Prologue

If we try to determine the basic feelings through which the three Semitic religions expressed man's relationship to God, we would discover that they are limited to three: love, fear, and hatred – love of God, fear of His power and punishment, and hatred of His enemy, Satan (Iblis). Religious thinkers treated these feelings in numerous books and lots of pages. Their views on Satan ranged from serious attempts to determine the position that he occupies in the order of the universe, his relationship to God, and the purpose of his existence, to mere profuse explanations of his deception of people and to teaching them well known invocations and incantations so that they can dismiss him and ward off his evil. There is no doubt that each one of us bears in his mind a particular image of Satan's character inherited as an indivisible part of his or her traditional culture and religious upbringing. I find it unnecessary to expatiate on recalling this image of Satan in the popular mind because it is well known to all of us.

Satan was a favorite angel of God and was of great consequence in the order of the heavenly host until he disobeyed God's order and was expelled from paradise, incurring eternal damnation. Thus, Satan became the embodiment of everything evil, acquiring all the attributes that are incompatible with God. We note here that Satan's name indicates his essence, which is “iblas” – that is, total despair of God's mercy and of return to paradise (this according to traditional Muslim interpretations of the meaning of iblas). We are all familiar with the proverb that signifies a total loss of hope: Like Satan's hope of return to paradise. The word Satan connotes scheming, temptation, suggestion of evil thought, instigation to rebellion, disobedience, and other hideous and abominable characteristics that the imagination of man has incorporated into a single character: Satan. In the course of time, man's imagination generously allotted to Satan great creative intellectual powers, innovative artistic capabilities, and the ability to perform supernatural and miraculous acts and deeds. Thus, Satan became next to God in terms of his powers, abilities, and achievements.