Chiastic Structures in Sūrat al-Kahf (Part 6): Verses 50-51

The last chiastic structure in Sūrat al-Kahf I'd like to mention occurs in verses 50-51.  This passage is a summary of the story of Iblīs and his enmity towards Adam, followed by a small ring.  It occurs in the context of a larger discussion of unbelief and its outcome (vv. 47-59).  Even though it is a small ring, once again its ring structure sheds important light on the meaning and argument of the passage.

The verses are as follows:

وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ كَانَ مِنَ الْجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِ

A. أَفَتَتَّخِذُونَهُ وَذُرِّيَّتَهُ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِن دُونِي وَهُمْ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ بِئْسَ لِلظَّالِمِينَ بَدَلًا  

   B. مَّا أَشْهَدتُّهُمْ خَلْقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَا خَلْقَ أَنفُسِهِمْ 

A’. وَمَا كُنتُ مُتَّخِذَ الْمُضِلِّينَ عَضُدًا 

When We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam" so they prostrated, except for Iblīs.  He was from the jinn, and so he rebelled against the command of His Lord.

A. Then are you (mankind) going to take him and his offspring as awliyā' (protectors, guardians, friends, allies) beside Me, while they are for you an enemy?  How terrible an exchange for the wrongdoers!
   B. I did make them witness the created of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of their own selves,
A'. Nor would I take the misguiders as helpers.   

This passage offers four reasons why mankind should not take Iblīs and is offspring as helpers.

(1) A begins with "Then are you going to take him and his offspring as awliyā' besides me?"  The "then" (fa-) at the beginning of the sentence links it with the immediately preceding part, "He was from the jinn, and so he rebelled against the command of His Lord."  This "command" is defined as "'Prostrate to Adam.'"  Therefore, the argument being made here is that even Iblīs was commanded to prostrate to Adam, who is representative of all of humanity.  Yet, Iblīs refused to honor Adam (humanity), because he was a jinn and envied him (and thus, again, humanity).  Accordingly, Iblīs marked himself off as "an enemy" to humanity.  On the other hand, God is the one who commanded Iblīs to prostrate to Adam in the first place.  How, then, can you take Iblīs as a walī (protector, friend, ally) instead of God?  Thus, "How terrible an exchange for the wrongdoers!"

(2) In B ("I did make them witness the created of the heavens and the earth, nor the creation of their own selves"), the center of the ring, God states that the worshiped entities (Iblīs and his offspring) did not even exist during the creation of the heavens and the earth, and they had no role to play in their own creation.  By implication, it is God, who actually created the heavens and the earth and who created them (Iblīs and his offspring), who should be worshiped.  (This corresponds with the beginning of the speech of the Companions of the Cave earlier in the sūra, when they say, "'Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth.  Never would we call on any god beside him.")  Since the reason is given in the center of the structure, it might be inferred that this is the most important reason for not taking Iblīs and his offspring as awliyā' (guardians or protectors) besides God.  This is corroborated by many other verses in the sūra, which emphasize not even taking Christ or saints as guardians or protectors, using the same word, e.g. "Do those who disbelieve think that they can take My slaves as protectors/allies besides Me?" or the speech of the Companions of the Cave just quoted above, which the Qur'an addresses its Christian audience with.

Now A' ("Nor would I take the misguiders as helpers") brings the whole ring to a close, and thus ties the whole argument together.  Each part of it corresponds to the terms that were laid out in A, but two more reasons are given:

(3) "Iblīs and his offspring" (A) are conclusively identified as "misguiders" (A').  This follows from the fact that they are an avowed "enemy" (A) to mankind (see reason 1).  Hence, they are only intent on leading human beings astray and not helping them.

(4) Finally, since God is able to create the heavens and the earth without any need of their assistance (B), He does not take them as helpers: "Nor would I take the misguiders as helpers" (A').  Therefore, neither should you take them as allies or protectors besides God: "Then are you going to take him and his offspring as awliyā' beside Me?" (A).  The terms of A' (Nor would I take/the misguiders/as helpers) match the terms already presented in A (Then are you going to take/him and his offspring/as awliyā' besides Me?), in the exact same order.

The ring composition of this passage corroborates the arguments it is making.  A' draws from the premises laid out in B and especially A, its syntactical semantic counterpart, to bring the argument to a conclusion.