Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

AssalamAlaikum, Respected Brother Burhan. may Allah reward you eternally for making the understanding of Quran easy for us. Your reply to the question about the significance of the conversation b/w Allah and angels at the time of Adam`s creation is simply awesome and has indeed cleared away many doubts and confusions. but there is a quesion which is bothering me regarding satan`s challenge to Allah :

14 He said: "give me respite till the day they are raised up."
15 (Allah) said: "be thou among those who have respite."
16 He said: "because Thou hast thrown me out of the way lo! I will lie in wait for them on Thy straight way.
17 "Then will I assault them from before them and behind them from their right and their left: nor wilt Thou find in most of them gratitude (for Thy mercies).
18 (Allah) said: "Get out from this, disgraced and expelled. If any of them follow thee, hell will I fill with you all.

Satan challenged Allah Subhanah that he would misguide human beings and that Allah wouldn`t find most of them grateful . When we look around and into our ownselves , we can see that indeed most of us ARE ungrateful ( utterly ungrateful ) to our Lord. This fact makes one bound to think that Satan was true in his statement about humans. secondly it also makes one think that the challenge he gave to Allah , he has gained success in it. although this might sound strange but whatever is happening today is a clear indication of what satan said about humans. No doubt that according to Quran ,ultimately it would be the Party of Satan who are the losers but still don`t you think he has gained atleast some sort of success in his challenge? Also please comment on how did the Satan know that this creation of clay would be ungrateful to Allah Subhanah ?

Waiting for your immediate reply.

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Answer:

Shaytaan challenge of Adam,angels and Allah

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Your Question: Satan challenged Allah Subhanah that he would misguide human beings and that Allah wouldn`t find most of them grateful . When we look around and into our ownselves , we can see that indeed most of us ARE ungrateful ( utterly ungrateful ) to our Lord. This fact makes one bound to think that Satan was true in his statement about humans.

When it became known that Allah Subhanah would create a being bestowed with a ‘free will’ and involve them in a test to choose between the good and the evil, the accursed Iblees, in his arrogance and pride, instead of supporting and obeying the plan of Allah Subhanah, challenged the Lord that he would lie in ambush for them and misguide them towards the evil.

It was never the mission nor the intention that every human being would be grateful to the Lord and thus successful; but the mission was always to bestow a being with intelligence and a limited ‘free will’, and thus involve them in a test where the righteous would be differentiated from the unrighteous.

Thus it is not as if the Shaytaan has changed or has been able to alter the Plan and Mission of Allah Subhanah in the least. Allah Subhanah has made it abundantly clear to the believers in the Quran that the role of the Shaytaan is only to invite mankind towards evil; to accept the invitation of the Shaytaan or to accept the guidance of Allah is something the human being, of his own free will, will have to choose; thus none other than the human being will be responsible for his own deeds!

Those amongst the human beings, who of their own free will, choose to follow the guidance of Allah and practice righteousness, Allah Subhanah, from His Sublime Mercy and Grace has promised them protection against the attacks and ambush of the Shaytaan.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 15 Surah Hijr verses 39-44:

39 (Iblis) said: "O my Lord! Because Thou hast put me in the wrong I will make (wrong) fair-seeming to them on the earth, and I will put them all in the wrong

40 Except Thy servants among them sincere and purified (by Thy Grace)."

41 (Allah) said: "This (Way of My sincere servants) is indeed a Way that leads straight to Me.

42 "For over My servants no authority shalt thou have except such as put themselves in the wrong and follow thee."

43 And verily Hell is the promised abode for them all!

44 To it are seven Gates: for each of those Gates is (special) class (of sinners assigned).

Your Question: although this might sound strange but whatever is happening today is a clear indication of what satan said about humans. No doubt that according to Quran ,ultimately it would be the Party of Satan who are the losers but still don`t you think he has gained atleast some sort of success in his challenge?

Dear and Beloved Sister in Islam, no matter what the Shaytaan does, he will never ever be successful; for out of his own choice and in his own arrogance and pride, he has chosen for himself and his followers the Wrath and Anger of the All-Mighty Lord.

If one just looks at the narrow picture and tries to determine success and failure from the short period of one life; then one would obviously come to the wrong conclusion. Success in its true form is the success of the Hereafter, and failure in its true form can only be the failure of the Hereafter….. and there is absolutely no doubt that those who seek to follow the invitation of the Shaytaan will be the losers in the eternal and the everlasting life of the Hereafter.

Besides, it is Allah Subhanah Who is the Majestic and Supreme Master and Judge of the Day of Judgment; and it is He Alone Who will determine success and failure in the Hereafter. He has made Mercy incumbent upon Himself, and except for the one sin of ‘shirk’, He may, if He so Wills and Pleases, pardon all the other shortcomings of man and make him amongst the successful in the Hereafter!

Allah says in the Quran: Chapter 4 Surah An-Nisa Verse 48: Shirk (associating other deities with Allah) is the only sin that Allah does not forgive, and He forgives, whomsoever He pleases, sins other than this, for whosoever associates any other partner with Allah, does indeed forge a big lie and commits the most heinous sin.

Your Question: Also please comment on how did the Satan know that this creation of clay would be ungrateful to Allah Subhanah ?
The Shaytaan, being a Jinn himself, had been bestowed with a ‘free will’ to choose between obedience and disobedience; and when it became known to him that Allah Subhanah would create another being and bestow them with a ‘free will’ to choose between good and evil, his evil self prompted him to the absolute worst aspect of this bestowed freedom. In fact, in his absolutely arrogance, pride, and rebellion when commanded by Allah Subhanah to co-operate with man in his test, he declared that he would try his level best to divert mankind towards the evil and inspire them to be ungrateful to their Lord.

It is not as if the Shaytaan had any knowledge of the ‘unseen’ to know what would happen in the future; but because he was amongst the Jinn and had also been bestowed with a ‘free will’ to choose between good and evil, he assumed the worst aspect of freedom; and furthermore, in his arrogance and pride he challenged that he and his troops would try their level best to incline and inspire this creation of clay towards evil.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan