3.08. BASER PASSIONS

God says

…. (O mankind!) follow not Satan’s footsteps: for, verily, he is your open foe, and bids you only to do evil, and to commit deeds of abomination, … Q.2: 168--169

And tell them [O Prophet] what happens to him to whom We conveyed Our messages and who discards them: Satan catches up with him, and he goes astray, like so many others, into grievous error.*Now had We so willed, We could indeed have exalted him by means of those [messages]: but he always clung to the earth and followed but his own desires…. Q.7: 175--176

*In the original this whole verse is in the past tense; but since its obvious purport is
the statement of a general truth (cf. Razi, on the authority of Qatadah, ‘Ikrimah and Abu Muslim) and not as some commentators assume a reference to a particular person, it is best rendered in the present tense. The kind of man spoken of here is one who has understood the divine messages but, nevertheless, refuses to admit its truth because – as pointed out in the next verse above – he “clings to the earth”, i.e., is dominated by a materialistic, “earthly” outlook on life.


Prophet said

“The (Hell) fire is surrounded by passionate desires” – H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Abu Hurairah