'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful'

His saying, exalted and glorified is He:

﴿And when your Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am creating a human being from clay like pottery.'﴾ ﴿So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down to him in prostration.'﴾ ﴿So the angels prostrated, all of them entirely.﴾ ﴿Except Iblis; he refused to be among the prostrators.﴾ ﴿He said, 'O Iblis, what is [the matter] with you that you are not among the prostrators?'﴾ ﴿Iblis said, 'Never would I prostrate to a human whom You created out of clay like [that of] pottery.'﴾

The word 'إذْ' is in the accusative case due to an implied verb, the meaning of which is: 'And remember when your Lord said to the angels.' The term 'البَشَرُ' here refers to Adam, and it is derived from 'البَشَرَةُ', which is the surface of the skin, according to the most common opinion. This is also referenced in the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'And cleanse the skin.' It is said that 'البَشَرَةُ' is what is next to the flesh, and from this comes their saying in the proverb: 'Only the skin is reproached,' because that is the part that gives the appearance. Allah, exalted and glorified is He, informed the angels with something astonishing to them, as they were created from light, so they are delicate bodies. He informed them that He would not create a living body with skin, but rather that He would create it from clay. 'البِشْرُ' and 'البِشارَةُ' also originate from 'البَشَرَةُ' because they manifest in it.

And 'سَوَّيْتُهُ' means: I completed him and perfected him until his parts were aligned as they should be. His saying: ﴿from My Spirit﴾ indicates the addition of creation and ownership to the Creator, the Owner, meaning: from the Spirit that belongs to Me. The term 'روح' here is used generically. His saying: 'فَقَعُوا' is from the verb 'وقَعَ يَقَعُ', and the 'ق' is opened due to the throat letter. This wording strengthens the notion that the prostration of the angels was indeed as we are accustomed to, and not merely submission and indication as some people have said. They likened it to the poet's words:

Both fell down and their heads prostrated, as a Christian prostrated who did not turn away.

This verse seems to indicate that the prostration was as we are accustomed to. Al-Tabari narrated in the tafsir of this verse from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: 'Allah created angels and commanded them to prostrate to Adam, but they refused. So He sent upon them fire that burned them. Then He created others, and likewise, then He created others and commanded them to prostrate, and they obeyed except for Iblis, for he was among the first.' His saying: 'among the first' could mean: among the first in their state and disbelief, or it could mean that he remained from them.

His saying: ﴿all of them entirely﴾ is, according to Sibawayh, an emphasis after emphasis, where the latter includes what the former included. Others said: 'all of them' if it had stopped there would have been suitable for exception, and it is suitable for the meaning of exaggeration even if some did not prostrate. This is like when someone says: 'All people know such and such,' meaning that the mentioned matter is well known. So when he said: 'entirely,' he removed the possibility that any of them remained. The speech necessitated that all of them prostrated. Al-Mubarrad said: If it had stopped at 'all of them,' it would have been possible that their prostration occurred in many places, but when he said: 'entirely,' it indicated that they prostrated in one place.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And the saying of Al-Mubarrid was opposed by the fact that he made his saying, 'All together,' a state, meaning 'gathered together.' This necessitates that 'All together' here is close to being indefinite, as it is a definite indication of the necessity of following the known. The reading with the nominative case rejects his statement.

And His saying, 'Except Iblis,' it was said that it is an exception from the first, and it was said that he is not among the first. This is based on the disagreement regarding Iblis, whether he is from the angels or not. The apparent meaning from many hadiths and from this verse is that he is from the angels. This is because Allah, glorified and exalted is He, commanded the angels to prostrate, and if Iblis were not from the angels, he would not have sinned by refusing to prostrate. It has been narrated from Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan that Iblis was indeed from the jinn, and he was never an angel. Ibn Furak attributed this saying to the Mu'tazila, and those who said this relied on His saying, glorified and exalted is He, in His description: 'He was from the jinn.' The other group said there is no proof in this because the angels can be called jinn due to their concealment, and Allah, glorified and exalted is He, said, 'And they made a relation between Him and the jinn.'

And His saying, 'He said, O Iblis,' it was said that at that time He named him Iblis, and his name before that was Azazil, which is derived from 'iblās,' meaning distance, that is, O distanced one. A group said that Iblis was his name and not a derived name, rather it is foreign, and this implies that it does not decline. If it were an Arabic derived name, it would be like 'Ajfil,' from 'ajfala,' and others, and it would have been declined, as Abu Ali Al-Farisi said. And His saying, 'Why do you not be,' the 'an' is in the position of accusative, and it was said in the position of genitive. The original is: 'What is wrong with you that you do not be?' And Iblis's saying, 'I will not prostrate to a human,' this is not the place of his disbelief according to the experts, because his refusal is merely a sin. As for his justification, it implies that Allah created a creation that is inferior and commanded a creation that is better than him to humble himself to it. It is as if he said, 'And this is injustice.' This is because Iblis, when he thought that fire is better than clay, assumed that he himself is better than Adam, since fire consumes clay. Thus, he made a comparison and erred in his comparison, and he was ignorant that virtues are only where Allah, the Lord of all, has placed them, and there is no Lord other than Him.