Muslims claim that Islam is a rational religion that is clear in its teachings. They also maintain that it is free from any distortion or contradiction. But the reality is quite a different story. Not only are there numerous contradictions in the Qur’an but Muslims themselves are confused over many of its teachings. This article will consider one such confusion. We will discuss Islam’s confusion over the identity of Satan.
According to the clear teachings of the Bible,Satan was a fallen angelwho deviated into sin through disobedience to God. However, Islam denies this Biblical truth. It claims that Satan is aJinn and did not come from the rank of Angels. You may perhaps be wondering what difference does this actual make. Plenty! According to Islam there are vast differences between angels and jinns. Evidences will be provided in this article to show why the denial of Satan as a fallen angel in the Qur’an proves Islam false. In addition, it will also be shown why this denial of Satan as a fallen angel confirms the existence of contradictions in the Qur’an.
Till today many sincere Muslims are confused over the identity of Satan. They are confused because of the conflicting teachings in the Qur’an regarding the identity of Satan. Many Muslims have written to respective Islamic scholars demanding clarifications on this obvious error in the Qur’an. In actual fact, many issues are involved here. Please read the article carefully as we reveal the contradictions, errors and absurdities on this single subject in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an states that when Allah created Adam, he commanded the angelsto bow down to Adam. Butwhy did Allah command the angels to bow down to Adam, a creature? More on this later. We will now first focus our discussion on Islam’s confusion on the identity of Satan. The account regarding Allah’s command to the angels to bow down to Adam is mentioned in seven passages of the Qur’an. These Qur’anic passages also mention the subsequent refusal of Satan to bow down to Adam. Six of those passages clearly indicate and identify Satan as one of the angels. Provided below are the six Qur’anic verses:
Surah 2:34: And when We said unto the angels:Prostrate yourselves before Adam, they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He demurred through pride, and so became a disbeliever. (Pickthall)
Surah 7:11: AndWe created you then fashioned you, then told the angels: Fall ye prostrate before Adam!And they fell prostrate, all save Iblis, who was not of those who make prostration. (Pickthall)
Surah 15:28-31:So, when I have made him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down, prostrating yourselves unto him. So the angels fell prostrate, all of them together. Save Iblis. He refused to be among the prostrate. (Pickthall)
Surah 17:61:And when We said unto the angels: Fall down prostrate before Adam andthey fell prostrate all save Iblis, he said: Shall I fall prostrate before that which Thou hast created of clay? (Pickthall)
Surah 20:116:And when We said unto the angels: Fall prostrate before Adam, they fell prostrate (all) save Iblis; he refused.(Pickthall)
Surah 38:71-74: When thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to create a mortal out of mire, And when I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My Spirit, then fall down before him prostrate, The angels fell down prostrate, every one, Saving Iblis; he was scornful and became one of the disbelievers. (Pickthall)
The natural understanding of the above Qur’anic verses clearly presents Satan as an angel who refused to obey Allah’s order to bow down to Adam. Since Allah was talking specifically to the angels, does not the expression“all save Iblis”really mean that all the angels, with the exception of one, bowed down to Adam? Does not this prove that Satan (Iblis) was the only one among the angels who refused to bow down to Adam? Does not this actually confirm that Satan was one of the angels? In fact, the above six Qur’anic verses need no explanation concerning the identity of Satan. It is obvious that he was one of the angels.
However, the above six Qur’anic verses which are in complete agreement with one another now stands corrected in the Qur’an by the following single verse. Allah introduces a discrepancy, a contradiction by identifying Satan as aJinn:
Surah 18:50:And (remember) when We said unto the angels: Fall prostrate before Adam, and they fell prostrate, all save Ibis. He was of the Jinn, so he rebelled against his Lord’s command. (Pickthall)
Many sincere Muslims are troubled by this contradiction in the Qur’an. They could see that the Qur’an does not say that Allah did not include some other group along with the angels to bow down to Adam. His commandment was specifically addressed to the angels. So how could Satan be held accountable if he is not an angel? The confusion arises from Islam’s insistence that Satan is not from the rank of angels but from the rank of jinns. Does it not puzzle you why Islamic scholars choose to overrule the testimonies of numerous Qur’anic verses in favor of one single contradictory verse? There is a desperate reason for Islamic scholars to do so. We will now discuss that reason. It will help you to understand why the entire religious structure of Islam is built on distortion and lies.
According to the teachings of Islam there are numerous differences between angels and thejinns. The following two Islamic sites explain the differences between theangels and the jinns. They quote authoritative sources to substantiate their clarification on this subjection.
TurnToIslam:
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ANGELS AND THE JINN
Taken fromAhkamut Ta’amal ma’ Al Jinn by As-Shaykh Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Al-Imam.(Translated by Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Lamont Battle)
There are some Muslims who are ignorant about the difference between the noble Angels and the Jinn andShayateen. Some of the earlier nations deviated in comparing Jinn to Angels. Shaykul Islam Ibn Taymeeyah said, “The pagan Arabs and the people of the book acknowledge the Angels existence, although many of them consider the Angels and Jinn as one. They believe that Angels that disobey Allah become Shayateen. The Pagans, Jews and Christians deny Ibless as being the father of the Jinn, they deny the Jinns’ ability to marry, have children, eat and drink. Some of the pagan Arabs claim that the Angels are the Jinns’ offspring. (Tafseer Al-Kabeer 7 / 381).
The following are some differences between theAngels andJinns:
(1) The Angels were created from light and the Jinn were created from smokeless fire.This is a unique difference in creation, so it’s with all the more reason that they differ in actions.
(2) The names of the Angels differ from the names of the Jinn in general and in detail. The names of the Angels are intended for messengers. They are Allah’s messengers.
(3) The Angels were created to obey Allah. They don’t have the free will to disobey Him unlike the Jinn. Allah gave the Jinn the free will to obey or disobey Him like man. So whoever desires to believe in Allah will and whoever desires to disbelieve in Allah can.
(4) The Angels don’t have desires.Therefore they don’t eat, drink, or marry. The jinn eat, drink and marry.
(5) The Angels don’t disobey Allah for a single moment.The majority of the Jinn are Kuffar (Disbelievers).In fact the number of Kuffar among the Jinn outnumber the Kuffar among humans. There are some people who circulate that Harut and Marut were Angels. This is false. They were both Jinn and the narrations that mention them as being Angels are from the Israelites. None of those narrations are authentic.
(6) Allah created the Angels for the service to the Son of Adam.Most of the Jinn divert man from the correct path. And at the forefront of that is their father Ibless.
(7) The Angels live in the heavens and the Jinn live in dirty places.
(8) The Angels are neither male nor female. The pagan Arabs described the Angels as being female. The Jinn are male and female. Refer toS. Kahf 50. (End of Quote)
Islamweb:
FATWA No: 16265: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANGELS, JINNS AND DEVILS
There are many differencesbetween Angelsand Jinns. Three very important ones are:
(1) Angels are created from light while Jinns are created from fire – and they reproduce through a process similar to that of humans.
(2) All the angels are believers who are infallibleand they only ever enjoin others to do good. Among the Jinns, there are Muslims and disbelievers, as well as those who enjoin good and those who enjoin evil.
(3) Angels do not have desires, unlike Jinns who have desires just like humans.
As explained above, according to the teachings of Islam there are numerous differences between angels andjinns. They are shown to be two completely different entities – two different types of creatures. However, the one vital outstanding difference between them that concerns us in our discussion is that whilejinns were created with free will, angels are not.Jinns were created with the freedom to make choices but angels were not created with this freedom. In other words, angels cannot disobey Allah. They were not created as free moral agents. The Qur’an expressly states thatangels cannot disobeyAllah:
Surah 16:49-50:And whatever creature that is in the heavens and that is in the earth makes obeisance to Allah only, and the angels too and they do not show pride. They fear their Lord above them and do what they are commanded.(Shakir)
Surah 66:6: O you who believe! save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones; over it are angels stern and strong, they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and do as they are commanded.(Shakir)
This is where it creates a grave problem for Islam. Muslims scholars are aware of this dilemma in the Qur’an. That is why they are dead bent on insisting that Satan is ajinn and not an angel. That is why Muslim scholars choose to shun the testimonies of the majority of the Qur’anic verses that clearly indicate that Satan is an angel. Since the above verses testify that angels cannot disobey, therefore, to agree that Satan is an angel would then mean to admit that the above Qur’anic verses are false. How could Satan as an angel disobey Allah’s command to bow down to Adam?
The dilemma for Muslims is that if Satan is an angelwho disobeyed Allah, then the Qur’an is wrong in its claims that angels “do not disobey Allah.” On the other hand, if Satan is aJinn, then his unwarranted punishment is unfair. Either way Islam is wrong.
Muslim scholars recognize this serious problem in the Qur’an. Qur’an translator, Rashad Khalifa was aware of this dilemma. In order to justify Allah’s unlawful punishment of Satan, he tried to come up with an intriguing justification. He had no alternative other than to distort Surah 18:50. He distorted the text to make it say that Satan became a Jinn and not that he was a Jinn from the beginning. His Qur’an reads:
Surah 18:50:“We said to the angels, `Fall prostrate before Adam.’ They fell prostrate, except Satan. Hebecame a jinn,for he disobeyed the order of His Lord…” (Khalifa)
Khalifa’s rendering of this verse presupposes thatSatan was an angelbefore becoming a Jinn. However, his translation of this verse still leaves Muslims with the problem of Satan disobeying Allah when the Qur’an says that angels are never disobedient. Moreover, Khalifa’s translation of this verse of the Qur’an is at odds with all other English translations of the same verse. What this shows is that he was aware of a problem that needs to be addressed. And in order to rectify this problem, he had to distort the distorted words of Allah. It is like adding poison to poison. The Qur’an is full of contradictions. It is utterly inconsistent in its teachings. Muslims have to tread on thin ice. To authenticate the verses that say angels cannot disobey Allah, they had to knowingly distort the meaning of other verses in the Qur’an.
Let us read Surah 18:50once again to analyze this subject further:
Surah 18:50:“Behold! We said to the angels, “Bow down to Adam”: They bowed down except Iblis (Satan). He was one of the Jinns.” (Yusuf Ali)
For Muslims to base their claim that Satan is not an angel on the evidence of this single contradictory verse gives rise to numerous theological problems. As we can see, while Surah 18:50 agrees with the rest of the Qur’an that Allah’s command to“Bow down to Adam”was only specified to theangels, yet it instantly introduces a contradiction by asserting that Satan is a Jinn. Muslims must ask themselves, why did Allah who only commanded theangels to bow to Adam, then punish Satan who is not an angel but a jinnfor not bowing down to Adam? Why is Allah punishing Satan for not doing something he was not commanded to do in the first place? Why isSatan blamed for not bowing to Adam even though the command was given only to the angels?Is Satan an angel or jinn? Which is it?
Do not the evidences provided here prove that Satan came from the rank of angels just as it is taught in the Bible? By showing that Allah’s instruction to the angelsalso applies to Satan, the Qur’an unwittingly agrees with the Bible that he was one of the angels. Sadly for Muslims, the Qur’an at the same instance contradicts itself.
Surah 38:71-76: Your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am creating man from clay. When I have fashioned him and breathed My spirit into him, kneel-down and prostrate yourselves before him.’ The angels all prostrated themselves except Satan,who was too proud, for he was an unbeliever. ‘Satan,’ said He,‘why do you not bow to him whom My own hands have made? Are you too proud, or do you deem yourself superior?’ Satan replied: ‘I am nobler than he. You created me from fire, but him from clay.’ (Dawood)
An unbiased reading of the above text shows Satan to be an angel who refused to obey Allah’s order to worship Adam. And Allah asks Satan why he did not obey his instruction to the angels to prostrate to Adam. Does not this in itself presuppose that Satan was one of the angels? Every command of God is issued with an intended purpose. Therefore, it makes no sense for Allah to hold Satan accountable for not obeying a command that was given exclusively to the angels if he was not an angel. Since the Qur’an accuses Satan of not being obedient, he has to be one of the angels.
To reiterate our point, this means that either Satan is an angel and therefore not a jinn or he is a jinn and therefore not an angel, which makes Allah’s punishment unwarranted for not obeying a command given to the angels and not to the jinns.
As usual, Muslim apologists resort to deception. They say that since Satan was with the angels when they were commanded by Allah to bow down to Adam, the commandment would automatically include Satan. This excuse is inexcusable. To begin with, the Qur’an does not say that Allah’s commandment was addressed to all those present but was addressed specifically to the angels by name: “Behold! We said to the angels, ‘Bow down to Adam.’” (Surah 18:50).
Let us reason on the absurd excuse of these Muslim scholars. Say for instance, you just happened to walk into my home on some other business and then you recognized one of my guests and you start chatting with him. If at that point I made an announcement specifically addressing my guests to come and sit down at my dinner table, would that include you? Certainly not. Commonsense will dictate that you will at that point excuse yourself and depart. Additionally, would it make sense to hold you accountable for your departure when my invitation was specifically addressed to my guests? If this true of us humans, how specific must the commandments and dealings of God be. So saying that Satan was included just because he was amongst the angels when they were commanded is as lame as it comes. The issue is simple. Is Satan an angel or not? But there is a more important issue at stake for Muslims. Let us read Surah 18:50 from another well-known translation:
“And when we said unto the angels, worship(us’judū) Adam;they all worshipped himexcept Eblis, who was one of the genii.”(Sale)
It is interesting to note that in the above Qur’anic verse, the noun for the verb “us’judū” is“masjidin” meaning“mosque” – a place whereworship is rendered to Allah. This confirms that Allah was commanding the angels to bow down inworship to Adam. And this leaves Muslims with another serious problem to contend with.
However, when Muslim scholars are questioned regarding Allah’s idolatrous command to the angels to bow to Adam, they reply that Allah did it to test the angels. This is another lie. As we have noted that according to Islamic theology, angels do not have freewill. So how can they then be tested? What is Allah actually trying to demonstrate by asking the angels to bow down to Adam when he knows that the angels, by their very design, will do so instinctively?
Of course, no where in the Bible can we find the true God instructing the angels to bow down to Adam. Allah’s instruction to the angels to bow down to Adam is clearly an approval of idolatry in the form of creature worship. What this basically means is that Allah commanded his creatures to render unto another creature the very worship and reverence due to God alone. Thus, Allah is guilty of promoting one of the most heinous sins.
It is vital for Muslims to recognize the fact that both Allah and Satan displayed the same instinctive blasphemous characteristics. They both promoted creature worship. The Qur’an clearly testifies that Allah commanded the angels to bow down in worship to a creature. Now let us look at a revealing account in the Bible that testifies how Satan tried to entice Jesus to engage in creature worship.
Matthew 4:8-9:Again the Devil took him along to an unusually high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him:“All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.”
And how did Jesus respond to Satan?
Matthew 4:10:Then Jesus said to him: “Go away, Satan!For it is written,‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’
Just like Jesus Christ, the obedient angels of Jehovah also acknowledge that it is only to God that one should bow down in worship. As such, these angels neither give norreceive such glory that belongs to God.
Revelation 22:8-9: I, John fell down before the feet of the angel that had been showing me these things. But he tells me: “Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who are prophets and of those who are observing the words of this scroll. Worship God.”
Which do you think is the true Word of God? Is it the Qur’an or the Holy Bible? Since Muslims believe in the Qur’an, we will use the Qur’an to help them see why the Qur’an cannot be the Word of God.
Surah 4:82: Will they not, then, try to understand this Qur’an? Had it issued from any but God, they would surely have found in it many an inner contradiction!(Asad)
Will they not ponder on the Qur’an? Had it not come from someone other than God, they would have certainly found therein many contradictions.(Sarwar)
As proven in this article, it is abundantly clear that the Qur’an contains discrepancies and contradictions which cannot be easily explained away. As such, does not this prove that according to the testimony of the Qur’an itself, the Qur’an cannot be the Word of God?
Well Muslims, what do you think of Islam now? You can learn a vital lesson here. You can learn that a book as contradictory as the Qur’an cannot lead you to salvation. Therefore, it is imperative that you learn to identify which is the true Word of God. The Qur’an should never challenge the teachings of the Holy Bible. It will only end up contradicting itself. And as the Qur’an itself testifies, the existence of contradictions means that the Qur’an is not the Word of God.
In contrast, the Holy Bible which is a gift to mankind from Jehovah is consistent in its teachings:
James 1:16-18:Do not be misled, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the celestial lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow. Because he willed it, he brought us forth by the Word of Truth to give us new birth.
Both Allah and Satan promoted creature worship. Both displayed the same blasphemous characteristics of denying the holy Commandments of the true God by elevating the rank of a mere human to the status of God.
Exodus 20:3:“You must not have any other gods besides me.”
This raises many vital questions regarding Allah and Satan. “Is Allah and Satan one and the same?” “Are there evidences showing that they are actually the same person?” As always, we will allow Islam to provide the answers.
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