Creation & Evolution – Episode 7 of 9

{ وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ (30)} سورة البقرة

{When your Lord said to the angels, “I am appointing a viceroy [Khalifah – Deputy] in the earth”. They said “Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and shed blood in it, while we (are the ones who) commemorate Your Name and glorify You?” The Lord said, “I know that which you do not know”} Chapter 2:30

The answer of the angels {Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and shed blood in it} suggest their knowledge (as a matter of fact) that such destructive behavior is already taking place or took place on Earth. The early interpreters differed about: How the angels knew that this new creature or its offspring, will cause devastation on earth in a future time? We know that angels do not know the future, nor any body with this regard. Only God knowns the future.

Some interpreters said that the angels have asked God Almighty: What will be of this new creature? God told them that he – or his descendants – will commit corruption and shed blood in earth.

But this assumption could not be right, as God created people to build the earth and among them the good and the bad; God Almighty will not say about all human beings that they will be bad, the time He knows that there will be among them prophets, messengers, believers, faithful, devoted and nations that order the good deeds and forbid the bad.

In addition, the Almighty’s answer to them {I know that which you do not know} shows that He did not tell them anything about this caliph, because if they had asked Him and He answered them, they would have been informed what God knows. But they did not. The fact that God said to them: “I know what you do not know”, clearly shows that He did not tell them anything, because if He told them, they would have known.

Others said: narrated of Ibn Abbas, he said: “The first one who inhabited the Earth were the jinn, so they corrupted it and spilled blood in it, killing each other”. Also Narrated of Ibn Abbas: “The jinn misbehaved in the earth before the children of Adam, so the angels said so, as they compared these with those.” End of quote.

This explanation is also not correct because the verses do not at all provide any hints towards such a comparison. There is no mention of jinn in the story told in the verses. In addition, the comparison is not valid, because there is no relationship or similarity between humans and jinn. Also, most probable that jinn do not have blood to be spilled.

According to this assumption, on what the angels based their comparison? When they had never seen a Bashar before, nor knew anything about him. Rather, they did not know that the one standing in front of them is Al Bashar –the Man- that God told them about him before, in the verse 38:71: {When your Lord said to the angels I am going to create Bashar [Man] from clay (71) So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit, fall down, bowing before him (72)} Chapter 38.

If the angels knew that the one standing in front of them is Al Bashar, which God ordered them to bow to him, they would have bowed to him immediately, and they would not have said {Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and shed blood in it}. Of course they did not know him, and they did not compare him to the Jinn. In addition, the presence of the Jinn on Earth and their war with each other or with the Angels, none of this is mentioned or even hinted upon in any of the verses of the Quran, it is an imaginary story without any base of truth or have any relevance.

That is why we can say with confidence, the Angels did not ask God and God did not tell them, and the Angels did not compare Al Khalifah with al Jinn.

This brings us back to the question: How did the Angels knew that Al Khalifah, the one in front of them, are or well commit corruption and shed blood on Earth?

Rather, why do the angels say: {Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and sheds blood in it} and not: (Are You appointing in it the one who will commit corruption and shed blood in it) in the future, because this is what should be the case if they were talking about the sons and descendants of Adam, who did not exist yet at that time, that should be the case if they were talking about a future time involving the human being spreading war and evil on earth. But the verse we are reading is clear, the Angels did not use future tense, they used present tense.

It is worth mentioning here, that many translators translated what the angels said to be in the future tense, “who will commit corruption” the time the verse clearly stated that the Angels said these actions to be in the present tense.

So, the Angels said “Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and shed blood in it” all in present tense, why? Because the Angels can see on the earth people who looks exactly like the one who is standing in front of them, Al Khalifah. 

The people who were on earth at that time were Al Insan, they looked like Adam, they were already inhabiting the Earth, they were at war with each other, shedding blood of their own kind, and of other animals, destroying, devastating, as the verse described them { We have created Al Insan in the best [Taqweem]; Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low} Chapter 95/4 This Homo species is what the Angels saw on earth, before God selected Adam and made him complete, taught him the names (ability of using language), gave him conscious and made him Khalifah responsible for the Earth.

As we see, This was a natural response by the Angels based on their observation of what was actually happening at that time on earth, and for this reason the verbs “commits corruption and shed blood” were said in the present tense and not in a future tense, exactly as said in the verse.

Accordingly, we can understand the verses as follows:

{When your Lord said to the angels, “I am appointing a viceroy [Khalifah – Deputy] in the earth}. And Adam was standing in front of the Angels, the Angels saw that he is similar to the people who presently inhibit the earth, and who are involved in destroying earth and killing each other, although land is vast and plentiful, also these people do not worship God nor glorify Him. So the Angels said in bafflement {Are You appointing in it the one who commits corruption and shed blood in it, while we (are the ones who) commemorate Your Name and glorify You?” The Lord said, “I know that which you do not know” As God knows that this is Al Bashar who is chosen to take the responsibility of building and preserving Earth.

From the answer of the Angels, and from their astonishment, we conclude that there were people on earth contemporary with Adam, and they were living, marrying and propagating there. We knew that Adam was not the first human being (first Insan), there were many before him, we can say, Adam was the first Bashar, the first Homo sapiens to use language.

To Be Continued in the Next Episode.

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Creation & Evolution Episode 7 of 9