God created Adam, the first man. He commanded the Angels and the Jinn, whom He had created before Adam, to prostrate themselves before him. The Angels hastened to obey this divine commandment, but Satan, the chief of the genies, held himself aloof and did not prostrate himself. When God asked him to explain his disobedience, he replied, ‘I am better than him; You created me from fire, while him you created from mud.’ (Quran 7:12). Since Satan was ready to prostrate himself before God, but not before Adam, he was declared beyond the pale and sentenced to everlasting damnation.
Clearly, in human relationships there are always two main possible courses of action: either to tread the path of acknowledgement of the superiority of others and to demonstrate our submission to them – as shown by the Angels – or to assert our own superiority over others, with the resulting friction – as shown by Satan. To this day the sons of Adam have to decide whether to side with the Angels, or to become the Devil’s comrades, saying of their neighbours: ‘I am better than he.’ The drama which was enacted at the time of Adam’s creation is still being played out over and over again, in our day-to-day existence, only on a much larger scale.
At some point or the other during our brief sojourn on earth, we are sure to encounter an ‘Adam’ – one to whom something is due from us, be it only a kindly word. On all such occasions, God makes His will quite plain to us, albeit silently, that, in obedience to Him, we must bow to this Adam. Those who tread the path of the Angels will understand God’s wishes and will give their ‘Adam’ his rightful due, hastening to yield pride of place to him.
It is only people who act in this way who are the true and faithful servants of God. As such, they will find their eternal abode in heaven. Those who follow the example of Satan, and refuse – out of conceit and arrogance – to bow before the ‘Adam’ who has entered their lives, are rebels in God’s eyes. They will be cast into Hell along with Satan, to burn there for all time.
Man being God’s servant must prostrate himself first and foremost, before his Master. But in everyday situations, it often happens that in his immediate environment there are individuals who have some claim upon him or some right to assert over him. These are the ‘Adams’ before whom he must bow at the behest of the Almighty. This is a test, which God sets for man in life. It is an exacting test, because although human beings are quite prepared to bow before God, His superiority being unassailable, they find it difficult to acknowledge the rights of other ordinary individuals, who, they feel are in no way superior to themselves. This is when the ‘Satan’ in them comes alive and drives them to the perversity of ignoring, or denying the rights of others. They refuse to bow before Adam, despite this being a commandment of that very deity before whom they regularly prostrate themselves. Like Satan before them, they refuse to bow to those whom they consider inferior to themselves. It is the same superiority complex, the same hubris, that held Satan aloof when the Angels were prostrating themselves before Adam – whether they are conscious of it or not - which prevents them from carrying out the will of God.
Suppose a dispute has arisen between two people. The one who is clearly in the right must obviously assume the role of Adam in the eyes of the one who is in the wrong. The very fact that such situations can and do arise is a clear indication that it is God’s will that there should be some who should yield to others. It is in the nature of a divine commandment, and compliance with it is for the sake of God and no one else. One who grants that another is in the right, no matter how irksomely pressing his claims may be, is following in the Angels’ footsteps, for, when commanded by God, they did not hesitate to bow before Adam. In sharp contrast is the individual who is so full of his own importance that he challenges the rights of others and refuses to give them their due, particularly when the objects of his ill-will are in no position to retaliate. Such a man follows in the footsteps of Satan who, when commanded by the Lord, refused to bow before Adam. There is no point in such a person prostrating himself before God in the hopes of salvation, for God will only look with favour upon his obeisance, if he is equally earnest in bowing before His creation – Adam.
A man who says, “I am ready to throw myself at the feet of my Lord, but I will not bow to Adam”, has become the brother of Satan; his self-prostration has no value in the eyes of God, because it is negated by the pride he displays in refusing to bow to Adam. One who allows pride to be the governing factor in his life will find indeed, that none of his actions are acceptable to God.
The story of the first man, which was enacted in the very presence of God, is now being re-enacted over and over again in everyday life, but now, the difference is that God has placed a veil between Himself and mankind so that He shall remain unseen. We do not see God right there before us, but we do have the Holy Book which He bequeathed to mankind – the Quran – and we also have the sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad. We have, moreover, the voice of our own consciences, which tells us every day that we must, in our dealings with others, acknowledge their rights in word and deed. It is as if we heard the exhortation of God: ‘Fulfill the obligation you have to this, your fellow man.’ God tells us to bow before ‘Adam,’ to pay him his due, whether it entails verbal recognition, or material transactions.
We cannot ‘hear’ God’s command as if, physically, it were an auditory experience. But that is all the more reason to open our hearts to it. That is the way to achieve moral success in life. Those who respond to God’s command by saying, ‘I am better than he is,’ are little better than moral failures. If one responds to God’s command as the Angels did, the reward of Angels will fall to one’s lot, but if one follows Satan, one’s fate cannot be other than hellfire and damnation.
If what is actually required of a man is that he should bow before God, how is it possible to tell whether he has truly submitted to God or not? The test of his submission is his willingness to bow before whichever ‘Adam’ confronts him in life, for the “truly devout servant is one who obeys God’s commandments by giving other human beings their rightful due. A man who prostrates himself before God, but fails to acknowledge the rights of others, treating them with arrogance and injustice, is only going through a meaningless ritual. When God directs him to bow before another, he is putting him through a test – a test to see whether he is truly the devotee of his Creator. When he fails to bow to that other he has failed in the test set for him by God.
Man is always ready to prostrate himself before God, for who would have the temerity to say of God, ‘I am better than Him?’ It is only when we have to bow before another human being that our complexes prove a major obstacle. Where God stands alone, and does not admit of anyone being placed on a par with Him, human beings on the other hand, tend to look upon each other as rivals. This being so, one person bowing before another raises the issue of personal prestige.
Ever dependent upon His Lord, man bows before Him. God is the giver: Man the receiver. Man never gives anything to God. He has nothing to give. But when man bows to man, that is quite a different state of affairs, for then he does have something to give. It may only be a kindly word that he offers, or, more importantly, it may be the recognition of another’s being in the right; sometimes it means handing over a sum of money, which is due to another; sometimes it involves withdrawing from some position in recognition of another’s superiority; sometimes it is a question of showing respect for someone’s honour, by passing over a weakness of his which could have been exploited; sometimes it means holding one’s peace, and refraining from pouncing on some mistake that another has made; sometimes it entails siding with someone purely as a matter of principle, eschewing the immediate gain to be had from acting in an unprincipled way. These are all typical situations in which one person must bow to another. In all such cases, the one who accedes to the other is doing something very positive: he is giving something to the other.
There are, of course, a number of mental barriers that have to be overcome before an individual can be completely just and right-minded in his attitude to others. In honouring one’s rival, one must often compromise with one’s own sense of prestige. This is what really makes it difficult to give precedence to a fellow human being. Yet this is the crucial test set for him by God. Without making this sacrifice, he cannot earn God’s favour. One who shirks making this sacrifice can never endear himself to God no matter how many exercises in self-prostration he puts himself through.
A man who achieves a certain superiority owes his position to God. To acknowledge the superiority of another, then, amounts to acknowledging the fairness of God’s distribution of His blessings. If one refuses to recognize the superiority of another, that is tantamount to challenging God’s sense of fair play. When one bows before the rights of another, one is not really bowing before another human being, but before God, for it is on account of God’s commandment that one bows before that person, rather than because of any excellence inherent in him.
God, the Lord of the Universe, is the Supreme Reality. To discover God is the greatest triumph that a human being can achieve. In this world, it is in the act of self-prostration that a man truly finds his Lord. But such self-prostration is acceptable to God only when a man’s entire life is coloured by humility and submission. It is only then that the devotee can be said to be psychologically prepared to be the recipient of God’s divine light. His act of self-prostration is the real meeting point with the Lord of the Universe. If, on the contrary, one is arrogant and self-centred in one’s day-to-day activities, one’s self-prostration is a hollow act, and as such, will not bring one closer to God. Satan will have taken possession of one’s heart and one’s posture of humility will be bereft of soul. We must never forget that Satan lies ever in wait. ‘Because you have led me into sin,’ said Satan, ‘I will waylay them as they walk on Your straight path, and spring upon them from the front and from the rear and from their right and from their left. Then you shall find the greater part of them ungrateful.’ ‘Begone,’ said God, ‘a despicable outcast. With those that follow you, I shall fill the pit of Hell.’
