If I Were The Devil....

[ZubeirAwal]

Meyle man does have his short-comings and own weaknesses , I understand by what you mean saying using the devil as a scapegoat, i.e someone can do something horrible and just say it was the devils fault. Not at all, in the creed of the Sufi's they believe every human being has their own enemies within themselves, terms used like 'nafs' and 'hawa' i.e inclination towards animalistic desires, the devil, according to islam only has the power to suggest and there on, the suggesting of the idea can be attributed to the shaydan, thats where you say " I seek refuge in God from the temptations of the devil", the entertaining of it, the planning of it, and the executing of it is all at the fault of the individual and not of the devil. This is why the qur'an paints the scenario of Judgement day in which the devil will testify " I only whispered a mere suggestion in to your heart in which you grasped onto, as for me I believe in Allah".

So yes, the human can't use the devil as a scapegoat because they'll always remain in this spiritual decline because of their failure to recognise their own whims and errors.

[Meyle]

Of all the people in here, you were the only one who shared his thoughts, interesting thoughts.


The animalistic desire, do you mean the genetic predisposition? If you mean genetic predisposition, don't you believe it's intertwined with the temptations, if not the same thing?

[SultanOrder]

Meyle man does have his short-comings and own weaknesses , I understand by what you mean saying using the devil as a scapegoat, i.e someone can do something horrible and just say it was the devils fault. Not at all, in the creed of the Sufi's they believe every human being has their own enemies within themselves, terms used like 'nafs' and 'hawa' i.e inclination towards animalistic desires, the devil, according to islam only has the power to suggest and there on, the suggesting of the idea can be attributed to the shaydan, thats where you say " I seek refuge in God from the temptations of the devil", the entertaining of it, the planning of it, and the executing of it is all at the fault of the individual and not of the devil. This is why the qur'an paints the scenario of Judgement day in which the devil will testify " I only whispered a mere suggestion in to your heart in which you grasped onto, as for me I believe in Allah".

So yes, the human can't use the devil as a scapegoat because they'll always remain in this spiritual decline because of their failure to recognise their own whims and errors.

[ZubeirAwal]

Meyle, I'm not familiar with the term genetic predisposition but Imam Ghazali (d.1111 AD) mentioned something interesting in his books about how human beings develop spiritually. He says during from ages 0-7 the ego develops, i.e the child is self-centered and wants everything, this is when ghazali says that " God makes mature in the mind of the child at this age, the ego", then he says from ages 7-14 anger becomes prevalent and starts to mature, he says " It is then necessary to discipline the child when he/she throws violent tantrums", I can agree with this statement seeing the changes of behavior go through my younger brothers from 9-14, hostile, arrogant, and violent. Then he says from ages 14-21 the intellect of the human starts to grow, he/she starts to question things and have the urge to know, Al Ghazali says " They either follow this route, or become blind followers of a certain way of life", he then says " It is at the age of 22 that the seeker of God will be enabled to read the signs of God in all places, the individual too in some cases will encounter visions in dreams and thus will be exposed to the truth if God wills."

So the human being has the ability to either become great, and ascend to a station of highness, or descend to the lowest of low;

"Surely We created man of the best stature,Then we reduced him to the lowest of the low."

What this means is the individual has no excuse when they are brought for judgment, because within their lives they have the potential to become near-perfect mortal beings, and at the same time they are exposed to desires and carnal temptations that can cause them to remain stuck in a cycle and die in such a state, making them The Lowest of the Low.

The issue of the Struggle against the Self is just one thing, the devil is at one end of the scale, and the angels are at the other side of the scale, we the human beings are at the middle, and it is the things we do that can tip the scale towards the devils or towards the angels.

[mcali]

mcali,

What's up bro, how's life treating you?



Khadijaaah,






Abdi,


I believe in spirits both good and evil but I for one will not use the devil as a scapegoat for my spiritual weakness. God also created man incomplete in every sense, the desires and temptations that lure us into the "devils traps" is in reality genetic predispositions. It's the genetic instructions coded in our DNA by God himself.

I'm doing good bro. School is getting tougher every week but other than that I cant complain. How about you and do you still enjoy somali music?


btw I like this discussion you guys are having. Really interesting.