Holy Qur’an Chapter 2 The Cow:Verse 30-39 With Annotated Interpretations

THE CREATION OF HUMAN KIND AND OUR PURPOSE EXPLAINED

Verse 30: ³⁰Remember (when) your Lord said to the angels:³¹ “I am setting on the earth a vicegerent.” The angels asked: “Will You set therein one who will cause disorder and corruption on it and shed blood, while we glorify You with Your praise (proclaiming that You are absolutely free from any defect and that all praise belongs to You exclusively), and declare that You alone are all-holy and to be worshipped as God and Lord?” He said: “Surely I know what you do not know.”

30. Just previous to this, the Qur’ān presented the creation of the heaven and the earth, and the formation of the heavens, as the most manifest signs of God’s Existence and Unity in the outer world.

Then, as signs in their inner world, it showed how humankind was brought into life.

It now proceeds to:

• explain what kind of beings humans are,
• why they were created, and
• how they can fulfill the purpose of their creation.

For we need to know why so valued a being was created and wherein the value lies.

31. The primary reason why God informed the angels of His will to set a vicegerent on the earth was to indicate a better way of counseling and to teach the angels the wisdom in His making humankind vicegerents on earth.

The angels knew that this vicegerent would cause disorder and corruption because the jinn, beings who resemble humankind in having free will and powers of intellect, anger, and lust, had caused sedition and bloodshed on the earth before.

Angels are among the beings in the universe endowed with a life different in kind from the life of the earthly kinds directly known to us.

That different kinds of life-forms can exist in the universe should not surprise us. Yet, there was surprise when, in 1993, nearly 300 animal species, almost all of them previously unknown, were discovered living around hydrothermal vents formed where sea-water, leaking through the ocean floor at spreading ridges, is heated by the underlying magma and rushes into the cold ocean.

Until then, scientists had thought that there could be no life without solar energy, and few organisms were known to survive without a direct or indirect way to tap it.

Perhaps this “most startling discovery of twentieth century biology” will strengthen our willingness to recognize that there can be life in other forms and conditions than those known to us. 

If scientists had given ear to the Qur’ān, and not defined life solely by the earthly forms known to them, they might have acknowledged that there can be different kinds of life in other parts and dimensions of the universe, particular to each part or dimension, and so given a truer direction to their sciences.

Angels are spiritual beings, of subtle forms created from “light” (Muslim, “Zuhd,” 10); they have different kinds or species but are not differentiated as male or female (37: 149–150; 43: 19; 53: 27; The Essentials , 64).

Being servants of God with no evil-commanding soul, they obey the commandments issuing from the Eternal Will and Creative Power that rules the universe.

There is nothing to cause quarrels or disputes among them because they are innocent, their realm is vast, their nature is pure, and their stations are fixed. Each of the heavenly bodies is a place of worship for the angels ( The Words , “the 29 th Word,” 532–533).

They ask no reward for their services; their reward is the spiritual contentment of nearness to their Creator. Their worship varies according to their different natures and functions.

No event in the universe can be conceived of or occurs without the function of the angels.

There are angels representing or responsible for every event in the universe and every species on the earth. For example, some of them, the chief of whom is Michael (p.b.u.h.), are responsible for the growth of vegetation.

Michael (p.b.u.h.) superintends the growth of all kinds of corn and provision by leave and Power of God, and, if one may put it in such terms, he is the head of all the angels who may be likened to farmers.

There is another great angel who, by God’s leave, Command and Power, is the chief of the “incorporeal shepherds” of all animals. They look on God’s acts with wonder and admiration and present to Him the glorification and worship of each species of creature offered in the language of its nature and disposition.

There are still other kinds or species of angels, such as Gabriel (p.b.u.h.) who carried Revelation to the Messengers; ‘Azrāīl (p.b.u.h.) and his aides, whom God employs in taking the lives of people; and Isrāfīl (p.b.u.h.), who will blow the Trumpet during the final destruction of the world and the resurrection of the dead.

The Qur’ān also mentions the angels who record people’s deeds (82:11); and angels who carry out a variety of tasks of awesome majesty and power (sūrah 77:1–4, sūrah 79: 1–5, sūrah 82: 11).

Verse 31. (Having brought him into existence), God taught Adam the names, all of them.³² Then (in order to clarify the supremacy of humankind and the wisdom in their being created and made vicegerent on the earth), He presented them (the things and beings, whose names had been taught to Adam, with their names) to the angels, and said, “Now tell Me the names of these, if you are truthful (in your praising, worshipping, and sanctifying Me as My being God and Lord deserves).

32. The primary reason why humankind was accorded superiority over the angels is that we were “taught the names.”

The duty of humankind on the earth is vicegerency or khilāfah, meaning succession.

This indicates another species or kind of beings on the earth preceding humankind. These were the jinn, who were succeeded by humankind because of their unending conflicts and revolts against God.

As a term, khilāfah or vicegerency denotes improving the earth, on the basis of knowledge of things and the laws of creation (which we wrongly call the “laws of nature”), and ruling on the earth according to the dictates of God, thus establishing justice.

Carrying out this duty requires scientific knowledge and religion.

Humankind can acquire scientific knowledge by studying nature and are given religion through God’s Messengers.  The Books given or revealed to the Messengers, in addition to containing the religious principles, are, in one respect, like discourses describing nature and its meaning.

That is why, in Islam, the universe, or nature, is seen as the “Created Book,” and its laws as the laws of the creation and operation of the universe issuing from the Divine Attributes of Will and, Power.

The Qur’ān is the “Revealed Book,” the set of Divine laws and principles issuing from God’s Attribute of Speech.

For this reason, there can and should be no dichotomy¹ or conflict between science and religion.

The names taught to Adam (p.b.u.h.) are the names of both things and his descendants. We know this from the use of the pronoun ‘hum‘ – meaning “their” in the compound “their names” – which is used for conscious beings.

It shows that Adam’s (p.b.u.h.) descendants are included among the “names” taught to him.

There must be a relation between this event, which took place in the World of the Unseen (ghayb), and the event (referred to in 7:172) when God brought  forth from the children of Adam (p.b.u.h.), from their loins, their seed, and made them testify to His being their Lord, which also must have taken place in the Unseen.

The angels must have fully comprehended Adam’s (p.b.u.h.) supremacy and the wisdom in his vicegerency, not merely because of his being taught the names that they had not been taught, but also because they saw the illustrious members of humankind among the descendants of Adam (p.b.u.h.) – such as the Prophets, saints, and pure, exacting scholars, who would change the earth into gardens of Paradise through their faith, knowledge and morality.

The knowledge of things was given to Adam (p.b.u.h.) in summarized form and then, during the course of history, was taught to the Messengers in relative detail according to the mission of each.

That is why the Messengers became also the forerunners of scientific knowledge and progress, in addition to their being guides in spirituality and morality.

The Qur’ān, which consummates all the previous Scriptures, sheds light on future scientific studies and discoveries, and indicates their final point of advancement in its narrations of the miracles of the Messengers.

The names taught to Adam (p.b.u.h.) also signify the potentiality of learning bestowed on humankind. Giving a name means knowing, for one can give a name only to something one knows.

Animals come, or rather, are sent, to the world as if taught and trained in another world. They are adapted to the conditions of their life within a very short period as if they knew them already.

By contrast, it takes human beings, on average, one year to learn how to walk, and many more years to learn the conditions of life, to distinguish securely between what is harmful and what is beneficial for them. This learning indeed continues until death, as evidence that learning has a fundamental place in human life and progress.

As pointed out above, vicegerency denotes humankind’s ruling on the earth and improving it by using all that is subjected to it in accordance with the dictates of God.

If humans attribute to themselves what God has given them of knowledge, power, the ability of learning, and various other capacities, and then attempt to act independently of God, it is then that disorder and bloodshed begin on the earth.

For this reason, their happiness, dignity, and the improvement of the earth lie in acknowledging their innate weakness, poverty, and ignorance before God and, attributing whatever they have and their accomplishments to God, becoming to His Infinite Power, Absolute Sufficiency and Knowledge.

Verse 32. (In acknowledgement of their imperfection, and their perception of the truth of the matter), the angels said: “All-Glorified You are (in that You are absolutely above having any defect and doing anything meaningless, and Yours are all the attributes of perfection). We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.”

Verse 33. (In order to demonstrate the superiority of humankind more clearly,) God said: “O Adam, inform them of these things and beings with their names.” When he (Adam) informed them with their names, He said (to the angels), “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and I know all that you reveal and all that you have been concealing?”³³

33. Historically, humans have not avoided bloodshed nor ceased to cause disorder, from the beginning of their earthly existence. Furthermore, the majority of people have been those who follow false doctrines or beliefs and associate partners with God.

However, this does not mean that the creation of humankind and our being appointed as vicegerents on the earth has proved evil and ugly.

The following simple analogy will explain: 

For example: 100 seeds of fruit have the value of 100 seeds while they are seeds. But once they are planted, if even 80 out of the 100 rot away while the remaining 20 germinate and grow to bear fruit, the value of those 20 will far exceed that of the 100 seeds.

If the human race had remained existent only in God’s Knowledge, without developing its potential on the earth, the Tree of Creation would not have yielded more than 100,000 Prophets, millions of saints, pure, exacting scholars, heroes of good morals, and other virtuous members of humankind. The good that these illustrious fruits have added to existence far exceeds the evil of the rest.

The angels, at first, could not discern this outcome, but when the potential of the human race was made clear to them, they admitted its supremacy with full contentment of heart.

Verse 34. ³⁴And (remember) when We said to the angels: “Prostrate before  Adam!”³⁵ They all prostrated, but Iblīs did not; he refused, and grew arrogant, and displayed himself as an unbeliever.³⁶

34. After the potential supremacy of humankind to the angels became evident, it can be said that an arena of trial was opened for both humankind and the angels and other conscious beings, among whom was Satan.

This also implied that the earthly life of humankind was about to begin.

The motor of this life would be human free will. Having free will meant making a choice between at least two contrary alternatives.

The individual and collective life of humankind, as well as human history, is the history of the conflicts of choices.

Besides the Attributes essential to His being God, namely Existence, having no beginning, Permanence, Oneness, being unlike the created, and Self-Subsistence, God has another kind of Attribute collectively called the Positive Attributes, which are Life, Knowledge, Will, Power, Hearing, Seeing, Speech, and Creating.

These Attributes are the origin of the Names such as Giver of life and the All-Reviver, the All-Knowing, the All-Willing, the All-Powerful, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the All-Speaking, and the Creator, etc.

Having such absolute, unrestricted Attributes and all-beautiful Names means that their manifestation will be “inevitable.” One Who exists in and of Himself, and Whose Existence is absolutely perfect, will manifest Himself, as “required” by His very “nature.”

Thus, the universe is the collection of the manifestations of God’s Attributes and Names, and those manifestations are focused on humankind.

It is as if God Almighty drew an imaginary veil before His Attributes and Names and created humankind as the theater where almost all of His Attributes and Names are manifested. 

This demonstrates the high value accorded to humankind.

35. The prostration mentioned here signifies the angels’ admission of the superiority of humankind and their obedience to the Divine purpose for the creation of Adam (p.b.u.h.) and his being made vicegerent on the earth.

Prostration in the meaning of worship is done exclusively before God. By obeying God’s order to prostrate before Adam (p.b.u.h.) , the angels were, in reality, prostrating to Him.

36. The angels (as explained in note 30 above) are beings created from “light,” always busy with worshipping God and almost unable to commit sins. Since they do not have to struggle against sin, they do not progress spiritually. Satan and his progeny represent the opposite pole to the angels.

The Qur’ān mentions Satan in the course of narrating his refusal to prostrate before Adam (p.b.u.h.) as Iblīs and subsequently as Satan. 

Iblīs belonged to the jinn (see 18: 50) and had free will. He had not been tested until he was ordered to prostrate before Adam (p.b.u.h.).

Defeated by his vainglory, he attempted to justify his refusal on the pretext that he had been created from smokeless fire while Adam (p.b.u.h.) was created from clay.

In other words, he considered himself superior by virtue of his physical composition, whereas no one should claim superiority on the basis of something in which they have no part.

What brings superiority is righteous acts done freely, without compulsion. Such things as physical structure, wealth, status, position, and the like, cannot be the basis of a reasonable claim to superiority.

Because of this, the Qur’ān openly decrees: “Surely the noblest, most honorable of you in God’s sight is the one best in taqwā (piety, righteousness, and reverence for God).” (49: 13).

Unlike Adam (p.b.u.h.), Satan did not acknowledge his error and so appeared as the embodiment of haughtiness and malicious enmity towards humankind. It is clear that he had been inwardly defeated by the attributes that cause unbelief, such as wrong viewpoint, prejudice, and self-pride.

In the very first test he was set, these attributes swallowed him up and caused him to become an obstinate, refractory unbeliever.

As pointed out above, Satan was called Iblīs at the stage of his rebellion against God’s order to prostrate before Adam (p.b.u.h.). Iblīs means one who is desperate.

After that event, he was called Satan, meaning one expelled from God’s Presence and Mercy and burning with envy and passion.

As Adam (p.b.u.h.) is the father of humankind, Satan has also progeny. The disbelieving human beings who share the same character with Satan and are always busy misleading people from the path of God are also called “satans” in the Qur’ān. The “satans” of the hypocrites, referred to in 2: 14, are an example.

Verse 35. “O Adam! Dwell you, and your spouse, in the Garden,³⁷ and eat (of the fruits) thereof to your hearts’ content where you desire, but do not approach this tree³⁸ , or you will both be among the wrongdoers.”³⁹

37. There are different opinions about whether the Garden mentioned here was a Paradise like corner of the earth or the Paradise to which the believers will go in the Hereafter by God’s grace.

There is another point of view worthy of consideration: the significant events narrated in 2: 30–39 – Adam (p.b.u.h.) being created and presented as the prototype of humankind, taught the names by God; the angels prostrating to him as God commanded;  and Iblīs (the embodiment of wickedness and prototype of devils) refusing to prostrate – all these events took place in the Unseen.

Similarly, the event (7: 172) when God brought forth from the children of Adam (p.b.u.h.), from their loins, their seed, and they testified to His being their Lord, must have taken place in the Unseen.

If Adam’s (p.b.u.h.) being placed in the Garden with Eve (p.b.u.h.)  also happened in one of the worlds of the Unseen, then that Garden might be a Garden belonging to those worlds, some aspect or dimension of the manifestation of the Paradise in the Hereafter, which must even now be existing as a “seed.”

What we should dwell on here is the lessons that God wills to teach us by such events.

From this perspective, the Garden may be a realm where the parents of humankind stayed for some time or a stage they had to pass through on the way to being fully “human,” in order to reside on the earth.

38. There are, again, different opinions about the forbidden tree. When we reflect on how Satan tempted Adam (p.b.u.h.) and Eve (p.b.u.h.) – “O Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of eternity and a kingdom that will never decay?” (20: 120) – and the inevitable results to come from approaching the forbidden tree (experiencing toil, hunger, nakedness, thirst and exposure to the sun’s heat (20: 117–119), and that after they ate of it, their shameful parts were revealed to them (20: 121)), then we may conclude that the forbidden tree indicates the act of sexual union, which would later be allowed, or a kind of food or something else that caused them to become aware of their full physical and biological humanity, with all the needs, feelings,  and passions attendant upon it.

We can deduce that this prohibition would have been only for a limited time, as in fasting or during the Hajj or during post-childbirth bleeding. But they showed haste and disobeyed.

39. The word here translated as wrongdoer is zālim, derived from zulm, meaning darkness.

It is the opposite of light and the reason or symbol of non-existence as opposed to existence.

For this reason, it is used as a Qur’ānic term for acts causing the darkening and extinction of the faculties of the heart (“seeing” and “hearing” in the sense of verse 2:7).

The main feature of such acts is transgressing the bounds established by the Religion, and behaving without considering the time, place, or conditions. Having a very wide area of usage, it ranges from putting something in the wrong place to associating partners with God.

People harm, first of all, themselves by committing zulm.

This is why the Qur’ān says that people wrong themselves by transgressing the bounds. The wrongdoing mentioned in this verse is such an act. (This will be clearer in the words Adam (p.b.u.h.) received from his Lord, explained below in note 41.)

Verse 36: But Satan⁴⁰ (tempting them to the forbidden tree despite Our forewarning), caused them both to deflect therefrom and brought them out of the (happy) state in which they were. And We said, “Go down, all of you, (and henceforth you will live a life,) some of you being the enemies of others. There shall be for you on the earth a habitation and provision until an appointed time.”⁴¹

40. Although Satan is the embodiment of evil and always tries to cause evil in human life, his being created is not evil. God is the only Creator Who creates all things and beings, along with their good or evil deeds, and whatever He creates is good either in itself or with respect to its result.

The angels never do evil and Satan never does good, but humans have been endowed with the ability to do both good and evil.

They are responsible for using and developing their ability to do good, resisting their potential for evil, and channeling it towards what is good.

For example, envy can be channeled into competitiveness in doing good; obstinacy can be turned into steadfastness on the path of right and truth.

By doing good and, especially, by struggling against the temptations of Satan and the carnal², evil commanding soul, and against the potential for evil, a person evolves spiritually, while the ranks or stations of the angels are fixed because they are free from the seduction of Satan and have no evil tendency to struggle against.

The inclusion³ in creation of relative evil –there is nothing absolutely evil in creation – is the wheel of both spiritual, intellectual, and scientific development in human life.

That is why the creation of Satan and other apparent evils is not evil in itself.

Against the argument that many people deviate and many evils appear in human life because of the temptations of Satan, readers may refer to the analogy in note 33 above.

Unaware of this highly significant truth, the Magians in Iran attributed the creation of evil to a second deity, and within the civilization of Islam, the Mu‘tazilites⁴ attributed it to humankind.

41. While it was Adam (p.b.u.h.) and his spouse who were tested in the Garden, we understand from the Qur’ān’s usage of the plural form in the order “Descend, all of you!” that more than two people received the order: Go down, all of you, (henceforth you will live a life), some of you being the enemies of others. Those addressed by this order must be Adam (p.b.u.h.), Eve (p.b.u.h.),   Satan, and their future progeny.

Verse 37: (Aware of his lapse and in the hope of retrieving his error, rather than attempting to find excuses for it,) Adam received from his Lord words that he perceived to be inspired in him (because of his remorse, and he pleaded through them for God’s forgiveness). In return, He accepted his repentance. He is the One Who accepts repentance and returns it with liberal forgiveness and additional reward, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants).⁴²

42. Unlike Satan, Adam (p.b.u.h.) did not offer to defend himself with excuses for his lapse. Rather, he felt great remorse and thus opened the door to being forgiven.

In return for his remorse, God inspired in him some words – talaqqā here translated as “received”, connotes “inspired”– through which he, together with his spouse, pleaded for God’s forgiveness.

It is agreed by the majority of the interpreters of the Qur’ān, that these words were those given in 7:23: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we will surely be among those who have lost!”

Some (probably under the influence of narrations from Biblical sources) have argued that Eve (p.b.u.h.) led Adam (p.b.u.h.) to be deceived by Satan. Since this is the approach in the Old Testament (Genesis , 3: 1–6), woman was considered evil and held in disgrace in medieval Christianity.

In contrast, the Qur’ān presents the event as being centered on Adam (p.b.u.h.); that is why it was he who received the words and, even more than Eve (p.b.u.h.), had to implore God’s forgiveness, although they both did so.

Verse 38: ⁴³We said: “Go down, all of you, from there!” (and executed Our order). If, henceforth, a guidance (like a Book through a Messenger) comes to you from Me, and whoever follows My guidance (and turns to Me with faith and worship), they will have no fear (for they will always find My help and support with them), nor will they grieve.”

43. The acceptance of the repentance of Adam (p.b.u.h.) and Eve (p.b.u.h.), following their appeal to God for forgiveness, did not mean that God’s decree that they would descend to the earth would not be implemented.

Rather, it meant that they started their earthly life cleansed of their error – without any blemish or “original sin” to be passed on to their descendants – as all newborns begin their life free of sin.

It is also a Qur’ānic principle – one which is one of the basic principles of law that – ‘every soul earns only to its own account; and no soul, as bearer of burden, bears and is made to bear the burden of another.’ (sūrah 6:164).

Verse 39. But those who disbelieve and deny Our signs (the verses of the revealed Book of guidance, as well as the signs in both their inner world and the outer world establishing My Existence and Unity and other pillars of faith), they will be the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein.⁴⁴

44. With wonderful eloquence and concision, the Qur’ān, thus far in this sūrah , has informed us about:

• guidance,
• about faith and Islam and the pillars and main principles thereof,
• then about unbelief and hypocrisy and the reasons for them,
• together with a description of the different qualities of the believers, unbelievers and hypocrites,
• it has presented decisive and comprehensive proofs, in the inner world of human beings and in the outer world around them,
• of God’s Existence and Unity,
• the Divine authorship of the Qur’ān,
• the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and
• about the Hereafter, Paradise and Hell.
• it has then explained the nature and duty of humankind and how we started our earthly life.

The Qur’ān has, in this way, summarized its main purposes before beginning to narrate the earthly adventure of humankind and human communities, which will illustrate those purposes with concrete, historical examples.

In verses 38 and 39, it has extended a rope to the beginning of the sūrah (chapter), binding the whole together. It makes direct reference to the guidance mentioned at the beginning of the sūrah with the mention of guidance in verse 38.

It interprets or expands on the prosperity mentioned in verse 5, ‘Those (illustrious ones) stand on true guidance (originating in the Qur’ān) from their Lord; and they are those who are the prosperous.‘ with the explanation in verse 38: ‘They will have no fear (in this world and the next, for they will always find My help and support with them), nor will they grieve.’

In addition, by stating that the unbelievers and those who deny God’s Revelations and signs will be the companions of the Fire to abide therein, it recalls verses 23 and 24, which threaten those who deny the Divine authorship of the Qur’ān with the Fire “whose fuel is human beings and the stones (that they have shaped into idols to adore)”.