Surah Al-Isra 17:61-70 - Quran Translation Commentary

61. And when We said to the angels : “Prostrate yourselves before Adam,” they all prostrated themselves⁷⁹ except this (Satan),⁸⁰ he said: “Shall I prostrate myself before that which you have created from clay ?”⁸¹

62. (Moreover) he said: “Have you so decided that You have exalted him above me?⁸² If you give me respite till the Day of Resurrection, I will verily exterminate all but a few of his descendents.”⁸³

63. He said: “Go, whoever of them follows you—verily, Hell is your reward, an ample reward.⁸⁴”

64. And tempt any of them whom you can with your voice,⁸⁵ and attack them with your cavalry and foot-soldiers,⁸⁶ and be a partner in their wealth and children,⁸⁷ and promise them. And Satan promises them only to deceive.⁸⁸”

65. Verily, My (faithful) slaves, —over them you will have no authority,⁸⁹ and your Lord suffices as their Guardian.”⁹⁰

66. It is your Lord who drives for you the ship upon the sea that you may seek of His grace.⁹¹ Verily He is ever Merciful towards you.

67. And when harm touches you upon the sea, all whom you invoke, fail⁹² save Him (alone), but when He brings you safe to land, you turn away, for man is ever ungrateful.

68. Do you feel secure that He will not cave in the earth (beneath you), or send a sandstorm upon you, and then you will find that you have no protector⁹³?

69. Or do you feel secure that He will not return you to that (sea) a second time, and send against you a violent hurricane and drown you for your thanklessness, and then you will not find anybody to question Us ?⁹⁴

70. Verily We have honoured the children of Adam,⁹⁵ and We carried them on the land and the sea,⁹⁶ and have made provision of clean things for them,⁹⁷ and exalted them above many of them whom We created, with marked exaltation.⁹⁸

Commentary

79. This has been explained in Surah Baqarah, Note No. 47

80. This has been explained in Surah Baqarah, Note No. 48

81. For explanation, please see Surah A’raf, Note No.16.

82. The objection of Iblees against the judgment of Allah was for the reason that man was made the Khalifa of the earth, and he was honoured by asking the angels and Iblees to prostrate themselves before him. Iblees neither had the right to raise any objection nor was that a right objection. Allah has the full authority to give whatever honour he may desire to any of His creatures. None has the right to question His authority or to raise any objection. Then Allah is All-knowing and All-Aware, therefore, all His decisions are based on wisdom and knowledge. And if Iblees could not understand the wisdom of His decisions, or if the good points of His decision were not clear to him, then how could it be right that he should declare Allah’s decision as wrong ?

83. Iblees knew that if man with his feelings and desires were to be tempted in the environment of a world with all its splendour and pleasures, it will be easy to mislead him. Therefore, he confidently claimed that if he is given respite till the Day of Resurrection, he would mislead the entire race of mankind on to the wrong path from its real goal of life, and there will be only a few who would not fall a prey to his temptations.

84. For explanation, please see Surah A’raf, Note No.22.

85. The voice of Iblees, his call and his invitation are towards straying and sinning, for which he communicates secretly suggestions for the purpose. In the modern times the media have provided easy means of communication to Iblees, his voice is being carried to the four corners of the world through radio, television and the newspapers, and day by day his hulla gulla and fanfare are increasing.

86. Means the children of Iblees and his disciples. They attack mankind in the manner of an army. (For further explanation, please see Surah A’raf, Note No.21).

87.By partnership in wealth is meant earning wealth by illegal means and spending it in unlawful ways: gifts and presents for deities other than Allah, spending it for false purpose, to use financial resources to promote evil are examples of meeting the objective of Satan and making him partner in wealth. Partnership in children means that man may consider his children, on a hint from Satan, as a gift and blessing from some devi or devta or some saint, etc., or to make his children polytheists: or infidels, or to give them wrong training and make them follow wrong ways.

88. This has been explained in Surah Ibrahim, Note No.29.

89. This has been explained in Surah Hijr, Note No.39.

90. That is: They will put their trust in Allah, and Allah will be sufficient for solving their difficulty.

It is your Lord who drives for you the ship upon the sea that you may seek of His grace. Verily He is ever Merciful towards you. And when harm touches you upon the sea, all whom you invoke, fail save Him (alone), but when He brings you safe to land, you turn away, for man is ever ungrateful. (Al-Quran)

91. Means lawful earnings.

92. It is proof of the fact that man’s nature is aware of only one God, otherwise what is the reason for a person remembering only one God when surrounded by the danger of a stormy sea.

93.That is: After coming out of the danger of sea storm, when you reach safety of land, you return to your polytheistic attitude, as you do not feel any danger on land, though there is danger on the land too. The land could cave in during an earthquake and you could be buried in it, or the sand storm, with its hurtling stones, could kill you. If Allah would send any such devastating natural calamity, who is there to stop Him from doing it or who is there to question Him?

94. That is: It is also possible that He may arrange for such circumstances that you would be compelled to undertake another sea journey, and there He may again send a violent storm and cause your drowning to punish you for your thanklessness. In such an event who is there who can stand up as your supporter against God and question Him for the action of drowning you?

95. Allah has bestowed honour and blessings on man. He is not sinner by birth nor a mean creature, nor is it correct to place him at the animal level. None of human species or race or class is of a lower class or caste according to their original birth. Every person, whether male or female, having any colour, race or caste, is respectable and an honoured being, an individual of the human race Casteism, untouchability, distinctions of colour and race, and the concept of woman being of lower rank are presumptions that go against man’s respectable birth, and Islam wants to remove all of them.

96. What an honour is this that on the land man is provided with animals for riding over their back and on the sea he is given the ship which can sail as his carriage! And now one more blessing has come his way, he can fly in the air too. If Allah had not granted man ability to ride on the backs of the animals or to invent various modes of carriages, etc., could he have attained this higher position ?

97. Animals eat insects while Allah has blessed man with a highly sophisticated taste for food, and things to satisfy the human taste. He has provided varieties of clean things to serve him as food.

98. The word ‘tafdheela’ used here means highest exaltation. This ayah clarifies that Allah has bestowed on mankind the highest kind of exaltation over all the creatures. So far as the creatures on the earth are concerned, man is the most honoured of the creatures. However some creatures in the heavens may be such as may have some sort of more exaltation than man, as from certain aspects angels have superiority over man, but from some other aspects man has been granted this exaltation that he has been made the object of deep veneration by the angels.

In other words the matter of exaltation between man and angels is not of total exaltation of the one over the other, but of exaltation of one from a few aspects and vice versa. Then this exaltation is according to man’s creation, his energies and capabilities. His real worth will be determined on the Day of Judgment when the result of his deeds and misdeeds will be declared. Therefore, we should not indulge in the debate as to who is superior, angels or man, but that our concern should be that in what way we can make ourselves worthy of the exaltation bestowed on us by Allah. Otherwise as a consequence of his incapability and ingratitude man can reach the nadir of his lowness (Asfalus safileen).