Conversations: Angels' Concern When Adam is Created!

In the Name of God, the most Compassionate and the most Merciful!

Insha'Allah, I will presenting a new series - Conversations from the Quran. Sometimes, this conversation would be between Allah and a person, and sometimes between people.

Today's conversation is between Allah and the Angels when Allah announced the creation of Adam. It is one of my favorites. By reading this conversation, I am reminded of the trepidation in the Angels when a human was being created. This conversation also serves as a reminder on how we, as humans, have to prove the Angels' initial fear about us, wrong.

Here is how the conversation goes:

And [mention, O Muḥammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection?" He [Allāh] said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know." [Quran 2:30]

And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful." [Quran 2:31]

They said, "Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise." [Quran 2:32]

He said, "O Adam, inform them of their names." And when he had informed them of their names, He said, "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed." [Quran 2:33]

And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam"; so they prostrated, except for Iblees. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers. [Quran 2:34]

When Allah announced to the Angels that He was going to place a Human as a Khalifa - Vicegerent of God on Earth - their initial reaction was that of much concern. The Angels were not protesting since they don't possess free will (to do so) however they were really inquisitive about why Allah would create someone capable of much harm. A Human were to create Fitnah (corruption) and shed blood while the Angels would only praise their Lord. At this point, Allah through a scheme showed to the Angels how Adam could have comprehensive knowledge about a subject. Thus, a Human has been given intellect and knowledge that can be used to cause much good. In the end, the Angels bowed to Adam while Iblees didn't. [Reference: Maududi]

Reminder to myself: The Angels were onto something when they mentioned their reservation about us, the Fallible Humans, to Allah. Insha'Allah lets be reminded from this conversation that a) we are Viceroys of Allah on earth and 2) we have the capacity to Harm as the Angels mentioned but we have more capacity to Dispel Beneficial Knowledge.