Who is The Devil?

Who is the devil? A question that always crosses our minds, finding no answer to it. The devil is unseen to us, he sees us but we cannot see him. He whispers in our ears and insinuates evil (thoughts, doubts, fears, and suggestions...) into our minds without knowing where is he? Or what does he do? And the question persists, who is the devil?

Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, out of mercifulness to our minds told us who the devil is, and the story of his enmity against mankind and how can we confront him and defeat him and defeat all the seen and the unseen powers in the entire universe.

Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, orders us to seek refuge with Him from the devil because Allah, Whose Majesty reigns supreme, is The Omnipotent, highly above all His creatures, whether believers or disbelievers, obedient or disobedient, those given free choice or those without power of free choice. All are subjected to Almighty Allah as nothing in the Universe of Allah is beyond His Will, Word or Command. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says (what means):

“And He is the subjugator over His servants. And He is the Wise, the Acquainted [with all].” (Surat Al-An’am, 6: 18)

Nothing in the universe is beyond the Decree of Allah, but those whom Allah, The Exalted and Ever-Majestic, has given the power of free choice may violate the Law of Allah, that of ‘Do and Do Not Do.’ But their transgression against His Divine Law is nonetheless by the Choice of Allah because He is the One Who created mankind capable to obey and disobey. Had Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, wanted to create them all compelled to obey; He would have easily done it. A meaning that we perceive in the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“Perhaps, [O Muhammad], you would kill yourself with grief that they will not be believers. If We willed, We could send down to them from the sky a sign for which their necks would remain humbled.” (Surat Ash-Shu‘ara’, 26: 3-4)

This glorious Ayah addresses the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless and grant him peace) who was deeply grieved over those who rejected Islam. The reason behind his killing grief and sorrow was that he perfectly knew the Who mortifying eternal torment awaiting them in the Hereafter, and being a mercy sent to all that exists he wished to save them from such an end awaiting them.

In this glorious Ayah Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, is telling us that if these rejecters of faith have violated the Divine Law which dictates their belief in Him and their adoption of His Course, they certainly did not violate His Will, because if He wants He can easily compel them all to obey. But Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, willed that they should have freedom of choice, to believe or not to believe, to obey or disobey. Thus, He gave them the free will of whether ‘to do or not to do’, a freedom willed by Allah, all praise and glory is to Him. Were it not for this Divine Will these rejecters would not have a choice whether to obey or disobey. Indeed, nothing in the Universe of Allah happens against His Will, all glory is to Him.

The Description of The Devil

Before we proceed we have to differentiate between the description of the devil and the devil himself. The devil in a general sense is whoever pulls people away from obeying Allah and from truth, whoever lures into sin and whoever pushes people to evil. Anyone of these is a DEVIL.

We have to know that there are devils from among both the jinn and mankind, who are unified by one description, same as they are unified in their mission: spreading sin and corruption on the earth. The devils from jinn are those who disobey from among the jinn; who hinder from truth and call to disbelief, and the devils from mankind execute the same mission.

Thus, the word here describes a specific mission and not a specific being; for whoever calls to disbelief, polytheism, atheism and disobedience is a DEVIL.

As to Satan, he is a devil from the jinn, who once enjoyed a high status. It is even reported that he used to live with the angels. He is one of the creatures of Allah but he differs from angels in being created having the power of free choice. He cannot revolt against the Decree of Allah even if he is given the authority of free choice but he can only revolt against obedience. Therefore, Satan’s disobedience to Allah was not a mutiny against the Decree of Allah, his disobedience to Allah did not overstep the Will of Allah, who chose to create him having the power of free choice, capable of obeying and also capable of disobeying.

That power of choice was the inlet of Satan and every sinner to disobedience. This is an important issue which we must understand before we continue the discussion about mankind and Satan. Definitely, nothing whatsoever in the Universe can revolt against the Decree of Allah, but Allah has created some creatures compelled to obey (as the Angels) and has created others free to choose whether to obey or disobey (as jinn and mankind). Thus sinning emanated on earth as a result of such will that Allah has given to part of His creatures,  whom He created capable of obeying or disobeying.

There is a long discussion about the disobedience of Satan, some say: how can Satan be judged for refusing to prostrate to other than Allah? That Allah ordered Satan to prostate himself to Adam (peace be upon him) and Satan refused to prostrate to other than Allah!!!

To those atheists and others who spread such idle talk we say that you certainly did not understand the meaning of worship. Worship is the obedience shown by the creature to the Commands of his Creator. Based on this rule when Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has commanded that we should offer five Salat (Prayers) each day, Salat becomes both an act of worship and obedience; similarly, the Zakah (Obligatory Charity), the Sawm (Fasting), the Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca) and all the Commands of Allah.

Worshipping Allah is obeying Him and disobeying the Command of Allah is sinning against Him.

We must not argue against the Command of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, but we should readily obey Him. For instance, we must never ask why should we offer five Salat and not four, three or two. We must never reject the Command of Allah, but we must obey even if we did not know the wisdom.

Because the essence of worship is that it is from the Decreer and Master, Allah, all praise and glory is to Him. Our duty is to verify that the Command is from Allah, and since it is a Command from Allah, then that should be the sole reason for fulfilling it: it is Allah who ordered so. Other than that is not open to discussion.

The role of the human mind is to deduce that this universe has a God Who has created and originated it. That this God is the One Who created us and originated a highly exact and magnificent system and a universe infinitely marvelous that could not have existed without a Great Creator.

If we reach this point then this is the birth of faith. But our minds are limited and have reached thus far and cannot go further. For instance, they cannot know Who is that Great Creator? What is His Name? What does He want us to do? Why has He created us?

Here starts the role of messengers to complete everything. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, sends a messenger whom He supports with a miracle from Heaven that go beyond all the laws of the universe. This messenger informs people that Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, is the Creator of this universe and He is the One Who subjected it entirely to the service of mankind. Even the mighty universal powers that surpass the power of man million times, as the sun, the seas, the stars and others, all these powers are subjected to serve man.

Every day the sun shines and never can disobey and say: “I will not rise today.” Water evaporates from seas which then falls as rain, they never have one day disobeyed and said that their water will not evaporate! Nor can they prevent the evaporation process and prevent rain from falling down on the earth.

Thus, the duty of the messengers is to tell us that Allah has created all existence and subjected it to us, and wants us to worship Him and to perform certain duties. The messengers convey to us the law of worshipping Allah, and Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, support them with miracles that go beyond all human powers, to assure people that they are truly the Messengers of Allah. And also to close the door on any imposter or devil who might claim prophethood to mislead people.

Once we learn what the Truth [Al-Haqq: one of the Beautiful Names of Allah] wants from us, we must hear and obey, because the Commands are from Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might. With His Infinite Knowledge He knows everything and we do not, and with His Wisdom He knows the wellbeing of the universe, but with our foolishness we commit evil and think it goodness.

Allah, all glory is to Him, with His Gracious Attributes of absolute perfection should be worshipped and if man is to argue, it is self-evident that he should only argue with a compeer. A doctor or an engineer can argue with a fellow worker, but a doctor cannot discuss medicine with a carpenter or a plumber, it would be futile. To have a fruitful argument it must be between coequals and who among us is equal to Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, in Knowledge or Power, to argue with Him regarding what He commands or forbids? Recite the Saying of Almighty Allah in His Noble Book, which means:

“It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly strayed into clear error.” (Surah Al-Ahzab, 33: 36)

And His Saying which means:

“The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], ‘We make no distinction between any of His messengers.’ And they say, ‘We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination.’” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2: 285)