Satan has no coercive power; a person is individually responsible in the afterlife for the wickedness he has committed

From the beginning of this book, we have seen how satan leads people into evil with his insidious methods, and the efforts he makes to remove them from the morality of the Qur'an. But as we consider these matters, there is one very important thing to keep in mind.

Satan has no coercive power over human beings. In urging people toward wickedness, he simply calls them to adopt this kind of moral behavior. To follow him or not is completely up to the individual. By sending down holy books and sending messengers, Allah has shown what is right and wrong in every matter. He has created our conscience to inspire what is right in everything that a person encounters in every stage of life.

By Allah's will, one's conscience always calls a person to goodness. Therefore, no matter how wicked the lower self is, everyone knows enough to avoid it and determine what is good and right. For this reason, anyone must know that, if he follows satan, he is responsible for himself. In the Afterlife, he will give a personal account of everything he has done in this world. Allah has revealed this truth to humanity in the Qur'an:

You have come to Us all alone just as We created you at first, leaving behind you everything We bestowed on you. We do not see your intercessors accompanying you, those you claimed were your partners with Allah. The link between you is cut. Those you made such claims for have forsaken you. (Surat al-An'am: 94)

No indeed! We will write down what he says and prolong the punishment for him. We will inherit from him the things he is talking about and he will come to Us all alone. (Surah Maryam: 79-80)

Each of them will come to Him on the Day of Resurrection all alone. (Surah Maryam: 95)

Throughout their lives on Earth, satan never ceases pursuing human beings, saying that he is their friend and helper and making them promises. But in the Afterlife, he will abandon them, saying that they are responsible for themselves. He will tell them that they have themselves, not him, to blame for the wickedness they have committed. This is because he has only called them to wickedness, but they heeded his call of their own free will and knowingly followed him. The Qur'an explains this truth:

When the affair is decided, satan will say, "Allah made you a promise, a promise of truth, and I made you a promise but broke my promise. I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. Do not, therefore, blame me but blame yourselves. I cannot come to your aid nor you to mine. I reject the way you associated me with Allah before." The wrongdoers will have a painful punishment. (Surah Ibrahim: 22)

Therefore, anyone who adopts satanic morality in this world will not be able to blame satan in the world to come for the wickedness they have committed. They may protest that they did wicked things because they followed satan and that they are innocent, but such excuses will not be accepted. In the Qur'an, Allah tells people about satan's morality, that he tells them only lies and does everything to drag them into the pangs of Hell. He says that satan will abandon his followers in the next world and leave them all alone:

They are like satan when he says to a human being, "Disbelieve," and then when he disbelieves, says, "I wash my hands of you. Truly I fear Allah, the Lord of all the worlds." (Surat al-Hashr: 16)

Individuals who know this truth revealed in the Qur'an will flee from satan the moment they realize their error and take refuge in Allah. They must not knowingly persist in their unseemly morality. Allah tells believers about this:

Those who, when they act indecently or wrong themselves, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their bad actions and do not knowingly persist in what they were doing. (Surah Al 'Imran: 135)

In the Qur'an, Allah admonishes those who are determined to follow wickedness although their conscience shows them what is right:

Or do those who do bad actions imagine they can outstrip Us? How bad their judgment is! (Surat al-'Ankabut: 4)

No indeed! Those who accumulate bad actions and are surrounded by their mistakes, such people are the Companions of the Fire, remaining in it timelessly, for ever. (Surat al-Baqara: 81)

And what of him the evil of whose actions appears fine to him so that he sees them as good? Allah misguides whoever He wills and guides whoever He wills. So do not let yourself waste away out of regret for them. Allah knows what they do. (Surah Fatir: 8)

As the Qur'an says, those who follow satan and persist in doing evil will suffer an eternity of pain. No matter how many excuses a person may offer to prove his innocence, he will not be accepted in the world to come. Actually, the Qur'an tells us that a person knows that such excuses are insincere lies:

In fact, man will be clear proof against himself. In spite of any excuses he might offer. (Surat al-Qiyama: 14-15)

And in the world to come, this person will admit with great sorrow that he followed satan and turned his back on the true path of his own free will:

The Day when a wrongdoer will bite his hands and say, "Alas for me! If only I had gone the way of the Messenger! Alas for me! If only I had not taken so-and-so for a friend!" [A wrongdoer will say,] "He led me astray from the Reminder after it came to me." satan always leaves man in the lurch. (Surat al-Furqan: 27-29)

If only you could see when they are standing before the Fire and saying, "Oh! If only we could be sent back again, we would not deny the signs of our Lord and we would be among the believers." (Surat al-An'am: 27)

We have warned you of an imminent punishment on the Day when a man will see what he has done, and the unbeliever will say, "Oh, if only I were dust!" (Surat an-Naba': 40)