In the past few weeks, the devil, Shaytan, had been at the center of our weekly discourse on this page. The reason is simply because Shaytan is at the center of all the predicaments and travails suffered by man on earth. Were it not for the Shaytan, most of the troubles in our homes, workplaces, towns or cities, states and countries would never have occurred. As declared by Allah in the Qur’an and repeatedly mentioned in many instances on this page, Shaytan is man’s worst enemy. He intoxicates man with non-liquid substances.
Shaytan, also referred to in the Glorious Qur’an as Iblis is largely behind man’s propensity to disobedience and ingratitude to Allah. Because he was cursed by Allah for arrogantly refusing to bow down for Prophet Adam (AS) as instructed by the creator of the heavens and the earth, Shaytan pledged to lead the entire nation of mankind astray except believing men and women who are firm in faith and righteous in deeds. Qur’an 4:118-119 states “Allah did curse him, but he said: ‘I will take of Thy servants a portion marked off; I will mislead them, and I will create in them false desires…Whoever takes Shaytan for a friend hath of a surety suffered a loss that is manifest.”
The Shaytan obtained Allah’s permission to tempt man, and this was implied in such free-will as was granted to man by Allah. Shaytan’s boast is that the portion of mankind seduced by him will be so corrupted in their nature that there will bear a sort of brand that will mark them off as his own. This sufficiently says a lot about the depth of corruption, wickedness, evil, and man’s injustice against another man in today’s Nigeria.
Any one that comes under the influence and hypnotic control of the Shaytan gets intoxicated with strong but non-alcoholic substances especially power and wealth. Pharaoh and Qarun transgressed bounds and respectively became power-drunk and brazen stasher of wealth. The Shaytan would always mislead man into believing, though erroneously, in things that do not actually matter in the spiritual world. Consequently, such a man is deceived into having an exaggerated opinion of himself and of the political authority or wealth he possesses. At this point, dimensions of transgression would begin to manifest in man’s outrageous speeches and contemptuous actions. Qur’an 79:24, for instance, states that Pharaoh (out of a crude sense of transgression) said, “I am your lord, most high;” attempting to arrogate to himself powers that exclusively belong to the Lord of creation.
A power-drunk leader would direct his stooges, using state apparatus, to “crush” his political opponents or any individual(s) or group(s) that differ from him in opinion. Allah states in Qur’an 28:4 “Truly, Pharaoh elated himself in the land and broke up its people in to sections, depressing a small group among them: their sons he slew, but he kept alive their females: For he was indeed a maker of mischief.” For a leader (or ruler in the case of Nigeria) to make invidious distinctions between his subjects is a dereliction of his leadership duties, for which he is responsible to Allah.
Pharaoh and his clique were intoxicated with pride of race and pride of material civilization, and thus, grievously oppressed the Israelites. Pharaoh decreed that all male sons born to the Israelites should be killed and the females kept alive for the pleasure of the Egyptians. What Pharaoh wished was to crush them. But Allah’s plan was to protect them as they were weak, and to make them custodians and leaders in His faith.
When an unjust leader reaches the “point of diminishing return”, the stage of self-destruction sets in. The same hard-hearted people who were once the prime pride of the leader would swiftly turn against him; and that would be the beginning of the end of any cruel rule or bad governance. When Prophet Musa (AS) threw his staff, which swallowed all the falsehoods that had earlier bewitched the eyes of the people, the chief sorcerers gathered by Pharaoh to challenge Musa (AS) all fell down and prostrated in adoration.
To destroy a transgressed leader, the Shaytan cynically encourages him to perpetrate injustice as if it were a necessary requirement for sustaining power and authority. Pharaoh was angry with the repentant sorcerers who acknowledged Musa (AS) and his message. He thus threatened the sorcerers with extreme punishment for treason and apostasy (i.e. cutting off of hands and feet, combined with an ignominious death on the cross). Qur’an 7:123 states “Said Pharaoh: ‘Believe ye in him before I give you permission? Surely, this is a trick which ye have planned in the city to drive out its people: but soon shall ye know (the consequence).”
People tend to forget that leaders who transgress against Allah’s Laws would not survive Allah’s decree when it comes. Pharaoh’s belated repentance did not help him at the point of his drowning in the sea while chasing Musa (AS) and the Israelites. It was because his repentance was not genuine. Disgrace and denial by man’s deceptive counsels including the Shaytan are some of the ultimate wages of transgression that await those who superciliously transgress the limits set by Allah in their political, social and economic life. May Allah (SW) protect us against becoming puppets in the hands of the Shaytan, amin.
