Translated by: Amena AlKhaled

Zarqa, Jordan                       

31/01/2008                     

Commentary on A'araf, surah [7] – Lesson 12 – 16/3/2007 - Verse: [27]

"The non- Influence of Satan on Mankind & Some Properties of Jinn"

by Dr. Mohammed Ratib Al-Nabulsi

In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Gracious

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds and peace and blessing be upon our master Mohammed, the honest & truthful. O Allah! We have no knowledge except what you have taught us, you are the All- Knower and the All- Wise. O Allah! Teach us what benefits us and benefit us from what you’ve taught us and enhance our knowledge. Show us the true as true and enable us to follow it and show us the falsehood as falsehood and enable us to avoid it. Make us from those who listen to the saying and follow the best thereof, and make us by your mercy from your righteous worshippers. Bring us out from the darkness of ignorance and illusion to the light of knowledge and science and from mires of vain desires to heavens of pious acts.

Today we will go through lesson 12, verse 27 which says:

"O Children of Adam! Let not Satan seduce you as he caused your (first) parents to go forth from the Garden and tore off from them their robe (of innocence) that he might manifest their shame to them. Lo! He seeth you, he and his tribe, from whence ye see him not. Lo! We have made the devils protecting friends for those who believe not"

(Sura:7/ verse:27)

There are sensory objects which are perceived by the five senses. Concrete objects which you can see and feel are perceived by the five senses or by machines depend on the five senses such as telescopes and microscopes.

 An object that you can't see but you can feel its effects is an abstract object. Abstract or mental objects are perceived by mind or reason. In Islam there's a third kind of objects which are not perceived by the senses nor by the mind; they're perceived by information. You perceive this kind of objects when they're told or transmitted to you and the jinn are one example of these objects.( The Quranic verses and the Prophetic Hadith are two examples of ways of information in Islam).

  When you ponder on the creation of the heavens and the earth, the first and the unshakable fact that you'll realise is that the universe proves the existence of One and Perfect God. The perfection of creation proves the perfection of Allah's existence and acts. Allah, being Great and Perfect, sends Messengers to His worshippers, specifies the tasks assigned to His slaves, makes themselves known to them and reveals Books. When a Man brings a Book and says" I'm Allah's Messenger", now this Book needs Allah's testimony for His slaves that this is His speech.

Allah's testimonies to the Holy Quran, being His speech, are, firstly, the miraculous inimitability of the Quran and, secondly, the fulfilment of the Quranic promises and threats.

Now we have three mental reasons to believe in Allah, in His Messenger and in the Holy Quran; we believe in Allah's existence, oneness and perfection through universe. We also believe that the Quran is His speech through its miraculous inimitability and the fulfilment of its promises and threats. We believe in Allah's Messenger through His Quran. The universe testifies the existence of Allah. His Book by its miraculous nature also testifies the existence of Allah. Also His Prophet, being eloquent and infallible, testifies the same thing.

Now the role of mind is done and comes the role of information. There's no way but to believe Allah's words or His Prophet's words ; the authentic information.  We believe that there is a world of jinn by information.

Believing in the existence of jinn doesn't depend on mind, it depends on our belief in true information. But believing in Allah's existence, His  Attributes, His Holy Quran through its miraculous inimitability and the fulfillment of its promises and threats, and His Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) through His Quran; depends on mind and certainty.

Now we will talk about belief that depends on information and telling. Allah – The All-Mighty- told us that there is an eternal life for which we were created. He also informed us that He will call us to account about our deeds. He told us there were many prophets came before Prophet Mohammed (PBUH):

"…among them those of whom We have told thee, and some of whom We have not told thee…"

(Sura:40/verse:78)

He told us that there is an isthmus( a life extension after death) till the Day of Judgment. In addition, He told us that there is a Paradise with eternal delight and comfort ,and a Hell with eternal doom. All of which is information

He told us that when "We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it…"

(s:33 / v:72)

And in another verses the jinn and the mankind assumed it.

" o assembly of jinn & men"

"We shall dispose of you, O ye two dependents (man and jinn), Which is it, of the favours of your Lord, that ye deny?"

(s:55 / v:31,32)

The issue of jinn with all its details depends on information not on senses, neither mind , nor the ability to infer. You certainly believe in the existence of jinn when you believe in this Great and absolutely Perfect God through universe, and when you believe through the Holy Quran that the virtuous Prophet ( PBUH) doesn't speak on his own desires.

For every person who works in the missionary to Allah; I give this advice: don't talk about informational subjects to persons with shaken faith in Allah,  because you don't have any concrete sensory or mental evidence, you just have evidence depends on information.

Believing in the existence of Angels, jinn, the lake-Tank (Al- Kauthar), the bridge laid across Hell and the origin of the world, all depend on information.

Allah- Glorified and Exalted be He- says:

"I made them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth"

(s:18 / v:51)

 Allah told us about the origin of mankind from Adam and Eve and about the belief in after-death life.

Only Ibn Al Qayyem believes – and I agree with him- that the belief in the Last Day has mental evidence, while the belief in its details depends on information. He thinks so because there are on earth tyrant strong people and at the same time there are wronged weak ones, there're rich and poor people, healthy and sick people and there're people who live longer than others. It's unreasonable and impossible to believe that life will just be over with all these contradictions; this even doesn't fit the perfect creation that indicates the Perfect Creator.

So, brothers , the entire issue of jinn , including all its details is informational, we believe in it through authentic information.

With regard to this issue people are divided into two groups: the first group, amongst them are most illiterate Muslims, gave jinn super powers, the knowledge of the unseen, and the power to make man happy or push him to astray. This is all falsehood.

The other group, being materialistic, denies the existence of jinn.

Actually the truth is between these two extremes.

Here is a clarification of some facts:

1- The jinn really exist:

Jinn do exists, as we believe in Allah's Book which says:

"Say: It is revealed unto me that a company of the jinn gave ear"

(s:72 / v:1)

2- Among them there are righteous and bad:

The jinn are mentioned in the Holy Quranin several verses, and they are different; some of them are good and some are bad:

"And among us there are righteous folk and among us there are far from that. We are sects having different rules"

(s:72 / v:11)

Among the jinn there are righteous believers and there are some who went astray and lead others astray. The holy prophet(PBUH) didn't see them ; he was only told about their attending his assembly. There are among them corrupt, liars, foolish and naïve.

"And that the foolish one among us used to speak concerning Allah an atrocious lie"

(s:72 / v:4)

They used to lie:

"And lo! We had supposed that humankind and jinn would not speak a lie concerning Allah"

(s:72 / v:5)

Some of them lie and some believe lies and believing lies is a kind of naivety. This is all mentioned in the holy Qura'n.

Concerning the issue of jinn, no one of us can express his opinion , because it depends on information; we can't add or delete anything from these information.

3-The jinn are inclined to guidance:

"…and they said: Lo! We have heard a marvelous Quran, Which guideth unto righteousness, so we believe in it"

(s:72 / v:1,2)

So they have the aptitude for guidance and righteousness.

"And when we heard the guidance, we believed therein, and whoso believeth in his Lord, he fearth neither loss nor oppression"

(s:72 / v:13)

Another holy verse:

"And there are among us some who have surrendered (to Allah) and there are among us some who are unjust"

(s:72 / v:14)

4- Mankind will never benefit if they seek the help of the jinn:

This is the most serious fact in this lesson.

"True, there were persons among mankind who took shelter with persons among the jinn, but they increased them in folly"

(s:72 / v:6)

You can never benefit from the jinn, on the contrary you'll increasingly be sick, worried and afraid and you'll be deeply ashamed of yourself,  and Allah will scorn you.

5- The jinn don't have the knowledge of the invisible:

The other serious fact is that they don't have the knowledge of the invisible.

Allah-the All-Mighty- told us the story of our master Solomon  ( the prophet-PBUH)who assigned hard tasks to the jinn. When this virtuous prophet died, nothing indicated his death to them:

", nothing showed his death to them save a creeping creature of the earth which gnawed away his staff. And when he fell the jinn saw clearly how, if they had known the Unseen, they would not have continued in despised toil"

(s:34 / v:14)

""And when We decreed death for him"

Dear brothers! Depending on these five facts you can refuse and deny a million of made-up stories. The jinn don't know the unseen; even Allah's beloved- the Prophet Mohammed-PBUH- doesn't know the unseen:

"…had I knowledge of the Unseen, I should have abundance of wealth, and adversity would not touch me…"

(s:7 / v:188)

"I control not hurt nor benefit for you"

(s:72 / v:21)

Even the master of the creation and Allah's beloved has no power to benefit or hurt himself:

"Say: I fear, if I rebel against my Lord, the retribution of an Awful Day"

(s:6 / v:15)

"And if he had invented false sayings concerning Us, We assuredly had taken him by the right hand, And then severed his life-artery, And not one of you could have held Us off from him"

(s:69 / v:44,45,46,47)

That's why the jinn couldn't do anything.

"And Satan saith, when the matter hath been decided: Lo! Allah promised you a promise of truth; and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no power over you save that I called unto you and ye obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, not can ye help me. Lo! I disbelieved in that which ye before ascribed to me. Lo! For wrong-doers is a painful doom"

(s:14 / v:22)

In the light of these facts you can simply refuse and deny a million of made-up, invented and purposeless stories.

If I don't know for sure that a large number of Muslims, among them educated persons with high university degrees, believe in superstitions, legends, divination and such other trifles, I wouldn't have raised this point. People believe in superstitions and divination although the diviners blackmail them and sometimes outrage women's honour.

When you feel that a devil is trying to tempt you or is whispering evil's ideas into your mind, you can simply say: I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the outcast and the devil will burn.

"And if a slander from the devil wound thee, then seek refuge in Allah…,Lo! Those who ward off (evil), when a glamour from the devil troubleth them, they do but remember (Allah's Guidance) and behold them seers!"

(s:7 / v:200,201)

Seeking refuge in Allah is a lethal weapon in your hands. You don't need that diviner who wants a black rooster or a specific sheep or a thousand liras in order to get the genie out of you after he writes meaningless sentences and utters meaningless words. And if the person seeking aid is a woman, the diviner will outrage her honour. This is happening everyday and I have real stories about this. Dear brothers! Stop these superstitions and divination. Stop illusions, mistakes and false creeds.

This verse clarifies the essential point of this issue: "And Satan saith, when the matter hath been decided: Lo! Allah promised you a promise of truth; and I promised you, then failed you. And I had no power over you O

" save that I called unto you and ye obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, not can ye help me…". Satan doesn't know the unseen and can never harm you. Brothers! Denying all these stories, superstitions and lying and not caring about them at all are signs of your deep creed and sound belief.

This verse is enough for you to feel safe and assured. Be the slave of Allah and the jinn can never do harm to you.

"Lo! As for My slaves, thou hast no power over any of them…"

(s:15/v:42)

"… but they injure thereby no-one save by Allah's leave…"

(s:2/v:102)

There're psychological illness, strong dominant obsessions, fear, anxious, Jinn and blackmailing.

Concerning verse 27 in Aaraf, Allah- Sublime and Exalted be He- created Adam and Eve and ordered them to worship Him. If He had created them as we are now and without the existence of paradise on earth, they would have lacked the Satanic-related experience. But a valuable lesson was given to Adam, Eve and to all their descendants till the Day of Judgment:

"Lo! The devil is an enemy for you, so treat him as an enemy…"

(s:35/v:6)

Satan frightens you off in order not to spend your money in charity. Satan makes you hate your wife and makes another woman that has a husband and children beautiful in your eyes. There are innumerable stories on the subject.

"It is only the devil who would make (men) fear his partisans. Fear them not; fear Me, if ye are true believers"

(s:3/v:175)

Satan makes sins fair-seeming to you.

"…verily I shall lurk in ambush for them on Thy Right Path, Then I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right hands and from their left hands, and Thou wilt not find most of them beholden (unto Thee)"

(s:7/v:16,17)

Some people always complain although they have their own houses, wives, children, cars and high incomes  and Thou wilt not find most of them beholden (unto Thee)"

. But the believer always praises Allah for everything; he praises Allah for the piece of bread that he eats before sleeping, for his well-being and for providing him a house. How many homeless there are! We should all praise Allah for the safety and security we enjoy in our country particularly regarding what is going on around us.

We hear about globalization and it is said that women form half the society. This is called advancement but actually this is backwardness; "I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them".  As if we're moving backwards to the age of the Aramaean people, to the pagan peoples and to the ancient Egypt of Pharaoh and we neglect Islam-Allah's religion on earth-

"and from their right hands" :by Allah, hundreds or maybe thousands of Muslims repeat their wudu( ablution) over and over again and repeat their prayer many times fearing that their wudu'( ablution) or prayer wasn't true! This overconcern is from Satan.

Satan stops you from doing good deeds for fear of hypocrisy; he says: you want to do this good deed just to show off, so don't do it. Tens of Muslims naively stop doing good deeds in order not to be hypocrite!

Who told you that? This is "and from their right hands"

When Afghanistan was bombed in Ramadan, The World's Greatest Hero  was asked: How could you bomb it in this sacred month? He replied: no wonder, the military expedition of Badr was also in Ramadan. The devil enters accurately in our religious issues.

You sometimes find that a good simple believer falls victim to   overwhelming dominating overconcerns; he thinks: who created Allah? I answer this question saying: any idea that comes to your mind and upsets you isn't from you-don't worry and never mind- it's from Satan, and you won't be called for account because of it, as you get bothered of it. If it's your idea, you won't get upset; on the contrary, you'll be pleased with it and talk about it.

Another thing, Allah won't call you for account because of your thoughts, He-The All Mighty- will only call you for account regarding your deeds, so calm down.

 1. Battle between true & falsehood is eternal:

Adam- peace be upon him- was admitted to the earth's Paradise (one much likes the heaven's Paradise). There was no private parts, and the food didn't use to enter inside the body because the body was surrounded by the soul. Anything the soul wished it came immediately. But when Adam ate from the forbidden tree, there were digestive system, excretion, urine, feces, potential and limits. You can't continue eating that apple.

Allah-Sublime and Exalted be He- has wanted Adam, while his being in Paradise, to learn a valuable lesson that the battle between the true and the falsehood is eternal and everlasting.

Allah has wanted this enmity we find on earth and allowed it for a great wisdom which is that the true doesn't grow except by challenge and the people of the true never deserve Paradise , unless after they sacrifice.

These are two lessons that Allah has wanted Adam and his descendants to learn.

the first one is that the battle between true and falsehood is eternal & ever lasting

the second is :

2. "He said: Go down (from hence), one of you a foe unto the other"

The earth's Paradise was for Adam before duty but the heaven's Paradise that the righteous were promised will be after duty. Iblis( Satan) may never enter the heaven's Paradise. Also, whoever enters it, will never go out from it. This is the precise difference. Now we have duties and orders; do's and don'ts , and we have a Satan-related experience; an experience of how Iblis ( Satan) had misleaded Adam and how Adam's private part was manifest as a result.

This is a rule: any disobedience of Allah results in faults. If you earn unlawful money, you'll be accused of being a thief- may Allah forbid-.

There are concrete faults , and private parts of the body, e.g. the thigh mustn't be revealed so it has the same rule in Islam as the  private parts- it's not allowed to be manifest to others . But there are moral shames e.g. treason is a shame. That's why the traitor after he betrayed his nation almost dies of contempt. Thigh is a fault, treason is a fault, and cheating is also a fault. When Adam disobeyed  his Lord, his (the private parts of his body) was manifest.

In the previous lesson:

"O Children of Adam! We have revealed unto you raiment to conceal your shame, and splendid vesture, but the raiment of restraint from evil, that is the best. This is of the revelations of Allah, that they may remember"

(s:7/v:26)

He was only tested and he passed the test. But , if he was tested and he didn't pass the test, this gives a different meaning, this result-Failure- gives the negative result of the test, i.e. that's to say a person is at unrest, if you say he experienced unrest but he managed to pass it; it's equivalent to saying he was tested and he passed the test.

Our master Moses was tested and he passed the test; he joined the people of the true and he didn't join the strong people of Pharaoh. When a person is at unrest, he succeeded so he deserved Allah's respect. But when we say that " person was exposed to unrest " and then we stop, it means that he didn’t make it.

Allah-Sublime and Exalted be He- said:

"…persecution is worse than slaughter…"

(s:2/v:191)

In the pre-Islamic time some fathers, being merciless and having a heart of stone, used to dig a hole in the earth and bury their angelic innocent daughters beneath the dust. We consider such fathers criminals. But "…persecution is worse than slaughter…"

 Now we see some fathers giving their daughters free rein; they wear tight, thin, outrageous, short or tall clothes and they put on their make-up, and seduce lads at roads"…persecution is worse than slaughter…"

. These fathers allow their daughters to show all their beauties, promote moral laxity, seduce men, arouse their desires and consequently make them frustrated because they have to wait for ages in order to be able to get married. "…persecution is worse than slaughter…"

O brothers! It's a mercy that Allah-Sublime and Exalted be He-

taught us this valuable lesson, then send us to this world, then he ordained us, The lesson came before duty.

 He warned us of Satan and warned us  of quarrels being an access for Satan then He assigned duties to us.

The perfect truth is that any disobedience to Allah's orders reveals man's faults, even if you do a good deed and then you become proud about it your fault will be manifest. It was said that:" virtue danced and boasted about its favours, as a result its fault was manifest"

If you say to a person: I did you many favours, you owe me everything and you start to remind him of your generosity, your shame will be manifest.

Having a sense of superiority over others, reminding them of your favours and hurting their feelings are all examples of faults.

Believe me, dear brothers, when someone's private part is manifested before the doctor, he almost dies of shyness, but he never feels shy when he disobeys Allah and returns Allah's blessings by doing harm to His slaves.

It was related in the Prophetic narration that: shame will stick to the man on the Day of Judgment until he says, though he doesn't know how painful the doom is in Hell, : "O Lord ,verily sending me to Hell is easier than the shame that I feel"

To conclude: There are two kinds of fault: the first is concrete fault which is private parts of the body that shouldn't be revealed,and the second is moral fault, which is sins.

Sins manifests faults, whereas devils or jinn can't be seen. You hear someone says: I saw the devil coming and sitting here. This is untrue and illusion. The Prophet-PBUH- didn't know that the jinn attended his gathering, till he was informed by His Lord:

"…Lo! He seeth you, he and his tribe, from whence ye see him not. Lo! We have made the devils protecting friends for those who believe not"

Allah is the Protecting Guardian of the believers whereas the disbelievers' guardians are the devils. One devil makes adultery fair-seeming, the second makes usury fair-seeming, the third makes mingling men with women fair-seeming and the other causes marital quarrels. Every sin is assigned to a specific devil. There are a lot of them while the protecting guardian of the believers is one; Allah.

"…Lo! He seeth you, he and his tribe, from whence ye see him not. Lo! We have made the devils protecting friends for those who believe not"

"…Satan alone it was who caused them to backslide, because of some of that which they have earned…"

(s:3/v:155)

When man makes mistakes, Satan comes to him just as flies and mosquitoes come to his house if he doesn't clean it.

O brothers! Satan can't do anything except calling unto you. I'll give you this perfect example- that I repeatedly give- to illustrate the idea:

A man was wearing beautiful white clothes then he fell in a hole of stagnant black water. His appearance was unbearable. He went to a police department to make a complaint.

-The detective said: against whom will you make complaint?

- (he mentioned a name)

- Did he push you into the hole?

- Actually no, he didn't. I don't want to wrong him.

- Did he draw a gun on you and order you to go down the hole?

- No, no

- Did he carry you and put you down in the hole?

- By Allah, no

- Why then are you making complaint against him?

- Because he said "go down" and I did.

 Actually this man needs to go to a mental hospital.

"…And I had no power over you save that I called unto you and ye obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, not can ye help me. Lo! I disbelieved in that which ye before ascribed to me…"

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds