When Satan heard that God was going to appoint His Deputy [...

When Satan heard that God was going to appoint His Deputy [ Khalifa ] on the earth, all the devilish desires and false self-esteem came to the fore and kindled the hope that by ingratiating himself in the company of the Angels and making pretensions to piety, he [Satan] stood a fair chance of being appointed as God’s deputy in the earth.

When God declared that Adam (a.s.) would be His deputy in the earth, all the envy and jealousy, which was in the devilish nature of Satan, took the shape of hatred and impotent frustration. Satan disputed and refused to obey God’s command saying that being made of fire he was superior to Adam (a.s.) who was created from dust. The infallible Imams (a.s.) have explained that Satan was created in a combination of dust and fire and therefore he was an inferior jinnee and not an angel.

His claim of superiority over Adam was therefore illusory. Satan’s dispute was with God, but he (Satan) vowed to punish Adam and his progeny. The nomination of Imam Ali (a.s.) was made by the Prophet (S) but the revenge was taken against Imam Ali (a.s.) and the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) ! All his pretensions to piety and being near to God in the company of Angels did not avail Satan who was banished on account of his real nature.

Though the inveterate enemies of Islam pretended to become Muslims, their real status is shown in a tradition regarding Doomsday, related through ibn Abbas in which the Prophet (S) said:“ Then, some of my companions will be taken to the right side and some to the left side. I will say:‘(they are) My companions!’ It will be said, ‘They reneged after you had left them’ .”[^8] None of the companions could boast that they had never worshipped idols.

As a matter of fact, Umar ibnul Khattab, who became the second caliph, was openly hostile towards the Prophet (S) and his Message.

His hostility towards anything clashing with his idol worship and pagan beliefs were so severe that he persecuted his own first cousin Zaid.[^9] His hostility continued for over eight years after the proclamation of Islam and he is said to have embraced Islam only after forty or, according to some, fifty persons had already done so.[^10] The only reasons offered by Umar while refusing to become the first Caliph was that Abu Bakr had precedence over him in accepting Islam.