At the core of Qur'anic teaching is the belief that life itself is a test. We are given life, the created world and other people to care for. Islam guides people towards this goal. Allah allows Satan/Iblis to tempt us away from living a good and holy life according to Islam. Part of the test is not to be tempted by Satan. Those who resist and strive in the way/cause of Allah will be rewarded in the afterlife. .
2. What about Satan/Shaytan/Iblis?.
At the creation of man, God ordered all his angels to bow down in obedience before Adam. Iblis refused, claiming he was a nobler being since he was created of fire, while man came only of clay. For this exhibition of pride and disobedience, God threw Iblis out of heaven. His punishment, however, was postponed until the Judgement Day, when he and his host will have to face the eternal fires of hell; until that time he is allowed to tempt all but true believers to evil. As his first demonic act, Iblis, referred to in this context as shaytan, entered the Garden of Eden and tempted Eve to eat of the tree of immortality, causing both Adam and Eve to forfeit paradise.
Note that Iblis has long been a figure of discussion among Muslim scholars, who have been trying to explain the ambiguous identification of Iblis in the Qur`an as either angel or jinni, a contradiction in terms, as angels are created of light (nur) and are incapable of sin, while jinn are created of fire (nar) and can sin. Traditions on this point are numerous and conflicting: Iblis was simply a jinni who inappropriately found himself among the angels in heaven; he was an angel sent to Earth to do battle with the rebellious jinn who inhabited the Earth before man was created; Iblis was himself one of the terrestrial jinn captured by the angels during their attack and brought to heaven. .
(Courtesy of Encyclopaedia Britannica 2000) .
3. Suffering Comes from Satan and Human Sin: .
Man's condition in Islam.
