الا ابليس ابى ان يكون مع الساجدين

إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰٓ أَن يَكُونَ مَعَ ٱلسَّـٰجِدِينَ

Certain repetitions in the Quran are just impossible to miss. In just a couple of ayaat, the phrase مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ is repeated word for word 3 times. If it were just one word, perhaps I wouldn't have noticed. But the entire phrase keeps resounding like an alarm going off each time it repeats. So naturally, I wondered why.

The first time, it comes as information – a matter of fact – from Allah regarding the material that He intended to use in the creation of man, just as He also informs of the material used for the creation of the Jinn. Then, the second time, it is mentioned when this information was passed down to the angels. So now the angels are aware of the material to be used, and they are instructed to do sajdah after the Ruh is blown. The instruction is very straightforward – a child would understand. 

So the time of Sajdah comes, and as instructed, all angels do Sajdah. But Iblees did not; his excuse? The very statement that Allah informed them of the material to be used: مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ
First of all, I am wondering why his excuse is not, 'I am not an angel; you instructed the angels.' But he cannot claim this because he may not be an angel, but that doesn't mean he wasn't among them. Allah and all the angels are witnesses to this, so this excuse will not fly. 

Secondly, in order to appreciate what is happening here, let me give you an example. Imagine the CEO of a company calls for a meeting with only the senior staff. But there is a junior staff member whose work is very impressive, and as a way of rewarding him, the CEO decides to invite him too. In this meeting, the CEO informs everyone that he is going to open a department in the slums, and when that happens, they should all show up to celebrate. The junior staff member doesn't want to go to the slums to celebrate, but he doesn't say it in the meeting. So later on, when he doesn't show up, the CEO asks why he didn't show up, and his excuse is, 'Well, you opened the department in the slums, and I'm better than that.' 

But the issue is, everyone invited knew where the department was being opened because they had already been informed of this. So for this junior staff member to come and say, after the fact, that the department is in the slums highlights a plethora of issues; key among them, of course, are his arrogance, ingratitude, and disrespect. 

Now perhaps the repetition serves to inform us that the material from which man was created wasn't the problem. It is just a material and doesn't define the worth of the end product. Just like smokeless fire doesn't define the Jinn. Besides, man is not just clay. There is the Ruh that Allah breathed into this clay, which together make up man. The problem is the disease within a being that allows certain derogatory perceptions to form regarding others. Iblees took one look at half the material and decided the fate of man entirely. That man isn't worthy, at least not compared to him. So when Allah instructed them to do Sajdah for this being that He had created مِن صَلْصَـٰلٍ مِّنْ حَمَإٍ مَّسْنُونٍ,  it's not that Iblees did not have this information; rather, he had already formed an opinion about this material prior to it being man. And so when he repeated these words, it was out of degradation and disdain. And Allah knows best. 

Reflections on Surah Al-Hijr Ayah 31