Satan’s Deception
One who treads the path of jealousy and pride makes himself deserving of hell, while one who remains humble, proves that he deserves the garden of Paradise.
Chapter 7 of the Quran states: “We created you, then We shaped you and then We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam,’ and they all prostrated themselves, except Satan. He was not among those who prostrated themselves.
God asked, ‘What prevented you from prostrating yourself when I commanded you to?’ He replied, ‘I am better than he is; You created me from fire, while You created him from clay.’ God said, ‘Get down from here! This is no place for your arrogance. Get out! You are contemptible!’ Satan said, ‘Give me respite until the Day of Resurrection,’ and God replied, ‘You are granted respite.’ Then Satan said, ‘Because You have put me in the wrong, I will lie in ambush for them on Your straight path: then I will surely come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.’ He said, ‘Get out of here, despised, and rejected! I shall fill Hell with all of those who follow you.’” (7:11-18)
Whatever God has bestowed upon a person in this world, has been given for the purpose of eliciting his gratitude. But this is the very thing which he does not offer to his Lord. The reason for this is that Satan contrives to distort a person’s feelings and steers him away from any expression of gratitude.
It becomes evident from the story of Adam and Satan what the real criterion is for the judgement of one’s case. A person is being judged at the point where feelings of jealousy and pride develop in the human heart. In this world of trial, it may repeatedly happen that one individual rises above another; sometimes a person receives a greater share of wealth and honour as compared to his fellowmen. Sometimes, in a deal between two persons, it happens that one of them considers his discharging of the other’s legitimate rights as degrading to himself. On all such occasions, it is being seen whether a person responds positively or reacts negatively.
Sometimes God chooses a messenger to convey His word to the people, but his status as a guide is not readily acceptable to them. For this would imply that they were inferior to the messenger, as they had failed to arrive at the truth themselves. On such occasions, Satan stirs up feelings of jealousy and pride. Puffed up with the feeling: ‘I am better,’ a person is not prepared to acknowledge the superiority of his brother. In the eyes of God, this amounts to treading the path of Satan. In such instances, one who treads the path of jealousy and pride makes himself deserving of the fate of hell, while one who remains humble, proves that he deserves to find an abode in the garden of Paradise.
