He therefore displayed miracles from time to time, in answer to need, solely to make them affirm his claim to prophethood and to nullify the unbelievers’ denial. At other  times  he  obeyed  the  divine  commands  more  than  anyone,  and  more  than everyone acted in  conformity with the divine laws in creation, established through dominical wisdom and will,  and submitted to them. He used to wear armour when confronting the enemy,22  and would order his troops to enter their trenches.23  He received wounds and suffered hardship.24  In this way he obeyed and observed to the letter the laws of divine wisdom and the Greater Shari‘a of Creation.

TENTH INDICATION

One of the most cunning of Iblis’s wiles is to make those who follow him deny himself.  Since at  this  time people  whose  minds  have  been  tainted  by materialist philosophy in particular have been hesitant in these self-evident matters, we shall say one or two things in the face of this stratagem of Satan. They are as follows:

There are self-evidently corporeal evil spirits who perform Satan’s functions. It is also certain to the same degree that there are evil spirits without bodies from the jinns. If they were clothed in physical bodies, they would be the same as those evil human beings. Also, if those evil spirits in human form were able to leave aside their bodies, they would be those jinn-satans. Indeed, in consequence of this terrible relationship one deviant school  pronounced: “After they have died, excessively evil spirits  in human form become devils.”

It is well-known that when something of high quality is corrupted it becomes more corrupted than something of less quality. For example, if yoghurt and milk go bad they may still be eaten, but if oil goes bad it becomes inedible, and poisonous even. Similarly, if the most noble, indeed the highest of creatures, man, is corrupted, he becomes more corrupt than a depraved animal.

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22 See, Abu Da’ud, Jihad, 75; Ibn Maja, Jihad, 18; Musnad, iii, 449.

23 See, Bukhari, Maghazi, 29; Jihad, 34, 161; Qadar, 16; Tamanni, 7; Muslim, Jihad, 125.

24 See, Bukhari, Jihad, 80, 85, 163; Wudu’, 72; Maghazi, 24; Nikah, 123; Tibb, 27; Muslim, Jihad,

101; Tirmidhi, Tibb, 34; Ibn Maja, Tibb, 15.