Surah Al-Kahf 18:50-53 - Quran Translation Commentary

50. And (remember)when we said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves before Adam,” all prostrated themselves except Iblees.⁷² He was of the jinn,⁷³ so he rebelled against his Lord’s command. Do you then take him and his offsprings⁷⁴ as your saviours instead of Me, even when they are your enemies? What an evil substitute for the wrong doers! ⁷⁵

51. did not call them to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor their own creation; nor did I take those who mislead as helpers.⁷⁶

52. And the Day when he will say: “Call those whom you claimed to be My partners.” They will invoke them, but they will not answer them, and We will create a gulf of destruction between them.⁷⁷

53. And the guilty will behold the Fire and will know that they are about to fall therein. They will find no way of escape from it.

Commentary

72. This has been explained in Notes Nos. 47 and 48 in Surah Baqarah. Here a mention of the chronicle of Adam and Iblees is with a view to manifesting that Satan is the sternest enemy of mankind from the very first day, and he does not want that man should succeed in his test in this world and be deserving of the Paradise in the Hereafter. For this very reason he attempts to make men polytheists so that they may not make the Hereafter as their goal.

73. This ayah clarifies that Iblees or Satan was from the race of Jinns, therefore, all those narratives which state that he was of the angels must be refuted. Ibn Katheer has rightly remarked that in this connection most of the narratives are copied from the Israili narratives and some of them are absolutely false. (See Tafseer Ibn Katheer, Vol. III, page 89). The attribute of the angels as stated by Qur’an is that they never disobey Allah’s command. Since Iblees was a Jinn, and was therefore, like mankind could choose his conduct, and he chose to disobey God.

74. It is elicited that Iblees has his progeny and full tribe.

75. The polytheists, instead of believing in the real God as the one and only God, give the place of God to Satan. Thus they make Satan as their god. What a bad substitute for God which the wrongdoers have chosen for themselves.

So far as the existence of Satan is concerned, Qur’an presents him as having a personal (physical) existence, and as a purposefully misguiding and evil-spreading being, therefore, to interpret him to be merely the name of evil (abstract) and that he has no personal existence is against the contention of Qur’an. Both Adam and Hawwa (Eve) had to deal with Satan, therefore, his concept has come to mankind from one generation to the following generation, and the prophets have also been preaching against the evil of Satan, therefore, his personal existence has been accepted by men, and the polytheists of Arabia also did not deny his existence. And its open proof is that a very large majority of humanity has always been involved in evil, as is clear from the history and as we are seeing it today. The involvement of such a very large number of people in every period in evil acts and to be ever ready to act in an evil manner clearly shows that external sources are prompting men to do evil and this prompting force is man’s enemy, which is not a blind force but a wily and scheming force, ever trying to trap men.

Who is a greater wrong-doer than the man who, when reminded of his Lord’s revelations, turns away from them and forgets his past misdeeds? We have placed veils over their hearts so that they may not understand, and made them hard of hearing. Call them as you to the right path, they will never be guided. (Al-Quran)

76. The polytheists of Arabia make the devils their masters in this sense that first they give the reins of their souls in their hands and act, according to their bidding, and secondly in this sense that thinking them to be partners in godhood worship them to avert their displeasure, so that they may be pleased with them and their troubles may be warded off. Thus they had ascribed partnership with God to the satans. Reproaching them on this, it is here stated that what is the propriety of joining devils in the matter of obedience and worship of the true God, when these false gods have no say in godhood. They have neither played any part in the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor in their own creation; God had never called them for his assistance. First of all this very idea is foolish that Allah called someone for His help, and it is a greatest foolishness to think He chose the devils as His helpers. In other words, when Allah had to choose helpers for managing His kingdom, He chose the misguiding devils as His partners! May God give us refuge from such a blasphemy!

77. That is: On the Day of Judgment these polytheists will be asked to call for their help those whom they had imagined to be Allah’s partners and had made them as their masters and saviours the polytheists will then call them, but they would not answer. Between the two will be created a gulf of destruction so that the worshippers would not be able to reach their false gods nor these deities would come to the help of their worshippers.