The Great War Behind All Wars:
Satan’s Hatred Against Allah (part 3)
Many have had the idea that Iblis will
never die. They have assumed that evil will continue forever, supposing
that there is a kind of eternal "dualism" in Allah’s
universe (that both good and evil are needed to balance each other).
Their idea is that although pure evil is bad, pure good is too
good! There must, therefore, be a good Allah teamed up with a bad Devil
who always keeps a kind of war going forever. This idea is not true.
Satan wants people to think this,
because it puts Allah in a bad light. It makes it seem that he is too
weak to conquer the problem of evil, and that, of course, means that
evil is too strong for God. So he and Satan strike a kind of bargain
between them, each to co-exist with the other, just as good people and
bad people have to co-exist in this less-than-perfect world we live in.
Some even think that Satan is a member
of Allah’s staff, employed by him as the "manager" of his
hell-fire department. Traditional pagan religions tend to regard evil as
something which is eternally entrenched in the world — probably the
real reason why corruption everywhere seems to be impossible to
eradicate!
The inspired Word of Allah proclaims
the good news that there will be a total eradication of Satan, sin, and
evil in the future. To know and understand this good news is like having
a light on a dark and stormy night when you must travel a road you’ve
never been on before, a road upon which there are evil people or wild
animals that you fear.
One of the companions of the Messiah,
Simon Peter son of Jona, was impressed with the way the Holy Scriptures
give assurance to the heart of man. In a general letter to believers, he
said: "We are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the
prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a
lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns."12 Many,
many people are deeply worried; you can see unhappy faces everywhere. To
know the good news that Satan is defeated will lift a heavy burden from
many perplexed hearts.
The war that Satan began in heaven has
been continued on earth. This enemy deceived our first parents and
persuaded them to invite him in. They had been created noble, pure, and
happy, having "dominion" over "every living thing that
moveth upon the earth." They were made "in the image of God,
… male and female."13 Adam was appointed Khalifa on earth.
Unfortunately, they invited Satan in
because he promised them liberty in the "knowledge of good and
evil," and aroused them to doubt the love and faithfulness of
Allah.14 Before they yielded to Satan’s temptation, however,
they had been honoured with this glorious "dominion":
What is man, that thou art mindful of
him? … thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands;
thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and
the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea.15
It is clear for everyone to see that we
have lost this "dominion"! Except for a few domesticated
animals such as horses, camels and cattle, nature is not under
our "dominion" at all. Lightning, storms, floods, earthquakes,
are uncontrollable even by the scientists’ most sophisticated
inventions. Even the birds fly away from us! What has caused this loss
of "dominion"? Our first parents wanted something higher than
they had been created to have. Satan tempted them to aspire to be
"as gods," and they chose to share his ambition to be
"like the most High."16 This was the deep sin that
caused their fall; they expressed it outwardly in the open act of
disobedience, reaching out to pluck the forbidden fruit and eat it.17
This sin was more than a mere act of outward disobedience; it involved
Satan’s heart, and man’s heart as well.
Sin is not merely a
taboo … |
