Constant Complaining

The Quran describes how Satan became angry when God asked him to bow to Adam. He said to God that if he were given the chance, he would cause Adam’s whole race to go astray. At the time of throwing down this challenge, he said, “Most of them You will not find grateful.” (7:17)

There are countless blessings given by God to human beings. Yet man, instead of acknowledging these blessings, becomes ungrateful. The reason for this lies in the character of Satan, or Iblis, who was a jinn (18:50). God heaped countless blessings on the jinn, who were invisible. He gave them existence, freedom of choice, and extraordinary options. He gave them a long life. For their survival in this world, God provided them with every necessity. Despite this, why was Iblis so ungrateful to God? The reason was that he was so full of resentment that he forgot all of God’s blessings. Instead, he fell to constant complaining. He exaggerated his grudges so much that he could not think of anything but complaining.

In his uniquely evil way, Satan warps human nature in such a manner that, human beings come to make every event a matter of complaint and ignore all other good things. He so overemphasizes the negative side of things that all the other positive aspects of things would simply disappear. In spite of having all the objects deserving of gratitude, the individual becomes ungrateful. Those who find themselves beset by such state of feelings should understand that they are being influenced by Satan. Such people should introspect and immediately repent, otherwise they will suffer the chastisement of God.