Islam As It Is
The Trial of Man
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THE TRIAL OF MAN
God created Adam, the first man. He commanded
the Angels and the genies (jinns), whom he had
created before Adam, to prostrate themselves before
him. The Angels hastened to obey this divine
commandment, but Satan, the chief of the genies,
held himself aloof and did not prostrate himself.
When God asked him to explain his, disobedience,
he replied, “I am better than him: You created me
from fire, while him you created from mud.”
(Quran, 7:12) Since Satan was ready to prostrate
himself before God, but not before Adam, he was
declared beyond the pale and sentenced to
everlasting damnation.
Clearly, in human relationships there are always
two main possible course of action: either to tread
the path of acknowledgement of the superiority of
others and to demonstrate our submission to
them—as shown by the Angels—or to assert our
own superiority over others, with the resulting
friction—as shown by Satan. To this day the sons of
Adam have to decide whether to side with the An-
gels, or to become the Devil’s comrades, saying of
