Yes, I agree. By way of illustration, but also it is personified occasionally. It does not remain just a philosophy or a theory or an innate power of man, but sometimes this symbolization also is personified. On this I have spoken earlier. For instance, the will to or the permission given to man to go wrong requires a will to go wrong first, in the first place. And permission given to him to do good also requires a prerequisite of a will to do good.
These two qualities of going wrong and doing good have to be gifted to man before this option is given to him. You agree? Now, this quality of going wrong or desire to do wrong, that quality is satanic and that quality is in every man. Now, there are possibilities. Number one, that this is Satan and that is all and there is no personification of Satan as such. And there is another possibility that like the system of angels who control goodness, there may be some evil forces created by Allah of which we don’t know directly, but which are responsible for promoting all the forces of evil within man and controlling them. I mean, I am just discussing the possibilities.
But one thing is certain, that that will in man to do wrong is declared as Satan by Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And he said, positively declared, that every man is born with a Satan. He has his own Satan, which runs in his blood. And one of the persons present asked him, Ya Rasulullah, do you also have a Satan of yourself? He said, yes, but he has accepted Islam. That is, he has submitted to my better will.
So, in that sense, it becomes the symbolization. Could failure to do the right thing or the good thing lead to what is seen as evil or bad? Or ignorance could be another source of evil? There are so many possibilities. This question is not valid. Because once you understand the phenomena, then there are so many possibilities for which we cannot be judges. Because we do not know the intricate phenomena within. Except sometimes, if you turn to yourself and begin to analyze your own acts and the intentions behind them, then you are the best judge for yourself. And you can know, and you can sometimes positively know, that you have committed a sin, or committed an act of goodness.
Sometimes they are veiled, and covered, and the man wants to hide these facts from himself. But I am not talking of that. If you really intend to analyze your own features, what is happening within, you can come up with an answer. Knowing that these two forces are free to act, and knowing that the choice would be yours, where is somebody committed what? That I can’t say, nor you can say. But the person himself is the best judge.
This is what the Holy Qur’an means when it says, man knows his own inner self full well. He is fully cognizant of what is happening within. Although he may come out with excuses, mazeera means long drawn out excuses of this and that, this happened because of this, and this happened because of that. But if he really wants to find out, then he can. That is what it means.
