No Superiority of a Component Over Another

Satan by his ingratitude and arrogance made the component of creation the pretext of claiming superiority. As such his pride made him think and he believed himself the one superior. He forgot that all these privileges are not self-given; gifts he did not attain by himself, but Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, is the One Who placed all these properties in the substance from which the jinn are created. Had not Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, originated these properties in the creatures from fire, they would not have existed. Each component has its role and none is superior over the other, for fire has its mission and clay as well and neither can perform the role of the other, for you cannot plant in fire .

Thus, excellence should not be ascribed to the component from which Satan was created but to The Originator of these specifications in the fire element. Whenever Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, decides, He can easily remove all these factors from fire and Satan become the most abject creature of Allah .

This was the first step in the capital sin of pride and arrogance committed by Satan, for he ascribed the favor to himself, of being created from a component higher than clay, which is fire, exactly as Qarun (Korah) did as relates to us the Noble Qur’an what means :

“He said, ‘I was only given it because of knowledge I have.’” (Surah Al-Qasas,78:28)

And his punishment was that Allah caused the earth to swallow him and his dwelling .

Satan tenaciously persisted in sin as relates to us 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’raf, 7:16)

Here we must pause a little to contemplate the words of Satan: “Because You have put me in error”, by it Satan wants to impute his straying into wrong to Almighty Allah. Satan wants to blame Allah for his sin. And we say: “No, our Lord did not send you astray, for the Truth, all praise and glory is to Him, only guides and never sends astray .”

Satan deserved straying into wrong because of what his hands have earned (by his guilt). Pride filled his soul and he imagined that what he possesses, be it excellence of the elements of his creation or his knowledge, are self-given; thus Allah left him to his pride and Satan strayed from the right path. Satan started evil, therefore he deserved that Allah should desert him to his unjust self and his arrogance and thus infidelity arouse. Allah, Whose Majesty reigns supreme, says in the Noble Qur’an what means :

“And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.” (Surah Al-Ma’idah, 5:108)

And the Saying of The Most Exalted which means :

“Indeed, Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.” (Surah Al-Ma’idah, 5:67)

Satan has rebelled and disbelieved; rebelled by disobeying the Command of Allah regarding prostration. Al-Fasuq in Arabic means detachment from the Divine Law. Fasqat is used to describe the dates when they are ripe. When the fruits of date palm are red their peel is stuck to the fruits and it cannot be peeled off, but when ripe the peel is detached from the fruit and it can be easily peeled off. Therefore, in Arabic we say “the dates fasqat” meaning the peel became detached from the fruit. Thus, Fasuq is detachment from the Law. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, informs us that Satan fasq and disbelieved, in the Ayah saying what means :

“And they prostrated, except for Iblees (Satan). He was of the jinn and departed [1] from the command of his Lord.” (Surah Al-Kahf, 18:50).

Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, abandoned Satan to himself, thus Satan went astray and fell into sin and infidelity. Allah treats no one with injustice, but injustice is from oneself. When the creature wrongs himself and follows the path of disbelief, Allah leaves him to the path he has chosen. Since he has preferred ingratitude, infidelity and denial, Allah is All-Rich (Free of all wants) and stands in no need of him, because Allah is superbly beyond need of any of His creatures .