Tafsir of Sad 38:75

If you ask: What is the meaning of His saying, "I created with My two hands"?

I say: We have previously established that one who possesses two hands performs most of their actions with them. Thus, the act of "working with two hands" became a metaphor for all actions performed by any means. It is said of a heart’s labor: "This is what your two hands have wrought." It is said to one who has no hands: "Your two hands tied the knot, and your mouth blew the breath." Eventually, there remained no difference between saying, "This is what I made," and "This is what my two hands made." From this is His saying (Exalted is He): "From what Our hands have wrought" (Ya-Sin: 71), and "what I created with My two hands."

If you ask: What is the meaning of His saying, "What prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My two hands?" (Sad: 75)?

I say: The reason Iblis rejected prostrating to Adam and felt disdain for it was that he considered it a prostration to a created being. He became self-important and too proud to prostrate to anyone other than the Creator. Added to this was the fact that Adam was created from clay, while he was created from fire. He saw fire as superior to clay, so he deemed it too great a thing to prostrate to a creature he considered inferior in status.

He failed to realize that when Allah (Subhanahu) commanded the most honored and closest of His servants—the angels—to prostrate, they were more entitled than anyone else to feel self-important, to avoid humbling themselves before a lowly human, and to disdain prostration. Yet, they did not do so. They followed Allah’s command, kept it before their eyes, and did not look at the disparity between the prostrator and the one prostrated to, out of reverence for their Lord’s command and glorification of His address.

Since Iblis was lower in rank than the angels, he was more obligated to follow their example and trace their footsteps. He should have known that their prostration to one lower than them, by Allah’s command, was a deeper form of worship than their prostration to Him, for it involved casting aside pride and lowering the wing of humility.

Therefore, it was said to him: "What prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My two hands?" That is: What prevented you from prostrating to something that is—as you say—a creature I created with My two hands? There is no doubt it is a creature, yet you should have prostrated in compliance with My command and in reverence for My address, just as the angels did.

He was reminded of his failure to prostrate alongside the very reason he clung to for that failure. It is as if he were told: "Why did you abandon the command despite this reason?" Meaning: You should have considered Allah’s command, not this reason.

An analogy: A king commands his minister to visit a lowly servant. The minister refuses, citing the servant's low status. The king says, "What prevented you from humbling yourself to one whose low status is not hidden from me?" He means: "Why did you not consider my command and address, and ignore his low status?"

Furthermore, "I created him with My two hands" implies: "I know his state better than you, and despite that, I commanded the angels to prostrate to him for a wisdom that compelled Me to do so—bestowing upon him noble honor and testing the angels. Who are you to be diverted from prostrating to him by something that did not divert Me from commanding you to prostrate to him?"

It is also said: "What I created with My two hands" means what I created without an intermediary.

Regarding "the exalted" (al-'alin): It means those who are higher and superior. Iblis answered that he was among the exalted, saying, "I am better than him."

Regarding "Have you become arrogant?": It asks whether he has become arrogant now, or if he has always been among the arrogant since his creation. The interrogative particle (hamza) is for confirmation.

Regarding his claim: "You created me from fire," this is an argument of priority: "If he were created from fire, I would not have prostrated to him, for he would be a creature like me. How then can I prostrate to one who is lower than me, for he is of clay, and fire overcomes and consumes clay?" The second sentence ("You created me from fire") functions as an explanatory clause (bayan) for the first, clarifying and elucidating it.