Shaytan

Shaytan! The word Satan comes from the Semitic root STN , meaning, "to be hostile" or "to accuse". He is known in Hebrew as satan and in Arabic as shaytan, and is recognized by Jews, Christians, and Muslims as an evil being. Satan's personage is known as Lucifer to the Christians, and Iblees to the Muslims. However, the three religions differ when it comes to the details of Shaytan; who he really is. Let us analyze the three views:

Jewish view of Shaytan

To analyze Satan in Judaism, we must look at the Tanakh (Old Testament). Satan is mentioned in the book of the Prophet Job (a).

According to the article on 'Satan' in the Jewish Encyclopedia, Satan's role as the accuser is found:

"In the prologue to the Book of Job, where Satan appears, together with other celestial beings before the Deity, replying to the inquiry of God as to whence he had come, with the words: 'From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.' (Job 1:7) Both question and answer, as well as the dialogue which follows, characterize Satan as having the evil purpose of searching out men's sins and appearing as their accuser. He is, therefore, the celestial prosecutor, who sees only iniquity; for he persists in his evil opinion of Job even after the man of Uz has passed successfully through his first trial by surrendering to the will of God, whereupon Satan demands another test through physical suffering."

Judaism definitely does not have as much emphasis on Satan as Christianity and Islam does, as the Jews see Satan as simply a Biblical character, mentioned only a handful of times. Satan is just seen as a troublemaker and spiritual persecutor.

Christian view of Shaytan

The word "Lucifer" is often used by Christians, and it is a Latin-based name which means "Day Star". Much like the name Iblees, Lucifer was Shaytan's real name before forsaken by the Lord. Christians however use Isaiah 14:3-20 to reason that Satan is actually a fallen angel. In Christian theology, certain angels, including Lucifer, had been given free will. He had then used this free will to do evil instead of good, and was then known as a fallen angel; an angel that had fallen from his lofty rank into evil.

The New Testament sites Satan's name as "Beelzebub" (Ba'al Zebub, which means "Lord of the Flies") however Beelzebub was actually the name of a Philistine god. This may be because idolatry is seen as almost Satanic by the three Abrahamic religions. Christians also identify the "Dragon" and "Old Serpent" from the Book of Revelations as Satan, and Paul calls Satan the god of this world.

Satan is given much more power and authority in Christianity. He even manages to tempt the Messiah Jesus (a), allegedly God in Christianity. Ministers, preachers, priests and reverends often attribute all evils to Satan - if there is any famine, starvation, war, or terror in the world, Satan is made responsible for all of this - which almost makes the Christian version of Satan seem like a pagan demigod. It gives the illusion as if there are two gods in Christianity - the first being "God", the source of all good, Lord of the heavens, and the second being "Satan", the source of all evil, Lord of the underworld, battling it out through their followers.

A simple question arises: if Satan is the source of all evil, then why is God unable to stop him?

Muslim view of Shaytan

The formal name of Shaytan is "Iblees", which comes from the Arabic word "balasa", or "he despaired". The word Shaytan primarily refers to Iblees, but in Arabic, it could also refer to any other devil, or evil object. The very first Islamic episode of Satan is at the creation of the Prophet Adam (a). Christians and Jews say that "the serpent" had fooled the Prophet Adam (a) and his wife Eve (a) to eat the forbidden fruit in Genesis, but who is the serpant and what was its motives?

Islam says Shaytan is not an angel, but rather, a Jinn. The Jinn are a race of spirits, given free will and other mystical abilities, and like humans they are capable of both good and evil. Iblees was actually a submitter to God throughout his existence, but when Prophet Adam (a) was created and when the angels and Iblees were told to kneel to him, Iblees had refused. He did not prostrate because he felt he was superior and therefore disobeyed God. He had then made the promise to mislead humanity and lead us to evil in this life, and hell in the next.

Shaytan, though, is not the source of evil. He is simply one spirit, like everyone else, who is capable of both good and evil. He, of course, chooses to do evil and mislead humanity. However, Shaytan does not have control or mastery over the evils that we do. Rather, he whispers and tries to influence humans and jinn to do evil, and we either give in or reject him.