12. This was the challenge thrown down by Satan to God. What it meant is
that Satan would make use of the respite granted to him until the Last Day,
and he would do so in order to prove that nian did not deserve a position superior
to his and this had after all been bestowed upon him by God. So doing, he would
expose how ungrateful, thankless and disloyal a creature man is.
The respite asked for by Satan and granted to him by God includes not only the
time but also the opportunity to mislead Man and to prove his point by appealing
to man's weaknesses. The Qur'an makes a pointed statement about this in
(Banu Isra'il 17: 61-5). These verses make it clear that God had granted Satan the
opportunity to try to mislead Adam and his offspring At the same time it has
also been made quite clear that Satan was not granted the power to lead men
into error against their will. 'As for my servants', says the Qur'an, 'you shall
have no power over them' (Banu Isra'il 17: 65). Thus all that Satan can do is
to cause misunderstanding, to make people cherish false illusions, to make evil
and error seem atractive, and to invite people to evil ways by holding out to
them the promise of immense pleasure and material benefits. He would have no
power, however, to forcibly pull them to the Satanic way and to prevent them
from following the Right Way. Accordingly, the Qur'an makes it quite plain elsewhere
that on the Day of Judgement, Satan would address the men who had followed him
in the following words: 'I had no power over you except to call you; but you
listened to me: then reproach me not, but reproach your own selves'
(Ibrahim 14: 22).
As for Satan's allegation that God Himself caused him to fall into error see
(verse 16) it is an attempt on the part of Satan to transfer the blame which
fails squarely on him to God. Satan's grivance seems to be that God was responsible
for his deviation insofar as He hurt Satan's pride by asking him to prostrate
before Adam, and that it was this which led him to disobey God. It is thus clear
that Satan wanted to continue enjoying his vain arrogance and that he was incensed
that his weakness - arrogance - was seen through and brought to full light.
The underlying stupidity of the statement is too patently obvious to call for
any refutation, and hence God took no notice of it.