Is it true that Allah made the angels prostrate to Adam because Allah honored him over them by making him a free, independent being?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon Muhammad, his family, and all his Companions. A person says that Allah made the angels prostrate to Adam because Allah honored him over them by making him a free, independent being. Is this statement correct? What is the evidence for it? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : It is not correct. There is no rational explanation for this divine command to the angels to prostrate to Adam (peace be upon him) on the basis that it was because Allah created Adam as a free, independent human being. It is not permissible for a Muslim to provide a rational explanation for a legal ruling without having proof from Allah and His Messenger. Scholars divide commands and acts of worship, or legal rulings, into two categories. The first category is that they are purely devotional matters, and they refer to them by saying that their meaning is not rationally comprehensible. Many of the religious rulings and acts of worship, if not most of these matters, are devotional and their meaning is not rationally comprehensible. The other category is described as having a rationally comprehensible meaning. Discussing this entails length, elaboration, and explanation, and perhaps we have spoken about some of this with some clarification and detail in some of our gatherings. Now I say: The command of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the angels to prostrate to Adam—we do not have a stated cause in the Shari'ah for why this is the case. The answer to why Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded the angels to prostrate to Adam is not known to us. However, there is no doubt that prostration from one person to another indicates the virtue of the one to whom prostration is made. So it can be said that the command to the angels to prostrate to Adam is to indicate that this human being, who was created as a human from clay, deserves to be respected and honored by implementing the divine command to prostrate to him. So this is a matter on which no two people differ, and as it is said, "no two camels butt heads in it," that prostration to something indicates its exaltation. This is a matter on which there is no disagreement. So we can explain the command of Allah to the angels to prostrate as being an exaltation of Adam (peace be upon him) because he is the father of mankind, and because the angels did not know this type of human being. Especially since Allah (Mighty and Majestic) related from them when He commanded them to prostrate: The exegetes mentioned that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) had created another creation other than humans before the creation of Adam, and they were jinn, and they corrupted the earth. So the angels feared that the new creation would be of that old type that had corrupted the earth. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded them to prostrate so that they would know that this human being, who is the father of mankind in the time to come, deserves this divine honor. So I said earlier that prostration to something indicates its honor and exaltation, and that this is a fact about which there is no doubt or doubt. So we can explain the divine command with what is certain. As for coming with an explanation for which we have no proof, that He created him as an independent being, this requires a text. And even if humans are indeed independent, and for that reason Allah the Exalted said: But this does not mean that the angels are not independent, but rather it means that the angels are created with an innate disposition to obey Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as He (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: The fact that prostration to something indicates its honor and exaltation—we have many things, and very many, including the prostration of the brothers of Yusuf and Yusuf to their father, as mentioned in the Surah of Yusuf (peace be upon him). And among them is that this prostration, which began with its legislation in the story of the command from Allah to the angels to prostrate to Adam, and this ruling continued to proceed until prostration was considered an honor in the previous laws. And among them is the prostration of the brothers of Yusuf (peace be upon him). But this honor, which continued until the time of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited it, first because of the exaggeration in honoring the one to whom prostration is made, and secondly from the perspective of blocking the means to harm and sincerity to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His worship. I conclude the answer to this question with the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal when he traveled from Madinah to Sham and returned to Madinah. The first thing his eyes fell upon was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and he wanted to prostrate to him, but the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited him from doing so and said to him: He said to him: "O Messenger of Allah, I came to Sham and I saw the Christians prostrating to their priests and their great ones, and I saw that you are more deserving of prostration than they are." He (peace be upon him) said: So prostration is an honor, but this honor was concluded with the conclusion of the laws and religions, which is the law of Islam. In summary, the command of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the angels to prostrate was an honor for this type of being, and it was not for that cause that He made him independent, because this is a cause for which there is no evidence in the Book, nor in the Sunnah, nor in derivation from the proofs of the Shari'ah, as I mentioned earlier.