Creation of Man and the Jinn
God asked both jinns and angles to bow before Adam. This bowing was a token that the jinns and the angels would not become an obstacle to cooperating with man.
A study of the Quran tells us that God uniquely created the planet Earth so that life’s survival might be possible on it. To this end, He created the life support system, which is entirely favourable to man. Then He settled the jinns on this planet (15:27). The Earth remained in charge of the jinns for an extended period. The jinns, born of fire, created mischief on the earth. Therefore, God deposed them and created man to inhabit the Earth.
According to the Quran, when God created man, two kinds of creatures, the jinns, and the angels, existed in the world at that time. God asked both of them to bow before Adam. This bowing was a token that neither the jinns nor the angels would become an obstacle for man. They would let man function in freedom. The Quran says: “I am putting a successor on earth.” (2:30)
This does not mean that man is God’s successor or vicegerent. It means instead that man is the jinn’s successor. With humanity’s replacement of the jinns, man has been settled on the earth as a creature with total freedom.
According to the Quran, when God announced that He was going to create man, the angels expressed their disapproval, saying, “Will You place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood?” (2:30) The angels may have raised this objection in the light of their experience with the jinns. They meant to say that the jinns created mischief, causing corruption because of being granted freedom. Similarly, man would also cause corruption when given freedom. God replied, “Surely, I know that which you do not know.” (2:30)
There is a fundamental difference between the jinns and men; at the very outset, the Creator inculcated in man a unique and powerful feeling: a sense of guilt. When man makes the mistake of misusing his freedom, a sense of guilt is awakened within him, and he begins to reform himself, whereas this feeling of guilt was not inculcated in the jinns created out of the fire. As such, it was hoped that man would not become permanently haughty and disobedient like Satan but would be repentant and reform himself. This feeling of repentance is a great asset for man. As such, it becomes possible for him to return to the straight path with greater strength after deviating from the right way. The first example is in Adam’s life, the first man himself. According to the Quran, he committed a grave error, repented, and received God’s guidance. (20:121-122)
In later history, one well-known example is that of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz Umawi (d. 720 AD). He inadvertently committed an error, and then he repented. (Al-Bidaya wa’l-Nihaya, Ibn Kathir, Vol. 9, p. 103) As a result, he was later accorded a prominent position in Islamic history, i.e., the fifth rightly guided caliph in Islam.
