Answer
Salam Dear Reader,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
It is very essential to reflect on the stories that Allah Almighty narrates to us in the Noble Quran, and try to induce the immensely beneficial messages, meanings and wisdom that are there essentially for our guidance. Allah Almighty says:
“This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah” (Quran 2: 2)
So, Allah Almighty -the All-Wise,The Source of Wisdom- told us that this Book serves as guidance for those who seek to follow the right path and seek to deeply connect with their Creator Allah Exalted be He.
Allah says:
“[This is] a blessed Book which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that they might reflect upon its verses and that those of understanding would be reminded.” (Quran 38: 29)
Now, the story of Iblees, which we see in Surat Al Baqarah (chapter 2: verses 30-39) and in several other locations in the Quran, carry tremendous lessons that are essential in understanding our life and understanding the human condition in many cases.
How is that?
We read in Surat Al Baqarah that The Creator Allah Almighty created Adam (father of mankind) and He ordered the angels to prostrate to him.
“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)
We note here that the main reasons of Iblees’s disbelief and misguidance are him rejecting to follow the command of Allah, and him being arrogant as he didn’t even give Allah Almighty the benefit of the doubt that He might have a major wisdom behind His command.
Mind you, the angels too had questions about the creation of Adam. The angels are noble creations made of light and they are humbly submissive to Allah Almighty, never disobey Him and are truly in awe of Allah’s Grandeur, Might and Power. Their entire existence is in obedient, loving servitude of Allah Almighty.
When they were informed that this new creation, Adam, would cause corruption and be disobedient to Allah at times, they -being so dutiful to Allah- asked how it’s allowed for this creation to ever disobey Allah The All Powerful The King of kings.
Their question was not made out of doubt of Allah or lack of faith in Him, rather, it was out of their true respect, humbleness and obedience to Him… so much so, that they couldn’t even fathom that someone could not spend their life in humble servitude of Allah Almighty as He rightly deserves, Him being the Creator of all existence, The Source of Life.
Then, Allah Almighty told them that He knows what they don’t know and He knows the seen and unseen. They then witnessed how Allah taught Adam meanings that they never knew and never would have known, and that was the purpose of Adam’s creation!
He would be a created being that learns so much about Allah, be tested and prove sincere love, dedication and commitment to Allah DESPITE major temptations and DESPITE being given the means not to do so.
It is one thing to obey when you don’t have other options or inclinations (like the angels), and it’s another to obey while you’re surrounded with temptations and while you’re battling and struggling to believe and surrender to the unseen. This is what makes Adam (and mankind’s) faith so honorable and worthy in the sight of Allah Almighty.
The human experience is indeed a very honorable, rich one that includes quite a special, deeply meaningful bond with the Creator, and this won’t be easy, it would be heavy at times…but the rewards of Allah and the connection with Him make it incomparably worthwhile and utterly priceless.
Now, Iblees had a different scenario which we must pay attention to.
Unlike the angels who asked Allah out of love, honor, faith and humbleness to Him, Iblees completely rejected the order of Allah, not even allowing himself the chance to see Allah’s absolute wisdom in what He does.
The angels had faith in that whatever Allah does is out of wisdom since HE is the All Wise the Source of Wisdom. Iblees’s lack of faith was apparent when He questioned Allah, doubted His Wisdom and became arrogant as to not even allowing himself to be patient, or see the message that Allah has in what He does.
His rejection of obeying Allah, his lack of faith and arrogance led to his major disbelief.
So, Iblees’ disbelief is not about him being an atheist or being unsure of the existence of God. No, he knew very well that God exists. He just, out of arrogance, rejected Him, His commands and had major bad assumptions of Allah Almighty The Most Merciful The Most Wise.
Now, how does this apply to us?
Many of us seem to follow the footsteps of Iblees.
Sometimes we would reject doing a fardh or a command of Allah, thinking that it’s unnecessary or that “it doesn’t make sense”, or that “it’s not convincing”.
The problem here is that by doing that,we 1) doubt the fact that Allah is the All Wise and that He has a point in whatever He asks of us and that it will be in our benefit in this life and the next 2) act arrogantly and refuse to allow ourselves the chance to learn from Allah what He wants to teach us and connect with Him on a deeply meaningful level, which is the purpose of our creation.
A story that summarizes this concept is the story of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his wife Hajar.
Allah ordered Ibrahim to take his wife and little child to a valley that was deserted. There were no people, no food or drink there. He was then ordered to leave them there.
If this situation happened to some people they would say, “Why would God ask someone to leave his wife and crying little child is a deserted area? That’s no fair. That’s not a convincing rational thing to do? What’s the point? Why would Allah ask them to do that? That’s not merciful.”
This is what Iblees and anyone who thinks like him would say.
But this is not what Hajar did!
When Ibrahim left her she went after him and asked: “Has Allah commanded you to do so?” He said: “Yes.” She said: “Then He will not neglect us.” [Al Bukhari]
She had major faith in Allah and good expectations of Him.
She asked whether something is directly a command of Allah, because if it was, then it definitely carries goodness for them since Allah is indeed The Most Merciful, the All Wise and He will never neglect His slaves!
She was patient, obeyed and tried her best in the situation she was in; going back and forth between the Safa and Marwa Mountains, until…..
“She saw an angel at the place of Zamzam, digging the earth with his heel (or with his wing), till water flowed out from that place. She started to make something like of a basin around it, using her hands in this way and began to fill her water- skin with water with her hands, and the water was flowing out until she had scooped some of it. Then she drank (water) and suckled her child. The angel said to her: ‘Do not be afraid of being neglected, for this is the site on which the House of Allah will be built by this boy and his father, and Allah will never let neglected His people.’ [Al Bukhari]
Not only did Allah help her, He gave her more than what she would have expected! This place that was deserted, became the place that the honorable House of Allah would be built. He brought water and life to a lifeless area, something that would exist until the day of judgement.
He made her faith and her efforts the foundations of a major pillar of Islam: Hajj. The journey she had between Safa and Marwa Mountains are until this day and until the day of judgement actions that all believers have to follow to complete the rituals of Hajj and Umrah.
This is an affirmation of what she said and what she thought of Allah: that He will never neglect them and that He must have a wisdom.
“…And incumbent upon Us was support of the believers” (Quran 30: 47)
Allah promises to always support his believers, even if situations seem difficult at first, even if they don’t make sense instantly, even if they take long to be resolved…. But the promise of Allah is true: He will always bring ease and He will show people His signs.
Those who reject and become arrogant, like Iblees, prevent themselves from experiencing such deep human experience of full reliance upon Allah Almighty and deep faith in Him.
But those who do what the angles and the Prophets do, they surely learn the wisdom of Allah eventually, get rewarded more than they would have ever expected, and they create an incomparably deep spiritual experience with their Creator Allah (SWT), that they take with them for eternity in Jannah—because that’s the place of those who are truly, genuinely and wholeheartedly faithful!
I hope this helps answer your question.
Salam and please keep in touch.