“And when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will place upon the earth a successor,’ they said, ‘Will You place therein one who will spread corruption there and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?’ He said, ‘Indeed, I know what you do not know.’” (30)

His saying, exalted is He, “And when your Lord said”: that is, “And your Lord said”; idh is superfluous. It is also said that its meaning is, “Remember when your Lord said.” All similar occurrences in the Quran are understood in this way. Idh and idhā are both temporal particles, except that idh is for the past and idhā for the future; yet either may at times be used in place of the other.

Al-Mubarrad said: When idh occurs with a future-tense expression, its meaning is past, as in His saying, exalted is He, “And when those who disbelieved plotted against you” (al-Anfal 8:30)—that is, when they plotted. When idhā occurs with a past-tense expression, its meaning is future, as in His saying, “When the Overwhelming Calamity comes” (al-Naziʿat 79:34), and, “When Allah’s help comes” (al-Nasr 110:1)—that is, when it will come.

“The angels” is the plural of malak (angel). Its original form was maʾlak, derived from maʾlakah, alūkah, and alūk, all meaning “message.” Its letters were then transposed, yielding malʾak; thereafter, the hamzah was omitted for ease of pronunciation because of the word’s frequent use, and its vowel was transferred to the lām, yielding malak.

By them, He meant the angels who had been on the earth. Allah, exalted is He, created the heaven and the earth, and created the angels and the jinn. He settled the angels in heaven and the jinn on earth. The jinn remained there, worshipping for a long age; then envy and transgression appeared among them, so they spread corruption and killed one another. Allah therefore sent against them an army of angels called the jinn. They were the keepers of Paradise, and their name was derived from Paradise. Iblis was their leader, guide, and the most knowledgeable among them. They descended to the earth and drove the jinn into the mountain passes, (and the depths of the valleys) (1), and the islands of the seas. They then inhabited the earth, and Allah lightened their burden of worship.

Allah granted Iblis dominion over the earth, over the lowest heaven, and guardianship of Paradise. At times he worshipped Allah on earth, at times in heaven, and at times in Paradise. Then conceit entered him, and he said to himself, “Allah has granted me this dominion only because I am the most honored of the angels in His sight.” (2) Allah, exalted is He, then said to him and his troops: “Indeed, I am making…”