Tafsir Zone - Surah 7: al-A`raf (The Elevated Places)

Tafsir Zone

Surah al-A`raf 7:18
 

Overview (Verse 18)

The sūrah here does not state clearly that any permission has been given to Iblīs to put his threat into effect. At least not in the same way as it clearly states that his request to be given respite has been granted. Rather, we are not told the result of that threat. But we are informed of Iblīs’s humiliating expulsion and that he had fallen completely from grace. Furthermore, the sūrah tells us that God has warned that He will fill hell with Iblīs’s offspring and all those human beings who follow him into error: “[God] said: ‘Get out of here, despised, disgraced. As for those of them that follow you, I shall fill Hell with you all.’” (Verse 18)

His followers among human beings may simply follow him in his knowledge of God and his belief that God is the supreme deity and overall Lord, but they may, nevertheless, reject God’s sovereignty and legislative authority. They may follow Iblīs in claiming that they have discretion to look into God’s orders and to determine whether to implement them or not. On the other hand, Iblīs’s human followers may simply follow his footsteps and thus they are turned away from guidance altogether. Both situations represent following Iblīs and both earn hell as a reward.

God has granted Iblīs and his offspring the chance to lead people away from the right path. He has also given Adam and human beings in general the freedom of choice so that He can put them to the test. It is this choice which makes man a special type of creation: he belongs neither to the realm of angels who obey God in all situations nor to the world of satans who disobey Him all the time. Man has a totally different role to play.