Tussle with Satan

There are many among us who do not take Satan seriously. There are still others who simply laugh to scorn at the idea. For those who wish to know the truth about Satan and his clan and their technique, we quote from the Qur’an – the book of “assured certainty.”

“And surely We created you and then gave you shape, then We told the Angels ‘Prostrate to Adam’, and they prostrated, except Iblees, he refused to be one of those who prostrate.

(Allah) said: ‘What prevented you (O Iblees) that you did not prostrate when I commanded you?’ Iblees said: ‘I am better than he (Adam). You created me from fire and him You created from clay.’

(Allah) said: ‘Get you (O Iblees) down from this, it is not for you to be arrogant here, get out, for you are of the meanest ones.’

(Iblees) said: ‘Respite me till the Day they are raised up (ie the Day of Resurrection).’ (Allah) said: ‘You are of the respited.’ (Iblees) said: ‘Because you have sent me astray, surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your straight path.’ (7:11-16)

After going through the above verses there could be no reason to be sceptical about Satan. He is one who defied his Lord out of sheer arrogance. He thought too highly of himself and too contemptuously of Adam who he took to be a murky creature made of clay. He overlooked the fact that the Lord had made Adam with His own hands and had breathed into him His Word. Satan was humbled for his haughtiness, declared an outlaw and avowed enemy of Adam and Eve.

FIRST VICTIMS: Adam and Eve were thus his first victims and unfortunately for all of us, they fell in Satan’s lap like a ripe apple. Their error of judgment cost them their peaceful abode in Heaven – they were thrown out: Adam to execute God’s plan and to establish His kingdom on earth and Satan to try his worst to undo it.

THE TUSSLE: The tussle which started with the first man goes on with ever-increasing fury. Satan’s first step is to put man off his guard and then to lead him to the wrong direction to pursue the path of divine disobedience. His second step is to demoralise him through open and concealed threats as the Holy Qur’an says:

“(Satan) commands you only what is evil and sinful and that you should say against Allah what you know not.” (2:169)

“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to commit sins; whereas Allah promises you Forgiveness from Himself and bounty. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All-Knower.” (2:268)

Ordinarily one would not fall in Satan’s trap but there are ever so many who are not so careful. Satan is in our blood; he races with it in our veins as observed by the Holy Prophet (sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam – peace be upon him). The Prophet (peace be upon him) has also said that Satan sits stooping over the heart and injects venom through his fang.

Why Satan has a way with us is that he knows fully well our principal weakness and he exploits it to the utmost, namely man’s craving for supremacy. He entices us away as he cunningly prevailed upon Adam and brought about his fall. He bore enmity to Adam because he felt humbled before him. He continues to harbour enormous enmity to all of us; the fury of his wrath, the tempo of his hatred is ever on the increase. Man’s ignorance is only aiding and abetting Satan’s passion. Satan is out to harm man out of desperation because of the fatal blunder that he committed in disobeying Allah’s command to honour Adam. Hence the repeated warning of the Holy Qur’an to us that we should beware of Satan who is our worst enemy.

ONLY ONE ENEMY: As explained above, man has only one enemy – Satan. If he surrenders himself to him, he will find himself surrounded by a host of hostile herds each one as sharp and shrewd as a double-faced crook ready to hamstring him the moment he steps out. Once in their clutches, he can only sink deeper and deeper. But Allah Almighty is Omnipotent. If the man, the sinner calls Him, He does come to the rescue. The Qur’an tells us many stories of this kind of divine help and succour to those who lost their way through ignorance and earned their freedom once again through Divine Mercy.

Satan is in hot pursuit of us as long as we are alive. The sooner it is realised the better for all of us. Man is not an eternal sinner nor is he “born in sin.” He is a sublime being born out of a noble parentage and possesses a proud heritage. We come to know all of this from the Qur’an. The Prophet (peace be upon him) in his last Pilgrimage, exhorted his Companions gathered there and through them to all of his followers to the last day, to hold fast to the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah – the two sources of certain success. Let us therefore take them in right earnest to keep away the Satan from our midst.