Introduction
In Islamic accounts, Iblis is presented as the principal instigator of human misguidance, evil suggestions, and sin. After disobeying the command to prostrate before Adam, he is cursed and then declares that he will lie in wait for human beings on the straight path. Yet a fundamental question remains within this familiar story: when Iblis himself first went astray, who led him astray? Satan can be invoked as the tempter behind human sin; but before Satan’s own first act of disobedience, there was no other Satan who could be identified as the cause of his misguidance.
The Qur’anic account makes this question even more complicated. Iblis describes his own misguidance as Allah’s doing: “You have led me astray.” Nor is it straightforward to dismiss this as merely a false accusation by Iblis, because classical Qur’anic commentaries and explanations of Sunni creed explicitly affirm Allah’s power both to guide and to lead astray. Indeed, in explaining the phrase “You have led me astray,” some classical commentaries state that Allah brought about error, disobedience, and arrogance in his heart; other explanations directly adopt the meaning “You have misguided me.” The central issue, therefore, is not simply what Iblis alleged, but how Islamic sources have interpreted that allegation and how far those interpretations are consistent with Iblis’s moral responsibility.
Iblis’s Statement: “You Have Led Me Astray”
In Surah al-A‘raf, after refusing to prostrate before Adam, Iblis is ordered to leave in disgrace. He asks for respite until the resurrection, and what he says after receiving that respite is particularly significant. Addressing Allah directly, he attributes his misguidance to Allah, saying, “You have led me astray”; he then declares that he, too, will lie in wait for human beings on the straight path. [1]
قَالَ فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي لَأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ
English translation: “He said, ‘Because You have led me astray, I will surely lie in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will surely approach them from before them, from behind them, from their right, and from their left; and You will not find most of them grateful.’”
The Arabic word here is أَغْوَيْتَنِي—“You have led me astray.” It cannot be translated as though Iblis were merely saying, “I went astray on my own.” Allah is the subject of the verb here; Iblis is addressing Allah. Islamweb was asked this question directly: since Iblis himself refused to prostrate, why does he say that Allah led him astray? Islamweb’s answer does not stop at defining the word as “leading astray and distancing.” Citing al-Qurtubi’s explanation, it says that the phrase means Allah brought about misguidance, obstinacy, and arrogance in his heart. It then states even more explicitly that Iblis said this because he knew that misguidance is in Allah’s hands, just as guidance is in His hands, and that it is part of Sunni creed that Allah guides whomever He wills and leads astray whomever He wills. [2]
فاعلم أولا أن الإغواء هو الإضلال والإبعاد، والشيطان اللعين خاطب الله سبحانه وتعالى بهذا الكلام، ومعنى قوله: فَبِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي أي فبما أوقعت في قلبي من الغي والعناد والاستكبار كما قال القرطبي في تفسيره، وإبليس قال ذلك لعلمه أن الإضلال بيد الله تعالى كما أن الهداية بيده أيضا، فكما أن الله يهدي من يشاء فضلا منه تعالى فهو يضل كذلك من يشاء عدلا كما قال تعالى: قُلْ إِنَّ اللهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنَابَ {الرعد:27} وكما قال تعالى: وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللهُ لَجَعَلَكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً وَلَكِنْ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ {النحل:93} وكما قال تعالى: فَإِنَّ اللهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَاتٍ إِنَّ اللهَ عَلِيمٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ {فاطر:8} وكما قال تعالى: مَنْ يَشَإِ اللهُ يُضْلِلْهُ وَمَنْ يَشَأْ يَجْعَلْهُ عَلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ {الأنعام:39} والآيات في هذا المعنى كثيرة في القرآن، فإبليس يعلم أن الله تعالى أضله لما في قلبه من الكبر والحسد والبغي، والله تعالى لا يضل إلا الفاسقين كما قال تعالى: وَمَا يُضِلُّ بِهِ إِلَّا الفَاسِقِينَ {البقرة:26} وإبليس فسق كما قال تعالى: إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ كَانَ مِنَ الجِنِّ فَفَسَقَ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِ {الكهف:50} فاستحق الإغواء والإضلال جزاء وفاقا، ومن عقيدة أهل السنة والجماعة أن الله يهدي ويضل كما دل على ذلك القرآن والسنة بخلاف بعض الفرق المنحرفة الذين ينفون أفعال الله تعالى وينفون القدر.
English translation: “First, know that ighwa’ means leading astray and distancing. The accursed Satan addressed Allah with these words. As al-Qurtubi states in his commentary, ‘Because You have led me astray’ means: ‘Because You have created misguidance, obstinacy, and arrogance in my heart.’ Iblis said this because he knew that misguidance is in Allah’s hands, just as guidance is in His hands. Just as Allah, out of His grace, guides whomever He wills, so He, in justice, leads astray whomever He wills. Allah says: ‘Allah leads astray whomever He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns to Him’ [al-Ra‘d 13:27]. He also says: ‘Had Allah willed, He could have made you one community; but He leads astray whomever He wills and guides whomever He wills’ [al-Nahl 16:93]. He further says: ‘Allah leads astray whomever He wills and guides whomever He wills’ [Fatir 35:8], and ‘Allah leads astray whomever He wills and places whomever He wills on a straight path’ [al-An‘am 6:39]. There are many verses in the Qur’an with this meaning. Iblis knew that Allah had led him astray because of the arrogance, envy, and transgression in his heart. Allah leads astray only the defiantly disobedient. Iblis, too, became defiantly disobedient by disobeying his Lord’s command, and thus deserved misguidance as a fitting recompense. It is part of the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah that Allah guides and also leads astray, as the Qur’an and Sunnah demonstrate; by contrast, some deviant groups deny Allah’s actions and divine predestination.”
Islamweb also adds an apologetic explanation: Allah did not lead Iblis astray without a reason; He did so as recompense for Iblis’s arrogance and disobedience. But this explanation proposes a moral justification for the subsequent misguidance; it does not deny the fundamental claim that Allah Himself led Iblis astray. On the contrary, it explicitly affirms that claim and establishes it as part of Sunni creed. The dispute, therefore, is not over whether Allah led Iblis astray: according to their own answer, He did. The dispute concerns what caused Iblis’s initial arrogance and disobedience before that misguidance, and whether that first deviation can be placed outside Allah’s all-encompassing will and creative activity.
Ibn Kathir’s commentary likewise explains أغويتني in the same direct sense. Quoting Ibn ‘Abbas, he says that it means “You have led me astray”; he then explains that Iblis is saying he will turn Adam’s descendants away from Allah’s straight path “because You have led me astray.” [3]
يخبر تعالى أنه لما أنظر إبليس إلى يوم يبعثون واستوثق إبليس بذلك، أخذ في المعاندة والتمرد، فقال: فبما أغويتني لأقعدن لهم صراطك المستقيم أي: كما أغويتني. قال ابن عباس: كما أضللتني. وقال غيره: كما أهلكتني لأقعدن لعبادك – الذين تخلقهم من ذرية هذا الذي أبعدتني بسببه – على صراطك المستقيم، أي: طريق الحق وسبيل النجاة، ولأضلنهم عنها لئلا يعبدوك ولا يوحدوك بسبب إضلالك إياي. وقال بعض النحاة: الباء هاهنا قسمية، كأنه يقول: فبإغوائك إياي لأقعدن لهم صراطك المستقيم.
English translation: “Allah explains that, after Iblis was granted respite until the day of resurrection and became certain of it, he began to rebel and defy, saying, ‘Because You have led me astray, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.’ Ibn ‘Abbas said that this means, ‘Just as You have led me astray.’ Others said: ‘Just as You have destroyed me, I will sit in wait on Your straight path for those servants of Yours whom You will create as descendants of this Adam, on whose account You have cast me away’—that is, on the path of truth and salvation. ‘I will turn them away from that path so that they neither worship You nor acknowledge Your oneness, because You have led me astray.’ Some grammarians say that the letter ba’ here introduces an oath, as though he were saying, ‘By Your having led me astray, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.’”
Al-Tabari’s explanation is even more significant. He not only understands Iblis’s statement as attributing his misguidance to Allah; he also preserves a statement by Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qurazi criticizing the Qadariyyah: “Even Iblis knew more about Allah than they did.” This is because Iblis, at least, attributed his misguidance to Allah. Al-Tabari then interprets Iblis’s declaration to mean that he will prevent people from worshipping and obeying Allah, and that “just as You have led me astray, I will lead them astray; just as You have misguided me, I will misguide them.” [4]
أضاف ذلك إليه فقال: فبما أغويتني. وكذلك قال محمد بن كعب القرظي فيما حدثني موسى بن عبد الرحمن المسروقي قال، حدثنا زيد بن الحباب قال، حدثنا أبو مودود، سمعت محمد بن كعب القرظي يقول: قاتل الله القدرية، لإبليس أعلم بالله منهم! وأما قوله: لأقعدن لهم صراطك المستقيم، فإنه يقول: لأجلسن لبني آدم صراطك المستقيم، يعني: طريقك القويم، وذلك دين الله الحق، وهو الإسلام وشرائعه. وإنما معنى الكلام: لأصدن بني آدم عن عبادتك وطاعتك، ولأغوينهم كما أغويتني، ولأضلنهم كما أضللتني.
English translation: “He attributed this misguidance to Allah, saying, ‘You have led me astray.’ Muhammad ibn Ka‘b al-Qurazi said: ‘May Allah destroy the Qadariyyah; even Iblis knew more about Allah than they did!’ The words ‘I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path’ mean: I will sit in wait for Adam’s descendants on Your straight path—that is, Your correct path, which is Allah’s true religion, Islam and its laws. The statement means: I will prevent Adam’s descendants from worshipping and obeying You; just as You have led me astray, I will lead them astray, and just as You have misguided me, I will misguide them.”
Thus, “Satan went astray on his own; Allah did not lead him astray” is not a straightforward reading of classical Sunni commentary. In the Qur’an, Iblis himself tells Allah, “You have led me astray”; in the explanation preserved under Ibn ‘Abbas’s name, this means “You have misguided me”; Ibn Kathir adopts that meaning; al-Tabari attributes Iblis’s misguidance to Allah; and Islamweb explicitly states that misguidance is in Allah’s hands and that Allah led Iblis astray. Their objection does not concern whether the misguidance occurred: they simply explain that divine misguidance as a “just recompense” for Iblis’s earlier arrogance and disobedience. Yet the question of the first cause remains unresolved: where did that initial arrogance and disobedience, for which Allah led him astray, come from?
The Qur’anic verses state plainly and unambiguously that, after creating Adam, Allah cursed Satan for failing to prostrate before Adam as commanded. Only then did he become the accursed Satan. Before that curse, there was no one called Satan. Who, then, tempted Satan and led him astray? [5] –
[Satan] said,** “Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them [i.e., mankind] on Your straight path.
— Saheeh International
(Iblis) said: Because You have led me astray, I, too, swear that I will surely lie in wait on Your straight path.
— Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
He said, “You have led me astray; therefore I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path.”
— Rawai Al-bayan
He said, “Because You have led me astray, **I will most certainly sit in wait for human beings on Your straight path [1].”
— Dr. Abu Bakr Muhammad Zakaria
Allah Leads Astray Whomever He Wills: Creation and Decree, Beyond Mere Permission
Treating Iblis’s statement, “You have led me astray,” as an isolated accusation fails to capture the full Islamic framework of divine predestination. Numerous Qur’anic verses describe guidance and misguidance directly as Allah’s acts: He guides whomever He wills and leads astray whomever He wills. Explanations of Sunni creed likewise do not interpret these statements as simply meaning that “Allah does not lead anyone astray.” Islamweb explicitly states that guidance and misguidance are in Allah’s hands; that Allah makes the guided person guided and the misguided person misguided; that human actions are also Allah’s creation; and that nothing in the universe happens without Allah’s will. [6]
فمعتقد أهل السنة والجماعة أن الهداية والإضلال بيد الله تعالى، وأنه سبحانه خالق أفعال العباد، وأنه هو الذي جعل المهتدي مهتديًا وجعل الضال ضالًّا، وأنه لا يقع شيء في هذا الكون إلا بمشيئته سبحانه، فمعنى يضل من يشاء ويهدي من يشاء: أنه يجعل من يشاء مهتديًا، ويجعل من يشاء ضالًّا، وليس معنى هذا نفي مسؤولية العبد عن أفعاله، بل العبد قد ضلّ بمشيئته واختياره وإرادته، ولكنه لم يفعل ذلك إلا بمشيئة الله واختياره، كما قال تعالى: لِمَنْ شَاءَ مِنْكُمْ أَنْ يَسْتَقِيمَ * وَمَا تَشَاءُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَشَاءَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ.
English translation: “Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah believe that guidance and misguidance are in Allah’s hands. Allah is the Creator of His servants’ actions; He makes the guided person guided and the misguided person misguided; and nothing in this universe happens without His will. ‘He leads astray whomever He wills and guides whomever He wills’ means that He makes whomever He wills guided and whomever He wills misguided. This does not negate a servant’s responsibility for his actions. Rather, a servant goes astray through his own will, choice, and resolve, but does so only within Allah’s will and choice. As Allah says: ‘For whoever among you wishes to follow the straight path; and you cannot will unless Allah, Lord of all worlds, wills.’”
This explanation holds two propositions together: the servant goes astray by his own will, yet he cannot bring about that misguidance outside Allah’s will, and Allah Himself leads him astray. Consequently, saying “Iblis went astray on his own” does not settle the question of Islamic predestination. According to the Sunni framework itself, his will, his action, and his going astray are not independent events outside Allah’s will and creative activity.
IslamQA explains this position in more specific terms. The question posed there was: if Satan is the source of all evil, why does Allah describe Himself in the Qur’an as the One who leads people astray? In its answer, IslamQA explicitly distinguishes between two kinds of leading astray. Satan tempts people, whispers evil suggestions, and makes evil attractive; in Allah’s case, however, “leading astray” means decreeing and creating misguidance through His will governing what occurs in the universe, and creating within people the causes of misguidance, such as desires and doubts. [7]
كلما وجدت كلمة ( الإضلال ) منسوبة لله سبحانه ، فاعلم أنها بمعنى أن الله يقدر ذلك كونا ويخلقه في الناس ، ويخلق أسباب الضلال من شهوات وشبهات … أما إذا قصدت بكلمة ( الإضلال ) خلق فعل الضلال ، فهذا لا حرج في نسبته إلى الله سبحانه ، فالله عز وجل خلق أفعال العباد المتضمنة لجميع الحركات والسكنات ، سواء أدت إلى فعل الخير أم إلى فعل الشر … فالإضلال بمعنى الإرادة الكونية القدرية : أن يوجَدَ الضلال في الأرض … وأن يصيب الضلال بعض الناس بسبب فعل أنفسهم ، وما كسبته أيديهم.
English translation: “Whenever you find ‘leading astray’ attributed to Allah, understand that it means Allah decrees that misguidance through His will governing what occurs in the universe and creates it within people; He also creates the causes of misguidance, such as desires and doubts. … If ‘leading astray’ means creating the act of misguidance, there is no problem in attributing it to Allah. For Allah is the Creator of all His servants’ actions—all their movements and states of rest, whether these lead to good deeds or bad. … Leading astray in the sense of Allah’s universal, decretive will means bringing misguidance into existence in the world … and some people becoming subject to that misguidance because of their own deeds and acquisition of those deeds.”
This explanation is particularly significant because it goes beyond merely saying “Allah knew” or “Allah permitted it.” Allah creates the act of misguidance, creates its causes, and is the Creator of all good and evil human actions: IslamQA itself uses this language. At the same time, it seeks to preserve human free will and responsibility. The problem therefore becomes even clearer in Iblis’s case. If his arrogance, rebellion, refusal to prostrate, and subsequent misguidance all belong to that general category of servants’ actions whose Creator is Allah, then saying “Iblis chose it himself” merely describes the human or personal level of the action; it does not answer the question of its causal origin.
IslamQA’s own summary is even clearer: misguidance attributed to Allah consists of creation and decree; misguidance attributed to Satan consists of evil whispering, temptation, and making evil attractive. In other words, Satan may be an intermediary tempter in the human case, but at the level of creation, the ultimate decree and creation of misguidance are attributed to Allah. This framework is especially problematic in Iblis’s case, because no other Satan can be invoked to tempt him before his first deviation.
Thus, in the combined account of the Qur’an and Sunni creed, Iblis’s misguidance is not merely his own isolated decision. Iblis himself tells Allah, “You have led me astray”; Islamweb says that guidance and misguidance are in Allah’s hands and that Allah Himself leads the misguided astray; IslamQA says that Allah creates misguidance and its causes and is the Creator of all good and evil human actions. To claim, despite this, that Allah has no causal connection to Iblis’s misguidance directly contradicts what these sources say.
“Iblis Deviated First, So Allah Subsequently Led Him Astray”: The Problem of the First Deviation
A familiar answer in classical Sunni explanations is that Allah does not lead someone astray from the outset without a reason: the person first turns away from the truth, after which Allah, as punishment, further deflects that person’s heart, withholds guidance, or seals the heart. In support of this principle, IslamQA quotes the statement in Surah al-Saff: “When they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.” In its explanation, Allah’s leading people astray is, in many cases, a punishment for their prior, freely chosen disobedience. [8]
فالهداية الموجِبة للتوفيق وقبول الحق: لابد من توافر شروطها، وانتفاء موانعها؛ فقد أخبر الله سبحانه وتعالى بأن إضلاله لمن ضل وانحرف، إنما كان عقوبة له على أفعاله الصادرة منه باختياره وإرادته … قال تعالى: فَلَمَّا زَاغُوا أَزَاغَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ … وفي القرآن ما يبين أن الطبع والختم والغشاوة لم يفعلها الله سبحانه وتعالى من أول وهلة، من حين أمر الله العبد بالإيمان، أو بينه له؛ وإنما فعله بعد تحقق الدعوة منه سبحانه، والتأكيد في البيان والإرشاد؛ ثم حصول الإعراض من المعرضين، والمبالغة في الكفر من الكافرين، جحدا، وعنادا؛ فحينئذ يطبع على قلوبهم ويختم عليها، فلا تقبل الهدى بعد ذلك.
English translation: “Guidance that enables people to accept the truth requires certain conditions to be met and obstacles to be removed. Allah has explained that His leading the misguided and deviant astray is a punishment for deeds they committed through their own will and choice. … Allah says: ‘When they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate.’ … There are passages in the Qur’an showing that Allah did not impose a seal, veil, or restraint upon people’s hearts from the very outset—at the moment they were commanded to believe or the truth was explained to them. Rather, after Allah’s call and clear explanation reached them, when they turned away and persisted excessively in disbelief, denial, and obstinacy, He sealed their hearts, so that they would no longer accept guidance thereafter.”
This explanation provides a framework for a person’s second stage of misguidance: first the person deviates, and then Allah leads that person further astray as punishment. Yet for both human beings and Iblis, the question arises of who led them astray when the initial deviation occurred. This is precisely where a more difficult question begins, rather than ends. If Allah subsequently led Iblis astray because of his arrogance, then the question is: where did that first arrogance, envy, rebellion, and refusal to prostrate come from?
“He was arrogant of his own accord” describes what happened; it is not a causal explanation. According to Sunni predestination itself, a servant’s actions are Allah’s creation, and nothing happens outside His will. Islamweb states directly that Allah is the Creator of His servants’ actions, that Allah Himself leads the misguided astray, and that although a servant goes astray by his own will, this act does not occur outside Allah’s will and choice. [6]
فمعتقد أهل السنة والجماعة أن الهداية والإضلال بيد الله تعالى، وأنه سبحانه خالق أفعال العباد، وأنه هو الذي جعل المهتدي مهتديًا وجعل الضال ضالًّا، وأنه لا يقع شيء في هذا الكون إلا بمشيئته سبحانه … بل العبد قد ضلّ بمشيئته واختياره وإرادته، ولكنه لم يفعل ذلك إلا بمشيئة الله واختياره.
English translation: “Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama‘ah believe that guidance and misguidance are in Allah’s hands; He is the Creator of His servants’ actions; He makes the guided person guided and the misguided person misguided; and nothing in this universe happens without His will. … A servant goes astray through his own will, choice, and resolve, but does so only within Allah’s will and choice.”
Thus, saying “Allah led Iblis astray as punishment for his earlier sin” merely moves the problem back one step. If his initial arrogance also belongs to the category of a servant’s actions, then according to Sunni creed, that arrogance, too, is Allah’s creation and is not outside His will. The claim then is that Allah led him further astray as punishment for an arrogance that Allah created and that occurred within Allah’s will. This explains the second misguidance, but does not establish an independent source for the first deviation.
Another explanation from IslamQA makes this causal relationship even more explicit. It states that Allah not only creates misguidance but also creates the causes of misguidance—desires and doubts; at the same time, all good and evil human actions are His creation. [7] If this statement is accepted, the answer “he initiated it entirely on his own” becomes still weaker in the case of Iblis’s initial arrogance. If the inclinations of his heart, his actions, and the causes of those actions are subject to Allah at the level of creation, then the first deviation cannot be completely detached from Allah’s causal role.
An important distinction must be maintained here. These sources nowhere say that Iblis was externally forced to refuse prostration. They acknowledge his will and choice. But the absence of external coercion and being an independent ultimate source are not the same thing. If his will, actions, inner inclinations, and all the conditions that bring those actions into reality are subject to Allah’s creation and will, then saying “he acted of his own will” describes only an intermediate level in the process; it does not answer the question of the ultimate source of his will and arrogance.
This is where Iblis’s case undermines the usual explanation applied to human beings: “Satan whispered evil suggestions.” In the case of human sin, one can say that Satan tempted the person. But before Satan’s first rebellion, there was no Satan to tempt him. At that point, the Islamic framework of predestination itself comes into view: Allah is the Creator of all actions, creates misguidance and its causes, nothing occurs outside His will, and Iblis himself says, “You have led me astray.”
Therefore, the answer “Iblis first deviated on his own, and Allah later led him astray” may explain the second stage of misguidance, but it does not resolve the problem of the first deviation. Indeed, if Sunni predestination is followed consistently, the question becomes sharper: if the initial arrogance for which Allah punished Iblis by leading him astray was not outside Allah’s creation, will, and decree, then who is the ultimate causal source of Iblis’s first misguidance?
Ahmad al-Ghazali: “Whoever Has Not Learned Tawhid from Iblis Is a Heretic”
In the history of Islamic thought, the question of Iblis’s disobedience and misguidance was not confined to debates involving the Qadariyyah, the Jabriyyah, or speculative theology. Some influential Sufi thinkers approached the problem from an entirely different direction. Ahmad al-Ghazali, the younger brother of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali and a renowned Sufi preacher and writer, presented Iblis not merely as an arrogant rebel but as a lover of uncompromising monotheism who refused to prostrate before anyone other than Allah. The statements preserved under his name are so explicit that he makes Iblis himself a teacher of tawhid, the affirmation of divine oneness.
This is not merely a modern scholar’s conjecture. In his obituary of Ahmad al-Ghazali, Ibn al-Jawzi explicitly writes that he defended Iblis and offered excuses for him. More significantly, al-Ghazali explained Iblis’s predicament directly in the language of qada’ and qadar—divine judgment and predestination. In the biography of Abu’l-Futuh Ahmad al-Ghazali in his Al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa’l-Umam, Ibn al-Jawzi preserves various statements by him, accusations made against him by contemporary scholars, and, in particular, his statements in defense of Iblis. [9]
ذكر من توفي في هذه السنة من الأكابر
٣٩٣٩ – أحمد بن محمد بن محمد، أبو الفتوح الغزالي الطوسي:
أخو أبي حامد، كان متصوفا متزهدا في أول أمره، ثم وعظ فكان متفوها وقبله العوام. وجلس في بغداد في التاجية ورباط بهروز، وجلس في دار السلطان محمود فأعطاه ألف دينار، فلما خرج رأى فرس الوزير في دهليز الدار بمركب ذهب وقلائد وطوق فركبه ومضى فأخبر الوزير، فقال: لا يتبعه أحد ولا يعاد إلى الفرس، وخرج يوما إلى ناعورة فسمعها تئن، فرمى طيلسانه عليها، وكان له نكت لطيفة إلا أن الغالب على كلامه التخليط ورواية الأحاديث الموضوعة والحكايات الفارغة والمعاني الفاسدة، وقد علق عنه كثير من ذلك، وقد رأينا من كلامه الذي علق عنه وعليه خطه إقرار بأنه كلامه.
فمن ذلك أنه قال: قال موسى رب أرني أنظر إليك، قيل له: لن تراني، فقال:
هذا شأنك تصطفي آدم ثم تسود وجهه وتخرجه من الجنة، وتدعوني إلى الطور ثم تشمت بي الأعداء، هذا عملك بالأخيار، كيف تصنع بالأعداء؟
وقال: نزل إسرافيل بمفاتيح الكنوز على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وجبريل جالس عنده فاصفر وجه جبريل، فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: يا إسرافيل هل نقص مما عنده شيئا، قال: لا، قال: ما لا ينقص الواهب ما أريده.
وقال: دخل يهودي إلى الشيخ أبي سعيد، فقال أريد أن أسلم، فقال له: لا ترد، فقال الناس: يا شيخ تمنعه من الإسلام، فقال له: تريد ولا بد، قال: نعم، قال: برئت من نفسك ومالك، قال: نعم، قال: هذا الإسلام عندي احملوه الآن إلى الشيخ أبي حامد حتى يعلمه لا – لا المنافقين يعني لا إله إلا الله – قال أحمد الغزالي: الذي يقول لا إله إلا الله غير مقبول ظنوا أن قول لا إله إلا الله منشور ولايته أفنسوا عزله.
وحكى عنه القاضي أبو يعلى أنه صعد المنبر يوما، فقال: معاشر المسلمين كنت دائما أدعوكم إلى الله فأنا اليوم أحذركم منه، والله ما شدت الزنانير إلا من حبه، ولا أديت الجزية إلا في عشقه.
وأنبأنا محمد بن ناصر الحافظ، عن محمد بن طاهر المقدسي قال: كان أحمد الغزالي آية من آيات الله تعالى في الكذب، توصل إلى الدنيا بالوعظ، سمعته يوما بهمذان يقول: رأيت إبليس في وسط هذا الرباط يسجد لي فقال له: ويحك، إنه الله عز وجل أمره بالسجود لآدم فأبى. فقال: والله لقد سجد لي أكثر من سبعين مرة. فعلمت أنه لا يرجع إلى دين ومعتقد.
قال: وكان يزعم أنه يرى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم عيانا في يقظته لا في نومه، وكان يذكر على المنبر أنه كلما أشكل عليه أمر رأى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فسأله على ذلك المشكل فدله على الصواب.
قال: وسمعته يوما يحكي عن بعض المشايخ، فلما نزل سألته عنها فقال: أنا وضعتها في الوقت.
قال: وله من هذه الجهالات والحماقات ما لا يحصى.
قال مؤلف الكتاب: وكان أحمد الغزالي يتعصب لإبليس ويعذره، حتى قال يوما: لم يدر ذاك المسكين أن أظافر القضاء إذا حكت أدمت وقسي القدر إذا رمت أصمت. ثم أنشد:
وكنا وليلى في صعود من الهوى
فلما توافينا ثبت وزلت
وقال: التقى موسى وإبليس عند عقبة الطور، فقال: يا إبليس لم لم تسجد لآدم؟ فقال: كلا، ما كنت لأسجد لبشر. يا موسى ادعيت التوحيد وأنا موحد، ثم التفت إلى غيره، وأنت قلت أرني فنظرت إلى الجبل، فأنا أصدق منك في التوحيد.
قال: أسجد للغير؟ ما سجدت. من لم يتعلم التوحيد من إبليس فهو زنديق.
يا موسى، كلما ازداد محبة لغيري ازددت له عشقا.
قال المصنف: لقد عجبت من هذا الهذيان الذي قد صار عن جاهل بالحال، فإنه لو كان إبليس غار لله محبة ما حرض الناس على المعاصي، ولقد أدهشني نفاق هذا الهذيان في بغداد وهي دار العلم، ولقد حضر مجلسه يوسف الهمذاني، فقال: مدد كلام هذا شيطاني لا رباني، ذهب دينه والدنيا لا تبقى له.
وشاع عن أحمد الغزالي أنه كان يقول بالشاهد، وينظر إلى المردان ويجالسهم، حتى حدثني أبو الحسين بن يوسف أنه كتب إليه في حق مملوك له تركي، فقرأ الرقعة ثم صاح باسمه، فقام إليه وصعد المنبر فقبل بين عينيه، وقال: هذا جواب الرقعة.
توفي أبو الفتوح في هذه السنة.English translation:
Notable Figures Who Died in This Year
3939 — Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad, Abu’l-Futuh al-Ghazali al-Tusi:
He was Abu Hamid’s brother. Early in life, he was a Sufi and an ascetic. Later, he began preaching and became a highly eloquent speaker, gaining acceptance among ordinary people. In Baghdad, he held gatherings at the Tajiyyah and the Ribat Bahruz. He also held a gathering at Sultan Mahmud’s palace, and the sultan gave him one thousand dinars. As he was leaving, he saw a horse belonging to the vizier at the entrance, with a golden saddle, garlands, and ornaments around its neck. He mounted it and rode away. When the vizier was informed, he said, “Let no one follow him or ask for the horse to be returned.”
One day, he came upon a waterwheel and heard its groaning sound. He threw his cloak over it. He did have some subtle and fine sayings; but what predominated in his speech was incoherent talk, the narration of fabricated hadiths, meaningless tales, and erroneous interpretations. Many such statements were written down from him. Among the records of his statements, we have seen writings bearing his own handwriting, in which he acknowledged that the words were his.
Among these was his statement that Moses said, “My Lord, show Yourself to me so that I may look upon You.” He was told, “You will not see Me.” Then he said:
“So this is how You act! You choose Adam, then disgrace him and expel him from Paradise. You summon me to Mount Tur, then give my enemies an opportunity to rejoice at my misfortune. If this is how You treat the righteous, what do You do to Your enemies?”
He also said: Israfil descended to the Messenger with the keys to the treasuries. Gabriel was sitting beside him. Gabriel’s face turned pale. The Messenger said, “O Israfil, does this diminish anything of what He possesses?” He replied, “No.” The Messenger said, “I have no need for that which does not diminish the giver’s wealth.”
He also said: A Jew came to Shaykh Abu Sa‘id and said, “I wish to embrace Islam.” He said, “Do not turn him away.” People said, “O Shaykh, are you preventing him from embracing Islam?” He asked him, “Do you truly want this?” He replied, “Yes.” He asked, “Have you freed yourself from your self and your possessions?” He replied, “Yes.” He said, “To me, that is Islam. Now take him to Shaykh Abu Hamid, so that he may teach him the ‘la’—the ‘la’ of the hypocrites,” meaning “La ilaha illa Allah” [There is no god but Allah]. Ahmad al-Ghazali said: “Whoever says ‘La ilaha illa Allah’ is not accepted. They thought that ‘La ilaha illa Allah’ was the decree of his authority, but they forgot his dismissal.”
Qadi Abu Ya‘la reported that he once ascended the pulpit and said: “O community of Muslims! Until now, I have always called you to Allah; today I warn you about Him. By Allah, no zunnar [distinctive non-Muslim belt] has been tied around a waist except out of love for Him, and no jizyah has been paid except out of love for Him.”
The hadith scholar Muhammad ibn Nasir informed us that Muhammad ibn Tahir al-Maqdisi said: “Ahmad al-Ghazali was one of Allah’s signs when it came to lying. Through preaching, he acquired worldly advantages. One day in Hamadan, I heard him say: ‘In the middle of this ribat, I saw Iblis prostrating before me.’ He was told: ‘Woe to you! Allah commanded him to prostrate before Adam, but he refused.’ He replied: ‘By Allah, he has prostrated before me more than seventy times.’ Then I knew that he would never return to any religion or belief.”
He also said: Ahmad al-Ghazali claimed to see the Messenger with his own eyes while awake, rather than in a dream. He would say from the pulpit that whenever he encountered a difficulty, he saw the Messenger and asked him about it, and the Messenger then showed him the right way.
He said: One day I heard him relate a story in the name of a certain shaykh. After he came down from the pulpit, I asked him about the story. He said, “I just made it up.”
He said: His instances of such ignorance and foolishness are beyond counting.
The author says: “Ahmad al-Ghazali defended Iblis and offered excuses for him. He even said one day: ‘The poor fellow did not know that when the claws of divine judgment scratch, they draw blood, and when the bow of predestination releases its arrow, it leaves one stunned.’”
He then recited poetry:
“Layla and I were ascending the lofty path of love;
when we came face to face, I stood firm while she slipped.”
He also said: “Moses and Iblis met on the way to Mount Tur. Moses said, ‘O Iblis, why did you not prostrate before Adam?’ Iblis replied, ‘Never; I would not prostrate before a human being. O Moses, you have claimed tawhid, whereas I am a true monotheist. Yet you turned your gaze away from Him toward another. You said, “Show Yourself to me,” and then looked at the mountain. Therefore, I am more sincere than you in tawhid.’”
He said: “Should I prostrate before someone else? I did not. Whoever has not learned tawhid from Iblis is a heretic.”
“O Moses, the more he increased his love for someone other than me, the more I increased my love for him.”
The author says: “I was astonished by these ravings from someone ignorant of the true situation. If Iblis were truly jealous for Allah out of love for Him, he would not encourage people to commit sins. What also astonished me was the spread of these ravings in Baghdad, a city of learning. Yusuf al-Hamadani attended one of his gatherings and said: ‘These words are satanic in origin, not divine. His religion is gone, and worldly success will not last for him either.’”
Ahmad al-Ghazali was also known for advocating the doctrine or practice of the shahid and for looking at and keeping company with beardless youths. Abu’l-Husayn ibn Yusuf even told me that he had written Ahmad al-Ghazali a letter concerning a Turkish slave of his. Al-Ghazali read the letter and then called the slave by name. When the boy came to him, he took him onto the pulpit, kissed him between the eyes, and said: “This is the answer to your letter.”
Abu’l-Futuh died in this year.
The original account also introduces the metaphor of the bow of predestination: when the arrow of divine predestination is released, it strikes its target. In other words, al-Ghazali did not view Iblis’s fall merely as an isolated personal decision; behind his tragedy stood the inevitability of divine judgment and predestination. The question raised in the preceding sections returns here in a new form: if Iblis fashioned his destiny in complete independence from Allah and in opposition to Him, why explain his fate through the blows of qada’ and qadar?
Ibn al-Jawzi’s Al-Qussas wa’l-Mudhakkirin also preserves the same statements by Ahmad al-Ghazali concerning Iblis, in greater detail. In the dialogue between Iblis and Moses, Iblis is presented as more sincere than Moses in tawhid, and Ahmad al-Ghazali is directly quoted as saying: “Whoever has not learned tawhid from Iblis is a heretic.” [10]
المحال! فإنّ رسول اللّه لمّا ردّ تلك المرأة لم يعاتب، ولا جاء جبريل، ولا جرى من هذا شئ. والعجب كيف يجري هذا ببغداد وهي دار العلم؟!
وقدم إلى بغداد أحمد الغزّالي فوعظ، ونفق. وكتب كلامه فنظرت فيما كتب عنه وقد كتب على الجزء بخطّه: هذا كلامي.
فكان فيه من العجائب أنّه التقى إبليس بموسى في عقبة الطور فقال: يا إبليس! لم لم تسجد لآدم؟ قال: كلّا ما كنت لأسجد لبشر. يا موسى! ادّعيت التوحيد وأنا موحّد. لم ألتفت إلى غيره وقلت أنت: أرني! فنظرت إلى الجبل. أنا أصدق منك في التوحيد.
قال: اسجد للغير. ما سجدت وأنت التفت.
قال الغزّاليّ: من لم يتعلّم التوحيد من إبليس فهو زنديق!
قال له موسى: قد غيّرت لبستك من الملائكة إلى الشيطنة.
فقال: ذلك حال يحول وسيتغيّر يا موسى! كلّما ازداد محبة لغيري ازددت عشقا له.
فقال له:
هامش
(1) انظر حديث المرأة التي دخل عليها رسول اللّه ورأى بها برصا في «مسند أحمد» 3 / 493 و«سنن البيهقي» 7 / 214 و«زاد المعاد» 5 / 180 طبعة دمشق.
(2) هو أحمد بن محمد الغزالي الطوسي أخو الامام أبي حامد، درّس بالنظامية بعد أن ترك أخوه التدريس فيها. توفي بقزوين سنة 520 هـ وقد أورد المصنف هنا طائفة كافية من أقواله وجملة من أحواله تعرّفه وتكشفه. وانظر في ترجمته: «شذرات الذهب» 4 / 60 و«طبقات الشافعية» 6 / 60 و«وفيات الأعيان» 1 / 97 و«البداية والنهاية» 12 / 196 و«العبر» 4 / 45 وقال الذهبي: كان رقيق الديانة متكلما في عقيدته. و«لسان الميزان» 1 / 293 و«الميزان» 1 / 150 و«المنتظم» 9 / 260.
(3) في الأصل: لا. والتصويب من «المنتظم» 9 / 261.
(4) أقول: قرأت في مجلة (المسلمون) اللندنية (العدد 32 تاريخ 12 / 8 / 1402 الموافق 4 / 6 / 1982) ص 20 أن هذا الكلام الآثم القبيح المنحرف يقوله صادق جلال العظم في كتابه «نقد الفكر الديني» مستهزئا بالدين مدعيا أنه كلامه. فتأمل وأعجب واحمد اللّه على العافية. ربنا لا تزغ قلوبنا بعد إذ هديتنا وهب لنا من لدنك رحمة إنك أنت الوهاب.
(5) كذا في الأصل، ولعلها: الملائكية.English translation:
“This is impossible! For when the Messenger sent that woman back, he was not rebuked, Gabriel did not come, and nothing of the sort happened. What is most astonishing is how such a thing could happen in Baghdad, a city of learning!”
Ahmad al-Ghazali came to Baghdad. He preached, and his influence and popularity grew. His statements were written down. I examined the words recorded under his name; the manuscript even bore a note in his own handwriting: “These are my words.”
Among those astonishing statements was the following: Moses met Iblis on the way to Mount Tur. Moses said, “O Iblis! Why did you not prostrate before Adam?” Iblis replied, “Never; I would not prostrate before a human being. O Moses! You have claimed tawhid, whereas I am a true monotheist. I did not turn my gaze away from Him toward anyone else. But you said, ‘Show Yourself to me!’ and then looked at the mountain. I am more sincere than you in tawhid.”
He said: “Should I prostrate before anyone else? I did not prostrate, whereas you turned toward another.”
Al-Ghazali says: “Whoever has not learned tawhid from Iblis is a heretic!”
Moses said to him: “But your condition has changed—you have gone from an angelic station to a satanic condition.”
Iblis replied: “That is a condition that changes and will change again. O Moses! The more he increased his love for someone other than me, the more I increased my love for him.”
Then he said to him:
Footnotes
(1) See the hadith of the woman whom the Messenger visited and on whose body he found leukoderma: Musnad Ahmad, Vol. 3, p. 493; Sunan al-Bayhaqi, Vol. 7, p. 214; and Zad al-Ma‘ad, Vol. 5, p. 180, Damascus edition.
(2) He is Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali al-Tusi, the brother of Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. After his brother left his teaching position at the Nizamiyyah madrasa, he taught there. He died in Qazvin in 520 AH. Here the author has cited a sufficient number of his statements and incidents from his life to reveal his character and nature. For his biography, see: Shadharat al-Dhahab, Vol. 4, p. 60; Tabaqat al-Shafi‘iyyah, Vol. 6, p. 60; Wafayat al-A‘yan, Vol. 1, p. 97; Al-Bidayah wa’l-Nihayah, Vol. 12, p. 196; and Al-‘Ibar, Vol. 4, p. 45. Al-Dhahabi said: “He was weak in religious observance, and his creed was questioned.” See also: Lisan al-Mizan, Vol. 1, p. 293; Al-Mizan, Vol. 1, p. 150; and Al-Muntazam, Vol. 9, p. 260.
(3) The original manuscript reads “لا”. It has been corrected in accordance with Al-Muntazam, Vol. 9, p. 261.
(4) I say: In issue 32 of the London-based newspaper Al-Muslimun, dated 12/8/1402 AH—corresponding to 4/6/1982—on page 20, I read that Sadiq Jalal al-‘Azm had made this sinful, ugly, and deviant statement in his book Naqd al-Fikr al-Dini, while mocking religion, and claimed it as his own. Reflect on this, marvel, and praise Allah for being spared. “Our Lord! Do not cause our hearts to deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself; surely You are the Bestower.”
(5) This is how it appears in the original text; the correct word may be الملائكية—“an angelic condition” or “the station of the angels.”
Ibn Abi’l-Hadid’s Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah independently preserves the same position in a later account. There, Ahmad al-Ghazali is described as a preacher who called Iblis “sayyid al-muwahhidin”—the leader of the monotheists—and declared from the pulpit that whoever does not learn tawhid from Iblis is a heretic, because Iblis was commanded to prostrate before someone other than his Lord and refused. [11]
This reinterpretation reverses the very nature of Iblis’s offense. In the conventional explanation, he disobeyed Allah’s command out of arrogance; in al-Ghazali’s Sufi interpretation, the same refusal to prostrate becomes an expression of unwavering tawhid—proof of his refusal to bow before anyone other than Allah. Modern scholarship has analyzed this position of Ahmad al-Ghazali as part of his theory of love. In the accounts preserved in his Majalis and in biographical works, Iblis is presented as a lover and monotheist who remained faithful to Allah’s deeper will even while disobeying His command. [12]
Satan’s refusal to bow down before God’s creation, Adam, signifies that Satan alone manifests the purest devotion to God’s oneness and is thus the unrivalled champion of tawhid.
English translation: “In Ahmad al-Ghazali’s interpretation, Iblis’s refusal to prostrate before Adam expresses his purest devotion to Allah’s oneness; Iblis is thus presented as an unrivaled advocate of tawhid.”
The most significant feature of al-Ghazali’s interpretation is not simply his praise of Iblis, but his placing Allah’s explicit command and Allah’s deeper will on two distinct levels. The explicit command was to prostrate before Adam. Yet al-Ghazali’s Iblis disobeys that command while fulfilling a role that ultimately belongs to the divine plan. He is cursed, becomes the tempter of humanity, receives respite until the Day of Resurrection, and continues to perform that role.
An important logical consequence follows. If Iblis’s refusal were a truly independent rebellion against Allah’s deeper will and predestination, he would have disrupted the divine plan. But if his rebellion itself belongs to that plan—as al-Ghazali’s language of predestination suggests—then even in disobeying Allah’s command, Iblis did not step outside the role Allah had assigned him. In other words, disobeying a command and carrying out the divine will can occur together in the same event.
This is why Ahmad al-Ghazali’s interpretation of Iblis matters to the present problem. He did not evade the question of whether Allah led Iblis astray by denying it; instead, he went to a more fundamental level and reinterpreted Iblis’s fall itself as part of the drama of divine judgment and predestination, tawhid, and love. In his account, Iblis is simultaneously disobedient and accursed, yet still within the divine plan.
Al-Hallaj: Was Allah’s Will Fulfilled Even Through Disobedience to His Command?
Before Ahmad al-Ghazali, the most famous version of this Sufi reinterpretation of Iblis appeared in Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj’s Kitab al-Tawasin. Al-Hallaj did not use Iblis merely as a symbol of sin; he made him the central figure in the tension among tawhid, love, divine command, and divine will. In his Tasin al-Azal wa’l-Iltibas, Iblis is presented as a figure who remains steadfast in his claim to monotheism despite refusing to prostrate before Adam.
In the “Tasin al-Azal wa’l-Iltibas” section of al-Hallaj’s Tawasin, an unusual comparison places Iblis and Muhammad side by side. Iblis was commanded to prostrate before Adam, while Muhammad’s turning of his gaze is discussed; in al-Hallaj’s account, neither turned his gaze elsewhere, each remaining true to his own claim. [13]
حيوانه، والمطموس شأنه، والمدروس عيانه، والعروس بستانه، والطموس بنيانه.
٣٨. أربابه مهربى، أركانه مرهبى، إرادته مشربى، أعوانه متربى، إخوانه محربى، حواليه همد، تواليه رمد.
٣٩. مقالته ركز، هذا فحسب وما دونه فغضب ثمّ باللّه التوفيق.
٦ ـ طاسين الأزل والالتباس في فهم الفهم، في صحّة الدعاوى به عكس العكس
قال العالم السيّد الغريب أو المغيث حسين بن منصور الحلاج، أحسن اللّه مثواه، قدّس اللّه روحه:
١. ما صحّت الدعاوى لأحد إلّا لإبليس وأحمد، غير أنّ إبليس سقط عن العين، وأحمد كشف له عن عين العين.
٢. قيل لإبليس: «اسجد»، ولأحمد: «انظر». هذا ما سجد، وأحمد ما نظر، ما التفت يمينا ولا شمالا.
﴿مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَى﴾
الهوامش:
(١) مطموس: اسم مفعول، محوشده، تباهشده، ناپديدشده، گمگشته، دورشده.
(٢) مدروس: اسم مفعول، كهنه، كهن، قديم، جامهء كهنه، بىرونق، فرسوده، ناپديدشده، ديوانه.
(٣) عيان: ظاهر، آشكار، ديدار با چشم، ذات.
(٤) عروس: هر چيز زيبا و آراسته، بسيار محجوب، پرده، چرخ، دنياى بىبقا، جهان فانى، عدن، ماه، ستاره، كوكب، هر چيز تازه و نو.
(٥) طموس: ناپديد كردن، ناپيدا كردن، هلاك كردن، ناپيدا شدن، دور نگريستن، دورى گزيدن، رفتن همهء صفات بشريت در صفات انوار ربوبيت.
(٦) مهربى: محل فرار، گريزگاه، جمع مهارب.
(٧) مرهب: از رهبة: بهت، ترس، خوف، بيم، هراس، وحشت.
(٨) اخوان: به معناى پيروان، دوستان، برادران.
(٩) همد: آرامش، خاموشى.
(١٠) ركز: به زمين فرو بردن، ثابت كردن، بپاى كردن.
(١١) عين: ديده، جمع اعيان، عيون، چشمه، ذات هر چيز، نفس شىء؛ در اصطلاح عقل و روح و سرّ و ظاهر، اشاره است به ذات چيزى كه اشياء به آن پيدا و آشكار شود.
(١٢) عين العين: سرچشمههاى حقيقت هستى.
(١٣) سورة النجم، الآية: ١٧.English translation:
His living essence; whose condition has been effaced; whose visible form has faded; whose garden is like a bride; and whose structure is annihilation.
38. His lords are his refuges; his pillars are places of fear; his will is his drinking cup; his helpers are covered in dust; his companions are at war; silence surrounds him, and torment awaits him at his end.
39. His statement is firmly established; this suffices, and whatever falls beneath it is a matter of wrath. Thereafter, success rests with Allah.
6 — The Tasin of Pre-eternity and the Confusion of Perception: The Truth of the Claim and the Opposite of the Opposite
The scholar, the sayyid, the stranger or seeker of aid, Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, said:
1. “No one’s claim was truly established except that of Iblis and Ahmad [Muhammad]. Yet Iblis fell from the field of vision, while before Ahmad was unveiled the ‘eye of the eye’—the deepest source of reality.”
2. “Iblis was told, ‘Prostrate,’ and Ahmad was told, ‘Look.’ Iblis did not prostrate, and Ahmad did not look; he turned his gaze neither to the right nor to the left.”
“The gaze neither deviated nor exceeded its limit.” — Surah al-Najm 53:17
Footnotes:(1) Matmus: effaced, destroyed, invisible, lost, or removed.
(2) Madrus: old, worn, eroded, faded, vanished; in some usages, mad.
(3) ‘Iyan: manifest, visible, seen with the eyes; the nature or essence of a thing.
(4) ‘Arus: a beautiful and adorned object; deeply concealed; a veil; the celestial sphere; the transient earth; the vanishing world; Eden; the moon, a star, or a celestial body; anything new and fresh.
(5) Tumus: effacing, making invisible, destroying, becoming lost, moving away; in Sufi terminology, the dissolution of human attributes within the attributes of divine light.
(6) Mahrab: a place of escape, refuge, or route of flight.
(7) Marhab: from rahbah—awe, fear, terror, apprehension, or dread.
(8) Ikhwan: followers, friends, or brothers.
(9) Hamd: tranquility, stillness, or silence.
(10) Rakz: driving into the ground, firmly setting in place, or establishing.
(11) ‘Ayn: an eye, with the plurals a‘yan and ‘uyun; a spring; the essence of something or the thing itself. In technical usage, it can also refer to intellect, spirit, inner mystery, and outward form—that is, the essence through which a thing becomes manifest and visible.
(12) ‘Ayn al-‘ayn: the sources of the truth of existence, or the deepest source of reality.
(13) Surah al-Najm, verse 17.
In this section of al-Hallaj’s Tasin al-Azal wa’l-Iltibas, Iblis is called his “companion and teacher.” Explaining Iblis’s refusal to prostrate in the language of love, foreknowledge, and divine choice, al-Hallaj also places these statements in Iblis’s mouth: “All choice is Yours; my choice, too, is for You,” and “If You have prevented me from prostrating before him, then You are the One who prevents.” [14]
[ ٦ ] طاسين الأزل والالتباس
٢٢ – وقال إبليس: أنا خير منه [١] حين لم ير غيره غيرا، فرعون: ما علمت لكم من إله غيري [٢] حين لم يعرف في قومه من يميز بين الحق والباطل.
٢٣ – وقلت أنا: «إن لم تعرفوه فاعرفوا أثره، وأنا ذلك الأثر، وأنا الحق لأني ما زلت أبدا بالحق حقا».
٢٤ – فصاحبي وأستاذي إبليس وفرعون، وإبليس هدد بالنار وما رجع عن دعواه، وفرعون أغرق في اليم؛ وما رجع عن دعواه ولم يقر بالواسطة إليه لكنه قال: آمنت أنه لا إله إلا الذي آمنت به بنوا إسرائيل [٣] ألا ترى أن الله سبحانه عارض جبريل في بابه فقال: «لم حشوت فاه رملا».
٢٥ – وأنا إن قتلت وقطعت يداي ورجلاي ما رجعت عن دعواي.
٢٦ – اشتق اسم «إبليس» من اسمه: فعين عزازيل لعلو همته، والزاي لازدياد الزيادة في زيادته والألف آراؤه في ألفته، والزاي الثانية لزهده في رتبته والياء حين يأوي إلى علم سابقته واللام لمجادلته في بليته.
٢٧ – قال له: «لم لا تسجد يا أيها المهين؟»
قال: «أنا محب والمحب مهين» إنك تقول «مهين» وأنا قرأت في كتاب مبين ما يجري علي يا ذا القوة المتين. كيف أذل وقد خلقتني من نار وخلقته من طين [٤] وهما ضدان لا يتوافقان وإني في الخدمة أقدم، وفي الفضل أعظم، وفي العلم أعلم، وفي العمر أتم.
٢٨ – قال له الحق سبحانه: «الاختيار لي لا لك» قال: «الاختيارات كلها واختياري لك، قد اخترت لي يا بديع. وإن منعتني عن سجوده، فأنت المنيع، وإن أخطأت في المقال، فلا تهجرني فأنت السميع. وإن أردت أن أسجد له فأنا المطيع، لا أعرف في العارفين أعرف بك مني».
٢٩ – وقال:
لا تلمني، فاللوم مني بعيد
وأجر سيدي، فإني وحيد
إن في الوعد، وعدك الحق حقا
إن في البدء، بدء أمري شديد
من أراد الكتاب هذا خطابي
فاقرؤوا واعلموا بأني شهيد
٣٠ – يا أخي، سمي «عزازيل» لأنه عزل وكان «معزولا» في ولايته، ما رجع من بدايته إلى نهايته لأنه ما خرج من نهايته.
الهوامش:
(١) الأعراف: ١١.
(٢) القصص: ٣٨.
(٣) يونس: ٩.
(٤) الأعراف: ١٢.English translation:
[6] The Tasin of Pre-eternity and the Confusion of Perception
22 — Iblis said: “I am better than him” [1]—because he saw no one other than Him as truly “other.” Pharaoh said: “I know of no god for you other than myself” [2]—because among his people he knew no one capable of distinguishing truth from falsehood.
23 — And I have said: “If you do not know Him, then know His sign. I am that sign. And I am ‘al-Haqq’ [the Truth]—because, through the Truth, I have forever remained true.”
24 — “Thus, my companions and my teachers are Iblis and Pharaoh. Iblis was threatened with fire, yet did not retract his claim. Pharaoh was drowned in the sea, yet did not retract his claim or acknowledge any intermediary through whom to reach Him. Rather, he said: ‘I believe that there is no god except the One in whom the Children of Israel believe.’ [3] Do you not see that Allah Most High challenged Gabriel about this, saying: ‘Why did you fill his mouth with sand?’”
25 — “Even if I am killed and both my hands and feet are cut off, I will not retract my claim.”
26 — The name “Iblis” was derived from his name. The ‘ayn in “‘Azazil” stands for the loftiness of his aspiration; the za’ for further increase within his increase; the alif for his understanding of his intimacy; the second za’ for his detachment from his rank; the ya’ for his taking refuge in the knowledge of his predestined condition; and the lam for his disputation amid his trial.
27 — He was told: “O disgraced one! Why do you not prostrate?”
He replied: “I am a lover, and the lover is disgraced. You call me ‘disgraced’; yet, O Most Powerful, Possessor of Firm Might, I have already read in the Clear Book what will happen to me. How can I abase myself when You created me from fire and created him from clay? [4] These two are opposed and incompatible. I have served longer than he has; I am higher in rank, greater in knowledge, and more mature in age.”
28 — The Most High Truth said to him: “The right to choose is Mine, not yours.” He replied: “All choice is Yours, and my choice, too, is for You. O Incomparable Creator, You Yourself have chosen for me. If You have prevented me from prostrating before him, then You are the One who prevents. If I have erred in speech, do not abandon me, for You are the All-Hearing. And if You wish me to prostrate before him, then I am obedient. Among those who know You, I know of no one who knows You better than I do.”
29 — He also said:
“Do not blame me—blame is far removed from me;
O my Lord, reward me, for I am alone.
Among promises, Your true promise alone is true;
and from the beginning, the beginning of my fate was harsh.
For whoever seeks this book—this is my statement;
so read, and know that I am a witness.”
30 — “O my brother, he was called ‘Azazil because he was set apart; even in his station of intimacy, he was ‘isolated.’ From his beginning to his end, he never withdrew from his position, because he could never step outside his ultimate destiny.”
Footnotes:
(1) Surah al-A‘raf: 11.
(2) Surah al-Qasas: 38.
(3) The source gives: Surah Yunus: 9.
(4) Surah al-A‘raf: 12.
This is a Sufi reinterpretation that runs contrary to the mainstream Islamic account of Iblis. Its value for the present discussion, however, lies elsewhere. In al-Hallaj’s interpretation, Iblis faces a conflict in which Allah’s command tells him to prostrate before Adam, while what he understands as the divine will and the demands of tawhid prevent him from bowing before anyone else. Disobeying Allah’s command thus becomes part of a divine plan from which Iblis cannot escape.
This distinction—between what Allah commands and what Allah actually wills or decrees to occur—is also structurally related to the distinction in later Sunni theology between Allah’s legislative will and His creative will. Allah does not command disbelief, disobedience, or sin as a matter of religion; yet, at the level of creation, these things do not occur outside His will and predestination. The problem is most dramatic in Iblis’s story: Allah commanded him to prostrate, yet created a world and a decree in which Iblis refuses to prostrate, assumes the role of Satan, and receives time until the Day of Resurrection to lead humanity astray.
Modern scholarship has also discussed this similarity between Ahmad al-Ghazali’s accounts and al-Hallaj’s Tawasin. The researcher Ghorban Elmi shows that the influence of the Hallajian tradition is evident in al-Ghazali’s portrayal of Iblis; whether al-Ghazali read the Tawasin directly, however, remains uncertain. The same narrative may have reached him through oral Sufi traditions. [15]
There is therefore no question here of using al-Hallaj and al-Ghazali as representatives of mainstream Sunni creed. Their significance lies, rather, in the fact that they recognized the causal problem within Iblis’s story and, going beyond the conventional explanation that “he was arrogant and was therefore punished,” reinterpreted it as a conflict between divine will and divine command. Whether their solution is acceptable is a separate question; the problem they identified is another form of the central problem in the present discussion.
In the Qur’an, Iblis tells Allah, “You have led me astray.” Sunni commentaries acknowledge that Allah led him astray; Sunni creed states that Allah creates human actions and the causes of misguidance; and the Sufi thinkers al-Hallaj and Ahmad al-Ghazali go one step further, asking: if Iblis’s so-called disobedience was itself the divine role assigned to him, was he not ultimately carrying out Allah’s will even while disobeying His explicit command?
It is not enough to evade this question by merely saying “Iblis was arrogant.” Arrogance describes his state of mind; it does not explain the ultimate source of that arrogance, his decision, or the satanic role assigned to him. The controversial reinterpretations of al-Hallaj and Ahmad al-Ghazali at least bring this deeper problem into view: if divine command and all-encompassing divine will appear to point in opposite directions within the same event, which of them was Iblis actually able to step outside?
Allah Himself Sends Devils Against the Unbelievers
Although Satan generally appears in Islamic accounts as a force opposed to Allah, several Qur’anic verses do not portray his activity as an independent rebellion beyond Allah’s control. Surah Maryam states the matter more directly: Allah Himself says that He has sent devils against the unbelievers, who continually agitate and incite them. [16]
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا الشَّيَاطِينَ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ تَؤُزُّهُمْ أَزًّا فَلَا تَعْجَلْ عَلَيْهِمْ إِنَّمَا نَعُدُّ لَهُمْ عَدًّا
English translation: “Do you not see that I Myself have sent devils against the unbelievers, who fiercely agitate and incite them? So do not be hasty concerning them; I am only counting out for them [their time and deeds].”
The verb used here is أَرْسَلْنَا—“We have sent.” In other words, the Qur’an does not describe the devils’ presence and incitement as though they had descended upon human beings on their own, against Allah’s will. Al-Tabari uses even more explicit language in his commentary on this verse. According to him, Allah sends devils against the unbelievers, and they stir them through misguidance and error, drive them toward disobedience to Allah, and make sin attractive to them until they engage in it. [17]
يقول تعالى ذكره لنبيه محمد: ألم تر يا محمد أنا أرسلنا الشياطين على أهل الكفر بالله، تؤزهم، يقول: تحركهم بالإغواء والإضلال، فتزعجهم إلى معاصي الله، وتغريهم بها حتى يواقعوها، أزا: إزعاجا وإغواء.
English translation: “Allah says to His Prophet Muhammad: O Muhammad, do you not see that I Myself have sent devils against those who disbelieve in Allah? ‘They fiercely incite them’ means that they stir them through misguidance and error, drive them toward disobedience to Allah, and entice them to that disobedience until they engage in it. ‘Fiercely incite them’ means that they agitate them and lead them astray.”
In the same passage, al-Tabari also preserves explanations by Ibn ‘Abbas, Qatadah, and Ibn Zayd. In the explanation attributed to Ibn ‘Abbas, the devils incite the unbelievers toward associating partners with Allah—“Go on, go on, take this path”—until they cast them into the Fire. In Qatadah’s explanation, they forcefully urge people toward disobedience to Allah. Ibn Zayd connects this verse with the verse in Surah al-Zukhruf: “We appoint a devil for him, and he becomes his companion.” Thus, classical commentary acknowledges satanic incitement, but describes Allah Himself as the One who sends those devils against the unbelievers.
This framework produces an unsettling causal relationship. First, people are unbelieving or disobedient; then Allah sends against them beings whose very task is to push them toward further disobedience and make sin attractive. Those same people are then punished for that deeper disobedience. This portrays Satan, at least at this stage, as an active instrument of a divine system of punishment, rather than an independent power competing with Allah.
Al-Tabari’s explanation of the next verse makes this aspect still more severe. Concerning Surah Maryam 19:84, he says that their destruction is delayed so that they may increase their sins further; all their deeds, even their breaths, are being counted. [18]
فإنما نؤخر إهلاكهم ليزدادوا إثما، ونحن نعد أعمالهم كلها ونحصيها حتى أنفاسهم لنجازيهم على جميعها.
English translation: “I delay their destruction so that they may increase their sins further; and I count and reckon all their deeds—even their breaths—so that they may be recompensed for everything.”
What is being said here, therefore, goes beyond “people sin and Satan encourages them.” The Qur’an states that Allah sends devils against them; in al-Tabari’s explanation, those devils drive them toward error and disobedience, make sin attractive, and incite them to engage in it. They are then given time so that their sins increase, and afterward they are punished for those deeds. Satan’s role in leading people astray operates here within the divine system itself.
Allah Himself Appoints Satan as a Human Companion
The same framework appears in more specific terms in Surah al-Zukhruf. It states that, for whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, Allah appoints a devil, and that devil becomes the person’s close companion. The very next verse states that these devils obstruct people from the true path, while those people believe they are rightly guided. [19]
وَمَنْ يَعْشُ عَنْ ذِكْرِ الرَّحْمَنِ نُقَيِّضْ لَهُ شَيْطَانًا فَهُوَ لَهُ قَرِينٌ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَصُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَيَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا جَاءَنَا قَالَ يَا لَيْتَ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ بُعْدَ الْمَشْرِقَيْنِ فَبِئْسَ الْقَرِينُ
English translation: “Whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, I appoint a devil for him, and he becomes his companion. They keep them from the path, while they think they are rightly guided. Finally, when he comes to Me, he will say, ‘If only there were the distance between east and west between me and you!’ What an evil companion.”
In explaining this verse, Ibn Kathir says that, for the person who turns away from guidance, Allah appoints a devil who leads that person astray and directs him along the path to Hell. He also cites the verse in Surah al-Saff, “When they deviated, Allah caused their hearts to deviate,” and the verse in Surah Fussilat, “I appointed companions for them.” [20]
هذا الذي تغافل عن الهدى نقيض له من الشياطين من يضله، ويهديه إلى صراط الجحيم … ولكن الله يهدي من يشاء، ويضل من يشاء.
English translation: “For whoever turns away from guidance, I appoint one of the devils who leads him astray and directs him along the path to Hell. … Allah guides whomever He wills and leads astray whomever He wills.”
Here, too, the framework of classical explanation is that, after a person’s initial turning away, a devil is assigned as a companion to lead that person further astray. The earlier question of the first cause therefore remains unresolved; but a second point becomes unmistakably clear: the devil used in the subsequent misguidance is also appointed by Allah. In Ibn Kathir’s words, that appointed devil turns the person away from the true path and leads him along “the path to Hell.”
The idea is not confined to unbelievers: a broader conception appears in Sahih Muslim. In a narration from Ibn Mas‘ud, Muhammad says that every human being has a qarin, or companion, from among the jinn assigned to him. The Companions ask whether Muhammad has one as well. He replies that he does, but that Allah has helped him against it. [21]
ما منكم من أحد إلا وقد وكل به قرينه من الجن. قالوا: وإياك يا رسول الله؟ قال: وإياي، إلا أن الله أعانني عليه، فأسلم، فلا يأمرني إلا بخير.
English translation: “There is none among you who does not have his qarin from among the jinn assigned to him.” They said, “Even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He replied, “Even me; but Allah has helped me against him, so he has submitted/become Muslim and commands me only to do good.”
In his explanation of this hadith, al-Nawawi says that it contains a warning against the qarin’s temptation, evil whispering, and misguidance; people have been informed that this companion is with them so that they may be on their guard against it. [22]
وفي هذا الحديث إشارة إلى التحذير من فتنة القرين ووسوسته وإغوائه، فأعلمنا بأنه معنا لنحترز منه بحسب الإمكان.
English translation: “This hadith indicates the need to beware of the qarin’s temptation, evil whispering, and leading astray. We have been informed that he is with us so that we may guard against him as far as possible.”
A distinction is necessary here. In Surah al-Zukhruf, the appointment of a satanic companion is described as a consequence of turning away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful; the hadith in Sahih Muslim, by contrast, makes the general claim that every human being has a qarin from among the jinn. The two sources do not make the same claim. In both cases, however, satanic temptation is presented as a force coming from outside the human individual whose presence, within the Islamic worldview, is not outside the divine order.
The familiar, simplified picture of Satan’s role—Allah calling people toward goodness while an independent, rebellious Satan tries from the opposite direction to undermine that plan—is therefore not the full picture offered by the Qur’an and classical commentary. In the Qur’an, Allah sends devils against the unbelievers and appoints a devil for the person who turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful; that devil then obstructs the person from the path. The hadith, meanwhile, speaks of a jinn-qarin accompanying every human being. In other words, the system of satanic temptation itself is not, within the Islamic account, an independent system beyond divine control and decree.
Iblis’s Rebellion Is Also Within Allah’s Control
If Iblis is imagined as an independent evil power standing against Allah’s plan, that conception does not fit another part of the Qur’anic narrative. Iblis is cursed after refusing to prostrate before Adam; but when he subsequently asks for respite until the day of resurrection, Allah does not reject his request. Instead, He grants him respite until an appointed time. [23]
قَالَ فَاخْرُجْ مِنْهَا فَإِنَّكَ رَجِيمٌ وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكَ اللَّعْنَةَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الدِّينِ قَالَ رَبِّ فَأَنْظِرْنِي إِلَى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ قَالَ فَإِنَّكَ مِنَ الْمُنْظَرِينَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ
English translation: “He said, ‘Then leave this place, for you are expelled. The curse will remain upon you until the Day of Judgment.’ He said, ‘My Lord, grant me respite until the day they are resurrected.’ He said, ‘You are among those granted respite—until the day of the appointed time.’”
In other words, Iblis’s subsequent prolonged activity against human beings is not something Allah failed to prevent. In the Qur’an’s own account, Allah Himself extends the duration of his existence. Iblis then tells Allah again, “You have led me astray,” and declares that he will make sin attractive to human beings and lead them astray. Ibn Kathir directly gives one possible meaning of this phrase as “because You have led me astray and misguided me”; Iblis then says that he will make sins appealing to Adam’s descendants and drive them toward those sins. [24]
يقول تعالى مخبرا عن إبليس وتمرده وعتوه أنه قال للرب: بِمَا أَغْوَيْتَنِي … ويحتمل أنه بسبب ما أغويتني وأضللتني لَأُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ أي: لذرية آدم في الأرض، أي: أحبب إليهم المعاصي وأرغبهم فيها، وأؤزهم إليها، وأزعجهم إزعاجا، وَلَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أي: كما أغويتني.
English translation: “Describing Iblis’s rebellion and defiance, Allah says that he told his Lord: ‘You have led me astray.’ This may also mean: ‘Because You have led me astray and misguided me, I will make [sin] attractive to Adam’s descendants on earth’—that is, I will make sinful deeds appealing to them, make them desire those deeds, incite them toward them, and drive them forcefully in that direction. ‘I will surely lead them astray’ means: ‘just as You have led me astray.’”
Yet even this power is not unlimited. In the same sequence, Allah says that Iblis will have no authority over His chosen or devoted servants; his effective influence will extend only to those misguided people who follow him. In explaining this verse, Islamweb likewise states that Satan has no absolute power by which he can force anyone to sin; his role consists of temptation, evil whispering, and attempts to lead people astray. [25]
إِنَّ عِبَادِي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَانٌ إِلَّا مَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْغَاوِينَ
English translation: “Indeed, you have no authority over My servants, except those among the misguided who follow you.”
This limitation matters, but it does not remove the earlier causal question. Iblis does not force human beings to sin is one claim; how Iblis himself first went astray, and who authorized, decreed, and limited his subsequent satanic role is another question. On the second question, the Qur’anic account does not place Allah outside the event: Allah leads him astray, grants him respite, limits his sphere of action, sends devils against certain people, and appoints satanic companions for others.
Is Satan Really an Independent Adversary of Allah?
In the Islamic narrative, Satan is not an adversary equal in power to Allah. He is a being created by Allah; his lifespan is authorized by Allah; his capacity to act is limited; his power to lead astray is subject to Allah’s control; and according to Sunni predestination, his own actions, too, are within Allah’s creation and will. He therefore cannot be presented as an independent evil power that disrupts Allah’s plan and carries out a separate plan of its own.
This is why Iblis’s case is more significant than ordinary human sin. In the human case, one can say that Satan whispered evil suggestions. But that answer cannot be used for Satan’s own first act of disobedience. There, one must return to Iblis’s own statement: “You have led me astray.” Classical commentary likewise does not dismiss this statement as entirely false; rather, Ibn ‘Abbas, al-Tabari, Ibn Kathir, and later Sunni explanations acknowledge Allah’s power to lead astray. Islamweb and IslamQA state even more explicitly that Allah is the Creator of guidance and misguidance, the Creator of human actions, and that the causes of misguidance are also included in His creation.
The usual defense is then that Iblis first became arrogant of his own accord, after which Allah led him astray as punishment. But this explanation does not resolve the question of the source of that initial arrogance. If that arrogance, too, is an action of Iblis, and if, according to Sunni predestination, all servants’ actions are Allah’s creation and subject to His will, then the first deviation cannot be removed from Allah’s causal framework. “Iblis acted of his own will” and “his will and actions are not outside Allah’s creation and all-encompassing will” are both upheld within the same creed; the problem concerns precisely the relationship between these two claims.
The controversial interpretations of Iblis by Ahmad al-Ghazali and al-Hallaj brought this tension into view in a different way. They did not leave Iblis merely as an arrogant rebel, as in the mainstream account; instead, they asked whether, even in disobeying Allah’s explicit command, Iblis was ultimately able to step outside the divine role assigned to him. In the words of al-Hallaj’s Iblis, “The right to choose is Yours, not mine”; in Ahmad al-Ghazali’s language, Iblis suffered the blows of “qada’” and “qadar.” These interpretations are not mainstream Sunni creed, but they constitute a historical recognition of the same causal problem.
Conclusion
The familiar statement “Satan leads human beings astray” stops the problem at the human level. But taking the question one step further back reveals another question: who led Satan astray? The Qur’an’s Iblis himself answers: “You have led me astray.”
The entire account then moves in the same direction. Iblis’s existence and capacity to act are not independent; he was created, allowed to live until an appointed time, given the opportunity to act against humanity, and assigned limits to his power. The Qur’an also speaks of sending devils against certain people and appointing satanic companions for others. At the same time, Sunni predestination maintains that no event occurs outside Allah’s will and that His servants’ actions are also His creation.
The problem, therefore, is not simply that Iblis incites human beings to sin. The more fundamental problem is this: if Iblis’s own first rebellion, his arrogance, his misguidance, and then his prolonged role in leading others astray must all be situated within Allah’s all-encompassing knowledge, will, creation, and predestination, Satan cannot be invoked as an independent source within this system.
Saying “Iblis acted of his own will” does not settle the problem either. The next question is: what is the ultimate source of that will? If that will, too, is created, predestined, and unable to operate outside Allah’s will, then Iblis is not the ultimate cause; he is an intermediate being in the causal chain. If, on the other hand, his will is made completely independent of Allah’s decree, then the claim of all-encompassing predestination and divine will is itself limited.
Islamic theology generally seeks to uphold three things together: human responsibility, Iblis’s responsibility, and Allah’s absolute control. Yet Iblis’s case produces the sharpest tension at the point where these three claims meet. Satan can be blamed for human sin, but there is no other Satan to account for Satan’s first misguidance. The line of causation then ultimately returns to the very Being of whom the same creed says: nothing happens without His will.
References
- Surah al-A‘raf 7:16–17 ↩︎
- Islamweb — Explanation of the Qur’anic Phrase “Because You Have Led Me Astray” ↩︎
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir — Surah al-A‘raf 7:16–17 ↩︎
- Tafsir al-Tabari — Surah al-A‘raf 7:16 ↩︎
- Surah al-A‘raf, Verse 16 ↩︎
- Islamweb — The Meaning of the Qur’anic Phrase “He Leads Astray Whomever He Wills” 1 2
- IslamQA — Explaining and Clarifying the Meaning of Misguidance in Scriptural Texts 1 2
- IslamQA — How Can the Sending of Messengers Establish a Case Against People When Guidance Comes from Allah? ↩︎
- Ibn al-Jawzi — Al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wa’l-Umam, Vol. 17, pp. 238–240; Biography No. 3939: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad, Abu’l-Futuh al-Ghazali al-Tusi ↩︎
- Ibn al-Jawzi — Al-Qussas wa’l-Mudhakkirin, p. 313 ↩︎
- Ibn Abi’l-Hadid, Sharh Nahj al-Balaghah — Ahmad al-Ghazali and Iblis’s Tawhid ↩︎
- Ghorban Elmi, “Ahmad Ghazali’s Satan,” HTS Theological Studies 75(3) ↩︎
- Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj — Majmu‘at Athar al-Hallaj, Tawasin, p. 50 ↩︎
- Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj — Diwan al-Hallaj, Tasin al-Azal wa’l-Iltibas, p. 104 ↩︎
- Ghorban Elmi, “Ahmad Ghazali’s Satan” — Hallaj and Ghazali Traditions ↩︎
- Surah Maryam 19:83–84 ↩︎
- Tafsir al-Tabari — Surah Maryam 19:83–84 ↩︎
- Tafsir al-Tabari — Surah Maryam 19:84 ↩︎
- Surah al-Zukhruf 43:36–39 ↩︎
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir — Surah al-Zukhruf 43:36–40 ↩︎
- Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2814; al-Nawawi’s Commentary — Every Human Being Has a Qarin from Among the Jinn ↩︎
- Al-Nawawi, Commentary on Sahih Muslim — The Qarin’s Evil Whispering and Misguidance ↩︎
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir — Surah al-Hijr 15:34–38 ↩︎
- Tafsir Ibn Kathir — Surah al-Hijr 15:39–44 ↩︎
- Islamweb — Explanation of “You Have No Authority over My Servants” ↩︎