“He said, ‘O Iblis, what is the matter with you that you are not among those who prostrate?’ (32) He said, ‘I would not prostrate to a human being whom You created from sounding clay, from dark, moulded mud.’ (33) He said, ‘Then get out of it, for you are indeed expelled. (34) And indeed, upon you is the curse until the Day of Recompense.’ (35) He said, ‘My Lord, then grant me respite until the Day they are resurrected.’ (36) He said, ‘Then you are among those granted respite (37) until the Day of the Appointed Time.’ (38) He said, ‘My Lord, because You have led me astray, I shall surely make worldly life and disobedience appear attractive to them on earth, and I shall surely lead them all astray, (39) except Your sincere servants among them.’” (40)

“He said, ‘I would not prostrate to a human being whom You created from sounding clay, from dark, moulded mud.’” That is, “I am superior to him, because he is made of clay while I am made of fire, and fire consumes clay.”

“He said, ‘Then get out of it’”—that is, out of Paradise—“for you are indeed expelled”: driven away.

“And indeed, upon you is the curse until the Day of Recompense.” It is said that the inhabitants of the heavens curse Iblis just as the inhabitants of the earth curse him; thus, he is cursed in heaven and on earth.

“He said, ‘My Lord, then grant me respite until the Day they are resurrected.’” The wretch intended thereby not to die.

“He said, ‘Then you are among those granted respite until the Day of the Appointed Time, until the Day of the Appointed Time.’” That is, the time at which all creatures will die: the first blast of the Trumpet.

It is also said that the interval between Iblis’s death and resurrection is forty years, this being the period between the two blasts of the Trumpet.

It is also said that Allah Most High did not grant him respite as an honour for him; rather, it was an increase in his affliction and misery.

“He said, ‘My Lord, because You have led me astray’”—that is, You have caused me to stray. It is also said: You have deprived me of Your mercy—“I shall surely make worldly life and disobedience to You appear attractive to them on earth, and I shall surely lead them astray”—that is, I shall surely misguide them—“all.

“Except Your sincere servants among them”: the believers who sincerely devote obedience and tawhid (monotheism) to You. According to the reading with the letter lam pronounced with fathah, it means: those whom You have made sincere through Your tawhid and whom You have chosen.