Satan's Authority.

Allah lists out the points that constitute righteousness (Birr).

It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the God-fearing. (The Noble Quran 2:177)

To learn the true meaning of righteousness (Birr) we have to seek out all what we refer to as the connected Ayahs and then work out the message by using our Intellect (AQL). The Ayahs that describe Iblees who later on becomes an outcast is cursed by Allah, and where Shaithaan spells out his mission to lead mankind astray. In reading the Ayahs of the Quran it appears that there is only one Iblees, but there are many Shaithaans.

This probably means that all those who rebelled or rebel against Allah are referred to as ‘Shaithaans’ whether they are men or jinn. So it looks like Iblees from his exalted status as a Malaa’ikah has been cursed and demoted to the status of a Shaithaan. There is also indication that Iblees is the main Shaithaan and all others who are rebellious are referred to as Shaithaans especially because they get drawn in to being under his authority.

How would Shaithaan lead us astray or make us follow him?

This question is also answered by Allah. Remember Shaithaan can only do what Allah allows him. Allah is informing us of the strategies of Shaithaans.

And excite any of them whom thou canst with thy voice, and urge thy horse and foot against them, and be a partner in their wealth and children, and promise them. Satan promiseth them only to deceive. (The Noble Quran 17:64)

How do we recognise them?

Remember when we continue to read we find that Allah has given Shaithaan authority over those that get incited by his ‘callings’ So it is the Mukhlas or the ghibaadhies of Allah over whom Shaithaan has no SulTHaan or authority, but then we must remember that Shaithaan has authority over those who respond to his ‘callings’

Frightening isn’t it?

And the most frightening aspect of those under Shaithaans authority is that they would be entangled in an ever growing web of evil, but the victims would feel that they are really involved in careers of goodness. They would be utterly deceived in to believing that they are being virtuous in thought and deed.

So now, the most pressing question is, how do we recognise these schemes of Shaithaan?

Another way of trying to find out is to think ‘What is Shaithaans role?’ and ‘What would be the obstacles facing him?’ What would he do?

Shaithaan strategy

Let's look at how a military defense strategist would view.

Let's see how man is to seek guidance and then try to work out the crucial points in this flow, and figure out the crucial points at which Shaithaan would try to attack or sabotage.

Let's study the landscape.

Man arrives on Earth and lives here for a short period of time, maybe 60 to 80 years average. This period of time is for testing. There are basically a few paths that man can follow;

Look around him, excited by the many phenomena and processes that surround him, his needs have been created, controlled and sustained by some majestic and powerful being and realised that there has to be a purpose. So he devotes his life in searching for knowledge about God and also the purpose of life on earth and then desire that all these phenomena and processes work in his favour.

His life is spent in self-glorification which he seeks through desirable worldly materials and rising social status. He actually begins to believe that God is pleased with him and he also begins to believe that God is now working for him, in his favour.

For the seeker of the truth, God has sent down the Quran as a guidance. The seeker must seek guidance from the Quran and this guidance requires constant interaction with the Quran. The Quran instructs the seeker to use his ‘God given faculties’ in reading the Quran and to reflectively contemplate on the Ayahs of the Quran. For this reflective contemplation or ZIKR. God has bestowed man with many faculties or tools, which God describes as the Samgha or hearing, the Baswr or perceiving, the Af’idha or spiritual feeling, the Qalb or heart, the Swudhoor or chest and the AQL or intelligence.

The Quran also describes those who are distracted.

They would read all the Ayahs of Allah whether in the Quran or what is pointed out to us by the Quran, as material for their worldly advancement and self-glorification. They would wrongly use or misuse or even not use the faculties that God has bestowed them with for reflective contemplation or for the ZIKR of all the Ayahs of the Quran.

So the above points in brief is what would describe as the landscape.

So thinking as a military defense strategist, what should we anticipate Shaithaan to do?

Shaithaan has to stop or prevent man trying to work out as to what all the processes and systems working so wondrously around him are pointing out to him. Shaithaan has to make man think,

Of, all these wonderful systems and processes surrounding us, how can we utilise them, so all my desires are fulfilled. If my desires are being fulfilled it does not mean that God is pleased with me? It does not mean that God is favouring me?

The second (probably the most important point) is that Shaithaan would want to prevent man from processing the Ayahs of the Quran through his Samgha, Baswr, Af’idha, Qalb, Swudhoor and his AQL. Shaithaan would want man to read the Quran and then interpret it for worldly usage, because that is how Allah describes the losers.

If man reads the Quran and then processed the Ayahs through his faculties then he would benefit from the virtues of the Quran.

And We reveal of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy for believers though it increase the evil-doers in naught save ruin. (The Noble Quran in 17:82)

The above Ayah Describes the benefits it provides to the Mu’min and the loss it confers on the Dhzalimeen or the unjust.

As we deduced in the earlier Ayahs, Allah confers authority to Shaithaan over those who are incited by his voice or his whisperings. The Quran also indicates that those under Shaithaans authority are both those from Mankind as well as the Jinn.

So, as a military defense strategist, We would think that not only would Shaithaan prevent man from processing the Ayahs of the Quran through his faculties, but he would marshal those under his authority to explain the Ayahs of the Quran to people in such a way that people would stop using their God given faculties for the Ayahs of the Quran and in fact would even begin to think that we should not use these faculties for this purpose.

Thinking as a military defense strategist we would also think how can Shaithaan and his troops do this?

It looks impossible. But then a good strategist does not dismiss potential ambush sites as ‘impossible’ He tries to ‘think out’ or even ‘out think’ the strategies of the enemy and is always alert watching out for the signs.

When Shaithaan has got man to work for desires, prevented man from processing the Ayahs of the Quran through the faculties God has given him, and then even got man to work under his authority to increase this type of thinking or mindset, then Shaithaan has to get man involved in evils which would make appear beautiful to man and make him think that he is being virtuous and that God is fully with him.

So Shaithaan gets this man to build on his wealth on his social status and as he keeps on climbing, man begins to now in turn marshal everything within his grasp and within his ownership to this evil empire that is growing around him.

In short Shaithaan would work in 3 steps

Step I - Incite man to work for his desires.

Step 2 - He would then bring them under his authority and marshal them as his forces and

Step 3 - He would then incite man to in turn marshal all his wealth and his children into the devious, speculative and ambitious plans that he now shares with Shaithaan.

Now is this not what Allah is describing to us through this very enlightening Ayahs?

In many other Ayahs of the Quran Allah describes to us the ploys of Shaithaan.

Why are we not reading these Ayahs and more important why are we not processing the instructions in these Ayahs through our faculties that Allah has blessed us with.

Why are we not reading and processing these Ayahs and also who are those people who are instructing us not to?

Revealing isn’t it?

So now, returning to the main point.

The Quran informs us that there are 2 ways of understanding Birr.

The first is what is read and preached and the second is what is understood by reading whilst using our AQL.

So now we are trying to understand Birr by reading the Ayah that describes Birr, and then processing the many points that are indicated to us through our AQL along with reading the many other connected Ayahs.

We are now trying to work out belief in the Aakhirah or the hereafter.

What the Quran is indicating to us is that if we read the Quran and the Ayahs or the Signs that the Quran is pointing out to us, by using our special faculties, especially our AQL, then we have to come to the conclusion, or the better word the conviction that there is a life hereafter. There is an Aakhirah and everything we see in this world should be pointing out to us this Aakhirah or the Yauwmil Aakhirah.

As far as we can discern, all this evidence or these Ayahs that point out to Aakhirah or the Yauwmil Aakhirah can be classed in to many categories, however we shall discuss just 3 of these categories;

In other words by looking at all the amazing systems and processes surrounding us and then by reading the and looking at what the Ayahs point out to us whilst processing this information through our faculties, we should be convinced that there is a life after death or an Aakhirah and therefore there has to be a day of judgement (Yauwmil Aakhirah).

Classifying all these ‘observed’ and ‘Quran' pointed out evidence in to 3 broad categories.

Category 1 and its evidence;

We look around the world and observe the many wonderful and amazing systems and processes working for our benefit and realise that all this cannot come together without some great and majestic power and magnificent design. Everything is synchronised everything works in concert and everything works for our benefit. So there has to be a planner, a designer, a creator, an evolver, a sustainer and so on and so on.

This has to be God.

But then with this realisation asks many questions;

We cannot see or interact with God in a perceptible manner, in a manner that satisfies us.

Why is that?

If God has planned, designed, created and is sustaining all these amazing countless systems and processes, then there has to be purpose.

What is that purpose?

Whilst grappling with all these questions the realisation also dawns on us that

'Yes we are going to see God’ or ‘Yes, we are going to be in His presence and we are going to see the fulfillment of the objectives or the purpose of all this creation, the systems and the processes that surround us’

Then the realisation also dawns on us, that we too are part of that purpose in fact it appears that we are at the very centre of that purpose and also that that purpose has to be fulfilled whilst we are alive on Planet Earth. That purpose or the purpose of our lives cannot be accomplished after our death.

So Yauwmil Aakhirah is the day on which we realise as to whether we have accomplished the purpose of our lives and remember that by the time we reach the Aakhirah our lives would be over.

The Aakhirah is our hereafter or our life after death.

So the evidence and study of this evidence and the conclusions we reach is what we would refer to as Category 1.

Category 2 and its evidence;

The evidence and the processing of evidence from this category require more intense thinking than for the earlier category. Let's call it more intense because now we have to deeply engage all our God bestowed faculties contemplating as to what the message really is.

We read an Ayahs from the Quran about what happened to Iblees. we also read an Ayahs from the Quran about what Shaithaan (formerly Iblees) takes on as his role, and Allah gives him the OK, he now has authority over those who respond to his incitement or enticement.

Allah provides us with many Ayahs that help us identify the schemes of Shaithaan and to keep away from them. When we begin to contemplate on what Shaithaan is doing and we try to identify and recognise his traps and his network on earth, our thoughts go through many thought grappling processes.

Suddenly we realise that Shaithaan is beautifying our evils.

Now that is a big clue.

What would be the beauty in a deed?

Finally it comes down to virtue.

The more virtuous we think a deed is the more beautiful it appears to us.

So we begin to think ‘What are those deeds that we are performing that we think are full of virtues?

And then we begin to realise. Now ‘that’ realisation puts our mind in to huge turmoil. It takes quite a few months to sort out these thoughts and for the mind to settle. Now we realise that all this time what we were thinking virtuous, was really evil. Evil garbed in virtue!

The logic behind this reasoning process would all be based from the Ayahs of the Quran. We keep on reading and re reading the Ayahs of the Quran. We keep on checking and re checking the meanings to these Ayahs. We check through so many translations and web sites that explain the grammatical nuances of each word. And then step by step our vision, the ability to discern evil that is disguised as good becomes clearer.

So many things that we thought were virtuous is actually seeped in evil. Then it follows that many things that we thought were offensive or not what Allah wants, is what we now realise is the real virtue. People do not like what we are doing and what we are trying to explain to them. This takes us by surprise. Because we think that people would be interested in this insight. But then when we try to explain, people give us answers that immediately remind us of the retorts that Allah explains to us, through the Ayats of the Quran and these retorts, though taking us by surprise actually strengthens our beliefs and our perception of what is actually good and evil.

It is a contrast of emotions

On one hand we are not happy that people are not wanting to see what we are showing them, and on the other hand their rejection gives us that elation that the Ayahs in the Quran are making more sense. That emotion is really very reassuring.

Then we begin to think that there are so many people generating so much evil, immersed in so much evil and apparently they are being rewarded with material wealth and status in society. Then we begin to think that those few who avoid this environment of sin and are trying to seek out the message in the Ayahs of the Quran, they are being humiliated and are not even having access to the material wealth of the world and then we begin to realise the wisdom of all this. There is great wisdom behind this amazing setting which Allah has arranged. And when we realise, ‘Allah is most just’

There has to be justice

Then we realize that all of us are going to be tried in a great Court and that Court would be the Day of Judgment. This is how we are convinced about the Aakhirah, through learning about Shaithaan and then detecting his schemes and then wondering at how so many people are caught in Shaithaans trap and then realising that those sins they are now engulfed in has to have its reckoning, and that reckoning would herald in the Aakhirah or the hereafter.

Category 3 and its evidence

This is again the evidence collected by a curious thinking mind. We see the world, we see all its amazing phenomena and processes and then we realise that everything in this world is temporary, speculative and delusional. Everything simply everything!

It is at this stage that we begin to try and find things that are not temporary, speculative and delusional and that leads us to seek GOD.

Then we begin to realise if everything surrounding us is temporary, speculative and delusional then there has to be a world or a life where everything is permanent, everything is orderly to an extent that there is no speculation or deception and then we begin to think then that world is where we are going to after our death.

So how would that world be?

Why are spending limited time in this temporary, speculative and delusional world?

There has to be a purpose and then this conviction of the truth of the hereafter or Aakhirah keeps on getting strengthened. This would be the brief introduction to what we have termed ‘Category 3 and its evidence’