Tafsir of Surah Ibrahim - Verse 22

Shaytan disowns His Followers on the Day of Resurrection

Allah narrates to us what Iblis will say to his followers after Allah finishes with the judgement between His servants, sending the believers to the gardens of Paradise and the disbelievers to the lows (of the Fire). Iblis, may Allah curse him, will stand and address the latter, in order to add depression to their depression, sorrow to their sorrow and grief to their grief. He will declare,

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ

`(Verily, Allah promised you a promise of truth.) by the words of His Messengers that if you follow them, you will gain safety and deliverance. Truly, Allah's promise was true and correct news, while I promised you then betrayed you.' Allah said in another Ayah,

يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمْ الشَّيْطَـنُ إِلاَّ غُرُوراً

(He (Shaytan) makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires; and Shaytan's promises are nothing but deceptions.) 4:120

وَمَا كَانَ لِىَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِّن سُلْطَـنٍ

(I had no authority over you) Shaytan will say, `I had no proof for what I called you to, nor evidence for what I promised you,

إِلاَّ أَن دَعَوْتُكُمْ فَاسْتَجَبْتُمْ لِى

(except that I called you, and you responded to me.) even though the Messengers establish the proof and unequivocal evidences against you and affirmed the truth of what they were sent to you with. But you disobeyed the Messengers and ended up earning this fate,

فَلاَ تَلُومُونِى

(So blame me not,) today,

وَلُومُواْ أَنفُسَكُمْ

(but blame yourselves.), because it is your fault for defying the proofs and following me in the falsehood that I called you to.' Shaytan will say next,

مَّآ أَنَاْ بِمُصْرِخِكُمْ

(I cannot help you), I cannot benefit, save, or deliver you from what you are suffering,

وَمَآ أَنتُمْ بِمُصْرِخِىَّ

(nor can you help me.), nor can you save me and deliver me from the torment and punishment I am suffering,

إِنِّى كَفَرْتُ بِمَآ أَشْرَكْتُمُونِ مِن قَبْلُ

(I deny your former act of associating me (Shaytan) as a partner with Allah.) or because you associated me with Allah before,' according to Qatadah. Ibn Jarir commented; "I deny being a partner with Allah, the Exalted and Most Honored." This opinion is the most plausible, for Allah said in other Ayat,

وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّن يَدْعُو مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَن لاَّ يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ وَهُمْ عَن دُعَآئِهِمْ غَـفِلُونَ - وَإِذَا حُشِرَ النَّاسُ كَانُواْ لَهُمْ أَعْدَآءً وَكَانُواْ بِعِبَادَتِهِمْ كَـفِرِينَ

(And who is more astray than one who calls on others besides Allah, such as will not answer him till the Day of Resurrection, and who are (even) unaware of their calls to them And when mankind are gathered, they will become their enemies and will deny their worshipping.)46:5-6 and,

كَلاَّ سَيَكْفُرُونَ بِعِبَـدَتِهِمْ وَيَكُونُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ ضِدّاً

(Nay, but they (the so-called gods) will deny their worship of them, and become opponents to them.)19:82 Allah said next,

إِنَّ الظَّـلِمِينَ

(Verily, the wrongdoers), who deviate from truth and follow falsehood, will earn a painful torment. It appears that this part of the Ayah narrates the speech that Shaytan will deliver to the people of the Fire after they enter it, as we stated. `Amir Ash-Sha`bi said, "On the Day of Resurrection, two speakers will address the people. Allah the Exalted will say to `Isa, son of Maryam,

أَءَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِى وَأُمِّىَ إِلَـهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ

(Did you say unto men: "Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah") 5:116 until,

قَالَ اللَّهُ هَـذَا يَوْمُ يَنفَعُ الصَّـدِقِينَ صِدْقُهُمْ

(Allah will say: "This is a Day on which the truthful will profit from their truth.")5:119 Shaytan, may Allah curse him, will stand and address the people,

وَمَا كَانَ لِىَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِّن سُلْطَـنٍ إِلاَّ أَن دَعَوْتُكُمْ فَاسْتَجَبْتُمْ لِى

(I had no authority over you except that I called you, and you responded to me.) Allah next mentioned the final destination of the miserable ones, who earned the disgrace and torment and having to listen to Shaytan address them, then He mentioned the final destination of the happy ones,

وَأُدْخِلَ الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّـلِحَاتِ جَنَّـتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَـرُ

(And those who believed and did righteous deeds, will be made to enter Gardens under which rivers flow,) wherever they wish them to flow and wherever they may be,

خَـلِدِينَ فِيهَآ

(to dwell therein for ever,) and will never transfer or be transferred from it,

بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِمْ تَحِيَّتُهُمْ فِيهَا سَلَـمٌ

(with the permission of their Lord. Their greeting therein will be: "Salam (peace!). ") Allah said in other Ayat,

حَتَّى إِذَا جَآءُوهَا وَفُتِحَتْ أَبْوَبُهَا وَقَالَ لَهُمْ خَزَنَتُهَا سَلَـمٌ عَلَيْكُـمْ

(Till, when they reach it, and its gates will be opened and its keepers will say: "Salamun `Alaykum (peace be upon you!)") 39:73

وَالمَلَـئِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِمْ مِّن كُلِّ بَابٍسَلَـمٌ عَلَيْكُمُ

(And angels shall enter unto them from every gate (saying): "Salamun `Alaykum (peace be upon you!).") 13:23-24

وَيُلَقَّوْنَ فِيهَا تَحِيَّةً وَسَلَـماً

(Therein they shall be met with greetings and the word of peace and respect.) 25:75

دَعْوَهُمْ فِيهَا سُبْحَـنَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَتَحِيَّتُهُمْ فِيهَا سَلاَمٌ وَءَاخِرُ دَعْوَاهُمْ أَنِ الْحَمْدُ للَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ

(Their way of request therein will be Subhanaka Allahumma (glory to you, O Allah) and Salam (peace!) will be their greetings therein (Paradise)! And the close of their request will be: Al-Hamdu Lillahi Rabbil-'Alamin all praise to Allah the Lord of that exists.)10:10

In the last verse here (8), it was said: قَالَ مُوسَىٰ إِن تَكْفُرُ‌وا أَنتُمْ وَمَن فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ جَمِيعًا (And Musa said, "If you are ungrateful, you and all those on earth, then, Allah is free of all needs, worthy of every praise.) " This was said by Sayyidna Musa (علیہ السلام) to his people. He is telling them that should they or, for that matter, all inhabitants of the earth become ungrateful to Allah Ta’ ala, it is not going to cause any loss to Allah Ta’ ala. As for Him, He needs no praise or gratitude for Himself. He is Independent. He is beyond that. He is intrinsically Praised and deserving of praise. If you do not praise Him, the angels do, all of them, and so does every particle of this universe.

So, whatever good there is in gratitude, that is for you alone. There-fore, when you are asked to be grateful by Allah Ta’ ala, there is no gain for Him in doing so. In fact, it is His infinite mercy reaching out to you in your interest.

The world of God is the world of reality and is not based on imagination. Here, relying on the promises of Satan amounts to building on an unrealistic basis. Suppose an individual ignores the caller of Truth and himself takes the credit for doing dawah work, but he indulges in other activities besides dawah. He takes no account of the Hereafter but, relying upon self-made suppositions, still builds up the hope of salvation. He does not live his life in accordance with the commandments of God, yet hopes that his name will be included in the list of God’s most favoured subjects. All these actions stem from relying on the false promises of Satan and, in the Hereafter, man will come to know that only God’s promise was the true one and all other promises were only false hopes, which were never likely to be fulfilled. In this world of God, placing hopes on anyone or anything other than God amounts to polytheism (shirk). It is those who ignore divine realities and want to construct their lives on other things will find that nothing except God can give them any support. But this realization will be of no avail to them on that day.