(30–34) “And when your Lord said to the angels, ‘I am placing a successive human authority on earth,’ they said, ‘Will You place in it those who will spread corruption and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and proclaim Your holiness?’ He said, ‘Indeed, I know what you do not know.’
“And He taught Adam the names of all things. Then He presented them to the angels and said, ‘Tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful.’
“They said, ‘Glory be to You! We possess no knowledge except what You have taught us. You alone are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.’
“He said, ‘O Adam, tell them their names.’ When Adam had told them their names, He said, ‘Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and earth, and that I know what you disclose and what you have been concealing?’
“And when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam,’ they all prostrated except Iblīs. He refused, acted arrogantly, and was one of the disbelievers.”
This passage begins the account of the virtue of Adam—peace be upon him—the forefather of humankind (1): when Allah intended to create him, He informed the angels of this and told them that He would appoint him as a successor on earth.
The angels—peace be upon them—said: “Will You place in it those who will spread corruption?” through acts of disobedience, “and shed blood?” [And] this is a specific mention following a general statement, intended to show the [gravity] of the corruption caused by killing. They said this because they assumed that such deeds would be committed by the successor placed on earth. They declared the Creator far above such a thing, exalted Him, and stated that their worship of Allah was wholly free of corruption. They said: “While we glorify You with praise,” meaning: We declare You free of every imperfection in a manner befitting Your praise and majesty. “And proclaim Your holiness” may mean: We sanctify You—in which case the preposition conveys exclusivity and sincerity. It may also mean: We purify ourselves for You; that is, ⦗49⦘ we purify ourselves through noble qualities such as loving Allah, fearing Him, and venerating Him, and we cleanse ourselves of base qualities.
Allah Most High said to the angels: “Indeed, I know” concerning this successor “what you do not know.” Your words are based on what you assumed, whereas I know both what is apparent and what lies within. I know that the good resulting from the creation of this successor will be many times greater than the evil it entails. Even if its only benefits were that Allah Most High intended to choose from among them the prophets, the steadfastly truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous; that His signs would be manifested to creation; that acts of servitude which could not have occurred without the creation of this successor—such as jihād and others—would take place; that testing would reveal the good and evil concealed within the innate dispositions of Adam’s descendants (2); that His enemy would be distinguished from His ally, and His party from those at war with Him; and that the evil harbored and possessed by Iblīs would be exposed—these would be momentous purposes of wisdom, any one of which would suffice.
Since the angels’ words—peace be upon them—suggested that they were superior to the successor whom Allah would place on earth, Allah Most High wished to show them enough of Adam’s virtue for them to recognize his excellence and the perfection of Allah’s wisdom and knowledge. Thus, He “taught Adam the names of all things”; that is, the names of things and the objects denoted by them. He taught him both the name and the named referent—in other words, the words and their meanings—even nouns in their full form, such as “bowl,” and in their diminutive form, such as “little bowl.”
“Then He presented them”—that is, He presented the named things—“to the angels,” testing whether they knew them.
He then said: “Tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful” in your claim and assumption that you are superior to this successor.
They said: “Glory be to You!” That is: We declare You far above any objection from us or any defiance of Your command. “We possess no knowledge” whatsoever “except what You have taught us” through Your bounty and generosity. “You alone are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.” The All-Knowing is the One whose knowledge encompasses everything: not even an atom’s weight in the heavens or earth escapes or is hidden from Him, nor anything smaller or greater than that.
The All-Wise is the One who possesses perfect wisdom, from which no created thing falls outside and no command departs. He creates nothing except for a wise purpose and commands nothing except for a wise purpose. Wisdom is to place everything in its proper place. The angels thus acknowledged and affirmed Allah’s knowledge and wisdom, their own inability to know even the least thing, and Allah’s favor upon them in teaching them what they did not know.
Allah then said: “O Adam, tell them their names”—that is, the names of the things Allah had presented to the angels and which they had been unable to name. “When Adam had told them their names,” the angels recognized Adam’s superiority over them, as well as the Creator’s wisdom and knowledge in appointing this successor. “He said, ‘Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and earth?’” The unseen is whatever is hidden from us and which we do not witness. If He knows the unseen, then His knowledge of the visible realm follows all the more necessarily. “And I know what you disclose”—that is, what you make manifest—“and what you have been concealing.”
Allah Most High then commanded them to prostrate before Adam as an honor and mark of esteem for him, and as an act of worship toward Allah Most High. They obeyed Allah’s command and all hastened to prostrate, “except Iblīs. He refused”: he declined to prostrate, deemed himself too great to obey Allah’s command, and set himself above Adam. He said: “Am I to prostrate before one You created from clay?” His refusal and arrogance resulted from the disbelief he harbored within himself. His enmity toward Allah and Adam, his disbelief, and his arrogance then became manifest.
Among the lessons and signs contained in these verses is the affirmation of speech for Allah Most High: He has always been speaking, saying whatever He wills and speaking whatever He wills. They also affirm that He is All-Knowing and All-Wise. Another lesson is that when the wisdom of Allah in some created things or divine commands is hidden from a servant, he must submit, deem his own understanding deficient, and affirm Allah’s wisdom. They also show Allah’s care for the angels and His kindness toward them by teaching them what they did not know and drawing their attention to what they had not understood.
These verses demonstrate the virtue of knowledge in several ways. Allah made Himself known to His angels through His knowledge and wisdom. He showed them Adam’s excellence through knowledge, which is the finest quality a servant may possess. He commanded them to prostrate before Adam in his honor once the excellence of his knowledge had become apparent. Moreover, when others are tested and fail, after which the person of distinction supplies what they could not, this demonstrates his excellence more fully than if it had been known from the outset. They also call for reflection upon the respective forefathers of humankind and the jinn, explain Adam’s virtue and Allah’s favors upon him, and reveal Iblīs’s enmity toward him, in addition to many other lessons.