format_quote Originally Posted by
Imraan
Apologies sister... im still struggling bear with me.
is the moral of this narration emphasising the instruction coming from Shaytaan himself (which is what we should avoid), as opposed to instructions to muslims should come from Allah swt alone..?
And Allah already clarified it in the Qur'an. Obviously we should never follow Satan.
O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy. (Al Baqarah 208)
Even in the hadith, it is narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "He really spoke the truth, although he is an absolute liar. Do you know whom you were talking to, these three nights, O Abu Huraira?"
Abu Huraira said, "No." He said, "It was Satan." (Sahih Bukhari 2311)
Again, Satan is absolute liar.
As explained in the tafsir, Satan has promised to mislead - lead humans to destruction - but Satan will not be able to mislead a few of them. These 'few' are the true servants of Allah.
Satan has no authority over true servants of Allah, so he cannot mislead them. If you have authority over someone, you can say and do anything you want, and that person will believe and follow you - so you can either lead this person to the truth, or to destruction.
Satan cannot do this to the true servants of Allah - which are few - and Abu Hurayrah radiyallahu 'anhu is one of these few.
So it's not that Satan tells the truth and we should follow him. It's that Satan does not have authority over those who believe and completely enter Islam - and those are few.
Satan cannot mislead these 'few' - look at this tafsir again :
﴿Iblis﴾ said: "By Your might, then I will surely mislead them all,'' 83. "Except Your true servants amongst them.'' Sad 82-83
(﴿Iblis﴾ said: "See this one whom You have honored above me, if You give me respite until the Day of Resurrection, I will surely seize and mislead his offspring all but a few!'') (17:62).
These few are the ones who are excepted in another Ayah, which is:
)Verily, My servants -- you have no authority over them. And All-Sufficient is your Lord as a Guardian.) (17:65)
Let's say you want to mislead someone, but you can't do so - what will you do? You will not mislead that person.
Allah permits Satan to mislead all descendants of Adam alayhi salaam, but does not give Satan the permission to mislead true servants of Allah. And Satan knows this. remember Satan said, "except a few"