Was the Angels’ Question an Objection?

Qur’an 2:30 · Al-Baqarah · With other exegetes

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

And when your Lord said to the angels, “Indeed, I will make upon the earth a vicegerent (khalīfa).” They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we glorify Your praise and sanctify You?” He said, “Indeed, I know that which you do not know.” (2:30)

The question

When the angels asked Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood?, were they objecting to God, or asking to learn the wisdom of His decision?

Views answered: al-Manār, Balāghī, al-Ṭabrisī and al-Zamakhsharī, and narrations that speak of the angels’ sin · With: ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī

Jawādī Āmulī’s argument

With Shaykh al-Ṭūsī and most exegetes, Āyatullāh Jawādī Āmulī holds that the question was not a denial or objection but a question about the wisdom of the decision, from beings who speak only by God’s leave. He sets out the case against this: narrations that speak of the angels’ regret, God’s anger and their seeking refuge at the Throne; Balāghī’s view that they should not have asked; the objection that al-Mīzān’s evidence, Indeed You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, came only after God’s answer; and al-Manār’s reading of their many emphases as making amends. He answers that the narrations are weak or unconnected and not mass-transmitted, that the angels are not under a law of duties, that their glorification shows they believed God’s act free of fault, and that their infallibility admits no exception. While we glorify Your praise is not a claim to be more deserving, as al-Ṭabrisī and al-Zamakhsharī take it.

Views compared

Each view is given as al-Tasnim reports it. Each point opens al-Tasnim at that place.

What kind of question Read →

Shaykh al-Ṭūsī and most exegetes; ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī

A question of wonder about the wisdom of the decision, not a denial or objection; their words Indeed You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise show they accepted it. In al-Mizan ↗

Jawādī Āmulī

Agrees: the angels speak only by God’s leave, and do not ask objectionable questions.

The narrations of the angels’ sin Read →

Narrations in Nūr al-Thaqalayn

The angels regretted, sought refuge at the Throne, and God was angry with them: their question was a sin.

Jawādī Āmulī

These are weak or unconnected reports, not mass-transmitted, and the realm of angels is not one of law, reward and punishment.

Better not to have asked Read →

Balāghī

It was not an objection, but they should have left the matter to God’s wisdom.

Jawādī Āmulī

This is inconsistent, unless it is taken as leaving what was more fitting (tark al-awlā).

The emphases after God’s answer Read →

al-Manār

Glory be to You, indeed, and the intensive All-Knowing, All-Wise show they were making amends for something improper.

Jawādī Āmulī

Their glorification and their acknowledgement of God’s knowledge and wisdom are themselves the evidence that the question was a question.

While we glorify Your praise Read →

al-Ṭabrisī and al-Zamakhsharī

As if to say: “Do you favour so-and-so, while I am more deserving?”

Jawādī Āmulī

It means: we glorify You, and You are above any act without wisdom, so how can You do what we cannot see the wisdom of? There is no self-admiration in it.

Reading guide

Each step opens al-Tasnim at that point.

1. The question was not an objection
2. The objection from the narrations
3. Balāghī, and al-Mīzān’s evidence questioned
4. The emphases in the angels’ reply
5. The answer, in six points
6. “While we glorify Your praise”

The whole commentary on 2:30 → · ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī on 2:30 in al-Mizan ↗