Page 44 - Satan: The Sworn Enemy of Mankind

SATAN: THE SWORN ENEMY OF MANKIND
those among them of weak faith were taken with the fear that they
were doomed. However, the Prophet Musa (as) advised them
"Never! My Lord is with me…" (Surat ash-Shu`ara´, 62), thus ex-
pressing his submission to and faith in Allah. The sorcerers who
were threatened by Pharaoh with having their arms and legs cut off,
because they believed in Allah, exhibited the same fearlessness. The
Prophet Ibrahim (as), who was thrown into the fire, felt no fear ei-
ther. The faith and submission of the believers, referred to in Surat
al-Ahzab, increased when they encountered the enemy forces. The
reason for this is that Satan's incitement of fear is ineffective against
a person who has submitted to Allah. As Allah has revealed in the
Qur'an, "He [Satan] has no authority over those who believe and
put their trust in their Lord." (Surat an-Nahl, 99)

He Seeks to Damage Relations between Believers
In the Qur'an, believers are commanded to support and help
one another, in a spirit of unity, and to watch over one each other.
The requisite unison to be fostered among believers is revealed in
the following verse:
Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in ranks like
well-built walls. (Surat as-Saff, 4)
Thus, Satan seeks to cause believers to ignore this important
stipulation, to impede their unity. In this regard, he expends his
greatest efforts towards adversely affecting the speech of the believ-
ers. By encouraging such disdainful behavior, belonging more prop-
erly to members of the societies of the ignorant*, such as speaking

(*) The Arabic original of this expression is jahiliyyah, which refers to the "time of ig-
norance" before the coming of Islam. The word jahiliyyah also refers to the state of
affairs characterized by a lack of moral perception.

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