلَى الْمَلَائِكَةِ فَقَالَ أَنْبِئُونِي بِأَسْمَاءِ هَٰؤُلَاءِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
2-32 — Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
They (angels) replied, “Glory be to You, we do not have knowledge except of that which You taught us. You are certainly the Knowing, the Wise.”4
قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَا ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَلِيمُ الْحَكِيمُ
2-33 — Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
He (Allah) said, “O Adam! inform them of the names of these (things),” so when the (angels) were informed of the names of those (things), He said, “Did I not tell you, that I know the unseen of the skies and the earth and I know that which you manifest and that which you hide?”5
قَالَ يَا آدَمُ أَنْبِئْهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا أَنْبَأَهُمْ بِأَسْمَائِهِمْ قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُلْ لَكُمْ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَأَعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُونَ وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
” Allah (SWT) first demonstrated the merit of Adam (PBH) and then asked the angels to bow down before him.”
2-34 — Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
And when We (Allah) said to the angels, “Bow down before Adam,” they bowed own except Iblis (The devil associated with Adam), he refused and considered himself great and (thus) became one of the infidels.6
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
References & Commentary
- Quran-ST | 2-33 ↩︎
- Quran-ST | 2-30
Angels who are the agencies carrying out the orders of Allah (SWT), were probably expecting that they would be made the successors or rulers of the earth. This expectation of theirs is indicated by their protest against their unexpected competitor man (mankind Chapter: 6. Verse 165) that he is or will be corrupt and he sheds or will shed blood, when they were informed by Allah (SWT) that He was going to make man the successor or ruler in the earth.’Yufsidu’and’Yasfiku’meaning’he is or will be corrupt’and’he sheds or will shed blood’respectively indicate both present and future tenses. If they are regarded as indicating present tense, then it means that many human beings existed along with Adam and Hawwa (PBT) and the angels used to watch them committing these crimes. Adam and Hawwa (PBT) were selected from among these human beings the present human beings are the children of Adam and Hawwa (PBT). We do not know what happened to the other human beings who lived along with Adam and Hawwa (PBT). If the above terms are regarded as indicating future tense, then one has to accept that the angels were given the knowledge of future behavior of the progeny of Adam and Hawwa (PBT) by Allah (SWT).
Angels’expectation of being made the successors of the earth is further indicated by their presentation of their qualification for this post that they are involved in glorification, praise and exalting the holiness of Allah (SWT), which also conveys the sense that they are always busy executing His orders, praising and making everything praise Him for the excellence of His creation and ascribing the credit of His creation only to Him excluding all others, i.e. regarding Him as Pure, He being the Creator and everything else His creation. Allah’s reply to this indirect protest and claim of the angels was that He knew that which they did not know. What was it that the angels did not know? Was it the human capability of receiving, storing in memory, reproducing and utilizing knowledge which was to be imparted to them by Allah (SWT)?
‘Basheer’ means an informer. Does the word ‘Bashar’ used for man (Chapter: 15 Verse 28) convey the sense that man will have the capacity of being a recipient and an informer of news, a news- giver? If we analyze our daily social contacts and our conversation with fellow human beings, most of the time we are either receiving information or passing out information to others. We act like information processing machines. Is it this capability of man which the angels had not known? Angels too receive and convey messages (pass on Knowledge as messengers Chapter: 35. Verse 1) but they do not appear to utilize knowledge. Contrary to this man appears to have the additional capability of utilizing the knowledge he receives, for his development and progress, the proof of which is his advancement in the fields of science and technology and the cause behind which is his control on and utilization of energies like, heat electricity, sound, magnetism, light etc.”
Energies:
Angels & Jinn: According to the Quran, angels, complying with the orders of Allah, communicate His messages, guard people, record their deeds, punish and help them, cause them to die, are responsible for natural calamities, are incharge of paradise and hell and descend for various other affairs. They thus appear to be involved in doing various works. In scientific terminology, work involves energy.
Allah alone knows their real forms and functions but the above facts tempt us to ponder over few possibilities: Are angels ‘beings’ put in charge of various energies by Allah?
The angels, according to the statement of prophet Muhammed (PBH) reported by Muslim, have been created from ‘Noor’ (Tafsir Ibni Kaseer, Quran, Chapter 18, Page 103, under explanatory notes). The word Noor, normally translated as light, could also mean radiant energy. Besides, the Arabic word ‘Malak’ translated as angel also conveys the sense of strength, power or energy.
The Quran, about the jinn states:
“And He (Allah) created the jinn from the (heat wave) let free from fire (Q. Chapter: 55, Verse 15.).
Something let free from fire, in the terminology of science, could mean infrared rays or heat energy.
Could the angels and the jinn be composed of some forms of radiant energy, whom we cannot perceive through our physical senses but who exist and exert their influence on us without our being conscious of them, just like X-rays, which penetrate the human flesh but do not impart any feeling to the human being concerned?
Does bowing down of angels before Adam, mean that Allah has Himself given human beings control over some of the energies and that the progress in science and technology is not the achievement of man but just a Divine gift? ↩︎ - Quran-ST | 2-31
“The human capability of receiving, storing in memory and reproducing the stored knowledge by way of passing on information to others (as Bashar or news giver) was demonstrated before the angels by Allah (SWT), by teaching Adam (PBH) all names and later asking him to tell the angels all the names he was taught. This may be similar to teaching children the names of things they normally encounter, (like chair, table, fan etc). Later when we question them to tell the names of those things, they are normally able to tell us the names they had learnt earlier. As the child grows, from the name alone, he is able to tell the purpose of that particular thing. If we ask him what the purpose of a chair is he would reply that it is used for sitting. Improvement in knowledge is improvement in knowing the qualities and purposes of more and more things. The growth and development of mankind appears to be similar to the growth and development of a child to a mature adult. We thus see that the very first step in acquiring knowledge is learning names and this is inherent in mankind. When angels were asked to tell the names, they failed to do so probably because they are not designed for that purpose. They are thus proved wrong in their estimation of their capabilities and suppressed claim of being made the successors or rulers of the earth.” ↩︎ - Quran-ST | 2-32
Allah (SWT) had not taught the angels the names which He had taught to Adam (PBH). Therefore, they confessed that they had knowledge of only that which Allah (SWT) taught them which probably included the knowledge of the future behavior of mankind that they would be corrupt and would shed blood. They also accepted that He is the One Who knows and Who is Wise. This indicates that one should not comment on things of which he has no knowledge. ↩︎ - Quran-ST | 2-33 ↩︎
- Quran-ST | 2-34
” Angels were asked to bow down before Adam (PBH) after balance was set up in his personality, a spirit from Allah (SWT) was blown into him which gave him the power of right decision (Chapter: 15 Verse 29) and he was taught all the names i.e. he was bestowed with the capability of acquiring and reproducing knowledge. Before these three events Adam (PBH) was probably not suitable for appointment as the successor of the earth. This indicates that a ruler should be balanced, he should have the power of right decision which he should exercise after acquiring correct knowledge.
Everything in the Universe, including the angels, bows down to Allah (SWT) (Chapter: 16 Verse 49), therefore the bowing down of angels before man appears to convey a different sense. The word ‘Malak’normally translated as ‘Angel’also conveys the sense of power, strength, energy, authority, control etc. In view of this’Malaik’i.e. angels, could be different energies or entities ‘In charge of various energies’. Therefore, bowing down of angels could be the bowing down of energies before mankind, i.e. Allah (SWT) made energies like light, heat, sound, electricity, magnetism etc subservient to mankind. This interpretation finds support in the fact that the basic factor behind human progress is the human control on energies. If energies are withdrawn from human control, the whole building of scientific and technological progress will collapse and the present human race would probably perish in no time. This human control on energies is not an achievement of mankind but a gift of Allah (SWT) to humanity when He had made the angels to bow down before Adam (PBH). In view of this ‘Khalifa’ meaning one who succeeds someone to rule’ would refer to mankind in general (Chapter: 6 Verse 165). Iblis is not an angel but a Jinn (Chapter: 18 Verse 50) yet he too was included in the order of Allah (SWT) to angels, for bowing down before Adam (PBH) and was questioned for his not bowing down (Chapter: 7 Verse 12). This further supports the interpretation that ‘Malaik’ refers to all energies or ‘In charges of energies’who were ordered to bow down or become subservient to mankind, they all did except Iblis, probably the ‘In charge of evil energy’. Iblis too appears to have been expecting that he would be made the successor of the earth as indicated from his statement. “You have removed me from the way,” (Chapter: 7 Verse 16). Probably the frustration of not being made the successor forced him to refuse to bow down before Adam (PBH) whom he regarded as inferior (Chapter: 7 Verse 12) and junior to him (Chapter: 15 Verse 27). Iblis considered himself great, which is the right only of Allah (SWT). He disobeyed Him and thereby became an infidel. Then he sought permission of Allah (SWT) to mislead human being (Chapter: 7 Verse 14) except His servants among them who would exclusively serve Him (Chapter: 15 Verses: 40 – 42), he was granted this permission (Chapter: 7 Verse 15, Chapter: 15 Verses: 37-38) but at the same time Allah (SWT) declared (Chapter: 38 Verse 85) that He will fill hell with him and his followers.” ↩︎