He said “Adam tell them their names”; And when he had told them their names He said “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen in the heav- ens and the earthḍ And I know what you reveal and what you were hiding.” Among the traces of the divine solicitude to Adam عليه السلام is that when He said to the angels Now tell Me [2:31] they were seized with a fear of speaking especially since He asked that they tell Him something that with their type of knowledge [they] did not comprehend. But because of the information Adam عليه السلام had [God] directed him to inform [the angels] saying “tell them their names” and Adam was not overly fearful of speaking to them. When Adam عليه السلام informed them of the names that they did not know [because of the type of knowledge they had] his merit became apparent to them and He said “Did I not tell you that I know the unseen in the heavens and the earthḍ” meaning “[I know] the different types of knowledge of creation which you do not.” “And I know what you reveal regarding [your] acts of obedience and [what you] hide in believing in [your] superiority over Adam عليه السلام.” When the Real سبحانه wanted to choose Adam He protected him taught him and showed him the effects of his care until [Adam] said what he said [about the names]. When He wanted to execute His decree ḥukm regarding him He caused forgetfulness to enter him so that he forgot His covenant in the presence [of God] and transgressed His limit. God most high said And We made a covenant with Adam before but he forgot and We did not find in him any constancy [20:115]. The moment favored by the [divine] solicitude promoted knowledge and goodness completely while the moment in which the [divine] decree took effect returned him to the state of forgetfulness and disobedience. Thus are the decrees of the Real سبحانه in what they make come and go. The worshiper is made lowly by His decree and He is the doer of what He desires [11:107 85:16]. When they imagined [that they could] obtain preference for themselves by their glorification and sanctification He informed them that the carpet of majesty is too holy to be adorned by the obedience of those who obey or to be defiled by the errors of [those who] stubbornly deny. Their returning to prostration before Adam made manifest [God's] lack of need for the agreement wifāq or opposition khilāf [of created beings].
