the jinn corrupted it and shed blood, whereas we were only sent against them for that reason. So He said: {Indeed, I know that which you do not know}, saying: I have become aware of what you have not become aware of in Iblīs's heart, regarding his pride and delusion. He said: Then He commanded the dust of Adam to be taken up, so Allah created Adam from sticky clay — and lāzib means sticky and solid, from altered, foul-smelling mud. He said: It became altered mud only after being dust. He said: So He created Adam from it with His Hand. He said: So he remained a cast-aside body for forty nights. Then Iblīs would come to him and strike him with his foot, and it would clatter — that is, make a sound. He said: That is the statement of Allah: {from dry clay like pottery} [Sūrat al-Raḥmān: 14]. He says: like a hollow object that is not solid (1). He said: Then he would enter through his mouth and come out of his rear, and enter from his rear and come out of his mouth, and then say: 'You are nothing!' — to the clattering body — 'and for some purpose you were created! If I am given power over you, I will surely destroy you; and if you are given power over me, I will surely disobey you.' He said: So when Allah blew into him of His spirit, the blowing came from the direction of his head, and no part of it flowed through his body without turning into flesh and blood. When the blowing reached his navel, he looked at his body and was pleased with the beauty he saw, so he went to stand up but was unable to — and that is the statement of Allah: {and man was ever hasty} [Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: 11]. He said: impatient, having no patience in ease or adversity. He said: So when the blowing was completed throughout his body, he sneezed, so he said: 'Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds,' by inspiration from Allah the Exalted. So Allah said to him: 'May Allah have mercy on you, O Adam.' He said: Then Allah said specifically to the angels who were with Iblīs, to the exclusion of the angels in the heavens: 'Prostrate to Adam.' So they all prostrated together, except Iblīs; he refused and acted proudly, because of the pride and delusion he had harbored within himself. So he said: 'I will not prostrate to him; I am better than him, older in age, and stronger in creation. You created me from fire and created him from clay' — he means: indeed fire is stronger than clay. He said: So when Iblīs refused to prostrate, Allah despaired him — that is, made him despair of all good (2) — and made him an accursed devil as a punishment for his disobedience. Then He taught Adam all the names, which are these names by which people know things: human, beast, land, plain, sea, mountain, donkey, and the like among nations and other things. Then He presented these names to those angels — meaning the angels who were with Iblīs, who were created from scorching fire — and He said to them: '{Inform Me of the names of these}' — He says: Tell Me the names of these — '{if you are truthful}', if you know that I should not place a successor on earth (3). He said: So when the angels realized Allah's reckoning against them regarding their speaking about the knowledge of the unseen, which none knows except Him, and of which they had no knowledge, they said: '{Glory be to You}' — exalting Allah above anyone knowing the unseen other than Him — 'we repent to You, {we have no knowledge except what You have taught us}' — absolving themselves of knowledge of the unseen, except what You have taught us, just as You taught Adam. So He said: '{O Adam, inform them of their names}' — He says: Tell them their names. So when he informed them of their names, He said: '{Did I not tell you}' — O specific angels in particular — '{that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth}', and none knows it besides Me, '{and I know what you reveal}' — He says: what you make public — '{and what you were concealing}' — He says: I know the secret just as I know the open, meaning what Iblīs concealed within himself of pride and delusion (4).