Adam vs
Iblees
..the 2 Perspectives.
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Watch Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aCwDCmi1rE
Brother Nouman Ali Khan begins this
part of the lecture by introducing us to the story of Adam and Iblees [Shaytan’s/satan’s
real name]. But just when is about to do that, he changes his mind and
decides to tell us two other stories instead.
He says he wants to teach us to really feel the emotions and
reality of the characters of the Qur’an.
The 2 stories go as follows;
Story #1:
Imagine you have dedicated your entire youth, experiences,
efforts and life to a business company and you have finally worked your way to
become the vice president of the business.
One day the Owner of the business comes in and introduces you to a young man,
aged 15, chewing gum. The boss said that
this boy is now the new vice president and that you should now lower yourself
to him. The boss tells you to make photocopies for game cheats for the new
Vice President.
How do you feel? You
have been replaced by someone much younger than you,
someone you feel does not deserve this high rank. But you are the worker,
you have to obey… But will you?
As a reaction: Do you
feel frustrated? Do you disobey? Do you
shout back at the Boss?
Parallel: Iblees –a Jinn- worshipped and
served Allah for an extremely long time of his life – to the extent that he
came to the rank of the Angels.
However – one day,
Allah created a new inexperienced being called ‘Adam’ and told all the angels, aswell as Iblees to lower themselves and prostrate to this
new ‘Adam’. This implies that Allah actually prefers this new ‘Adam’ over
all those Angels and Jinn (including Iblees) who have been serving Allah for
such a long time. Why should I prostrate
to him? What makes him better than me? He has done nothing.
Story #2:
Imagine the boss of a
company tells all the staff that he is going to transfer one employee to
another area of the workplace which is disliked.
However, the employee himself has not been told this. One day, the
employee walks into work and is told that he should not come late to work. He
normally doesn’t anyway, but he says “Okay.”
One day, on the way to
work - it may just have happened - that the employee hears that the boss had already previously decided
that he is going to be displaced.
Out of shock, he takes a wrong turn and actually gets late for work.
When he reaches work - the boss
tells him that you are late, so you will be transferred to the new - unliked - area.
Parallel:
Allah told the angels that He
will make a successive authority (Khalifah) on the
Earth while Adam was in clay form. [see; al Baqarah 2:30]
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers. [Baqarah 2:34]
Then He told the angels to bow to Adam, but Iblees -the Jinn- did not.
Then –some time later- Adam was
placed in a Jannah (Paradise/Gardens). It MAY be that Adam found out that he
would not permanently be in Jannah. So when Iblees came to him and said; eat from the tree -
you will either be an Angel or live Forever (in the Jannah) [see al A’raf 7:20] – they ate from the tree - hoping to live
there forever.
But - he ate from the tree (came late for work) - and as a consequence – all 3 –
Adam, Hawwa [Eve] and Iblees were transferred to a
disliked area (the Earth).
Similarities between Adam and Iblee’s Stories:
So we see that both Iblees and Adam could have Arguments in their Defence;
Iblees had a logical reasoning for
not wanting to prostrate (lower himself) to Adam - who was 'lesser' than him in
his sight, since Iblees had done more acts of obedience to Allah in the
past. [However his Persistence
in Arrogant denial of Allah's command was his evil - which took him out of the fold of Islam
(submission to Allah).] He did not even regret his
evil, and he did not even humble himself to Allah after disobeying his
Master.
Adam could have had a logical argument for eating from the tree -
thinking that Allah had ALREADY decided (‘Destined’) to send him to the
disliked Earth, even before he had broken the rule - [ate from the tree
(or 'come late to work').] However, he remained
humble and asked Allah to forgive him – putting the whole blame on himself for his
evil instead of Allah.
Comparison between Iblees
and Adam:
Iblees was honoured by Allah.
Adam was honoured by Allah.
Iblees was ranked highly above the angels by Allah.
Adam was ranked highly above the angels
by Allah.
Iblees was given freedom of Decision.
Adam was given freedom of Decision.
Iblees disobeyed his Master.
Adam disobeyed his Master.
Only 1 Major Difference - their
Reaction to their Mistake:
Iblis was ARROGANT in his Denial of Allah's
command and stayed upon disobedience Without Regret.
Adam was HUMBLE in his
Affirmation of disobedience to Allah's command and Regretted, and Repented
to Allah for his own mistake.
Both could have argued something Intellectual about ‘Destiny’ (and even though
humans are more Intellectual than Jinn), Adam
humbled himself and repented, while Iblees
remained Arrogant and tried to justify his evil.
Adam gives up his Intellect to the Lord of the Worlds', knowing that his Master is more Knowing
and Wiser than him. So just because something doesn't make full sense to
him - he still humbles himself to his Master, and places his trust in him. He
could have blamed his Destiny, but he did not.
Lessons we Learn from Adam vs Iblees:
This story of Adam vs Iblees is mentioned 7 times (with different details) in
the Qur'an.
- We are being told that we Humans [Insaan] and Jinn make mistakes.
- What makes us like Adam is that
we realise we have made a mistake, and
be regretful for it and be obedient to Allah again. Or we can try to
justify why we do evil without regret, and become
more Arrogant and destroyed/rejected like Iblees.
- We are being reminded powerfully; be like your father
- Adam.
This is the counselling of Allah through the story of Adam vs
Iblees, amazing.
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