| SATAN: THE SECRET LEADER OF THOSE WHO DO NOT
HEED THE QUR'AN
The first part of this book explained, in the light of some Qur'anic
verses, the reasons people do not heed the Qur'an and run away from the
truth. In addition to these reasons, there are certain people who encourage
others to hide from, and reject, the truth of the Qur'an, turning them
in the wrong direction and trying their utmost to keep them from the Qur'an.
These are people who act as spokesmen for Satan's deceptions, and who
are frequently leaders in their community. They attempt to spread atheism,
and to prevent the adoption of the Qur'an's moral code.
There do not need to be a large number of such people. It
is enough for them to be people who are materially and morally influential
in the community, who have economic power in their hands, and who possess
the means to direct society's thinking. In this way they can easily communicate
their ideas to the masses, thus directing them. Because of their means,
they succeed in making the majority of people think, speak and organise
their lives in the godless way they impose upon them.
In general, many people follow unquestioningly community
leaders like those described above. Such followers are those who have
surrendered themselves to the race of life; they tag along on the leader's
path without really being aware of their ultimate aims, and without realising
what kind of life they have embarked upon. They agree to the leaders'
every word, obey it scrupulously, and so are caught up living their lives
according to this misguided direction.
History is full of such evil leaders. In recent times bloody-handed
leaders like Stalin, Hitler, Franco, Mussolini and Mao have headed the
unbelievers. During their periods in power, these people placed the lives
of their subjects entirely under their own control and directed their
daily and social lives. They used all means of communication according
to their own ideas, provided education of the type they wanted, permitted
to be read only those books they thought should be read, and committed
mass murders of those opposed to them. They did not even tolerate the
existence of different ideas and viciously destroyed those who held them.
They tried everything to spread atheism, destroying churches and mosques,
and abolishing religious education. As the Qur'an says, what they did
was to "summon people to the fire." In Surat al-Qasas, Allah tells us
about these types of people:
We made them leaders, summoning to the Fire, and
on the day of rising they will not be helped. We pursued them with a curse
in this world and on the day of rising they will be hideous and spurned.
(Surat al-Qasas: 41-42)
Because of the powerful persuasion of these faithless leaders,
as mentioned here in the Qur'an, people have emerged who are unable to
think, see, speak or reason. The latter ignore the fact that it was Allah
Who created them and gave them life, and obey the orders of their leaders:
in fact they are afraid to behave in ways that might displease their leaders.
The unbelievers are so attached to their leaders that they
will also battle opposing ideas. So, unless their leader gives permission,
it is impossible for these unbelievers to listen to the words of those
who call them to Allah, to read books on the topic, or even to believe
in Allah. This is not a new situation, as we mentioned in the first part
of the book, every prophet has faced leaders who try to prevent people
from listening to, or following, the prophet. For example, when the Prophet
Musa (peace be upon him) invited the people of Pharaoh to believe in Allah's
verses, they were powerless against the Pharaoh, accepted his leadership
and followed his orders for good or ill without reflection. However, the
Qur'an points out that the Pharaoh was a leader summoning his people to
the fire:
We sent Musa with Our Signs and clear authority
to Pharaoh and his ruling circle. They followed Pharaoh's command but
Pharaoh's command was not rightly guided. He will go ahead of his people
on the day of rising and lead them down into the Fire... (Surah Hud: 96-98)
Just as they control how their people live their lives, absolute
leaders also determine how they think. Recall how the Pharaoh resisted
Musa (peace be upon him) despite every proof offered, and how his resistance
also drove his subjects into the same deviation. The Qur'an's example
of Pharaoh thus indicates clearly the pressure leaders of the unbelievers
can exert on their societies and its beliefs:
He said, "Have you believed in him before I authorised
you? He is your chief who taught you magic. But you will soon know! I
will cut off your alternate hands and feet and I will crucify every one
of you." (Surat ash-Shu'ara': 49)
This verse highlights that one of the main characteristics
of absolutist leaders, who try to prevent their subjects from believing
in religion, is their use of fear to control the community. They use slanders,
threats of arrest, public ridicule and death, as ways to prevent their
subjects from believing in Allah. However, such leaders forget that true
believers fear nothing and nobody except Allah: because believers know
that a person is responsible only to Allah and that they live only to
earn Allah's approval. In fact, we see in the story of Pharaoh, that the
magicians, who believed in the clear proofs brought by the Prophet Musa,
set no store by Pharaoh's threats, because they sincerely believed in
Allah, a belief which they expressed:
The magicians threw themselves down in prostration.
They said, "We believe in the Lord of all the worlds, the Lord of Musa
and Harun." Pharaoh said, "Have you believed in him before I authorised
you to do so? This is just some plot you have concocted in the city to
drive its people from it. I will cut off your alternate hands and feet
and then I will crucify every one of you." They said, "We are returning
to our Lord. You are only avenging yourself on us because we have believed
in our Lord's Signs when they came to us. Our Lord, pour down steadfastness
upon us and take us back to You as Muslims." (Surat al-A'raf: 120-126)
In another verse, Allah tells us of the brave decision taken
by the faithful magicians in defiance of the Pharaoh:
They said, "We will never prefer you to the Clear
Signs which have come to us nor to Him who brought us into being. Decide
on any judgment you like. Your jurisdiction only covers the life of this
world. (Surah Ta Ha: 72)
History is replete with examples of those who, like Pharaoh's
people, fail to listen to their own consciences and use their own reason
and only believe what their ruler gives them permission to. Even today,
there are those who reject the Qur'an for similar reasons. Sadly, because
they pay no attention to Allah's existence and are unaware that nothing
and nobody has any independent power apart from Him, these people do not
realise that their fear of their leaders is irrational. In reality, those
they fear, and under whose orders they consequently place themselves,
are impotent people like themselves, who have no real power of their own,
living subject to the fate Allah has created for them. For example, the
Pharaoh was a leader who, while he was alive, placed his people under
great pressure, treated them cruelly, and was regarded as all powerful.
But as the Qur'anic verses tell us, his "jurisdiction only covers the
life of this world." Neither the wealth he owned, nor the kingdoms he
established could protect him against death. Like everybody, his death
at the end of a brief life was inevitable. After he died, he had no more
control over his people.
In fact, when they are summoned to the presence of Allah,
people will not be able to give as an excuse, that they disbelieved because
their rulers persuaded and pressured them. None of the leaders whom they
feared and whose orders they obeyed will be at their side to help or protect
them. Everybody will give an individual accounting to Allah, and will
be confronted with every single thing they have done. So, the image of
the power, wealth, magnificence and potency on earth of the blasphemous
leaders is a deceit. Allah warns that the power of such leaders will not
be enough even to save their own souls:
Say: "Who will protect you night and day from the
All-Merciful?" Yet they turn away from the remembrance of their Lord.
Or do they have gods besides Us who will protect them? They cannot even
help themselves! They will not be safe from Us. No indeed! We have given
these people enjoyment, as We did their fathers, until life seemed long
and good to them. Do they not see how We come to the land eroding it from
its extremities? Or are they the victors? Say: "I can only warn you through
the Revelation." But the deaf cannot hear the call when they are warned.
(Surat al-Anbiya': 42-45)
Believing that any creatures other than Allah have power,
submitting to their rule, allowing their every thought, belief and moral
value to be a guiding principle and so destroying one's own beliefs and
ideas is heedlessness and mindlessness. In fact this situation arises
from the psychology of being controlled and managed in weak communities
which do not think or exercise their free will. People in this situation
prefer not to think or investigate for themselves, seeing it as too difficult;
they prefer to follow received ideas, the "tried and true" and avoid the
responsibility that comes with independent thought. They even follow people
who are no longer alive, contenting themselves to adopt a viewpoint through
reading a single book. They do not consider if the author had been sound
in his thinking, or had been prejudiced or partial. That Marx, Mao, Lenin,
Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Darwin and a great many other such atheist
leaders of thought or politics still have so much influence on people's
ideas is a very significant example of this.
But it is as dangerous as it is wrong to follow atheist leaders
like those mentioned. A person may not heed calls to believe in Allah
because of ignorance, because of failure to listen sufficiently to the
voice of conscience or for other reasons, but once the truth has been
perceived it is most intelligent to accept it. Continuing to insist on
what is wrong, resisting the truth and failing to do what is right shows
a great lack of reason. Doing what is right is a fine virtue, but regarding
this as a weakness and calculating what people will think and trying to
retain respect by doing so will cause a person real loss both in this
world and the next. However, making a decision to conform unconditionally
to the rules of the Qur'an and our Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant
him peace) is honest, sincere, civilised and courageous. At the same time,
a person who does so has proved what a strong, honest and sound character
he or she has. The real weakness is remaining silent in the face of Satan's
cajolery and thus obeying Satan.
Being A Member of Satan's Faction…
As mentioned in the first part of this book, prophets and
those sincere Muslims urging people to follow the prophets who have come
to enlighten them, have always met with this kind of rejection. Leaders
who try and turn people away from the prophets and from following the
true religion have always used the same methods and put forward the same
excuses. What can explain this symmetry? Is there a book such leaders
follow? Or do they themselves follow a leader, the same one since the
dawn of humanity?
Indeed, the fundamental reason underlying people's attempts
to reject the prophets' call is that people who are remote from religious
morality take their orders from the same place and heed the words of the
same leader. This leader, who prevents people from praying to Allah, following
the words of the prophets and finding the right path is Satan. Satan is
the one who inspires the eminent ones among people, who may be economically
or spiritually influential, as mentioned in the beginning of this part,
to encourage their followers to reject the true path of religion.
Allah warns us that by distancing themselves from
what is good, people are following the path of Satan, when He says in
the Qur'an, "… What they call on is an arrogant Satan." (Surat an-Nisa':
117).
Satan, as the real leader of these people, is
deluding them with all manner of promises.With a variety of methods and
devices, Satan diverts them from the true faith of Allah, just as they
themselves are doing with their own people. In fact by making Satan their
friend and guardian, people are walking a path which will end in very
great torment because, as the Qur'an tells us: "… Anyone who has made
Satan his comrade, what an evil comrade he is!" (Surat an-Nisa': 38)
When a person accepts Satan as a friend, he begins to operate
on the basis of his advice, inspiration and instructions. Before starting
a task, before speaking, before making any decision, he is advised by
this false friend. He consults Satan on every act and they plan together.
In a Qur'anic verse, Allah gives this warning:
Among people there is one who argues about Allah
without knowledge, and follows every rebellious Satan. It is written of
him that if anyone takes him as a friend, he will mislead him and guide
him to the punishment of the Searing Blaze. (Surat al-Hajj: 3-4)
This verse indicates that the friends of Satan
are those who make him their protector, battle against the religion of
Allah, enter into violent arguments and deviate from the true path. These
people take Satan's side in the war he is waging against the religion
of Allah, and become his foot soldiers. They are prone to becoming Satan's
workers, because, as we are told in a verse of the Qur'an, "… The disbeliever
is ever, againsthis Lord, an assistant to [Satan]." (Surat al-Furqan:
55)
The first task of Satan is to make his followers forget the
existence of Allah. Through the prophets and the holy books, Allah promises
everybody who He has created a wonderful eternal life if they accept Him
and follow Him. Thus, He reminds them that they are responsible to Him
and they are held responsible for observing the limits conveyed in the
Qur'an. By contrast Satan deceives his own faction with lies such as that
they have no responsibility to anybody, that there will be no accounting
for what they do or say, and that there is no problem with their living
how they wish, even any form of depravity and perversion. Thus Satan's
promises about worldly life are easily accepted by people who have no
faith and do not accept the Qur'an as their guide. Allah refers to the
situation of those who turn away from the Qur'an in one of its verses:
Recite to them the tale of him to whom We gave
Our Signs, but who then cast them to one side and Satan caught up with
him. He was one of those lured into error. (Surat al-A'raf: 175)
As delineated in the first part of this book, those who allow
themselves to become ensnared by Satan's traps live heedlessly and without
a care, as though they will never die and life will never end. They hope
to lead a happy life without recognizing religious morality and the limitations
set by Allah. They make a great effort to avoid, overlook, or suppress
any reality that might contradict their decision. But the calculations
they make will not come out as Satan has promised them. On the contrary,
every minute they spend in ignorance of the Qur'an will certainly bring
with it great pain and trouble: a person who calculates with the thought
that they are not responsible to anyone nor accountable for their behaviour,
easily engages in any form of immorality and unconscionable behaviour.
It is for this reason that the rejecters do not for the most part stop
at lack of faith but exhibit aggressive behaviour towards Allah's prophets
and believers, unable to endure their message.
The behaviour of people who reject religion in every period
of history has an exact resemblance because what is directing them is
the same Satanic power. The Qur'an describes it like this:
... The satans inspire their friends to dispute
with you… (Surat al-An'am: 121)
Those in every society who conduct their endless struggle
against Allah's message in their ignorance of the supreme truth that the
Qur'an will prove to be superior under all circumstances, are proceeding
down the path of Satan and obeying the orders he has given without consulting
their own wisdom or consciences. But these secret calls of Satan will
certainly bring them to a fiercely burning fire. Allah informs us about
the position of these people in the Qur'an:
... Yet there are people who argue about Allah
without knowledge or guidance or any illuminating Book. When they are
told: "Follow what Allah has sent down," they say, "No, we will follow
what we found our fathers doing." What! Even if Satan is calling them
to the punishment of the Blazing Fire? (Surah Luqman: 20-21)
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