61وَإِذ قُلنا لِلمَلائِكَةِ اسجُدوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدوا إِلّا إِبليسَ قالَ أَأَسجُدُ لِمَن خَلَقتَ طينًاMuhammad AsadAND LO! We said unto the angels, "Prostrate yourselves before Adam" - whereupon they all prostrated themselves, save Iblis.1 Said he: "Shall I prostrate myself before one whom Thou hast created out of clay?"For an explanation of the allegory of Adam and the angels, see 2:30-34, 7:11-18 and 15:26-41, as well as the corresponding notes. In the present instance, as in Al-A'raf and Al-Hijr, the accent is on the contempt of Iblis for Adam (which is obviously a metonym for the whole human race): hence, this passage apparently connects with the end of verse 53 above - "verily, Satan is man's open foe!" The stress on man's dignity - expressed in God's commandment to the aangels to "prostrate themselves before Adam" - links this allegory with verses 70-72.