The Quran

Preface

وَإِذ زَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الشَّيطانُ أَعمالَهُم وَقالَ لا غالِبَ لَكُمُ اليَومَ مِنَ النّاسِ وَإِنّي جارٌ لَكُم ۖ فَلَمّا تَراءَتِ الفِئَتانِ نَكَصَ عَلىٰ عَقِبَيهِ وَقالَ إِنّي بَريءٌ مِنكُم إِنّي أَرىٰ ما لا تَرَونَ إِنّي أَخافُ اللَّهَ ۚ وَاللَّهُ شَديدُ العِقابِ

Yusuf Ali

Remember Satan made their (sinful) acts seem alluring to them, and said: “No one among men can overcome you this day, while I am near to you”: But when the two forces came in sight of each other, he turned on his heels, and said: “Lo! I am clear of you; lo! I see what ye see not; Lo! I fear God. for God is strict in punishment.”¹

It is the way with the leaders of evil, when they find their cause lost, that they wash their hands of their followers and leave them in the lurch. They sec more clearly then their dupes. They are not simpletons: they know the consequences of the wrath of God. Satan’s “fear” of God is terror combined with hatred - the very opposite of the feeling which is described in Taqwā, viz., the desire to avoid doing anything against God’s will, such desire being founded on trust in God and the love of God.