The Rank of Humans and Angels in Sunni Exoteric and Sufi Commentaries

This study explores the rank of humans and angels in the Sunni exegetical tradition through close textual content analysis of Q2:30–34 in exoteric and Sufi commentaries. The commentaries of Abū Ja'far Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923), Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210), Abū 'Abd Allāh al-Qurṭubī (d. 671/1273), and 'Imād al-Dīn ibn Kathīr (d. 774/1373) are analysed from the exoteric tradition. The commentaries of Abū 'Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021), 'Abd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072?), Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn 'Arabī (d. 638/1240), 'Abd al-Razzāq al-Qāshānī (d. 736/1335?), Ni'mat Allāh ibn Maḥmūd al-Nakhjiwānī (d. 920/1514), Muḥammad Thanā' Allāh Pānīpatī (d. 1225/1810), and Abu'l-Thanā' al-Ālūsī (d. 1270/1854) are examined from the Sufi tradition. The results indicate that while exoteric commentaries differ about whether humans or angels are superior, Sufi ones assert the precedence of humans. Following Ibn 'Arabī's contribution, there was a much greater emphasis on the assertion of human superiority.