That you do not prostrate. 'No' in 'that you do not prostrate' is a connection by the evidence of His saying: 'What prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands.' And similarly, 'so that the people of the Scripture may know' means 'so that they may know.' If you say: What is the benefit of its addition? I say: It emphasizes the meaning of the action it precedes and confirms it, as if it were said: 'So that the knowledge of the people of the Scripture is confirmed.' And what prevented you from confirming the prostration and obligating it upon yourself? When I commanded you, for My command to you to prostrate made it obligatory upon you and necessitated it for you, which you cannot avoid. If you say: Why did He ask him about the prevention from prostrating, when He knew what prevented him? I say: For rebuke, and to show his opposition, disbelief, arrogance, and pride in his origin, and his disdain for the origin of Adam, and that he disobeyed his Lord's command, believing that it was not obligatory upon him, because he saw that the prostration of the superior to the inferior was incorrect. If you say: How is his saying 'I am better than him' an answer to 'What prevented you?' and the answer should be: 'I was prevented by such and such'? I say: He has begun a story in which he informs about himself being superior to Adam, and the reason for his superiority over him, which is that his origin is from fire and Adam's origin is from clay. Thus, the answer is known, and in addition to it, it is a denial of the command and a disbelief that one like him would be commanded to prostrate to one like him, as if he is saying: 'One who is of this nature is unlikely to be commanded what he was commanded.'