Volume Fifteen
The Book of Quranic Commentary
Part Two
From Surah al-A‘rāf to Surah al-Ahzāb

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Surah al-A‘rāf

Shaykh al-Islām—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—said:

Section

The argument of Iblīs expressed in his words,

“I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay,”

is invalid because he opposed the revealed text with analogical reasoning. Hence, some of the early generations said: “The first to reason by analogy was Iblīs, and the sun and moon were worshipped only through analogies.” The invalidity of his argument is also evident through reason in five respects.

First: He claimed that fire is better than clay. This may be disputed, for clay possesses tranquillity, dignity, stability, firmness, retentiveness, and similar qualities, whereas fire possesses lightness, fierceness, and impetuosity. Moreover, clay contains water and earth.

Second: Even if fire were better than clay, it would not necessarily follow that