When does it end.

[burhan]

I was thinking about Iblis and why he would disobey God.
He knew he would be kicked out - that's a lot to lose.  Why do it? He could have played along.
Was he noble to stick to his principles and give up his position?

Say, you make it to heaven, but some time after you end up in a similar situation as Iblis.
What's to stop you from disobeying God then.

[the path of light]

As I've grown in my relationship with God, I have realized that all forces play a role in the cosmic drama that is unfolding (even forces that we can rightly refer to as being evil). 

In my estimation, it will end when all conflicts are resolved.  That state is the purpose of existence.  I know I'm pretty tired of all the drama that goes on in this world (particularly the willingness of many human to be utterly disrespectful toward other forms of life). 

[Mr.Q]

Iblis became arrogant. That's why he disobeyed God.

There is nothing noble in either of those things and if we are arrogant and are defiantly disobedient of God, we will not make it to heaven nor be allowed to stay in God's Kingdom. That is the underlying message of the story for us.

It also shows that God allowed him to have free will to make a choice, stick with it and suffer the consequences. The same goes for us. Adam and Eve did the same thing in essence. They made a choice to disobey God and follow Iblis instead and they too were kicked out of Paradise for it but unlike Iblis, Adam and all his descendants have the ability or chance to redeem themselves by killing their Ego's, reforming themselves and submitting to God.

As for those who do make it to heaven, they will have purified themselves to some degree while on Earth (observing zakat) and will be further purified by God on the Last Day. (2:174,3:77,7:42,43) Who knows, at that point we may not have the ability to disobey God anymore, nor even the desire too.

[burhan]

We are told he became arrogant but something doesn't add up.
Arrogant people are usually ignorant of consequences, their ignorance actually causes their arrogance.

Iblis knew full well the consequences - he was quiet a high ranking being in God's presence.

Perhaps he became delusional, like those Kings who loose everything and now he's running around like Captain Ahab.

Ego is a scary thing.

[Mr.Q]

We are told he became arrogant but something doesn't add up.
Arrogant people are usually ignorant of consequences, their ignorance actually causes their arrogance.

Iblis knew full well the consequences - he was quiet a high ranking being in God's presence.

Perhaps he became delusional, like those Kings who loose everything and now he's running around like Captain Ahab.

Ego is a scary thing.

That's the key to understanding. Its the key for mankind for most people, their Ego IS their god. They cannot be wrong and like to blame others for their actions and consequences for them as Iblis seemed to when he "blamed" God saying it was His will (fault) that he went astray.

For the majority of mankind it seems, their Ego drives them, inspires them, directs them and motivates them to most of their thinking and deeds. In reality, if people really understood the true nature and purpose of the Ego, they would strive against it instead of serving it. It serves essentially as the Devil's Advocate within us.

[IAMOP]

15:33 - He said: I am not such that I should make obeisance to a mortal whom Thou hast created of the essence of black mud fashioned in shape.

Basically Iblis asserts that he knows more than God. And as said, he blames God for this. The english concept of arrogance is a different thing to the arabic kufr. A person can be arrogant but truthful (e.g. boasting about wealth) but you cannot simultaneously be truthful and a kafir because to k-f-r means to reject clear truth.


All this will end:

3:179 - On no account will Allah leave the believers in the condition which you are in until He separates the evil from the good;

This is probation for humans. Iblis has already failed and is beyond redemption. However he made a conjecture that humans are below him and God decided that it is just to test this conjecture and filter the wheat from the chaff. If there were no question of humans failing, we would not be in this sticky predicament but there is, so here we are.

Also, we were already destined to die and be raised up and judged before any of this happened. The whole affair involving Iblis and the tree is just a little twist that happens to have made existence a hell of a lot more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

[Zulf]

So it will end when this colloidal world will separate into evil and good, oil and water... separated. Then what? Why having a pool of evil around? I guess it is just beyond my powers of comprehension. Hard to grasp the hereafter. Difficult to figure out the mechanics and reasons of reality beyond our world.     Peace

[burhan]

some thought provoking comments .... thank you all for your input.

[Student of Allah]

Shalom Aleikhem,

He knew he would be kicked out - that's a lot to lose. 

Thats your assumption.

Why do it? He could have played along.
Was he noble to stick to his principles and give up his position?

Arrogance, even when you know when your wrong, you will refuse to make the right choice to feed your ego.

Say, you make it to heaven, but some time after you end up in a similar situation as Iblis.
What's to stop you from disobeying God then.

Assuming that I can make it to heaven, I would be purified and have a promise from God for permanent residence, the best promise. Unfortunately, Iblis never had that.

(just for the record: I am not entirely sure if Iblis was in heaven or some place on earth)

Peace
------------ Student of Allah

[youssef4342]

Peace be with you guys as well,

Yes as Student of Allah put it.
Iblis/satan did not know that he would be kicked out by disobeying.
This would be why his response was because you sent me astray, i will distort for them [humans], your straight path 17:16

This would mean that Iblis didn't know that he will be kicked out before hand.
and a thing about arrogance
[7:146] I will divert from My revelations those who are arrogant on earth, without justification. Consequently, when they see every kind of proof they will not believe. And when they see the path of guidance they will not adopt it as their path, but when they see the path of straying they will adopt it as their path. This is the consequence of their rejecting our proofs, and being totally heedless thereof.