سورة الأعراف

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): Allah created Adam (peace be upon him), and he remained for forty years as a fashioned figure. Iblis the accursed would pass by him and say: "He has been created for some purpose." Imam Musa ibn Ja'far (peace be upon him) said: Iblis said: "By Allah! If Allah commands me to prostrate to him, I will surely disobey Him." He said: Then the spirit was breathed into him. When the spirit in his body reached his brain, he sneezed and said: "الحَمْدُ لِله [Praise be to Allah]." Allah said to him: "یَرْحَمُکَ اللهُ [May Allah have mercy on you]." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "So mercy from Allah went before him. Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said to the angels: اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ [Prostrate to Adam], and they prostrated to him. Iblis brought out the envy that was in his heart and refused to prostrate. Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: ما مَنَعَکَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُکَ [What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?] He said: قالَ أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him; You created me from fire and You created him from clay]." Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "The first one to use analogy (qiyas) and behave arrogantly was Iblis, and arrogance was the first sin and disobedience by which Allah was disobeyed." He said: Then Iblis said: "O Lord, excuse me from prostrating to Adam, and I will worship You in such a manner that no near angel and no sent prophet has ever worshipped You." So Allah said: "I have no need of your worship. I wish to be worshipped in the manner I love, not in the manner you wish." So Satan refused to prostrate. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said: Get out of the heavens [and the ranks of the angels], for you are driven from My presence! And surely My curse shall be upon you until the Day of Judgement!

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): It is not permissible for anyone to speak about the religion of Allah by his own opinion, or to employ analogy (qiyas) in it. Woe to the people of such speech, who say: "This matter is subject to analogy and that one is not." The first one to use analogy was Iblis the accursed, when he said: "I am better than him; You created me from fire and You created him from clay." He was deluded by himself and committed shirk (associating partners with Allah), and said: "Fire is more valuable than clay," and he opened the door of analogy [and concluded] that the greater does not prostrate to the lesser, and for this reason he was cursed and became a driven-away Satan. Had analogy been permissible, every one who employed analogy would err within the limits of his own capacity [in analogy] [because each person's scope of knowledge differs from another's, and he applies analogy only within that scope]; but when analogy is that by which religion is completed, then there is no blame upon the people of analogy. The affair of the Children of Israel remained balanced and correct until their small children grew up [and a next generation arose] and adopted the way of opinion (ra'y) and analogy, abandoned the sunan (traditions) of the prophets (peace be upon them), went astray, and led people astray.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Mu'alla ibn Muhammad narrates from some of our companions: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: The first to apply qiyas (analogical reasoning) was Iblis, who said: "You created me from fire and created him from clay," and had Iblis known what Allah had placed in Adam, he would not have boasted over him. Then he said: Allah created the angels from light, and created the jann from fire, and created the jinn — a class of the jann — from wind, and a class of the jinn from water, and created Adam from the surface of the earth and clay. Then He set flowing in Adam (peace be upon him) light, fire, wind and water: by the light he sees, thinks and understands; by the fire he eats and drinks — for if fire were not in the stomach, the stomach would not grind food; and if wind were not within the human being, the fire of the stomach would blaze up [or: would cause it to blaze up]; and if water were not within the son of Adam to extinguish the heat of the stomach's fire, the fire would burn his insides. So Allah gathered these five substances in Adam (peace be upon him), and in Iblis there was only one of them, and by that he boasted.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Indeed Iblis compared himself with Adam (peace be upon him) and said: خَلَقْتَنِی مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِینٍ [You created me from fire and created him from clay], and had he compared the substance from which Allah the Mighty and Majestic created Adam (peace be upon him) with fire, he would have reached the conclusion that the light and radiance of that substance is greater than fire.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The angels were commanded to prostrate before Adam (peace be upon him), and this prostration was in honour of Adam (peace be upon him) and in worship of Allah — and it is Allah's right to be worshipped. But Iblis the transgressor disobeyed the command of his Lord. Allah said: "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?" He said: "I am better than him." Allah said: "Truly I have favoured him over you, since I have granted excellence and superiority to the five, and you shall have no dominion or power over them nor over their Shia [and followers]. That is why the accursed one made this exception in his speech and said: [I will lead them all astray] إِلَّا عِبادَکَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِینَ [except Your chosen servants among them]. (Hijr/40) Allah said: "You shall have no dominion or authority over My servants" — [meaning the Shia].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Zurara said: I said to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): "May I be your ransom, why did Iblis deserve from Allah what He bestowed upon him?" He said: "On account of some of the deeds he had done, for which Allah thanked him." I said: "May I be your ransom, what had he done?" He said: "He prayed two rak'ats in the heavens for four thousand years."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Whoever compares any part of the religion by his own opinion, Allah, Blessed and Exalted, will couple him with Iblis in the Fire, for he was the first to apply qiyas when he said: خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [You created me from fire and created him from clay]. So abandon opinion and qiyas, for the religion of Allah the Glorified was not established upon qiyas."

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): If the source of rulings in religion were analogy (qiyas), the sole of the foot would be more fitting for wiping than its upper surface. Allah the Exalted, relating the words of Iblis based on analogy, says: أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نَارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him: You created me from fire and You created him from clay], and Allah the Glorified rebukes him because he did not understand what the [difference] between the two is. And the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and the Imams (peace be upon them) also condemned analogy, some of them inheriting this from the others, and their close followers also narrate it from them.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Isa ibn Abdullah al-Qurashi said: Abu Hanifa came to Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him), and the Imam said to him: "O Abu Hanifa! I have been told that you practise qiyas (analogy)." He said: "Yes." He said: "Do not practise qiyas, for the first one who practised qiyas was Iblis, when he said: خَلَقْتَنِی مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِینٍ [You created me from fire and You created him from clay], and he compared fire with clay. Had he compared the luminosity of Adam (peace be upon him) with the luminosity of fire, he would have perceived the superiority, distance and difference between these two lights, and the purity of one of them over the other."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abu Zuhayr ibn Shabib ibn Anas narrates from some of his companions: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: O Abu Hanifa, the first one who practised qiyas (analogy) was the accursed Satan, who applied qiyas to Allah and said: أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him: You created me from fire and You created him from clay]. Abu Hanifa fell silent [and had no answer to give].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said to Abu Hanifa, who had come to him: "O Nu'man! If regarding a ruling you find neither a text from the Quran nor a narration from the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family), what do you do? [On what basis do you give a fatwa?]" Abu Hanifa replied: "I determine its ruling by analogy (qiyas) with another ruling." The Imam (peace be upon him) said to him: "The first one who used analogy was Iblis, and he erred. Allah commanded him to prostrate before Adam. He said: أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him; You created me from fire and created him from clay], and he supposed that the element of fire is superior to clay, and this very analogy caused him to be eternally in a humiliating punishment."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The angels supposed that Iblis was one of them, but Allah the Mighty and Majestic knew that he was not one of them. So Allah the Mighty and Majestic brought out his bigotry, and Iblis said: خَلَقْتَنِی مِن نَّارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِینٍ [You created me from fire and created him from clay].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): The commands of Allah cannot be based on analogy, and whoever bases Allah's commands on analogy and acts according to opinion and analogy, besides destroying himself, sometimes becomes the cause of destroying others as well. And the first one who [after the creation of Adam (peace be upon him)] disobeyed Allah and displayed egoism and analogy was the accursed Satan, when Allah the Exalted commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam (peace be upon him), the father of mankind — all of them prostrated except Satan. Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: ما مَنَعَکَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُکَ قالَ أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? He said: I am better than him; You created me from fire and created him from clay]. His first display of disbelief was that he said: I am better [in terms of the substance of creation], and then he made an analogy and said: You created me from fire and Adam (peace be upon him) from dust. [For this reason] Allah expelled him from the vicinity of His mercy, cursed him, and named him Rajim (the accursed). Then He swore by His might that whoever uses analogy in his religion, He will make him a companion of Satan in the lowest depth of Hellfire."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Safwan al-Jammal said: I was in the presence of Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) when Isa ibn Mansur sought permission to enter. The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "O Isa! What have you to do with such-and-such person?! He does not love you." Isa said: "May my father and mother be your ransom! That person speaks our words and follows what we follow." The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "In him is the haughtiness and arrogance of Satan." Isa said: "May my father and mother be your ransom! Does Iblis not say: خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [You created me from fire and created him from clay]?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "And Allah has said: 'And share with them in wealth and children!' (al-Isra/64). Satan cohabits with the children of Adam." And [then] he placed his two fingers side by side.

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): In the book Tuhaf al-Uqul it is reported that Harun said: "Who was the first to turn to heresy and disbelief?" The Imam (peace be upon him) said: "The first to accept heresy in the heavens was the accursed Iblis, who acted arrogantly and boasted over Adam (peace be upon him), the chosen and elect of Allah, and said: أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him; You created me from fire and created him from clay]. He disobeyed the command of Allah and became a heretic, and this heresy passed as inheritance to his descendants until the Day of Resurrection."

Imam Kazim (peace be upon him): At that time Allah the Blessed and Exalted said to the angels: "Prostrate before Adam," so they prostrated before him, but Iblis brought out the envy that was in his heart and refused to prostrate. Allah the Exalted said: ما مَنَعَکَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُکَ فَقالَ أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? He said: I am better than him; You created me from fire and created him from clay]!

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Ishaq ibn Jarir says: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "What do your companions say about the words of Iblis: خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [You created me from fire and created him from clay]?" I said: "May I be your ransom! Allah has stated this in His Book." He said: "Satan lied! O Aba Ishaq! Allah did not create him from anything other than clay." Then he said: Allah has said: "He who produced for you fire from the green tree, so that with it you kindle a fire" (Ya-Sin/80). Allah created Satan from the fire of that tree, and the substance of the tree is clay."

The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): Ibn Sallam asked the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family): ... "Did Allah create Adam (peace be upon him) from all kinds of soil or from a single soil?" He said: "Indeed from all kinds of soil, and if he had been created from a single soil, people would not have recognised one another and would have had one form." He said: "Is there an example of this in the world?" He said: "Soil is white, and green, red, and dark, and red, and blue; it is sweet and salty, rough and soft, and creamy. That is why among people there is the soft and the rough, the white-skinned, the yellow-skinned, the red-skinned, the wheat-coloured and the black, corresponding to all the colours of the soil."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Abu Basir says: ... Tawus al-Yamani said: "What was the first lie that was told, and who was the one who told it?" Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: "It was Iblis, when he said: أَنَا خَیْرٌ مِنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِی مِنْ نارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِینٍ [I am better than him; You created me from fire and created him from clay]."