Maryam · Makki · ayah 44 of 98

Maryam 19:44

يَـٰٓأَبَتِ لَا تَعْبُدِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنَ ۖ إِنَّ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنَ كَانَ لِلرَّحْمَـٰنِ عَصِيًّا

“O my father, do not worship [i.e., obey] Satan. Indeed Satan has ever been, to the Most Merciful, disobedient.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Ibrahim names the master behind the statue: to obey the one who rebelled against the Merciful is to worship him, whatever the shrine looks like.

A reflection

Worship is obedience, not only ritual

Azar did not think he worshipped Satan. He bowed to statues, carved and painted, in the tradition of his people. If you had accused him of devil-worship, he would have been insulted.

Yet his son says plainly: O my father, do not worship Satan. The commentaries explain the leap. One says: do not obey him in this worship of idols, for he is the one who calls to it and is pleased with it. Another states the principle in one line. Whoever obeys something in disobedience to Allah has worshipped it. A third adds that the idol-worship was Satan's worship, because he is the one who makes it attractive and urges it on.

That changes what 'worship' means. Most people picture ritual: bowing, offerings, a shrine. The Qur'an pictures obedience. Whoever you obey when obeying means disobeying Allah has become your master, whatever you call them.

The Qur'an says this elsewhere in Allah's own voice. 'Did I not charge you, children of Adam, not to worship Satan? He is a clear enemy to you' (36:60). Nobody in that audience thought they were worshipping Satan either.

Picture a fourteen-year-old who would laugh at the idea of worshipping anyone. But he does whatever the most admired boy in his year suggests, including things he knows are cruel. He has no shrine. He has a master.

The ayah asks every reader the same quiet question it asked Azar. Behind the visible thing you serve, whose voice is it?

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.