قَالَ يَـٰٓإِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَىَّ ۖ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْعَالِينَ
Qaala yaaa Ibleesu maa man'aka an tasjuda limaa khalaqtu biyadai; astakbarta am kunta min 'aaleen
خدا نے) فرمایا کہ اے ابلیس جس شخص کو میں نے اپنے ہاتھوں سے بنایا اس کے آگے سجدہ کرنے سے تجھے کس چیز نے منع کیا۔ کیا تو غرور میں آگیا یا اونچے درجے والوں میں تھا؟
God said, "Iblis, what kept you from prostrating to what I created with my own hands? Were you too proud, or were you among the exalted?"
Two possibilities are put to Iblis inside a single question, arrogance or standing among al-ʿālīn, and that second branch has kept commentators busy: some read it as naming a real rank of beings above the angels, others as scorn, offering a status nobody holds. Mā manaʿaka assumes an obstacle, asking what got in the way, which is an odd thing to ask of a refusal freely chosen.