This term came to us from the distant Arab East. More specifically, “shaitan” is a derivative of the ancient Semitic “gaitan”, which literally means “opponent”. That is, shaitan is the enemy of mankind, satan, an insidious, bad, evil spirit, the devil. There are two more definitions that are more common in the Muslim world, since they mean exactly: “an unbeliever from among the genies” and “one who causes hopelessness and despair.”
Evil spirit in Islamic theology
Shaitan is a very sinister being. He refers to the representatives of evil spirits in Islamic theology, is hostile to people and Allah. Shaitan has a superpower - transformation, can take on any form of a person. After the qiyamat, or, in our opinion, the day of judgment, the lord of the shaitans Iblis and all his subordinates were doomed to inhuman, hellish torments. He, with the help of his servants, distracts people from good deeds, seduces them and incites them to commit sins. Shaitanov mayto give birth to their master - Iblis, they are made of smoke or fire, and can also perform metamorphoses - outwardly take on different forms. So the statement that shaitan is Iblis is not always correct, he is their ideological leader, progenitor. All these spirits live in a large friendly family in various countries and regions. Satans can have different names. Just as Iblis has a synonym for Rajim, which is translated into Russian as “beaten”, the word “shaitan” has a synonym in the Bible - Satan. It turns out that Satan is the devil.
Eternal war for the human soul
According to Islamic legends, these evil spirits incited various prophets, for example Yusuf, and many other good people to make mistakes and sins. Some of the shaitans were temporarily subordinate to the prophet Suleiman, but later they nevertheless returned to their dirty deeds. Until now, spirits prevent people from praying, and some are also taught magic or witchcraft. Shaitan is Satan, tempting honest inhabitants and directing them to a crooked path. These creatures make people do bad deeds under the guise of good, kind spirits and forget about Allah. It is believed that each person has his own angel and his own shaitan, who fight for the human heart and immortal soul. Evil entities lead a person off the right path, provoking envy, anger and anger in him, and also use such human weaknesses as the desire for pleasure and other carnal desires. Shaitan is the devil, if you look for an analogue in Slavic mythology.
Unbelievers and obstinate genies
But it's not all bad. To drive away the evil shaitan, you just need to call on the help of Allah. Some Muslim theologians consider these spirits to be unbelieving and obstinate genies, while the other part classifies them as a special category of creatures that are doomed to punishment in a fiery hell. And from the memory of Gehenna the fiery came the opinion that shaitan is something satanic. Pre-Islamic Arabia tried to find good qualities in shaitans and believed that they are intermediaries that help to communicate with the other world of poets and soothsayers. That's why there are disagreements: the shaitan is who: an evil demon or just an otherworldly intermediary. In theological writings and in the Qur'an, Satan and Iblis are sometimes interchanged. This is due to the fact that all evil spirits obey him and carry out all his commands and assignments. Iblis, Shaitan, is a genie who, for his zeal, received an approach to God by God himself, he was among the angels, but his pride destroyed him. Because of her, Iblis was expelled from heaven, after which he became angry with people and Allah and began to lead the believers astray.
Having many faces
Iblis, like an actor in a Brazilian television series, has many names. He can be called al-Aduww - the enemy, Shaitan - because of his dominance over evil spirits, and Aduvw Allah, which means the enemy of Allah. Often, the epithet "rajim" is used for Iblis. To protect against this patron of the shaitans, Muslims recite the last suras of their holy Quran, or simplypray.
Evil Spirit Commander-in-Chief
The Qur'an says that Iblis disobeyed Allah's command to prostrate before Adam, the first-created man. For the fact that Rajim al-Aduvv disobeyed the order, Allah cast him down from heaven and doomed him to terrible torment, but Iblis begged the supreme ruler to defer the punishment until the Last Judgment. The patron of evil spirits swore an oath to seduce people and lead them astray. After the Day of Judgment comes, all the subordinates of Iblis and he himself will be tormented in hell. According to legend, he lives on earth and is the commander-in-chief of evil spirits - jinn and shaitans. His favorite habitats are cemeteries, ruins, markets and baths. But this creature is very creative - loves poetry, songs and dances.
Bible story in an oriental way
The first man, Adam, was seduced precisely by Iblis, who persuaded his wife and Adam himself to disobey the prohibition of Allah and eat the fruit from the forbidden tree. Because of him, the Samudians and Adites stopped believing Bilquis - the Queen of Sheba. The ritual when stones are thrown during the Hajj is associated with Ibrahim, the prophet who drove away Iblis, who pursued him. During the feud between the Quraysh and the Prophet Muhammad, Iblis provided inspiration to the Medinan hypocrites and the Meccans.
The reason people don't believe
Some legends tell that Iblis was called al-Harith or Azazil. He was sent by Allah to suppress the rebellion of the jinn and was proud of his victory. The stories about Iblis have given rise to some theological problems thatassociated with omnipotence and the concepts of Allah's predestination. Shaitan is (his photo can be seen on the pages of the relevant literature on the subject of evil spirits) a weapon with which Allah tests people. One of the explanations for the reasons why Iblis refused to bow to Adam is a violation of true monotheism. This view was supported by some Sufis and al-Hallaj. According to Ibn Arabi, Iblis still deserves the forgiveness of Allah. The image of Satan is found among the Jews, pagans and Christians who were in pre-Islamic Arabia. From there, his names come from - Shaitan and Iblis. The story of Iblis is considered one of the reasons for the disbelief of people and the existence of evil throughout the world.
Other values
Shaitan was and is a significant creature in the mythology and beliefs of man, so many geographical objects and household items were named after him, for example: a lake located in the south of the Kirov region of the Russian Federation; Russian combat knife, an island in Lake Itkul, the popular nickname for the jet flamethrower "Bumblebee". In the cinema there are several pictures with the name "Shaitan" - this is a French thriller of 2006, an Indian action movie of 2011, an Indian drama of 1974 and a Turkish science fiction action movie of 1973
