Page 78 - Communication and Argument in the Qur'an

76 COMMUNICATION AND ARGUMENT IN THE QUR’AN

As Allah tells us in Surat al-A‘raf 123, Pharaoh asked the
people if they believed in Allah before he authorized them
to do so. He wanted to transform an ordinary event into a
case of incitement and plotting against the city in order to
convince the people that the death penalty was justified.
Seeing that the magicians disagreed, he tried to impose
the death penalty on them too.
Are you going to leave Musa and his people to cause
corruption in the land and abandon you and your dei-
ties? (Surat al-A‘raf: 127)
As these prominent citizens had taken satan as their pro-
tector and followed in his footsteps, they regarded it as their
duty to oppose the believers. The Qur’an speaks of these
friends of satan as the party of Iblis or satan’s brothers:
... The satans inspire their friends to dispute with you...
(Surat al-An‘am: 121)
Actually, satan has taken the unbelievers under his con-
trol and incites them to oppose the believers. He creates
groundless misgivings within them to hinder and even pre-
vent Islam’s spread and gradual ascendancy. To achieve
his goal, he forms a squad composed of those who accept
him as their guide and directs it according to his will.
Do you not see that We send the satans against those
who do not believe to goad them on? (Surah Maryam:
83)
Thus, those who have lapsed into unbelief, following
satan and their own prominent citizens, work against the
believers.