Tafsir at-Tabari: Jami' al-Bayan - Dar al-Tarbiyah wa al-Turath Edition

Volume 1 · Page 455

Translation · EN

AI translation

God became aware of that from him, so God said to the angels: "I am placing a vicegerent on the earth." They said: "Our Lord, what will that vicegerent be?" He said: "He will have offspring who will cause corruption on the earth, envy one another, and kill one another." They said: "Our Lord, {'Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?' He said, 'Indeed, I know that which you do not know'}" — meaning, regarding the matter of Iblīs. So He sent Gabriel to the earth to bring Him some of its clay. But the earth said: "I seek refuge in God from you reducing me or disfiguring me." So he returned without taking any, and said: "My Lord, it sought refuge in You, so I granted it refuge." Then God sent Michael, and it sought refuge from him, so he granted it refuge, returned, and said as Gabriel had said. Then He sent the Angel of Death, and it sought refuge from him, but he said: "And I seek refuge in God from returning without carrying out His command." So he took from the surface of the earth, mixing it up and not taking from a single place; he took from red, white, and black soil, and for that reason the children of Adam came out varied. He ascended with it and moistened the dust until it turned into sticky clay — and "sticky" (lāzib) means that which sticks to itself — then it was left until it stank and altered (1). That is when He says: {from altered black mud} [Surah al-Ḥijr: 28]. He said: stinking. Then He said to the angels: {Indeed, I am creating a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My spirit, then fall down to him in prostration} [Surah Ṣād: 71-72]. God created him with His two hands so that Iblīs would not act arrogantly toward him, so that He could say to him: "Do you act arrogantly toward what I created with My two hands when I Myself did not refrain from creating him?" So He created him as a human being, and he remained a body of clay for forty years according to the measure of Friday. The angels passed by him and were terrified when they saw him, and the most terrified among them was Iblīs. He used to pass by him and strike him, making the body produce a sound like pottery does, having a ringing sound. That is when He says: {from dry clay like pottery} [Surah al-Raḥmān: 14]. And he would say: "You were created for a purpose!" He entered through his mouth and came out of his rear, and said to the angels: "Do not be afraid of this, for your Lord is Eternal (Ṣamad) and this is hollow (2). If I am given power over him, I will surely destroy him." When the time arrived that God, exalted be His praise, willed to breathe the spirit into him, He said to the angels: "When I breathe into him of My spirit, fall down to him in prostration." So when He breathed the spirit into him and the spirit entered his head, he sneezed. The angels said to him: "Say: Praise be to God." So he said: "Praise be to God," and God said to him: "Your Lord has had mercy on you." When the spirit entered his eyes, he looked at the fruits of Paradise. When it entered his belly, he craved food, so he leaped hastily toward the fruits of Paradise before the spirit reached his feet. That is when He says: {Man was created of haste} [Surah al-Anbiyāʾ: 37]. So the angels prostrated, all of them together, except Iblīs; he refused to be among those who prostrate — that is, he acted arrogantly (3) — and was among the disbelievers. God said to him: "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you to that which I created with My two hands?" He said: "I am better than him; I would not prostrate to a human being whom You created from clay." God said to him: "Get out of it, for it is not for you — meaning, it is not fitting for you — to be arrogant in it. So get out, indeed you are of the humiliated ones" — and humiliation (ṣaghār) is disgrace. He said: And He taught Adam the names of all things, then displayed the creation to the angels and said: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful that the children of Adam will cause corruption on earth and shed blood." They said to Him: {Exalted are You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who are the Knowing, the Wise}. God said: "O Adam, inform them of their names." When he had informed them of their names, He said: "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you have been concealing?" He said: Their statement, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein," that is what they revealed; and "I know what you have been concealing" refers to the arrogance that Iblīs concealed within himself (4).

Notes

(1) In the printed edition: "when it stank" (ḥīna antana), but the correct reading is "until it stank" (ḥattā antana), as in the History (Tārīkh) of al-Ṭabarī and the Tafsir of Ibn Kathīr—as shown in its documentation.
(2) Al-Ṣamad here: It is that which has no interior, and al-muṣmad and al-muṣmat are one and the same. See what preceded on p. 456, footnote 1.
(3) In the printed edition: "he refused and was arrogant" (abā wa-stakbara), which is a distortion.
(4) Report 607: Al-Ṭabarī narrated a portion of it in his History (Tārīkh) 10:41-42 with this chain of transmission, another portion in 1:43, a third in 1:45-46, a fourth in 1:47, a fifth in 1:47-48, and a sixth in 1:50. Parts of it are in al-Suyūṭī 1:45-47 and al-Shawkānī 1:50. The defect of this chain of transmission was discussed in 168, as well as al-Ṭabarī's own view regarding it on p. 452, stating that he harbored doubts about it. Ibn Kathīr cited it in full in 1:137-138 and then said: "This chain of transmission to these Companions is well-known in the Tafsir of al-Suddī, and many Judeo-Christian traditions (Isrāʾīliyyāt) occur in it. Perhaps some of them are interpolated, not from the speech of the Companions, or they took them from some earlier books; and God knows best. Al-Ḥākim narrates in his Mustadrak, with this very chain of transmission, various reports, saying: 'According to the condition of al-Bukhārī!'"

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Arabic (Source)

اطلع الله على ذلك منه، فقال الله للملائكة:"إني جاعل في الأرض خليفة". قالوا: ربنا، وما يكون ذلك الخليفة؟ قال: يكون له ذرّية يفسدون في الأرض ويتحاسدون ويقتل بعضهم بعضًا. قالوا: ربنا،"أتجعل فيها من يُفسد فيها ويسفك الدماء ونحنُ نسبِّح بحمدك ونُقدّس لك قال إني أعلم ما لا تعلمون". يعني من شأن إبليس. فبعث جبريلَ إلى الأرض ليأتيه بطين منها فقالت الأرض: إني أعوذ بالله منك أن تنقُص مني أو تشينني. فرجع، ولم يأخذ. وقال: ربِّ إنها عاذت بك فأعذْتُها. فبعث الله ميكائيل، فعاذَت منه، فأعاذها، فرجع فقال كما قال جبريل. فبعث مَلَك الموت فعاذت منه، فقال: وأنا أعوذ بالله أن أرجع ولم أنفذ أمره. فأخذ من وجه الأرض، وخَلَط فلم يأخذ من مكان واحد، وأخذ من تُرْبة حمراء وبيضاء وسوداء، فلذلك خرج بنو آدم مختلفين. فصَعِد به، فبلّ التراب حتى عاد طينًا لازبًا -واللازبُ: هو الذي يلتزق بعضه ببعض- ثم ترك حتى أنتن وتغير (١) . وذلك حين يقول: (مِنْ حَمَإٍ مَسْنُونٍ) [سورة الحجر: ٢٨] . قال: منتن - ثم قال للملائكة: (إِنِّي خَالِقٌ بَشَرًا مِنْ طِينٍ فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِنْ رُوحِي فَقَعُوا لَهُ سَاجِدِينَ) [سورة ص: ٧١-٧٢] . فخلقه الله بيديه لكيلا يتكبر إبليس عنه، ليقول له: تتكبر عما عملت بيديّ، ولم أتكبر أنا عنه؟ فخلقه بشرًا، فكان جسدًا من طين أربعين سنة من مقدار يوم الجمعة: فمرت به الملائكة ففزعوا منه لما رأوه. وكان أشدّهم منه فزعًا إبليس، فكان يمر به فيضربه فيصوّت الجسدُ كما يصوّت الفخار وتكون له صلصلة، فذلك حين يقول: (مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ) [سورة الرحمن: ١٤] ويقول لأمر ما خُلقت! ودخل من فيه فخرج من دُبُره. فقال للملائكة: لا ترهبوا من هذا، فإنّ ربكم صَمَدٌ وهذا أجوف (٢) . لئن سُلطت عليه لأهلكنّه. فلما بلغ الحين الذي يريد الله جل ثناؤه أن ينفخ فيه الروح، قال للملائكة: إذا نفختُ فيه من رُوحي فاسجدوا له. فلما نفخ فيه الرّوح فدخل الروح في رأسه عَطَس، فقالت له الملائكة: قل الحمدُ لله. فقال: الحمد لله، فقال له الله: رحمك ربُّك. فلما دخل الروح في عينيه نظر إلى ثمار الجنة. فلما دخل في جوفه اشتهى الطعامَ، فوَثب قبل أن تبلغ الروح رجليه عَجْلانَ إلى ثمار الجنة، فذلك حين يقول: (خُلِقَ الإنْسَانُ مِنْ عَجَلٍ) [سورة الأنبياء: ٣٧] . فسجد الملائكة كلهم أجمعون إلا إبليس أبى أن يكون مع الساجدين -أي استكبرَ (٣) - وكان من الكافرين. قال الله له: ما منعك أن تسجد إذ أمرتك لِما خلقتُ بيديّ؟ قال: أنا خير منه، لم أكن لأسجدَ لبشر خلقته من طين. قال الله له: أخرج منها فما يكون لك -يعني ما ينبغي لك- أن تتكبر فيها، فاخرج إنك من الصاغرين - والصَّغار: هو الذل -. قال: وعلَّم آدم الأسماء كلها، ثم عرض الخلق على الملائكة، فقال: أنبئوني بأسماء هؤلاء إن كنتم صادقين أنّ بني آدم يُفسدون في الأرض ويسفكون الدماء. فقالوا له: سبحانك لا علم لنا إلا ما علَّمتنا إنك أنتَ العليم الحكيم. قال الله: يا آدم أنبئهم بأسمائهم، فلما أنبأهم بأسمائهم قال: ألم أقل لكم إني أعلم غيب السموات والأرض وأعلم ما تبدون وما كنتم تكتمون. قال قولهم:"أتجعل فيها من يفسد فيها"، فهذا الذي أبدَوْا،"وأعلم ما كنتم تكتمون"، يعني ما أسر إبليس في نفسه من الكبر (٤) .