The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 392
CH. 15 AL-HIJR PT. 14 Lord said to the angels, "I am ringing clay, from black mud وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَكَةِ إِنِّي خَالِقٌ And remember when thy. 29 بَشَرًا مِنْ صَلْصَالٍ مِنْ حَمَا مَّسْنُونٍ about to create man from dry فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيْهِ مِنْ رُّوحِي So when I have fashioned. 30 فَقَعُوا لَهُ سَجِدِينَ wrought into shape; 1735 b him in perfection and have breathed into him of My Spirit, fall ye down in submission to him. '1736 7:13; 38:77; 55:15. 32:10; 38:73. 2:35; 7:12; 17:62; 18:51; 20:117. or chief of those who were the first to attain full development in this process of evolution. This surmise finds an interesting analogy in the fact that the science of geology has proved that the earth too was, at first, a mass of hot fire which later became transformed into a clayey shell. Finally, it may be noted that the popular belief that jinn, in the sense of invisible spirits, pay visits to men, play frolics with them, subject them to their control and take any kind of work they desire from them or, contrarily, help them to perform prodigious works etc. , is a mere myth which has no foundation in fact, being at the same time contrary to the teachings of the Quran. 1735. Commentary: In this verse by the word "angels" is meant the whole of creation, because angels constitute the first link of all creation and, as such, a command given to them really applies to the whole of creation. The verse purports to say that man has been given a sort of sovereignty or power over creation as a whole which has been made subservient to him; and angels have been bidden to bring about the results of human actions according as they are good or evil. In this respect the command is general. But when the command pertains to the time of a particular Prophet of God when a special Divine decree comes into operation, angels are bidden to help the Prophet of the day who, as it were, becomes the spiritual Adam of his time. Angels then help the Prophet against his opponents and render null all their schemes and machinations against him. In this connection it is significant that, whereas elsewhere the Quran speaks of the command of God to the angels to submit to "Adam," in the present and the following verses the word used is "man. " For an 1600 explanation of the words, from dry ringing clay, from black mud wrought into shape, see v. 27. 1736. Commentary: In the present verse the example of the man who, in the beginning of human civilized life, achieved moral