People often shift the blame for their mistakes on to others: a friend urged me, the circumstances forced me. This reflection asks how far such excuses will serve in God’s court.
According to the Quran, when people are called to account on the Day of Judgment, wrongdoers will blame Satan for leading them astray. Satan will answer that God’s promise to them was true and his own was false, that he had no power over them and only called, and that they responded. “So do not blame me, but blame yourselves,” he will say (Surah Ibrahim, 14:22).
The Quran tells believers to treat Satan as an enemy (Surah Fatir, 35:6) and says he has no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord (Surah an-Nahl, 16:99). He can whisper, but he cannot force anyone to sin; whether to walk the path he shows is for each person to decide.
One of his main methods, the piece says, is to make sin look attractive (Surah al-Anfal, 8:48): backbiting is presented as plain speaking and arrogance as self-respect. He also keeps people from repentance, first by telling them there is still time, and then, once they have sinned, by making them despair of forgiveness. The Quran answers: “Do not despair of God’s mercy. God forgives all sins” (Surah az-Zumar, 39:53).
His promises are nothing but deception (Surah an-Nisa, 4:120), and on the last day he will declare himself free of those who followed him. A person cannot be freed from their own deeds: “Every soul is held in pledge for what it has earned” (Surah al-Muddaththir, 74:38).
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report