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I AM BETTER THAN HE

Worse than the adam is the accursed devil, the cause of all sorts of vice and aberration. He has none of the skills possessed by the adam. His answer, “I am better than he,” as is quoted in the twelfth âyat-i-kerîma of A’râf Sûra, evicted all the faculties of goodness from his nature, making him worse than anything else. The adam, being good for nothing and non-existent, has served as a sign for the Wujûd and a mirror reflecting beautiful things. The accursed one, on the other hand, put up a resistance with a pretence to existence and goodness, which in turn cost him his expulsion. From the adam should one learn how to accommodate one’s manner of meeting things, as he meets existence with non-existence and encounters perfection with imperfection. When ’izzat (glory, greatness, might) and jelâl (majesty, wrath of Allâhu ta’âlâ) appear, he presents his humbleness and inkisâr (brokenness, defeatedness, contrition). The accursed devil, succumbing to his obduracy and rancour, has absorbed, so to speak, all the vices inherent in the adam, so that it is as if the adam has nothing but goodness left to him. Naturally, being a mirror for reflecting goodness requires being good. As the saying goes, “It devolves only on the Sultân’s own animals to carry his belongings.” The devil had had a valuable task. He had been purifying the creatures from vices. Yet his conceit and arrogance deprived him of reaping the fruits of his services. He suffered a loss both in this world and in the Hereafter. The adam, on the other hand, with all his imperfection and vileness, escaped deprivation owing to his nonexistence. He was honoured with being a mirror reflecting the Wujûd.