direction when he heads toward it, as He said:
“So turn your face toward the Sacred Mosque, and wherever you are, turn your faces toward it.”
Second, if Adam had merely been a direction of prayer, Iblīs would not have refused to prostrate or claimed that he was better than Adam. A direction of prayer may consist of stones, without this making them superior to those who pray toward them. A man may pray toward a short spear, a camel, or another man, without imagining that this makes any of them superior. What, then, was Satan trying to avoid? This is truly astonishing!
Third, if He had made Adam the direction of prayer for a single prostration, then the direction of prayer and Jerusalem would have been many thousands of times superior to him, since they were made permanent directions for every kind of prayer. Thus, this lengthy account—which has been made a mark of his distinction and one of the greatest blessings bestowed upon him, and which has conveyed to the world that Allah elevated him through it and favored him—would amount to no more than His making him like the Ka‘bah on certain occasions. Yet even some of the faith, knowledge, and closeness to the Most Merciful that he was granted are far superior to the Ka‘bah; indeed, the Ka‘bah was established for him and his descendants. Is this, then, to be counted among the great blessings bestowed upon him, or is he to be likened to it in some exceedingly small and insignificant respect? No rational person would say this.
As for their statement, “It is not permissible to prostrate to anyone other than Allah,” the answer is: if this is stated in general terms, it is a general statement whose scope excludes the permissibility of prostrating to Adam. Yet specific evidence establishes that they prostrated to him, and a general statement does not override the specific evidence that qualifies it.
Second, they claim that prostrating to anyone other than Allah is forbidden both to us and to the angels. As for the former, there is no evidence; as for the latter, what proof is there for it?