Podcast
Thanks to another listener who wrote in asking, why is Allah so cruel to create demons to test humans?
To explain this, we need to start with the creation of Allah.
Before Allah created man, angels and jinns were created and lived in heaven. In the Qur’an chapter 2 verses 30-35, and chapter 7 verses 7-11, it can be understood their relationship and situation when they were originally in heaven, through the stories about angels, jinns and humans.
At that time, Allah gave the earth to human beings as the successor of the earth. The Arabian called Khalifa, and asked the angels and jinn to bow to Adam, the ancestor of mankind. Because of jealousy and arrogance, the leader of the Jinns, “Iblis”, was dissatisfied and refused to bow to Adam, thus being cast out of heaven and becoming Shaitan. Before being expelled, “Iblis”, he did not ask Allah for forgiveness and repentance, but rather went to Hell and asked Allah to allow him to tempt those who do not believe or doubt about Allah before the end of the world. So that the humans can go to hell with him, and perish with him.
Even though Adam did make mistake and same like Iblis that human beings got expelled out of heaven , the only difference between them was Adam repented to Allah but Iblis didn’t.
Like most human beings, they do not know their blessings when they are in the heaven, because “Iblis” who only lived in heaven at that time, enjoyed life in heaven without any worries, and confidently felt that he was important and that he could not imagine or not actually believe in the existence of hell. Thinking most human beings will be like him, full of hell, no big deal, or if people are full of hell, they can overcrowd the place as their illusion. This is also the same thinking of many people nowadays, just because of unimaginable, ignorant and unbelief.
According to the Qur’an, it can be known that jinns and human beings are given the freedom to think, act and choose. The difference is that everything on earth is given to humans to enjoy, while jinns are only allowed to exist in certain spaces that they can see humans, but humans cannot see them.
Not all jinns are devils or demons. They also have jinns who believe in Allah, and there are jinns who do not believe and choose to become devils. The situation of jinns is clearly described in Quran (72:1-15), and the monologue of the jinns as below.
“…a group of the jinn listened and said, ‘Indeed, we have heard an amazing Qur’an. It guides to the right course, and we have believed in it. And we will never associate with our Lord anyone. And [it teaches] that exalted is the nobleness of our Lord; He has not taken a wife or a son. And that our foolish one has been saying about Allah an excessive transgression. And we had thought that mankind and the jinn would never speak about Allah a lie. And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden. And they had thought, as you thought, that Allah would never send anyone [as a messenger]. And we have sought [to reach] the heaven but found it filled with powerful guards and burning flames. And we used to sit therein in positions for hearing, but whoever listens now will find a burning flame lying in wait for him. And we do not know [therefore] whether evil is intended for those on earth or whether their Lord intends for them a right course. And among us are the righteous, and among us are [others] not so; we were [of] divided ways. And we have become certain that we will never cause failure to Allah upon earth, nor can we escape Him by flight. And when we heard the guidance, we believed in it. And whoever believes in his Lord will not fear deprivation or burden. And among us are Muslims [in submission to Allah], and among us are the unjust. And whoever has become Muslim – those have sought out the right course. But as for the unjust, they will be, for Hell, firewood.””
Therefore, according to this monologue in the Qur’an, we can know that it is not that Allah created the devil to test humans, but that Allah gave humans and jinns the same opportunity to choose belief, repent and follow Allah. After judgment day, to be back to heaven, all the choices are in the hands of people and jinns themselves.
At the same time, Allah has clearly warned human beings that the devil is an obvious enemy, because when the jinns choose not to believe in Allah and the Hereafter, they choose to go to Hell, because they do not believe that this day will come, so they choose to follow their leader, became the devil.
Human beings are in the open place, but they are hidden. What they can do to people is to give them, ridicule, criticize, intimidate, put fear into people’s hearts, use words to encourage people to make wrong choices, replace facts with lies, and use falsehoods to confuse the truth, to give illusion that they are self-righteous, look down on others, and think that success is due to one’s own efforts and abilities, not because of Allah’s blessing, or make people believe that they are worthless, look down on themselves, and lose the ability to believe in others, in themselves, and in Allah.
The devil will also blind people so that they cannot see the blessing they have, and they are too busy focusing on other people’s shortcomings, ignoring their own shortcomings, and put hatred and jealousy into people’s hearts, making people irrational, do things that hurt others and hurt themselves.
There are also times when the devil will use material success and power as a temptation to make people unscrupulous in order to achieve their goals, thereby forgetting themselves, forgetting Allah and His teachings.
But no matter what form it takes, the devil can do nothing more than use words/whispers to instigate people in the hearts of the world. The final choice and decision-making power belongs to people themselves. In Cantonese saying, the wise man use mouth to speak, and the stupid one use hands to act.
At least at this point, people are willing to be instigated and follow the whispers and let the devil. Until people violate each other, deceive each other, despise and hate each other to varying degrees, the devil does not need to spend any more time to whisper, because people have already blend themselves with Shaitan’s thoughts and follow his footsteps.
Therefore, good times and bad times are like a double-edged sword, the devil is taking advantage of human weakness all the time. and Allah has taught in the Qur’an how people can protect themselves from the devil’s harm and instigation. Allah also teaches people how to live and act. To turn a blessing into a disaster, or turn a disaster into a blessing, all depends on how you overcome your inner self.
(13:11) “…Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.. …”
Just like this verse, when someone decides to do or not to do something, it doesn’t matter what other people say, ask yourself how many people really do change or improve for other people’s advice? Not all, there are still some but far too little quantity of people. Just because the determination to change; to admit and accept that something is wrong with their status quo; to step out of their comfort zone; to contend or against with the opinions and opinions of others, is not easy. As the saying goes: You can never wake up a person who pretends to be sleeping, unless he decides not to continue pretending.
When Allah gives freedom of thought and freedom of choice, then no one is immune to mistakes, including His prophets and messengers through the ages. Because only Allah is perfect, and everything He created exists in balance with each other without any flaws. If human beings or other creatures have the right to choose, each person’s selfishness will destroy the balance of all things, and mistakes will be inevitable.
Therefore, another blessings of Allah to man is that he accepts repentance at all times and in all circumstances, because Allah is the most gracious and most merciful, and He loves to forgive, especially to those who continually turn to him for forgiveness, those who turn to him for help, because these people really think that the best arrangement, the best choice, the best guidance, is only from Allah, which is also one of the ways that Allah likes to be worshiped.
In conclusion, Allah did not create the devil to test the world, but the choice of the jinns and human beings. From the moment He created all things, everything has been recorded in the Holy scripture in the Heaven. Without His permission, what cannot happen can never happen, and if something is going to happen, no one or anything can stop it from happening.
Therefore, He knows all that has happened and will happen, and out of love and compassion for mankind, He continues to send prophets and messengers to guide and warn the world, until the appearance of the last prophet and messenger, Muhammad, whose words and deeds as examples. And through him, he brought the Qur’an as a living guide/compass to all, guiding people how to be a real human being and the way to return to heaven.
Everyone has a devil following him. In simple terms, it is like his own inner demon, but at the same time, everyone has at least two angels following him. Therefore, people cannot blame all bad decisions and choices on the devil. And constantly find excuses to excuse themselves to make themselves feel good, and self deceive themselves, because in the end, everyone will inevitably take responsibility and bear the consequences for their own actions, choices and decisions. To be successful in this life and the next, you must first overcome your inner self.
How can we overcome inner self and make the right choice? In addition to studying the Quran and Hadith, it is very important and indispensable to constantly ask Allah for forgiveness and guidance. Also surround yourself with righteous companions as Chinese proverb “Those who are close to the red are red, those who are close to the ink are black”.
May Allah grant forgiveness and guidance. May Allah protect us from the cursed Shaitan.
Will continue discussion in next episode, thanks for listening.