وَلا يَصُدَّنَّكُمُ الشَّيطانُ ۖ إِنَّهُ لَكُم عَدُوٌّ مُبينٌ
Do not let Satan bar you [from the way of Allah]. Indeed, he is your manifest enemy.
EXEGESIS
Yaṣuddannakum (bar you) is composed of the imperfect verb yaṣuddu, which comes from the trilateral root ṣadda, the suffixed emphatic particle nna (known as the nūn of emphasis), and the attached object pronoun kum. According to Rāghib, ṣadd (infinitive: ṣudūd) may denote turning away and refraining, as in yaṣuddūna ʿanka ṣudūdan (keep away from you aversely) (4:61), and may signify diverting and preventing, as in, Satan made their deeds seem decorous to them, thus he barred them (ṣaddahum) from the way (29:38). In other words, these terms can be used both intransitively (to mean withdrawing oneself) and transitively (to mean causing others to turn away or blocking them).[1]
The preposition inna (indeed) is used to denote consequential relation, making it clear that Satan’s enmity is the reason why we should not let him mislead us.[2]
EXPOSITION
Do not let Satan bar you: the object from which Satan seeks to bar humanity is not explicitly stated. Exegetes have offered different interpretations: some hold that it refers to the religion of God,[3] others identify it with the straight path,[4] others as belief in the hour,[5] while yet others – drawing a contrast with the preceding verse – understand it as obedience to the Holy Prophet.[6] In essence, all these objects are synonymous.
By mentioning Satan’s attempt to bar man from the right path immediately after commanding man to not doubt in the resurrection, some exegetes have gleaned that one of Satan’s stratagems involves creating doubt and uncertainty in belief in the resurrection.[7] Other exegetes have added that considering that the previous verses spoke of Prophet Jesus (a) and negating his divinity, perhaps this verse could be alluding to Satan’s stratagem of corrupting people’s belief in divine unity.[8]
The Quran phrases the command in a figurative way: instead of directly telling people ‘do not follow Satan’, it words it as Do not let Satan bar you. This style suggests that people actually have the ability and responsibility to protect themselves from his traps. In other words, it is a more powerful way of saying: ‘Don’t obey Satan!’ – similar to how Arabs would say ‘don’t let me catch you doing this’ rather than just ‘don’t do this’.[9]
Indeed, he is your manifest enemy: Satan’s enmity has been manifested since the time he refused to prostrate to Adam (a) and announced his intentions to misguide the children of Adam (a).[10] For references to Satan as a manifest enemy, see 2:168, 2:208, 6:142, 7:22, 12:5, 17:53, 28:15, and 36:60.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.[11]
[1] Raghib, p. 477.
[2] Ibn Ashur, 25/281.
[3] Tabrisi, 9/82; Baghawi, 4/167.
[4] Tibyan, 9/212.
[5] Hadi, 3/248.
[6] Munyah, 25/237.
[7] Rahnama, 17/88.
[8] Qurtubi, 16/107.
[9] Ibn Ashur, 25/281.
[10] Hadi, 3/248; Munyah, 25/237.
[11] 1 Peter 5:8.