It was because the Zoroastrians did not develop this mystery that they believed there was a creator of good in the universe, called Yazdan, and a creator of evil, called Ahriman.2  However, the imaginary god of evil they called Ahriman was Satan, who causes evil through the power of choice and the power to act, which has no ability to create.

O people of belief! Your most effective weapon and equipment for repairs in the face of  this awesome destruction of Satan is  seeking forgiveness  from God,  and declaring “I seek refuge with God,” to have recourse to Him. And your stronghold is the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices.

FIFTH INDICATION

In the revealed scriptures Almighty God points out to mankind great rewards like Paradise   and   terrible   punishments   like   Hell,   and   He   gives   guidance,   many admonishments  and  reminders,  and  threats  and  encouragement.  But  despite  there being so  many means  guiding  the people of belief to  the straight path,  they are defeated in the face of the feeble, unrewarding, repellent stratagems of Satan’s party. At one time this caused me much thought. How is it, I wondered, that although they believe, they disregard Almighty God’s severe threats? Why isn’t their belief enough? They are carried away by Satan’s baseless wiles and  rebel against God, although according to the verse, “Feeble indeed is the cunning of  Satan.”(4:76) Some of my own friends, even, although they sincerely affirmed the teachings about reality they had heard from me a hundred times and had an excessively good opinion of me and relations with me, they were carried away by the trite and hypocritical compliments of a corrupt person, and took up a position in favour of him and against me. “Glory be to God!,” I exclaimed, “How can a person fall so low? What a deceitful man he was.” I slandered him and committed a sin.

Later,   the  truth  explained   in  the  previous  Indications  became  clear   and illuminated many obscure points. Thanks be to God, through its light I understood both  that   the  All-Wise  Qur’an’s  powerful  encouragement  and  assurances  are completely  in  place,   and  that  the  people  of  belief  being  deceived  by  Satanic machinations is not due to a lack of belief or weakness of faith. I understood too that someone who commits grievous sins is not an unbeliever, and that the Mu‘tazilites and some Kharijite sects are in error by stating: “The person who commits a grievous sin is either in a state of unbelief or is between belief and unbelief,”3   and that that  unfortunate friend of mine sacrificing a hundred lessons in reality to win the attentions of such a scoundrel was not despicable abasement and degeneration; I thanked Almighty God and was saved  from the abyss.

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2   See, al-Shahristani, al-Milal wa’l-Nihal, i, 232-3; al-Iji, Kitab al-Mawaqif, iii, 65; Tahir ibn

Muhammad, al-Tabsir fi’l-Din, i, 91, 113, 142.

3   See, al-Iji, Kitab al-Mawaqif, iii, 548; Ibn Abi’l-’Izz, Sharh ‘Aqida al-Tahawiyya, i, 356-62.