Some people who claim that there is contradiction in Quran take the 34th verse of Bakara Surah as grounds to their claim. According to the claim ‘’Quran has been written by a human being and there is contradiction regarding the subject; is devil a djin or an angel?’’
Bakara Surah 34th verse says:
”We said to the ANGELS: Grovel to Adam. All of them but the Devil groveled. He turned away, patronized and became faithless.”
Those who claim that there is contradiction in Quran say that the angels are addressed in the verse and that the Devil can only be an angel accordingly. They emphasize that the 50th verse of Kehf Surah where devil is defined as ‘’Djin’’ is a contradiction. So let us get back to Quran now and prove that this claim is not true and is insincere.
The contradiction thesis is a result of the wrong translation of the 34th verse of Bakara into Turkish. In this verse a literature art which is known as ‘’taghlib’’ in Arabic has been used. The word Taghlib means to make something superior over something else. In this art, two things are compared and one of them is made superior over the other. Besides, the same term or expression is used for both of them.
Let us check the features of angels in Quran after this information. In the verses 49-50 of Nahl Surah and verse 6 of Tahrim Surah; it is stated that the angels do not come against Allah and they obey to his orders.
“All of the living creatures in the universe and the angels grovel to Allah without coming against to his orders. They are afraid of their God and they execute his orders accordingly (Nahl Surah, 49-50)
Those who believe! Protect yourselves and your beloved from the fire that uses human beings and stones as fuel; there are very tough angels on it. They never come against Allah and always obey his orders (Tahrim Surah, 6)
It is obvious in the 11th and 12th verses of Araf Surah that the Devil cannot be an angel.
”We created you, then gave you a form, then ordered the angels to grovel to Adam! All of them but the Devil groveled. He refused to grovel.”
”Allah said: Why don’t you grovel although I ordered you to do so? (Devil): I am superior over him, because you created me from fire and created him from mud.”
In the first verse the devil is included in the angels. But we understand from the coming verse that the devil is not as the angels. So it is obvious that Allah is aware that the Devil is not an angel while talking to the angels. Besides, since the verse number 12 starts with the expression ‘’Allah said’’, we can understand that the verse number 11 is not complete.
Another proof that the Devil is not an angel is the 50th verse of Kehf Surah. It is obviously stated in the verse that he is a djin.
“We ordered the angels to grovel to Adam; All of them but the devil groveled. He was from the Djins, and became faithless and rebelled Allah’’.
Result
Just because the Devil has been included among the angels in the 34th verse of Bakara Surah does not mean that the devil is an angel, because according to the art of Taghlib in Arabic, there is no need to emphasize the minority. That is why the Devil is not taken into consideration as an angel in this verse. Accordingly, this verse does not contradict with other verses.
