Surah Yâ Sîn 36:62

وَلَقَدْ أَضَلَّ مِنكُمْ جِبِلًّا كَثِيرًا ۖ

36:62Adzalla أَضَلَّ- to lead astray. The expression adzalladoes not signify that some evil spirit or a person called Satan leads a great multitude of people astray. If this were the case, then only Satan would be punished on the Day of Judgment, and Divine Judgment therefore, would not be just. It also should not be concluded from these words that Allâh is powerless to prevent such deception. Just consider the verse in 14:36: “A large number of people have gone astray because of these idols.” Asnâm أصنام is the thing held responsible for leading many people astray; in this case idols that possess no power or will to create anything. In 5:91 we read, “Satan only intends to precipitate enmity and hatred between you,” and in 4:60, “Satan desires to lead them astray” expresses only his desire, but it does not mean that he is the creator of evil. The Holy Qur’ân rejects Zoroastrian dualism according to which Yazdân, the Good Spirit, is the creator of all good things and the creator of evil is A’hraman, the evil spirit. The idea that Allâh is the source of good and Satan that of evil is not reflected in the Qur’ân nor in any authentic tradition. Verse 28:50 says, “Know that they (the evil persons) are just following their own low and evil desires. Who should be more erring than the one who, leaving aside the guidance of Allâh, only follows his own low and evil desires.” We read in verse 28:50, “Have you considered the case of him who has taken his own low and evil desires for his god and whom Allâh has forsaken and adjudged as lost on the basis of His [infinite] knowledge,” and again in verse 25:43, “Have you considered [the plight of] the one who has taken his own low and evil desires for his deity?” Therefore, the path to evil is the subjugation to the low desires (nafs al-Ammârah) the self which incites towards evil (7:20; 12:53). Correspondingly, not heeding nafs al-Lawwâmah - the innate self-reproaching spirit, which at the commission of a bad deed comes to human beings assistance (75:2), also leads to evil. The words in the verse, “Why do you not then make use of your understanding”, indicates that our given intelligence, (‘aqal) can warn us of the pitfalls of Nafs al-Ammârah, only if we make use of it. ‘Aqalameans to abstain from something (Tâj, Lisân, Lane). Here ‘aqal would mean to abstain from evil suggestions and low desires, and not to make them our ilâh or deity. According to the Holy Qur’ân, the one who loses his reason and does not make use of his understanding is “under the influence of Satan” (2:275). In other words, Satan gains mastery over those who do not remember Allâh (58:19). In 7:176; 18:28 and 20:16 this subject matter is explained in a beautiful way (cf: 35:32; 37:63).