Worldly Life…an Abode of Trial - Mankind and Satan

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.” (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.

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan

Pride Belongs to Allah Alone - Mankind and Satan

Pride Belongs to Allah Alone

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)

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan