Global Journal of Human-Social Science, A: Arts and Humanities, Volume 23 Issue 5

Volume XXIII Issue V Version I 7 Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2023 ( ) A © 2023 Global Journals A Quranic Concept with Universal Appeal: The Innate Monotheistic Disposition ( Fitra ) The Questions of Bartholomew 4, 54-56. "When I (the Demon) returned from the ends of the world, Michael said to me: 'Prostrate yourself before the image of God, which he fashioned according to his likeness. But I replied: I, who am fire from fire, the first angel to be fashioned, should bow down before clay and matter. Michael said to me: "Prostrate yourself so that God will not be angry with you. I answered, "No, God will not be angr y w ith me, but I will set up my throne in front of his throne, 32 and I will be like him. Then God was angry with me and cast me down, commanding the floodgates of heaven to be opened. Qur’an (7, 12-13) "God said: -What prevents you (Iblîs, the Demon) from prostrating yourself (before Adam) when I command you? He said: -I am better than him; you created me from fire and him from clay. God said: "Come down from here, you don't have to be proud in this place, come out! You are among the humiliated ( saghîrîn )!" But, according to the Qur’an, Iblîs also gave another answer relating to Adam's nature: (Q 15, 33) : "Shall I prostrate myself before a bashar (a being in human form) whom you have created from a clay similar to that used in pottery, taken from malleable mud?". This speech expresses his refusal to see that Adam, having received ontological completion and spiritual breath from God, is no longer a bashar . In this sense, he behaves like a kâfir (concealer of the truth), in the sense that he remains fixed on the first characteristics of a being whose transmutation corresponding to the fitra that characterizes him he refuses to take into account. It means that the straightening of man's stature, the only physical difference between bashar and insân , has been almost imperceptible. On the other hand, the moral and spiritual aspect of this transformation was decisive for human beings who, from that moment on, embarked on an exceptional earthly adventure, being endowed with such capacities that God entrusted them with the caliphate, i.e. responsibility for the world around them. A Qur'anic passage, to which many hermeneutical thresholds correspond, points out that the angels themselves took a step backwards when God announced His decision to them, since they too apparently knew only the weaknesses of the bashar . Particular mention should be made of the Apocalypse of Paul (dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD) and Pseudo Clementine Recognitions : Apocalypse of Paul (4a-7a) 5a: "Sometimes the moon and stars called out to the Lord: 'Lord, Almighty God, you have given us the empire of the night. How far must we contemplate the impiety, fornication and homicide committed by the sons of men? Leave it to us. We will show them what we can, so that they may know that You alone are God." 5b: "Then a voice came to them and said, 'I know all this, my eye sees and my ear hears, but my patience bears with them until they turn and repent. If they do not return to me, I will judge them." Recognitions V, 27, 4-5. "Creation is eager to unleash its vengeance on the ungodly. Yet God's goodness restrains it and restrains his indignation against the ungodly by forcing it to yield to his mercy, rather than flare up against the sins and crimes of men; for God's patience awaits the conversion of men as long as they are in this body." Qur’an 2, 30 "When your Lord said to the angels, 'And behold, I appoint a caliph over the earth'. They said, "Are you establishing someone who will do evil and shed blood, while we praise and glorify you and proclaim your holiness?" 33 The Lord said, "I know what you don't know". 32 Note that this attitude of Satan is also described by Ephrem in his Commentary on the Diatessaron, Commentaire de l’Evangile concordant ou Diatessaron, introduction, traduction et notes par Louis Leloir, Sources chrétiennes n° 121, Paris, 1966, p. 191: "I will set my throne on the stars". J.M. Rosenstiehl has collected a large number of testimonies on this Christian theme (he refers to : Jean-Marc Rosenstiehl, "La chute de l'ange (origines et développements d'une légende : ses attestations dans la littérature copte)", Ecritures et Traditions dans la Littérature Copte, Journées d'Etudes Coptes, Strasbourg, 28 May 1982, in Cahiers de la Bibliothèque Copte, I, Louvain, Peeters, 1983, p. 37-60. He refers first to the Latin Life of Adam and Eve, then to the Questions of Bartholomew and later, in passing, to the Syriac Cavern of Treasures and suggests that Bartholomew's Questions on this subject can be seen as a reading of Ezekiel 28:2. 33 On the subject of the behavior of men just after their creation, we can also refer to Lactantius: "Les hommes devenus comme des bêtes sauvages", a theme linked to that of man's fall into animality. Epitome of the Divine Institutes , 22, 6-9