Satan; Man’s Main Enemy

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Throughout his life, man faces various situations and challenges, some of which may cause him do bad things to himself or others.

This is while man is not naturally inclined to do bad and what makes him do it is temptations from Satan, who has vowed to lead man astray.

Satan is a word used to call any evil or anyone who does evil. In religious concepts, Satan is the name of a non-physical being whom some believe to be an angel and some say is a jinn.

According to divine religions, before creation of Adam, Satan was a special servant of God who worshipped God a lot and had vast knowledge. However, he disobeyed God when he was ordered to prostrate before Adam. He was banished from paradise but asked God to give him the opportunity to lead mankind astray until the Day of Resurrection.

“When We said to the angels: ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam,’ they all prostrated themselves, except Iblis (Satan), who said: ‘Shall I prostrate to him whom You have created from clay?’ He continued, ‘Remember, this one whom you have honored more than me I shall bring him and most of his offspring under my sway if you will give me respite until the Day of Judgment.’ God said: ‘Be gone! for whoever of them will follow you, then surely hell is your recompense, a full recompense.’” (Verses 61-63 of Surah Al-Isra)

Satan’s conceit and his idea that he was superior to man because he had worshipped God for a long time caused him to disobey God and then he became man’s sworn enemy, vowing to mislead him however he can. “He (Satan) said: ‘I swear by Your Might, that I will seduce all of them.’” (Verse 82 of Surah Saad)

The first thing Satan did against mankind was misleading Adam (AS). Adam (AS) and his wife, Eve, who lived in paradise were tempted by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit and that led to their banishment from paradise.

In the Holy Quran, there are 88 references to Satan, some of which are about the story of creation of man, some about attributes of Satan and his followers and their fate, and some about how divine prophets confronted Satan’s temptations. The purpose of these references is to help us know Satan and how to confront him and his temptations.