Wisdom behind the Creation of Satan: Know your Enemy PT3
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم ) told Abu Bakr ( رضي الله عنه)
” لو أراد الله أن لا يعصى ما خلق إبليس ”
“If Allah never intended to be disobeyed Ibliss would never have been created[1]”
Benefits for this subject:
- Allah says: “See you not that We have sent the Shayatin (devils) against the disbelievers to push them to do evil.”[2]
- Allah says : So, verily you (pagans) and those whom you worship (idols). Cannot lead astray [turn away from Him (Allah) anyone of the believers], Except those who are predestined to burn in Hell! [3]
- Allah says : And We have assigned them (devils) intimate companions (in this world), who have made fair-seeming to them, what was before them (evil deeds which they were doing in the present worldly life and disbelief in the Reckoning and the Resurrection, etc.) and what was behind them (denial of the matters in the coming life of the Hereafter as regards punishment or reward, etc.). And the Word (i.e. the torment) is justified against them as it was justified against those who were among the previous generations of jinns and men that had passed away before them. Indeed they (all) were the losers.[4]
- Shaykh Rabee Al-Madkhali ( يحفظه الله )said: “Whoever Allah has decreed misguidance, misery and disbelief for He sends Satan to them in order make Kufr, Shirk ,misguidance and injustice appear fair seeming. [5]
- Allah created Satan. Satan is the main ingredient of evil whose wickedness spreads everywhere in this World. Our adversary’s evil corrupts belief, causes doubts and arouses desires. Satan is the main cause for the slave’s misery and actions that angers Allah. Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah highlighted some of the most important reasons behind Satan’s conception.
- To show the servant the Omnipotence of Allah the Most High. In His creation He has created and fashioned opposites that encounter each other. Allah created Satan who is the wickedest of existence and the reason for all evil, and on the opposite side He created Jibril who is the most noblest and the purest of creation. The Angel Jibril is a factor for the well being of the slave in this life. The creation of night and day, hot and cold, water and fire, the sickness and the cure, life and death, and beauty and ugliness are all noticeable signs of Allah’s Greatness. The beauty of a thing can only be identified through its opposite; and this is among the strongest proofs for Allah’s complete Greatness, His Might, His Authority, and His Sovereign Power over the Universe. Allah has created these opposites that encounter each other. The Most Wise created these things in order to direct our attention to His existence and for us to contemplate over the wisdom in His creation.[6]
- Allah completes the various levels of worship for the Saints and the Holy people. This takes place from the struggle against Satan and his soldiers by irritating them through the worship of Allah and seeking His refuge against Satan’s plots. Through these acts the servant is able to achieve his well-being in this life and in the Hereafter. Having love, being repentant, having reliance on Allah and exercising patience are among the most beloved acts of worship to the Most High. The results of these acts of worship can only be realized by struggling against evil and making sacrifices for Allah’s love over everything else. The creation of Satan is a reason for these kinds of acts of worship.[7]
- The creation of Satan is a reason to go through hardships. Satan is a touchstone to test the human-being. It’s through these tests the wicked and righteous are distinguished. Allah created different kinds of people in this World. There are some who are injurious and some who are harmless; therefore it’s a must for a person to manifest his true colors.[8]
- To produce an outcome for Allah servants regarding His Names and their meanings. Among Allah’s Names are;
- Ar-Rafi : The One Who raises, lifts and exalts His servants as He wills in this life and in the Next.
- Al-Khafid : The One Who humiliates the oppressors and tyrants, lowering their ranks due to their evil speech and actions. Their life in this World is darkness and in the Next life its misery.
- Al-Mu`izz”: The One Who honors whomsoever He pleases from among His servants
- Al-Muthill : The One Who abases or humiliates whomsoever He pleases.
- Al-Hakam : The One in Whose promise there should be no doubt at all,and in Whose action there is no single fault.
- Al-`ِAdl : The One who is above oppressing or being inequitable to anyone in His decrees and actions.[9]
- · Satan’s existence is a reason for the effect of these names to be manifest, because if all of creation were obedient believers, then the outcome these names produce wouldn’t be manifested.[10]
- To extract the good or the evil from man’s nature. The Son of Adam’s nature is made up of upright and bad character; and righteous and unrighteous behavior. This nature of the human-being is concealed the same way a fire is hidden in fire steel. Satan’s existence causes evil people to act according to their nature. Allah sent Prophets as a basis for the people of righteousness to act kindly. The best of Judges draws out the character of the upright and wicked in order to execute His Judgment for the acts He knew they would commit. [11]
- Satan’s existence allows the signs and the wonders of Allah to manifest. A wonder occurs as a sign of Allah due to the disbelievers’ actions and their denial of Allah. Among some of the signs and wonders of Allah are; the flood of Noah, The wind that punished Ad, the destruction of Thamud and Lut, the fire cooling for Ibrahim and the signs of Moses. If the disbelief of the Kuffar and the atheists wasn’t decreed, then these signs and wonders wouldn’t have happened.[12]
- Conclusion. Allah granting Ibliss respite until the Day of Judgment is not in his honor, in fact, it is a disgrace. The reason Allah is delaying Satan’s punishment until the Last Day is so he can earn more disobedience and be punished severely. Allah has made Satan a benchmark to distinguish between the pious and the immoral. [13]
Prepared by:
Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Lamont Battle
Phd Student (Hadith and its Sciences )
Doha, Qatar 1436©
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[1] Collected by: Al-Lalakaee (Sharh As-Sunnah 1101) Graded as being Hasan Li Ghayrahi by Al-Albani in As-Saheeha (1642)
[2] Al-Marayam 83
[3] As-Saffat 161-163
[4] Fussilat 25.
[5] Ath-Tharee’a ila Bayyan Maqasidi kitabi Ash-Sharee’ vol 2/ pg 92 , By Shaykh Rabee ibn Hadi Al-Madkhali (may Allah bless him)
[6] [Refer to Madarujus Salakeen, vol 2/ 190-191, By Al-Alamah Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyah (may Allah have mercy on him)
[7] refer to Hikmahtu wa At-Ta’leel fee Af’ali Al-‘Abbadd pg 205, By Dr. Muhammad ibn Rabee Al-Madkhali (May Allah preserve him)
[8] [ Ibid pg 205]
[9] Refer to Al-Amalu Al-Asna Nathmu wa Sharhu Asma’I Allahi Al-Husna, By Al-Alamah Zayd ibn Muhammad Al-Madkhali (may Allah have mercy on him
[10] [Refer to Madarujus Salakeen, vol 2/ 190-191]
11] [ Shafa’ ‘Aleel pg 493-494, By Al-Alamah Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyah
[12] [Refer to Madarujus Salakeen, vol 2/ 193]
[13] Ibid