Living The Quran
From Issue: 618 [Read full issue]
Fire and Clay
Sad (Sad) - Chapter 38: Verse 76
"(Iblis) answered: "I am better than him. You have created me from fire and him, You have created from clay."
According to Iblis (Satan), honour and goodness lie in physical origin or matter. His attitude is typical of materialism and represents a lack of correct understanding. He saw only the material origin of humankind and ignored their spiritual dimension that originated in being breathed into out of God's Spirit.
Iblis also judged God's order according to his own knowledge and understanding, and opposed God's explicit order based on his own judgment. He demonstrated that, out of ignorance, he would fulfill God's orders only when they conformed to his desire or understanding, not because he believed all of these orders to be truths in themselves, and that they must be obeyed. So are those who act in the same way aware who it is that they follow, and whose pupils they are?
Compiled From:
"The Quran: Annotated Interpretation in Modern English" - Ali Unal, pp. 943