Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 61 of 111

Al-Isra 17:61

وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِـَٔادَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ قَالَ ءَأَسْجُدُ لِمَنْ خَلَقْتَ طِينًا

“And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," and they prostrated, except for Iblees.[759] He said, "Should I prostrate to one You created from clay?"”

Saheeh International

Essence

Iblis's refusal, now in his own words: a question that really meant no, from a creature who froze Adam at his clay.

A reflection

Still calling him clay

Listen to how the sentence ends: li-man khalaqta ṭīnan. One commentary allows the last word to be read as a state: shall I bow to him while he is clay? Another explains why that reading bites harder. It freezes Adam at his beginning, as if the lowliness of clay had never left him. By then Adam had been shaped and given life. Iblis was still talking about the mud.

The lexicons add a detail that fits. Ṭīn is earth mixed with water, and it is still called ṭīn after the water has gone. The name outlives the state.

Picture a woman at a craft fair turning over a glazed, fired bowl. She taps the rim and says to her friend: it's only mud, really. The potter behind the table says nothing. The bowl rings when she sets it down.

We do this to people all the time. The colleague who was once the junior. The brother who used to be the family's worry. Iblis began the habit. Notice when you are still calling someone clay.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.