THE WORD OF GOD

But Satan said, ‘My Lord, grant me respite until the Day of Resurrection,’ so He said, ‘You are granted respite till the Appointed Day.’ He said, ‘By Your Honour, I will lead all of them astray.’ (38: 75-82) God made man a creature of exalted stature and, as a token thereof, He ordered the angels and the jinn to prostrate themselves before him. When Satan (Iblis) did not bow before Adam, he became the eternally cursed one. But this incident was not only serious from the viewpoint of Satan; it was of the utmost importance for Adam himself. By refusing to bow down before Adam, Satan forever became the enemy of the entire human race. This event foreboded that man’s journey through life would not be an easy one and would be full of serious impediments. Man would have to strive to keep himself on the right path and resist the inducements and promptings of Satan to reach his destination safely. Satan’s evil scheming stands between man and Paradise. Only one who keeps himself safe from Satan’s machinations will enter the everlasting gardens of Paradise; those who fail to tear down the barrier of Satan’s treachery, will be deprived of Paradise. In the present world of trial, Satan has been given every opportunity to misguide man. But Satan can do so only till Doomsday arrives. When the Day of Judgement tears apart the veil of falsehood, everything will become plain and clear. Thereafter, there will neither be anybody who can deceive nor anybody who can be deceived. (Satan continued) ‘Except for those among them who are Your chosen servants.’ God said, ‘This is the truth—I speak only the truth—I will fill up Hell with you and every one of them who follows you.’ Say, ‘I do not ask you for any recompense for this, nor am I a man of false pretentions: this is simply an admonition to humankind, you shall before long know its truth.’ (38: 83-88) The chosen (mukhlas) subject of God is one who is free of mental perversion. While Satan has no practical power over man, he misguides human beings by supplying plausible justification for their wrong deeds; presenting untruth as Truth; enshrouding baseless facts in beautiful words; raising unnecessary issues in straightforward matters and raising doubts. However, only those who harbour complexes will be deceived by this beautification of Satan (taz’in). Those who retain their sincerity and are wise enough to objectively analyze situation will immediately detect Satan’s machinations. Such people are never misled by Satan’s ruses.