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Know your enemy, the Satan

This question was put forward during the time of Imam Swadiq (a.s), and Imam replied when the Atheist asked: is it part of his wisdom that He made for himself an enemy, whereas he was without enemy, He created (Iblis) just as you claimed and gave him power over his servants; He (Iblis) invites them to dispute his obedience, and commands them to disobey him. And He gave him power just as you claimed that makes it easy for him to manipulate their minds, he then whispers into them and causes them to doubt, and he makes them confused about the religion, he removes them from knowing him, until a people reject his lordship after he has whispered to them, they worship instead of him, and He makes a way for him into seducing them.

And Imam (a.s) says in his reply: this enemy that you have just mentioned, his enmity causes no harm to him (God), and his loyalty does not benefit him. And his enmity reduces nothing from his throne and his loyalty adds nothing to it; but an enemy is feared when he has power that can harm or benefit, that when he is interested in any throne, he takes; or in any authority, he conquers. As for Iblis, he is a servant that He creates to worship him and unify him, verily, he knows when he created him who he was and what would be his end. He was still worshiping him together with the angels until He tested him with prostration for Adam and he refused to do that invidiously and mischief overpowered him; thus He placed curse on him and He sent him out from the mix of his angels, and He sent him down to the earth accursed and cast away. For this reason, he became the enemy to Adam and his offspring. And he has no authority over his offspring if not whispering and inviting (them) to (his) path- and he has insisted at disobeying his lord through his lordship.

If you said once again that: why did Allah give authority to Iblis over his servant, until he now invites them through his whispering to his disobedience?

We will say in replying: that until the evil one is separated from the good one, verily, Allah’s is the conclusive argument! Until a faithful is known from a disbeliever, and the truth from the falsehood. For it is from the greatness of human that Allah creates him with freedom and choice; if he wishes he does, and if he wishes he abstains. Then, he sent forth to him prophets and messengers and sent to him books for his guidance; and he reinforces him with external proof just as he does reinforce him with internal proof, and he endows him with reasoning, the internal prophet. And He made in his life the means of misguidance like the mind that commands evil and it is the first enemy from the inside, and Iblis is the first enemy from the outside. And He decorates the world with women and sons, gold and silver, cattle and tilth and other things. And then he commands and forbids until it becomes clear, the obedient and the disobedient, then he showed him the way: he may be thankful or unthankful; is either he follows both the internal and external prophet and disallow himself from misguidance with his ability to misguidance and the presence of it means and factors, or he choose the path of misguidance by following it factors and means.

And He creates Satan from the benevolence of Allah, Glory be to Him. Because He, The Almighty, is a Beneficent to the faithful and the disbeliever, and a Merciful to the faithful on earth and in the hereafter, His benevolence requires generosity and His mercy requires love; for Allah blesses both the believer and the disbeliever from his benevolence and loves the faithful specifically from his mercy.