No one sets up Satan as his “god” in the sense that he makes him the object of his ritual worship and declares him to be God in so many words. The way to make Satan one’s god is to entrust one’s reins to him and let oneself be drawn helplessly in whichever direction Satan wants; the relationship between the two becomes, then, one of worshipper and worshipped. This shows that either absolute, unreserved obedience to or blind following of anybody is tantamount to worshipping him, so that whoever indulges in this kind of absolute obedience is guilty of worshipping a “god” other than the One True God.
77 This shows that Satan is determined to lay his claim to a portion of man’s time, of his effort and labour, of his energies and capacities, of his material belongings, and of his offspring, and would somehow trick him into devoting a sizeable portion of all these to his cause.
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 120–2
and I shall command them and they will cut off the ears of the cattle,78 and I shall command them and they will disfigure Allah’s creation.”79 He who took Satan rather than Allah for his guardian has indeed suffered a manifest loss. (120) Satan makes promises to them and fills them with vain hopes, but whatever he promises them is merely delusion. (121) For these people, their abode shall be Hell and from there they shall find no way of escape. (122) But those who believe and do good, We shall cause them to enter the Gardens beneath which rivers flow. Here they will abide for ever. ▶
78 The reference here is to a superstitious Arabian custom. It was customary among the Arabs that after a camel had given birth to five or ten young to slit her ears and let her go in the name of their deity; they considered it forbidden to put her to any work. Likewise, the male camel that had generated ten offspring was consecrated to some deity. The slitting of ears symbolized this consecration.
79 To alter God’s creation in some respect does not mean changing its original form. Hence the alteration of God’s creation, which is characterized as Satanic, consists in using a thing not for the purpose for which it was created by God. In other words, all acts performed in violation either of one’s true nature or of the intrinsic nature of these other objects are the result of the misleading promptings of Satan. These include, for instance, sodomy, birth control, monasticism, celibacy, sterilization of either men or women, turning males into eunuchs, diverting females from the functions entrusted to them by nature and driving them to perform the functions for which men were created.
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 123–7
This is Allah’s promise in truth and whose word is truer than Allah’s?
(123) It is neither your fancies nor the fancies of the People of the Book which matter. Whoever does evil shall reap its consequence and will find none to protect and help him against Allah. (124) Whoever does good and believes – whether he is male or female – such shall enter the Garden, and they shall not be wronged in the slightest. (125) And whose way of life could be better than that of he who submits his whole being to Allah, does good, and follows exclusively the way of Abraham whom Allah took for a friend? (126) Whatever is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Allah; Allah encompasses everything.
(127) They ask you to pro- nounce laws concerning women.80 ▶
80 The actual query about women is not spelled out directly. The judgement pronounced a little later in response to that query, however, makes it abundantly clear what the query was.
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 128
Say: “Allah pronounces to you concerning them, and reminds you of the injunctions which were recited to you in the Book about female orphans whom you do not give what has been ordained for them and whom you wish to marry (out of greed),”81 and the command- ments relating to the children who are weak and helpless. Allah directs you to treat the orphans with justice. Allah is well aware of whatever good you do.
(128) If a woman82 fears either ill-treatment or aversion from her husband it is not wrong for the husband and wife to bring about reconciliation among themselves ▶
81 The words of the text
82 The actual response to the query begins here. The question is how a person who had more than one wife can comply with the injunctions to be just and equitable towards all of them. Is a person obligated by Islam to feel equally towards each of his wives, to love each to an equal degree, and treat each of them equally even in respect of sexual relationship? Such questions are especially relevant with regard to a husband one of whose wives might be, say, afflicted with either sterility or permanent sickness or who is incapable of sexual intercourse. Does justice demand that if a person fails to live up to the standards of equality mentioned above he should renounce his first wife in order to marry another woman? Moreover, where the first wife is disinclined to agree to the annulment of marriage, is it appropriate for the spouses to make a voluntary accord among themselves, according to which the wife, towards whom the husband feels relatively less attracted, voluntarily surrenders some of her rights and thereby persuades her husband not to repudiate the marriage? Would such an act be against the dictates of justice?
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Al-Nisa’ 4: 129–30
(by compromising on their rights),83 for reconciliation is better. Man is prone to selfish- ness, but if you do good and are God-fearing, then surely Allah is aware of the things you do. (129) You will not be able to treat your wives with (absolute) justice not even if you keenly desire to do so. (It suffices in order to follow the Law of Allah that) you do not wholly incline to one, leaving the other in suspense.84 If you act rightly and remain God- fearing, surely Allah is All- Forgiving, All-Compassionate. (130) But if the two separate, out of His plenty Allah will make each dispense with the other. Indeed Allah is Most Bounteous, Most Wise. ▶
83 It is better for the spouses to come to a mutual understanding so that the wife may remain with the same man with whom she has already spent a part of her life.
84 Some people point out that the Qur’an in one breath stipulates justice as the necessary condition for plurality of wives and in the next declares it to be impossible. On this basis they conclude that the Qur’an has itself revoked the permission to marry more than one wife. There is, therefore, absolutely no justification for having a plurality of wives. Such an inference would have been justified had the Qur’an merely said that “You will not be able to treat your wives with (absolute) justice.” But the Qur’anic statement is followed by the direction: “… do not wholly incline to one, leaving the other in suspense.” This leaves no grounds at all for the blind followers of Christian Europe to force an interpretation of their liking on
