Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Shaitan
Summary
A shaitan or shaytan ( šayṭān, שָׂטָן, "devil", "satan", or "demon", plural: šayāṭīn (شَيَاطِين)) is an evil spirit in Islam, inciting humans (and the jinn) to sin by "whispering" (وَسْوَسَة, waswasa) in their hearts (قَلْب qalb). Although invisible to humans, shayāṭīn are imagined to be ugly and grotesque creatures created from (hell-)fire.
The Qur'an speaks of various ways that the shayāṭīn tempt humans into sin. They may teach sorcery, float below the heavens to steal the news of the angels, or lurk near humans without being seen. Iblis, called ash-shayṭān ("the devil" or "Satan"), is their leader. Hadith-literature holds the shayāṭīn responsible for various calamities which may affect personal life. Both the Hadith and folklore usually speak of the shayāṭīn in abstract terms, describing their evil influence only. During Ramadan, they are said to be chained in hell.
According to Muslim philosophical writings, the shayāṭīn struggle against the noble angels in the imaginal reality called 'ālam al-mithāl or 'ālam al-malakūt over the human mind, consisting of both angelic and devilish qualities. Some writers describe the shayāṭīn as expressions of God's fierce attributes and actions.
The word Šaiṭān (شَيْطَان) originated from the triliteral root š-ṭ-n ("distant, astray") and cognate to Satan. It has a theological connotation designating a creature distant from the divine mercy. In pre-Islamic Arabia, this term was used to designate an evil spirit, but only used by poets who were in contact with Jews and Christians. With the emergence of Islam, the meaning of shayatin moved closer to the Christian concept of devils. The term shayatin appears similarly in the Book of Enoch, denoting the hosts of Satan. The term ultimately derives from from the Jewish Book of Job.Taken from Islamic sources, shayatin may be translated as "demons", satans or "devils".
In the Qur'an, shayatin are mentioned as often as angels. The shayatin are mentioned less frequently than Satan, but they are equally hostile to God's order (sharia).
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.