When a person shows obstinacy out of prejudice or refuses to...
When a person shows obstinacy out of prejudice or refuses to yield to the truth because of personal interests, his or her mind and intellect have submitted, but the spirit is rebellious and lacks submission, and for this very reason lacks faith, since the reality of faith is the submission of the heart and soul. God says in the Qur’ān: يٌا أَيُّهٌا الَّذِينَ ءٌامَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كٌــآفَةً وَ لاٌ تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوٌاتِ الشَّيْطٌانِ “O you who have faith!
Enter into submission, all together, and do not follow in Satan’s steps . ”[^3] That is, your soul should not be at war with your intellect; your feelings should not be at war with your perceptions. The story of Shaīťān (Satan) that has come in the Qur’ān is an example of unbelief of the heart, even though the intellect has submitted.
Shaīťān recognized God, believed in the Day of Judgement, completely recognized the Prophets and their legatees and admitted their position; at the same time, God calls him an unbeliever and says of him: وَ كٌــانَ مِنَ الْكٌفِرِينَ “And he was of the unbelievers. ”[^4] The evidence that, in the view of the Qur’ān, Shaīťān recognized God is that the Qur’ān explicitly says that he confessed that He is the Creator.
Addressing God, he said: خَلَقْتَنِــي مِنْ نٌارٍ وَ خَلَقْتَهُ مِنْ طِينٍ “You created me from fire, and You created him from clay. ”[^5] And the evidence that he believed in the Day of Judgement is that he said: أُنْظُرْنِــي إِلـى يَوْمِ يُبْعَثُونَ “Grant me reprieve until the day they are resurrected.
”[^6] And the evidence that he recognized the Prophets and infallibles is that he said: قٌالَ فَبِعِزَّتِكَ لَأَغْوِينَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ إِلاَّ عِبٌادَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِينَ “By Your might, I shall lead them all astray, except Your purified servants among them.
”[^7] The meaning of the purified servants, who are pure not just in their actions, but whose entire existence is purified and free of all except God, are the friends of God and the infallibles; Shaīťān recognized them, too, and believed in their infallibility. The Qur’ān, while describing Shaīťān as knowing all these things, calls him an unbeliever.
Thus, we come to know that mere recognition and knowledge, or the submission of the intellect and mind, is not sufficient for a person to be considered a believer. Something else is necessary as well. In the Qur’ān’s logic, why has Shaīťān been regarded as an unbeliever in spite of all his knowledge?