2.34 – when We said to the angels

Here the Lord speaks in first-person plural (“We,” vv. 34–39) after speaking in first-person singular (“I,” vv. 30, 33) and being described in second- and third-person singular (“You,” “He,” vv. 31–32). Following the Adam story, the text returns to first-person singular (vv. 40–41). Abrupt changes in voice are common in the Quran.

Muslims understand both plural and singular to be the voice of Allah and explain the “We” to mean not a plural deity but the so-called “royal we,” or pluralis majestatis, an honorific plural.

The story of Adam repeats in different versions in 7.10–27 and 20.115–23. See the analysis of the Quran’s Adam stories at 20.121.

Some of the elements in these stories are not familiar to Bible readers, such as the command to the angels to bow down to Adam. The Quran shows great interest in this aspect, recounting this part in four further sūras (15; 17; 18; 38) – in two cases without mentioning Adam’s name. Such extrabiblical details in quranic stories of biblical characters are often also found in Jewish rabbinic and Christian apocryphal versions of the stories. In this case, the details seem to come from the Life of Adam and Eve (fourth century AD) and the Questions of Bartholomew (third century AD).

2.34 – they prostrated themselves, except Iblīs. He refused and became arrogant

The name Iblīs appears a number of times in the Quran where it seems to be the name of the rebel against God. The tempter of humans is Satan (Shayṭān, v. 36). Iblīs seems to come from the Greek diabolos, which translates into English as “accuser” or “devil.” On Iblīs’s refusal to bow down, see the comments on 38.73–74.