Question:
Satan, what original religion is he from?
2011-08-31 05:15:41 UTC
My friend told me that Satan is not 'invented' by Christians but that he was some sort of supreme being of a religion that had a lot to do with nature. I'm wondering if my friend is right 'cause I can't seem to find any information on this as of yet.

I'm looking for the first mentioning of Satan ever.
Eight answers:
2011-08-31 05:17:16 UTC
The word "satan" is a Hebrew word - it means literally "accuser", "enemy", "opponent" or (in modern terms) "prosecutor". The concept originated in Judaism.



- Jim
kaganate
2011-08-31 05:30:53 UTC
it depends.



"Satan" in Hebrew means "adversary" and he is present in the Jewish religion as the angel whose job it is to point out to God people's failings.

He is the prosecutor in God's court.

I think "the Book of Job" is his first apearance in the Hebrew Bible.



But the Christians who beleive that Satan is an evil being who either rebels from God or in some way at war with God -- that concept comes from Zoroastrian religion though the Zoroastrians do not use the word "Satan".

The Zoroastrians believe that there are two gods - an evil one and a good one and they are collecting the souls of the dead for their armies in a final war between good and evil at the end of the world.



====

note: the serpent in the garden of Eden in the Hebrew bible is nowhere identified as Satan except by later Christian tradition.

Jews take the line at face value "the sepent was the most cunning of animals" - he was an animal trickster - much like Coyote for the American Indians and Anansi the spider for Africans.
VCat
2011-08-31 05:23:17 UTC
Satan was originally an angel. However, he turned against God and started a rebellion. He convinced Adam and Eve to disobey God's commands.
Mr. Khan
2011-08-31 07:28:25 UTC
Peace be with you,



Satan was, is and will be a pure Monotheistic believer of God. Infact, before our beloved Father Adam (Peace be upon him) was created. Satan used to preach other Jinns (Demons) about the Oneness of God (which are also mentioned in Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29 and Qur'an 112:1-4



He never committed any sin until Adam was created and he disobeyed God by not felling upon his face in the front of Him.



"It is We Who created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam, and they prostrate; not so Iblis; He refused to be of those who prostrate. (God) said: 'What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee (to Adam)?' He (Satan) said: 'I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay.'" [Qur'an 7:11-12]



It's his disobedient which threw him out of Paradise and made him the firewood of Hell fire. Otherwise, if you ask about his Religion. So he would still say it's "MONOTHEISM"



Thanks,

Mr. Khan
Simple Man
2011-08-31 05:22:11 UTC
As a matter of fact, most of the catholic saints which we know today emerged from roman or greek gods. The early cristian church did this in order to make it easier for people who worshipped multiple gods to the christian belief in which there is only one god.

This repeated, when europeans christianed their black slaves in the carribean. the slaves worshipped catholic saints, and gave them names of african gods.
2011-08-31 05:18:00 UTC
Genesis 3



1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?



2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:



3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.



4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:



5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
the re - chosen one
2011-08-31 05:17:30 UTC
I believe Satan was a Darwinist.
Eez
2011-08-31 05:18:36 UTC
Satan (devil) is called İblis in islam. He was the master and chief of angels. Islamic scholars declare:

All angels fell prostrate towards Âdam 'alaihis-salâm with the command of Allahu ta'âlâ. Iblis, master of angels, did not obey the command and did not fall prostrate. According to a narration transmitted by Hadrat Imâm-i Salabî on the authority of Hadrat Ibni Abbas, Iblis was with angels. He was from the tribe of genies, who was created from fire. As for angels, they were created from nûr (light). The former name of Iblîs was Azâzil. He was one of the guards of Paradise. He was the chief of the angels who were in the sky which was the nearest to the Earth. He was the sultan [ruler] of the earthly sky and the earth itself. He was higher than angels in the grade of knowledge. He was administering the affairs of the part between the sky and the earth. For this reason, he became conceited. This state of his drifted him to disobedience to Allah. Allahu ta'âlâ, in turn, expelled him from His mercy. (Jâmiul Ahkâm)



Hadrat Ibni Abbâs declared:

(Iblîs was one of the guards of Paradise. He was administering the affairs of earthly sky.) [Bayhaqî]



Sâid bin Musayyib declared:

(Iblîs was the chief and master of the angels.) [Ibni Jarîr, Imâm-i Suyûtî]



Allahu ta'âlâ ordered the community of angels, which also included Iblîs. If Iblîs had not been in that community, the order issued would not have applied to him. Since the Qur'anic verses say, "But Iblîs did not fall prostrate," he was one of those who were ordered to make prostration. The purport of a verse is as follows:

(We said to the angels, "Fall prostrate before Âdam." They all fell prostrate save Iblîs. He was one of the genies. He disobeyed the command of His Rabb. Are you now taking Iblîs and his cohorts as friends instead of Me? In fact, they are your enemies. How evil is the exchange [to give Paradise and to attain Hell instead by taking the followers of Shaitan as friends] on the part of the Zâlimûn.) [Sûrat-ul-Kahf, 50]



The purport of two ahâdîth reporting that Shaitân was commanded to prostrate himself is as follows:

(When son of Âdam reads the âyah [Qur'anic verse] of sajdah [prostration] and makes sajdah, Shaitan goes away from there crying. Then he says: "Shame on me. Son of Âdam was commanded to make sajdah, and he attained Paradise as he made sajdah. I, too, was commanded to make sajdah, but I became deserving of Hell as I disobeyed it.") [Muslim]



(Beware of conceit. Conceit incited Shaitan not to make sajdah.) [I. 'Asâkir]



Prostration was ordered not for Âdam 'alaihis-salâm, but for Allah. That is, it was ordered that prostration be made for Allah in the direction of Hadrat Âdam. We, too, are making prostration for Allah in the direction of the Kaaba. We do not fall prostrate for the Kaaba itself. The angels and Iblîs were commanded that they fall prostrate for Allah in the direction of Âdam 'alaihis-salâm. Shaitan, however, refused to make prostration by saying that this command was wrong. In other words, what caused his being cursed was not his not falling prostrate but his saying that the command of Allah was wrong.



Those who do not perform namâz, who do not fast cannot be called disbelievers (kâfir), though they are in acts of disobedience to Allah. But if they deem namâz or fast unnecessary, they become disbelievers.



Likewise, Shaitan deemed Allah's command inappropriate and said, "I was created from fire, but he was created from soil. It is wrong for a being created from fire to accept a being created from soil as the direction for prostration." Thus, he declined to prostrate himself and became one of those who are cursed eternally.



Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_true_story_of_Satan_in_Islam#ixzz1Wbm1SJte


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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