Mankind And Satan
Chapter Two
The Sin Of Satan
Before relating the
story of Satan’s hostility against Adam (peace be upon him) and his offspring, and
how he whispers evil to them and lures them into sin, we have to study in depth
the sin of Satan, that sin that incurred upon him the Curse of Allah till the
Day of Judgment.
When Satan refused
to obey Allah’s Command of prostrating to Adam (peace be upon him) he never
tried to repent or revert to truth. He never said, “O Lord, Your Word is the
Truth and Your Command is the Truth, but O Lord I could not subdue myself, so
please forgive me”, he did not awake and fell down prostrating, but pride
filled him and he persisted in sin. Allah, all glory is to Him, narrates to us
in the Noble Qur’an what means:
“[Allah] said,
‘What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?’ [Satan] said, ‘I am
better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay.’”
(Al-A‘râf, 7: 12)
Thus, he rejected
the Command of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him. As if Allah, The Exalted
and Ever-Majestic, forgot that He created jinn from fire and mankind from clay!
That was enough to cast Satan out of Allah’s Mercy and out of the place wherein
he lived together with the angels. Concerning this Allah, all praise and glory
is to Him, says what means:
“[Allah] said,
‘Descend from it, for it is not for you to be arrogant therein. So get out;
indeed, you are of the debased.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 13)
The Command: “Descend”
signifies that Satan was at a high honorary place before sin, for getting down
can only be from a place high to one that is low.
Some people think
of descent only in terms of distance, but it can also signifies a moral fall.
For example, if man is a chief or a ruler and then he is expelled from his
position, he will sink in estimation, though still living in his same house. In
other words he did not fall down from a place high to one low with regard to distance,
but he sank into a state of disgrace, and after once enjoying an honorary
status he is now worth nothing.
Also, falling down
can be in appreciation. As when you believe that someone is a highly esteemed
person, you see him respectable and truthful, but suddenly he commits an
offense that makes him sink in your estimation. Thus, you no longer respect or
esteem him.
Thus, descent is
not necessarily physical, in terms of distance, but can also be a fall in value
and status. Therefore Satan did not necessarily live at paradise or a high
place in heaven and then he descended from it as some interpreters say but it
is possible that it was a moral fall by becoming worth nothing. A depreciation
of rank for he no longer deserved to be present among the angels; he lived
among them because he abided by obedience, while having the free will to obey
or disobey. But when he forsook that attribute he no longer merited such an
honorary status, because angels do not disobey Allah in what He commands
them but do what they are commanded. (At-Tahrîm, 66: 6) Therefore, “Descend”
signifies and indicates that the fall is moral, meaning that he is unworthy
of this high status or rank, then followed the Command of “Get out” of
the place itself.
When Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, said “Descend” He gave us its reason in His
Saying, “It is not for you to be arrogant therein”. It means that Satan
was puffed up with pride and arrogance and Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty
and Might, loves not the arrogant. Whoever was taken by pride and wrongly
believe that he himself, by his own power, can achieve anything independent of
the Power of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, will incur upon himself the
Wrath of Almighty Allah…. why?
Because action in
this universe belongs solely to Allah, The Exalted and Ever-Majestic, no one
has the power of doing except Allah. For every action there is an adverb of
time and place to happen and you neither possess the time nor the place. No one
has the power to keep himself alive for a moment and no one has the power to
move from one place to another except by the Leave and Will of Allah. Man may
even die before he stirs or he may fall sick and lose his ability to move, so
how can man or any creature of Allah be proud, when he neither has might nor
power except by the Will of Allah.
Allah, all praise
and glory is to Him, expelled Satan from the place or status he once occupied
because he acted arrogantly and insolently and imagined that he possesses
self-given power. Therefore, the Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He, said, “Get
out; indeed, you are of the debased.” It means that had you any power of
your own then stay where you are, but you will get out humiliated and
disgraced. You will get out against your will and you cannot stubbornly contend
nor claim that you have a power that will defend you or make you act contrarily
to the Command of Allah, you will get out abjectly in disgrace.
When Satan realized
that pride that swelled within his soul was fake and that in reality he, on his
own, is worth nothing his heart was filled with malice against Adam. He
believed that he is the cause of all what has happened to him: his expulsion,
his sinking to the lowest of the low and the Divine Wrath he incurred upon
himself. The spite and malice that filled the heart of Satan pushed him to the
attempt of taking revenge on Adam and his offspring. Just as his rejection to
submit to Allah’s Command of prostrating to Adam cast him into Hellfire, he
wants to drive Adam and his offspring to Hellfire, a revenge for what befell
him. And just as Satan was expelled from Allah’s Mercy, he wants to expel Adam
and his offspring from Allah’s Mercy. He wants to avenge himself on Adam for
being the cause of all what befell him, from damnation and expulsion, him and
whoever follows him. He does not want to enter Hellfire alone! But he wants to
cram therein whomever he can lead astray from mankind.
Therefore, when
Satan got out abjectly disgraced from the place he once dwelt, he addressed
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, saying as narrates the Noble Qur’an,
what means:
“[Satan] said,
‘Reprieve me until the Day they are resurrected.’” (Al-A’râf, 7: 14)
Thus, Satan
returned to servility, asking Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, to keep
him alive till Resurrection Day, after being blown-up with pride. Had this
pride been real and not fake and had he really possessed a power of his own he
would not have asked Allah to keep him alive till Resurrection Day and he would
have kept himself alive, but he neither has power nor might except by the Will
of Allah, thus he turned to Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, to grant him
his request.
But why did Allah,
Blessed and Exalted is He, respond to the call of Satan when He could have
destroyed him instantly? Why did Allah, Whose Majesty reigns Supreme, says what
means:
“[Allah] said,
‘Indeed, you are of those reprieved.’” (Al-A’râf, 7: 15)
Also in Surah
Al-Hijr:
“[Allah] said,
‘So indeed, you are of those reprieved, until the Day of the time well-known.’”
(Al-Hijr, 15: 37-38)
Allah answered his
demand – though he is the one outcast from His Mercy – because only with it the
wisdom behind creating worldly life is complete. Allah, all praise and glory is
to Him, created worldly life as an abode of trial and the Hereafter as an abode
of recompense. Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, wants to test His
servant in the life of this world, to put them to trial before being requited.
Recite the Saying of the Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He, which means:
“Or do you
think that you will enter Paradise while Allah has not yet made evident those
of you who fight in His cause and made evident those who are steadfast?”
(Âl-‘Imrân, 3: 142)
And His Saying, all
glory is to Him, which means:
“So that Allah
might test what is in your breasts and purify what is in your hearts. And Allah
is Knowing of that within the breasts.” (Âl-‘Imrân, 3: 154)
Had Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, willed to create all His creatures compelled to
obey as the angels, He would have easily done it. And had Allah willed that all
the people of the earth obey His Law and that all of them be glorifiers and
worshippers again He would have easily done it. But Allah, be ever gloried His
Majesty and Might, has chosen creatures that come to Him compelled, as angels
and others from His creatures, and has chosen mankind and jinn exclusively to
come to Him willingly out of love. They are both capable of sinning, but they
forbear because they love Allah. And they are both capable of disobedience, but
they obey to draw near Allah. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, wants
creatures who comes to Him willingly and lovingly in a period of trial limited
by the lifetime of every person.
After death we will
be compelled to submit to the Will of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him,
because while dying man’s power of free will completely ends, and he loses even
his willpower over his own body. Volition is in worldly life only; at the hour
of death and during the life of Barzakh [the grave as the barrier or
the intermediate realm that separates between this world and the other world
from the time of death till the time of Resurrection], and on Resurrection
Day, none will have a will of his own. The disbeliever shall be driven to the
Hellfire and he will try to stop his legs from walking but they will not. He
will try to push away the fire by his hands but they will not push. He will try
to escape from standing before Allah, and to flee from torment but he will not
be able to. All the might and power he once had in worldly life will end. The
Noble Qur’an depicts this picture saying what means:
“If those who
disbelieved but knew the time when they will not avert the Fire from their
faces or from their backs and they will not be aided....” (Al-Anbiyâ’, 21: 39)
Worldly Life…an Abode of Trial
To make the life of
this world an abode of trial it must include temptation and allurement,
therefore Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, kept the life of Satan as part
of the temptation that man will face in his worldly life. A trial from Allah to
test the love for Him within the hearts of His servants. Thus, whoever loves
Allah, Almighty Allah will protect him against the temptation and misguidance
of Satan. But whoever loves sin – Allah forbid – Allah, Blessed and Exalted is
He, will empower against him the devils to increase him in sin and disbelief.
Recite the Saying of Allah, The Most Exalted (which means):
“Do you not see
that We have sent the devils upon the disbelievers, inciting them to [evil]
with [constant] incitement?
So be not impatient over them. We
only count out to them a [limited] number(5).” (Maryam,
19: 83-84)
So, Allah, all praise and glory
is to Him, keeps man with those whom he loves. If man loves Allah, Blessed and
Exalted is He, he will surely be with Allah and Allah will save him from all
evil and will drive the devils away from him and will protect him against sin
and will open before him the doors to goodness. But if man loves Satan, Allah
will leave him to the devils that are His enemies, driving him to sin and
making his life a continuous misery and man will heap more sins upon his sins
and in the end he will only take with him his evil deeds.
Thus, temptation by Satan was
necessary to complete the life experience on the earth, so that Allah puts His
servants through a true trial of faith and tests what is within their hearts.
There had to be a true experience that man goes through in his life and not
just a theoretical one. Talk is one thing and reality is another. For you may
say “I will surely do such and such things” and when the time of doing
comes you do nothing.
When man shouldered the trust
of showing obedience to Allah, he promised to fulfill it perfectly but when
came the time of performance he was attracted by worldly life and its
temptation and allurement, and he followed Satan and forgot his promise to
Allah and forgot His Law.
Therefore, no one should think
that Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, just answered an invocation of
Satan, but it was for sake of the law that Allah had decreed for worldly life
and the trials and tests He prepared for the worldly life of mankind He thus
willed to prefect the whole picture.
Thus, the answer agreed with
the Will of Allah, all glory is to Him, and was not in response to Satan’s
demand of living till Resurrection Day so that worldly temptation continues to
the last moment and the trial mankind is put through continues till Resurrection
Day.
When Allah, all praise and
glory is to Him, decreed that Satan should remain till Resurrection Day, pride
filled him once again and he felt that this was his chance to revenge on Adam
and his offspring. The Truth [Al-Haqq: one the Beautiful Names of
Allah], be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, relates to us in the Noble
Qur’an what means:
“[Satan] said,
‘Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your
straight path.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 16)
But how did Satan enter the
door of tempting mankind? And with what did he enter? We learn how by reading
the glorious Ayah that quotes Satan’s words to the Lord of Majesty saying (what
means):
“[Iblees] said,
‘By your might, I will surely mislead them all.” (Sâd, 38: 82).
He entered through the door of
the Might of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him; that Allah is All-Mighty
and superbly beyond need of any of His creatures. In other words, Satan said: O
Lord, if you needed them to be obedient, I could not have led astray any of
them, but You are All-Mighty, richly above all Your creatures. Their obedience
adds nothing to Your Kingdom and their disobedience detracts nothing from Your
Kingdom, thus by Your Might I will lead them all astray, I will adorn for them
evil and I will sit in wait against them on every straight path. As to
crooked paths no need for the devils to sit on them. For instance, the devil
does not sit at the doors of bars nor at the dens of vice, for the people who
frequent such places have already become the soldiers of Satan, and thus in no
need of further temptation or evil whispering.
The devil sits on the doors of
Masjids (mosques) and at the places of worship and remembering Allah. He tries
to seduce people not to offer Salat, and when the Azan [the
Call to Prayer] is pronounced he strives to allure mankind with every lure
to divert them from going to Salat. He reminds man of worldly concerns
and keeps whispering to him evil insinuations. He frightens him by insinuating
that perhaps if he went to Salat he might lose a good bargain or money
or benefit, suggesting that work is also an act of worship…etc. till he diverts
him from remembering Allah and from Salat.
There is a story narrated on
the authority of Imam Abu Hanifah (may Allah be pleased with him) who was known
by issuing fatwas (legal rulings) concerning legal problems, thus a man once
came to him and said: “I have lost my money, I buried it somewhere in the
earth but the torrents poured down and hid the place of the money and removed
the rock I have put as a sign to the place and I do not know what to do?” Imam Abu Hanifah said: “How can I
give you a legal opinion concerning this matter?” But the man insisted, so
Imam Abu Hanifah said to him: “Go tonight after the ‘Isha’ Prayer
[Evening Prayer] and stand before your Lord and spend the night in prayer until
the crack of dawn…. and then tell me what has happened.”
At the time of the Fajr [Dawn]
Prayer the man came cheerful and said: “I have found my money.” Abu Hanifah
asked him: “How?” The man said: “I was just about to stand up for
Prayers when I remembered the place of the money and when did the flood pour
down and how did it proceed. Thus I measured the distance and estimated it and
thus I learned the location of the money.” So, Abu Hanifah (may Allah be pleased with him) smiled and
said: “By Allah I knew that the devil will never leave you spend the night
in the company of Your Lord.”
Thus, when the devil learned
that this man would spend the night offering Prayers before his Lord he hurried
to guide him to the place of the money to prevent him from continuing his
prayers and from keeping himself engaged in remembering Allah, and that is one
of the meanings of the Ayah saying (what means):
“[Satan] said,
‘Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your
straight path.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 16)
And that is what we shall
discuss in the next chapter, if Allah wills, when talking in detail about the ways
the devil employs in tempting mankind and how he waylays them in the Masjids
and places of worship to distract their attention and hinder them from
remembering Allah and from performing Salat.
The Noble Qur’an continue to
cite Satan’s words, who said what means:
“Then I will
come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on
their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].” (Al-A‘râf,
7: 17)
On contemplating this glorious
Ayah we will find that the devil has specified four directions from which he
can come to man: right and left, in front and behind. But directions are six:
right and left, in front and behind, above and below (man), so why does the
devil come to man from all directions and leaves two directions: from above and
below?
The answer is that “above”
is towards heaven, the place of the ascent of supplications and good deeds to
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, whereas “below” is the place of
prostration and submission to Allah, The Most Exalted and Ever-Majestic, and
Satan can never get near both. For Satan can never approach the place of
prostration before Allah and submission to Him and also the place of the
ascension of prayers and good deeds. For these are the two blessed places of every
believer, surrounded by angels and are never approached by devils.
But we must pause before the
part of the Ayah saying what means: “And You will
not find most of them grateful.”
Who told Satan that most of the
people will not be thankful to Allah for His Blessings and Grace upon them?
Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says what means:
“And Allah is
full of bounty to the people, but most of the people do not show gratitude.”
(Al-Baqarah, 2: 243)
Was Satan given knowledge of
the Unseen which made him learn that most of people would not be thankful? Or
was he so sure of himself that he said such words?
Satan certainly does not know
the Unseen nor was he given of knowledge what made him say that most of the
servants of Allah would not be thankful. He also did not have the mastery that
made him absolutely confident that this would happen because of his temptation
of mankind.
The Noble Qur’an reveals to us
how did Satan say such words. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says what
means:
“And Iblees had
already confirmed through them his assumption, so they followed him, except for
a party of believers. And he had over them no authority except [it was decreed]
that We might make evident who believes in the Hereafter from who is thereof in
doubt. And your Lord, over all things, is Guardian.” (Saba’, 34: 20-21)
Hence, what Satan said was only
a conjecture for he certainly did not possess any knowledge of the Unseen nor
knew what would happen in the future. Then came the Verdict of The Truth, all
praise and glory is to Him, on Satan and those who follow him, as says the Lord
of Honor and Sovereignty in His Noble Book what means:
“[Allah] said,
‘Get out of it, reproached and expelled. Whoever follows you among them – I
will surely fill Hell with you, all together.’” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 18)
Thus, Satan
was expelled from Allah’s Mercy and from paradise or from any place where he
can be near Allah. He became humiliated and accursed. Not only him but also
whoever follows him from jinn and mankind. The destiny of them all would be
eternity in Hellfire. Allah, The Most Exalted and Ever-Majestic, has prepared
for each of His servant, from mankind and jinn, a place in Paradise and another
in Hellfire. So that if all creatures disobeyed Hellfire would contain them all
and if all creatures obeyed Paradise would be spacious enough for them all. On
Resurrection Day the righteous people would inherit – above what Allah has
prepared for them in Paradise – the places that were allotted to those upon
whom Allah has passed the sentence of torment in Hellfire on Resurrection Day,
we seek refuge with Allah from such an end.
After Allah has reprieved Satan
till Resurrection Day, He wanted to fortify Adam and make him aware of the
trial he was about to face. To show him how Satan is his foe and how he would
lure him into sin, and how his promises are false and how he would never honor
a promise. The Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He, willed to realize this through
a practical experience that Adam and Eve (peace and blessings be upon them)
would undergo, so that when they descend on the earth this experience would
serve to immunize them against diabolic misleading and temptation. Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, says what means:
“And We said,
‘O Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in paradise and eat therefrom in [ease and]
abundance from wherever you will. But do not approach this tree, lest you be
among the wrongdoers.’” (Al-Baqarah, 2: 35)
Thus, Allah, Blessed and
Exalted is He, has prepared the place of trial to Adam and Eve in a garden
provided with all means of comfortable living, without fatigue or toil. He gave
them abundant food from various kinds of fruits and abundant drink, and opened
before them all the blessings they might wish for. Allah allowed them all the
fruits of that garden except one tree, which He forbade them to come near.
It was a comfortable life rich
with endless lawful blessings and the forbidden was the least of all, only one
forbidden tree. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, warned Adam and Eve
against their enemy Satan and asked them not to listen to him because he only
wishes them evil and never wishes them any goodness. Allah warned them saying
what means:
“So We said, ‘O
Adam, indeed this is an enemy to you and to your wife. Then let him not remove
you from paradise so you would suffer.’” (Tâ-Hâ, 20: 117)
But what happened? In spite of
all warnings and although the lawful things are many and the forbidden is only
one tree, Satan succeeded by his temptation to cause Adam and Eve to fall into
sin.
Some interpreters say that Eve
was the one who first fell into sin then led Adam into it. That she was the
reason behind Adam’s departure from the garden, is that true? Was Eve the one
who bore the first sin that led to Adam’s departure from the garden, or is it
false? What is the truth? And what did truly happen?
Before answering these
questions we sum up what we have discussed in this chapter: Satan was blown up
with pride and his conceited self made him reject the Command of Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, and he said: “You created me from fire, and You
created him from clay.” (Sâd, 38: 76) by which he wanted to alter the
Command of Allah, thus Allah cursed him and cast him out of His Mercy and made
him one of the dwellers of Hellfire together with all who follow him. But Satan
pursued a doorway to tempt Adam and his offspring. His doorway is that Allah,
Blessed and Exalted is He, is All-Mighty, All-Rich, beyond need of all His
creatures, neither those who stray into wrong harm Him nor those who believe
benefit Him.
Through that inlet
Satan crept in to tempt the Children of Adam. Allah, all praise and glory is to
Him, made worldly life an abode of trial therefore temptation is a must so that
Allah tests true faith and they become witnesses over themselves on
Resurrection Day.
Allah willed that Adam should
pass through a practical experience of satanic temptation and misguidance to
warn him and teach him what he would confront in worldly life…so how did this
experience go on?