12 Preface قالَ ما مَنَعَكَ أَلّا تَسجُدَ إِذ أَمَرتُكَ ۖ قالَ أَنا خَيرٌ مِنهُ خَلَقتَني مِن نارٍ وَخَلَقتَهُ مِن طينٍYusuf Ali(God) said: “What prevented thee from bowing down when I commanded thee?” He said: “I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.”1Notice the subtle wiles of Iblis: his egotism in putting himself above men, and his falsehood in ignoring the fact that God had not merely made man’s body from clay, but had given him spiritual form-in other words, had taught him the nature of things and raised him above the angels.