The progression and order of the Qurā’nic verses are a lesson within the lessons of the verses themselves. In fact, there is an entire subject or theme regarding the Qurā’nic order called Rawābiṭ al Āyāt in Arabic. There is a reason one verse is situated between two others, or why one comes after, or why similar verses are mentioned with subtle differences, in the order they are mentioned and so on.
We find ourselves situated in Jannah where the creation of Adam, upon him be peace, is taking place. The angels roam around this newly created archetype of what would be you and I, and in their thirst for more knowledge ask Allah, “Will You place thereupon one who will spread corruption therein, and who, moreover, will shed blood while we ever exalt You with all praise and hallow You?” (Quran 2:30). Allah, the All-Knowing, All-Wise, forever eternal in His Grace and Wisdom responds to their inquisition with, “ ”Indeed, I know what you do not know.”
Most of us are well aware of what transpired after this. The angels and the devil were commanded to prostrate, the devil became the devil and refused, and through arrogance and jealousy transformed into the Iblis he is today, destined to attack mankind from the right, left, below and above till the Last of Days.
In this same incident, after the slip of Adam caused by the insinuations of The Accursed, Allah delineates mankind as enemies to themselves, now to roam the Earth, tried and tested. However, there is the stark mention that it was the Devil who was the enemy first, and was even warned about before the incident of the tree. To be enemies to ourselves is to follow in the footsteps of the Devil, for it was he who caused our enmity initially.
After this incident, and the contrast and parallels displayed by Adam and Iblīs, the very next story the Noble Qur’ān enlivens is that of Musa, upon him be peace, and Fir’awn. The mirroring is crystal clear. Musa is like his father, and Fir’awn, although human, is an inheritor of the clear enemy Shaytān. In fact, it is so clear that it answers the question that someone may have, or even the angels themselves had: “How will it look when this creation is on Earth?” And Allah answers to the humans, the angels and even the Jinn, with the telling tale of the tyrant of Egypt and the wrath he bestowed imposed upon Musa and his people. Decisively, Allah shows us clearly that indeed it is the Devil, an open enemy, who is not satisfied with just disbelief, but truly wants to see the destruction of mankind brought forth from their own hands.
The only winner in the strife between men is the Devil. But how can the damned ever win?
May Allah unite our hearts and rectify our affairs with each other.