Verse 35

7:14,19; 38:78.

Commentary:

Iblis or the Arch-Satan may not be deserving of punishment because it is, as it were, part of his being to incite men to evil deeds; but his manifestations and embodiments among human beings certainly are. It appears from the Quran that the person who opposed Adam was not Iblis himself but only his mani-festation, for we are told that he came to Adam and talked with him. If he was the very Iblis who, as the Quran says, was from among the jinn, he might as well become visible to us and hence talk with us for, being the progeny of Adam, we are subject to all those influences to which Adam was. But such a thing has never happened. The fact that Iblis does not come to us shows that the person who had a talk with Adam was not the Iblis who was created of fire, but only his human manifestation whom Iblis used as a tool to put Adam into trouble. This is what happens in the case of every Prophet and, in fact, in that of every human being.

The pronoun ھا in the expression منھا (hence) does not refer to the post-mortal Heaven as supposed by some commentators, because Heaven is a place where Satan could not possibly visit and tempt Adam. Nor could Adam be turned out of it; nor can the pronoun refer to the earthly garden in which Adam was placed; for when once Satan was turned out of it, he could not possibly enter it again. So the pronoun refers to that gate of apparent bliss in which men happen to live before the advent of a Prophet when, though they might be prey to many errors, yet, not having rejected a Prophet they are not deprived of divine favours which are here represented in the form of a جنة or garden.