His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "Say, it is a great news" "You are turning away from it" "I had no knowledge of the highest assembly when they were disputing" "It is only revealed to me that I am a clear warner" "When your Lord said to the angels, 'Indeed, I am creating a human from clay'" "So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, fall down to him in prostration" "So the angels all prostrated together" "Except for Iblis; he was arrogant and was of the disbelievers."

The reference in His saying, the Most High: "Say, it is a great news" is to the Oneness of Allah and the Resurrection. It is related to the Qur'an and all that it contains. Its promise is that believing in it is salvation and denying it is destruction. Al-Tabari narrated that Shuraih had a dispute with an Arab, and he testified against him. Shuraih wanted to enforce the ruling, and the Arab said: 'Will you judge me by the news?' Shuraih said: 'Yes, indeed Allah, the Most High, says: "It is a great news,"' and he recited the verse and ruled against him.

Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: This response from Shuraih is based on the wording of the Arab, and he did not clarify the speech with it. He only aimed at what would cut him off, because the Arab did not differentiate between testimony and news. And "news" in the speech of the Arabs means: information. And He rebuked them, blessed and exalted is He, with His saying: "You are turning away from it." Then He said: "I had no knowledge of the highest assembly when they were disputing," and this is an argument for the validity of Muhammad's matter, peace and blessings be upon him, as if He is saying: This is a serious matter, and you are turning away from it despite its validity. And the evidence of its validity is that I inform you of unseen matters that have not come except from Allah. For I had no knowledge of the highest assembly at the time of their dispute, unless Allah, the Most High, informed me of that. And He meant by it the angels, and the pronoun in "they were disputing" according to the majority of the interpreters is for the angels.

(p-362) And people differed regarding the matter in which they were disputing. One group said: Their dispute was concerning Adam, peace be upon him, and his descendants in placing them on earth. And what indicates that is what will come from the verses, for the saying of the angels: "Will You place therein one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood" [Al-Baqarah: 30] is the dispute. And another group said: Rather, their dispute was concerning expiations and forgiveness of sins and the like; for when a servant does a good deed, the angels dispute over the extent of its reward until Allah decides what He wills. And there is a narration regarding this that Ibn Furak explained; for it includes that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to his Lord, exalted and majestic is He, in his sleep: 'In what are they disputing?' I said: 'I do not know.' He said: 'In expiations, and they are: performing ablution properly in times of cold, and walking to congregational prayers,' the hadith in full. He said: 'So Allah, glorified and exalted is He, placed His hand between my shoulders until I felt its coolness between my breasts.'

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

The interpretation of this hadith is that the hand is the blessing of knowledge. His saying, blessings and peace be upon him: 'Its coolness,' means: the joy in it and the snow, as the Arabs say in a pleasant matter: 'How cool it is for the liver,' and similar to this. From it is the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'The night prayer is the cool bounty,' meaning: the easy one that a person is pleased with.

A group said: What is meant by 'the highest assembly' is the angels. His saying, exalted is He: 'When they dispute,' is cut off from it. Its meaning is: when the disbelieving Arabs dispute in the highest assembly, some of them say: They are the daughters of Allah, and some say: They are deities that are worshipped, and other than that from their sayings.

Another group said: He meant by 'the highest assembly' Quraysh. This is a weak saying that does not strengthen from any side.

The majority of the people read: 'Except that' with the opening of the alif, as if he is saying: except the warning. Abu Ja'far read: 'Except that' in the narrative, as if it was said to him: 'You are a clear warner,' so he narrated the meaning. This is like when a person says: Am I a scholar? And it is said to him: You are a scholar, so he narrates the meaning.

And 'when' in His saying, exalted is He: 'When your Lord said,' is a substitute for the first 'when,' according to the interpretation of one who sees the dispute in the matter of who will be made a successor on the earth. According to other sayings, the subject of 'when' in the second instance is an implied action whose estimation is: and remember when He said, and 'the created human' is Adam, peace be upon him. And 'I fashioned him' means his being. And 'I breathed into him' is a phrase about the infusion of the spirit into him, and it is a phrase in the manner that is understood from the infusion of things by blowing. His saying, exalted is He: 'From My spirit' is an addition of ownership to the owner; because all spirits are the property of Allah, blessed and exalted is He, and He added it to Himself as an honor. And His saying, exalted is He: 'Prostrating' the people differed in it. A group said: It is about the known prostration. Another group said: Its meaning is: submissive, according to the original of prostration in the language. Then He, exalted is He, informed that the angels prostrated by His command except Iblis, for he was arrogant about prostrating.

And His saying, exalted is He: 'And he was of the disbelievers' may mean: And he was from the beginning of his matter among the disbelievers in the knowledge of Allah, exalted is He, as Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said. It may also mean: And he was found at this moment among the disbelievers. And on both sayings, Allah has judged Iblis with disbelief, and He informed that he had firmly resolved in the time of refusal.