Satanic Tactics: Life
Walking the path to Allah is a type of war and its battlefield is the heart. To win, we must strengthen our army – our soul, and weaken the enemy – our lower-self and the devil. This is the third in a series of articles on Satanic Tricks: Seven Tricks of the Devil.
Satan had rebelled against the command of his Lord. Satan is corrupt. Satan’s beginnings outwardly looked like very righteous beginnings. It is said, and these narrations are to be taken with a grain of salt – generally, narrations that have to do with historical contexts are not as firmly established as other types – that there is not a spot on the land except that Satan has prostrated and worshipped Allah there.
Satan became one of the greatest worshippers of Allah outwardly. The reasons for why he was doing the worship manifested later. So it was not that he became corrupt. Satan was always corrupt. Only Allah knew it until He made it manifest by commanding him to prostrate to Adam. Then his arrogance came forth.
Father of All Jinn
Just like the humans, the jinn procreate and have lineage, children and descendants. Now some of the commentators of the Quran said that Satan (Iblis specifically) is to the jinn what Adam is to the humans. Adam is the father of humanity, and Satan is the father of the jinnkind. Others said no, he’s just one of them.
Jinn do have families and children. They tend to live very long lives, much longer than the humans. They reside in places where humans do not reside. Again, there is that distancing and disassociation between the two species, if that is the proper term.
We find in the Sira that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) would go out to deserted areas and in one of the situations he was accompanied by one of his Companions. Reportedly, he told the Companion, “Wait here.” The Companion waited and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) went forth. He was calling the jinn to Islam. That happened a few times in the Sira as well.
Satan is a name reserved for Iblis himself. Its plural is used in the Quran. Allah says:
شَيَـٰطِينَ ٱلْإِنسِ وَٱلْجِنِّ يُوحِى بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ زُخْرُفَ ٱلْقَوْلِ غُرُورًۭا ۚ وَلَوْ
“Fiends of men and jinn, covertly inspiring one another with fair-flown words of beguilement.” [Quran, 6:112; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
The devils of the humans and the jinn incite each other with false speech and delusion. So it is clear in the Quran that there are devils among humans and the jinn.
In Sura al-Nas:
مِنَ ٱلۡجِنَّةِ وَٱلنَّاسِ
“Be he of vile jinn or men.”[Quran, 114:6; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
The corrupt among the jinn we call Shayatin. The usage of the word Shaytan for a human is like a metaphor. It means that they have the same qualities. That same enmity towards humans. They are corrupt and they misguide others. These are all qualities of the Shayatin.
Mortal Enemies
The righteous of the jinn are not called Shayatin. The rebellious jinn are the worst of the worst. Satan is their leader. Those are the ones who are chained up in Ramadan.
The Shayatin, in their entirety, whether human jinn, are enemies to you. When Allah banished Satan from Paradise, he asked Allah:
قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنظِرۡنِیۤ إِلَىٰ یَوۡمِ یُبۡعَثُونَ
“He said, ‘My Lord, respite me till the day they are raised up.’‘” [Quran, 38:79; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]
He has been granted long life from that day till the Day of Judgment, all the way until the horn is blown on the Day of Judgment. Generally, jinn naturally have long lives, whereas the nation of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) lives between 60 and 70 years.
In regards to the battle concept, we are highly inexperienced in the face of someone who’s been there since Adam (upon him be peace). This is why knowing the tactics of Satan is very important. He has thousands of years of experience in doing this over and over and over again – taking people away from Allah.
