THE TRIAL OF MAN

The Trial of Man ~ 115 ~ THE TRIAL OF MAN God created Adam, the first man. He commanded the Angels and the genies (jinns), 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 course 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