Our most ardent enemy

[2:208] O you who believe, you shall embrace total submission; do not follow the steps of Satan, for he is your most ardent enemy.

We are told many times in the Quran that Satan is our most ardent enemy. This is God’s warning to us to avoid falling into any of Satan’s traps. Satan vowed that he would work extremely hard to lure all of God’s servants away (7:12-17; 38:67-83).

There’s a quote that’s generally attributed to Charles Baudelaire, a French poet and essayist from the 19th century. It also appeared in a 1995 movie called “The Usual Suspects”. I think the quote is very appropriate:

“The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”.

Before I came into Submission, my idea of the devil was a cartoonish figure with horns and a tail, carrying a trident. Satan allowed himself to be portrayed this way, to become a harmless, ridiculous cartoon. Why would anyone take such a creature seriously? How could this imp do any harm? You can’t really believe in such a being, any more than you believe in the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny.

What a perfect disguise. What a clever trick to pull on mankind. How incredibly smart Satan really is.

He has many tricks up his sleeve, many different ways that he can lure people away from worshiping God alone. He’s been perfecting his craft for centuries, and he has found most people willing victims.

One of his tricks is to give you the impression that there’s lots of time. You can enjoy your youth, your middle age; there will be plenty of time to think about God later. Don’t worry about it now. But God reminds us that this life is short and we are inevitably heading for a meeting with God.

This Life is Very Short

[16:77] To GOD belongs the future of the heavens and the earth. As far as He is concerned, the end of the world (the Hour) is a blink of an eye away, or even closer. GOD is Omnipotent.

[84:6] O humans, you are irreversibly heading for a meeting with your Lord.

Before our creation, Satan showed his true colors of arrogance and racism (see SP August 2000). He claimed that he was better than Adam. [7:12] He said, “What prevented you from prostrating when I ordered you?” He said, “I am better than he; You created me from fire, and created him from mud.”

All of the angels readily obeyed God’s command and prostrated before Adam [38:74] except Satan; he refused, and was too arrogant, unappreciative. This is one of Satan’s traps. He convinces people to believe they are better than someone else. It gives a feeling of superiority, of power, and that emotion can act like a drug. Arrogance piles on and soon the person has no thought of God, only of dominance and control.

Satan takes that even farther by pitting one person against another, or one group against another group. We have constant wars, struggles for power,

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