ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-mizan an Exegesis of the Qur'an (volume One) Chapter 9 : 2:30-33 And when your Lord said to the angels, "Verily I am going to make in the earth a vicegerent"; they said: "wilt thou place in it such as shall make mischief in it and shed blood while we celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy holiness?" He said: "Surely I know what you do not know" (30).

And He taught Adam the names, all of them, then presented them to the angels and He said: "Tell Me the names of those if you are right" (31). They said: "Glory be to Thee! we have no knowledge but that which Thou hast taught us; surely Thou, Thou (alone), art the knowing, the Wise" (32). He said: "O Adam! inform them of their names.

And when he had informed them of their names, He said: "Did I not say to you that I surely know the unseen (secrets) of the heavens and the earth and (that) I know what you manifest and what you were hiding?" (33). COMMENTARY The verses tell us why the man has been sent to this world, what is the significance of his appointment as the vicegerent of Allâh in this earth, what are the characteristics and special features of this vicegerency.

Unlike other Qur’ânic stories, it has been told in one place only, that is, in these verses. QUR’?N: And when your Lord said: We shall explain in vol. IV, what the "speech" or "saying" means when it is attributed to Allâh, to angels and to the Satan. QUR’?N: they said: "Wilt thou place in it such as shall make mischief in it . . .

and extol Thy holiness?": The angels heard the announcement, "I am going to make in the earth a vice­gerent", and at once arrived at the conclusion that the wouldbe vicegerent would make mischief in the earth and shed blood. Apparently they understood the ultimate behaviour of the said vicegerent from the words, "in the earth".

A vicegerent appointed in the earth would certainly be created from material components; he would necessarily be bestowed with two basic traits of desire and anger; the earth is a place of unceasing struggle and constant confrontation; its resources are limited, its opportunities finite; but the proposed vicegerent's desire would be unlimited, infinite. The condition of the earth and earthly things was hardly reassur­ing.

Its creatures were subjected to ever-continuing deterioration and disintegration; its good was always turning into bad; it was a place where an individual could not live without a group having similar characteristics and traits.