The Story of Iblis
By AbdelRahman Murphy | 2026-01-19T11:00:54.002735+00:00 | Topic: General
The Story of Iblis
Br. AbdelRahman Murphy
Opening
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُ عِوَجًا
وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
ثُمَّ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
Khutbat al-Hajah (Opening Khutbah)
نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ
وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
يَا عِبَادَ اللهِ ، قَالَ اللهُ تَعَالَى فِي كِتَابِهِ الْكَرِيمِ، أَعُوذُ باللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّحِيمِ
"and You will not find most of them grateful."
Main Khutbah
Introduction to Iblis
Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), Iblis, the one who wants to pull us down, has a very interesting story, and some of us might know this story, some of us might be familiar with it, but regardless of the level of understanding or of knowledge of Iblis, today's khutbah is going to serve as a reminder inshallah.
As Allah says, remind, because reminder is a benefit to the believers. We might know things, we might understand things, but being reminded is very important. Iblis has a very interesting story.
The Nature of Free Will
Iblis has free will, or had free will, has free will, just like us. Al-ins wal-jinn, the mankind and jinn have free will. They have the ability to decide whether or not they want to do right or wrong.
Allah gave us this as a privilege. You have the ability to decide if you want to pray dhuhr or if you don't want to pray dhuhr. You have the ability to decide if you want to eat halal or if you want to eat haram.
You have the ability to decide if you want to do a haram or a halal action. You have the ability to do so. But realize one thing, as Allah teaches us, that on the day of judgment we're going to have to turn in a resume of the things that we did in our life, or the choices that we made, and we're going to have to answer for the choices that we made.
And so Iblis is like us, he had the ability to choose what he wanted to do, right or wrong. The angels, the mala'ika on the other hand, were created to worship Allah. They don't have a choice, they weren't built with the innate ability to choose should I or should I not.
Their goal, their mission in life is to praise and worship God alone, and that's what they do. You know that feeling that you get when you're really thirsty and you drink a nice cold glass of water? Or when you're at that one dawath or wedding and you take a bite of that sweet gulab jamun? You know that feeling you get, it's so good, you're really hungry and you get food in your stomach? Or you're clocking out of work or you leave the school day, you're done with your classes for the day, you finish your final exams, those feelings of euphoria, that is the feeling that angels get when they worship Allah. The feelings of happiness that we get when we get something that we want, when we're able to sleep in on a Saturday, those are the feelings that the angels get when they worship Allah.
That's why Imam al-Ghazali, he says that the goal for the human being is to reach the level of the angels in the sense that when the human being worships Allah, it puts a smile on his or her face. When the human being praises Allah, it puts sweetness in the heart of the believer. But Shaytan, or Iblis as he was known before, did not have this personality.
Iblis's Status Before His Fall
But Iblis, interestingly enough, used to be one of the highest worshippers of Allah. He was a superstar. I was gonna say LeBron James, but I know where I'm at.
He's Kobe, right? Can't talk during the khutbah, but anyways. So, he's Kobe Bryant. He's amazing, right? Not as good as Derrick Rose, may Allah guide them to Islam, ameen, but he's amazing.
He was incredible. Iblis was a worshipper, he was an abid. And it was interesting to note that because of his ability to choose, if he makes the right decision, he gets more points.
The angels don't have a choice. All the actions they do, that's how they're built. But if someone has the choice to do right or wrong and they choose the right, that's plus points for them.
So Iblis used to hang out with the angels, because the angels are the top of praise of Allah, but Iblis was so good that he was able to kick it with the angels. Kind of like how, when they have summer camps, for like UCLA or USC, all the basketball teams, and professional players will come through and they'll pick out some players. Hey, come play with us at our summer camp, Kobe says.
Kobe comes and says, come play with me at my summer camp. You're that good, you can hang out with the professionals. That's how Iblis' relationship was with the angels.
The Command to Bow to Adam
And one moment in time, Allah fulfilled his plan in the Lawh al-Mahfuz to create our father, Adam (peace be upon him). To create our father, the first of all the Prophets, the first of all mankind, Adam. Allah fulfilled this plan.
And Iblis didn't like that. Allah, He created Adam. And He said to bow.
He commanded the Mala'ika in the Quran, He says, He commanded them all to bow:
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," and they prostrated, except for Iblis.
And they all bowed, except for Iblis. You might be saying, well Allah says وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ And I said to the angels, but Iblis wasn't an angel. But like we said before, because he was at that level, the angels, he's included in that group.
فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ They all bowed, except for Iblis. And Allah says to Iblis, why have you not done what I've commanded you to do? Why haven't you bowed to Adam when I told you to bow? By the way, this sajda was not of worship, it wasn't a sajda of ibadah, it was a sajda of respect, of ihtiram. And so he commanded him, Iblis said no.
Iblis's First Act of Racism
He said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay."
The first instance of racism ever to have existed on this earth. Iblis said, I'm better than him. And then Allah said, can you imagine this? We read this story like it's folk tales.
Imagine disobeying Allah directly to his face. Shaytan is literally in the presence of God and he says no. It's a whole different ballgame when your parents say clean your room.
Or your boss says come into work a little bit early. Saying no to them is a whole different ballgame than Allah saying bow and you say no. That takes a lot of arrogance.
To say no to your creator. And so Shaytan says no. Allah then after a conversation says you are cursed.
You are cursed. You are Al-Rajim. You are Shaytan Al-Rajim.
Iblis's Request and Allah's Response
Interesting thing happens next. Shaytan says he raises his hands or he asks Allah. He makes a request.
What do we call a request in Arabic language? When someone makes a request to Allah, we call that a dua, right? He makes dua to Allah. He says make me amongst the mundireen. Or give me life until the day of resurrection.
And Allah says, You get what you want. Some of us feel sometimes like we commit too many mistakes. We make too many sins.
There is no way Allah will answer our dua. But look at Shaytan. He directly disobeyed Allah and then instantly after, what did he do? He asked Allah for something.
And what did Allah do? Allah granted his dua and said, No one is too far away from Allah to ask for anything. No one. If Shaytan can do it, you can do it.
And Allah will answer your dua. Moving on.
Shaytan's Challenge to Allah
He said, And then Shaytan, after this, after he gets what he wants, he makes a challenge to Allah.
And the challenge that he makes is the topic of today's khutbah. Shaytan tells Allah, You know this creation that you created? These human beings? The ones that I'm better than? He says, He says, verily I'm going to come to them. (مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ) In translations (مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ) is translated as in front of them.
But this is an incorrect translation. (مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ) means from between their hands. Someone can stand in front of you and it's not offensive.
Someone can stand at a healthy distance in front of you and you will feel comfortable. But if someone gets between your hands, that's grounds for a fight.
That's serious.
Like back off. I don't know you that much. Right? So Shaytan is threatening us.
Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.
He's threatening verily to you. He's an enemy. He's a clear enemy.
He's threatening each and every one of you. He says, I'm going to get in your face. (مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَن شَمَائِلِهِمْ) He says from behind them and on their right and from their left.
And then he makes the challenge to Allah. He says وَلَا تَجِدْ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ And Allah, you will not find. A lot of them will be grateful to you.
The Topic: Being Grateful to Allah
The topic of today's khutbah, brothers and sisters, is being grateful to Allah. Why? Even though it seems like a simple topic. Because this is the mode.
This is the method by which Shaytan is going to attack us. He already laid it out for us. He told us that his goal is to make us not grateful.
His goal is to make us reject Allah's blessings by not being grateful to him. If I asked anyone in this room, what is the worst sin a human being can commit? The answer everyone would give would be shirk. Everyone would say that.
Shirk, of course. Giving anything else the same level as Allah. And by the way, when I say shirk, everyone instantly thinks of rocks and stones and animals and worshiping different... You don't have to worship a rock or a stone to commit shirk.
There are other kinds of idols, right? Money can be an idol. Video games can be an idol. Cars can be an idol.
American idol, right? There are a lot of different idols that we can sacrifice our relationship with Allah. May Allah protect us from ever thinking this. For their sake, I'm not going to worship Allah because I'm just so in love with money, man.
I just got to get that green. Money over everything. Money over everything? Allah is al-a'la.
He is the highest. The money is not over everything. As Shaykh Lupe says, God over everything.
Anyways, moving on. So, he says, I'm going to make them ungrateful. That's his goal.
The Relationship Between Gratitude and Faith
And Allah tells us something interesting. In the Quran, Allah says:
[If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor];
He says that if you thank, those who are thankful will get more. Allah says, if you are thankful, then I'll grant you more.
What's the opposite of gratitude? It's being ungrateful. So, the ayah then is going to complete this whole statement. And you're expecting to hear, if you're not grateful, then you won't get anything more, right? Logical statement.
If you are grateful, you will get more. If you are not grateful, you won't get more. But you know what Allah completes the statement with?
but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.
He says, and if you reject, if you commit kufr, then verily my punishment is great. Allah is saying that if you're grateful, you'll get what you want. But if you reject, very interesting, what is the opposite of kufr? It's iman.
And so the scholars, the commentators of Quran, they say that iman, having belief in Allah, is being grateful to Allah. And we know that our purpose in life on this earth:
And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.
is to worship Allah. Thus the commentators say, if you want to worship Allah, your worship has to be rooted. The asal, the foundation of your ibadah has to be in shukr, in gratitude. And if you think about it, brothers and sisters, it makes perfect sense. It makes perfect sense.
Practical Application: Making Prayer Sweet
I run a youth group in Knoxville, Tennessee. I'm a youth director in Knoxville, Tennessee. And kids come to me all the time.
Brother Murphy, I don't want to pray. I don't like praying, it's too hard. I don't like doing this.
I don't want to go to hellfire. You can say whatever you want. But you know what works the most, what I found out? What works the most is when you tell them, did you wake up this morning with eyesight? Yeah.
Did you go to class in your car, the one that your parents bought you? Yeah, I went to class in my car. Were you able to buy lunch and eat it without any sort of like medical issues? Yeah, I was fine. So today was pretty good, huh? Yeah, alhamdulillah, it was good.
So why don't you pray to Allah to thank Him? To scare kids. Not even kids, I'm sorry, to scare anyone. Pray, otherwise you're going to hell.
Right? That's not the prophetic way. The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he made prayer sweet on people. So when they heard the adhan from Bilal, they got excited because they're like, it's my time to thank Allah.
And so if we find it difficult to pray, to get up for Fajr and pray Fajr, and we're laying in bed and we want to hit the snooze button, remember, if you hit the snooze button, you might not get your blessings that day. You might not get those blessings that day. After you wake up from sleeping in past Fajr, what if you wake up and you can't see anymore? Can you imagine never ever seeing your mother or father? Some of the kids are like, yes.
But can you imagine never hearing the sweet voice of your mother? Or hearing Quran being recited? Or enjoying these beautiful days in sunny Southern California that most other places consider spring or summer and you guys still call this winter? Can you imagine not enjoying this? If Allah just removed one blessing from our lives, we would not be able to enjoy these things. And so that reason in of itself, the blessings that He gave us is enough for us to worship Him. How much do we thank Him?
The Prophet's Example of Gratitude
The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) teaches us in a very interesting hadith how we thank Allah and why we thank Him and how much.
The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) as we all know was ma'soom. He didn't commit any sins or any mistakes. When he was younger, his heart was cleaned, his heart was cleansed by the angels, and he was someone who had:
that he had perfect character.
He was a very, subhanallah, (اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ). You read his story, you just fall in love with him. And that second khutbah is going to be about the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم).
And one time, as was his habit, as was his practice, he got up in the middle of the night to pray tahajjud. And this teaches us the foundation of our prayer.
And he was praying so much, he was praying so much, that his feet began to swell and his heels began to start kind of like cracking.
You guys ever seen someone's heels when they're cracked because of the dryness? So his heels began to crack. His wife Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), our mother, was there and she was witnessing this. And she saw him praying to the point where it was hurting his body.
And just like any other person who loves you, when they see you harming yourself, they're going to say, what are you doing? Stop it. When all the guys try to carry in all the grocery bags in one trip, your mom or your wife is like, stop, stop, you're going to hurt your back again. And you're like, no, I'm a macho man.
So you're trying to show off. But anyone who loves you, fathers, they see their son doing something, lifting weights, stop, you're going to hurt yourself. Whenever someone loves you and they see you doing something that is a little bit stressful on your body, they tell you to stop because they can't bear to see the pain on you because they love you so much.
We see the love between the wife of the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). We see their love. So she tells him, stop, stop praying.
Aren't you already given Jannah? Aren't you already going to Jannah? We're the ones that have to be praying. We're the ones that should stand in the night and ask Allah for forgiveness. I'm going to Jannah.
The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) looks at his wife with loving eyes and a smile and says, is this the case? I'm going to Jannah for sure?
She goes, yes, this is what you taught us that all Anbiya are going to Jannah. And he goes, He goes, if this is the case, if what you're saying is true that I'm going to be going to Jannah, then should I not be a thankful slave? Doesn't it make sense that I thank Allah for this? This is the essence of our relationship with Allah. If we honestly think about it and we take a pen and a paper today after Jummah and we write down all of the blessings that Allah give us, then think about this statement, Should we not be slaves that are thankful to Allah? I ask Allah to make us amongst those who are thankful to Him and whose relationship with Allah is rooted in shukr, is rooted in thankfulness and only through that will we truly appreciate to our level what Allah has given us.
Practical Tips for Becoming Grateful
So now that we've talked about how thankfulness is something that's very important in our life and how prayer should be rooted in shukr, there are some other practical tips. You might be sitting here saying, Okay, big white man, you've told us now that we should be grateful, what are some ways that I can go home today on a Friday with my family and my friends and my co-workers and become a shakir, someone who is thankful?
First Tip: Thank People Around You
There are a couple of tips that the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) taught us. The first tip to become grateful to
Allah is, as the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said:
(Hadith)
He says, those people who do not thank الناس, humanity, mankind, people around them will not be thankful to Allah. This is a beautiful spiritual statement but this is also an intense psychological discussion. The Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is teaching us two things here.
Number one, he's saying is thank people, thank people, right? He's saying be someone and you say, yeah, you should've, right? You turn to them and you say, thanks, I appreciate that. And you know what? The biggest victims of lack of gratitude are the ones that are closest to us. How interesting is that? You know, a waitress will come to your table when you're at dinner and she'll give you a glass of water and you're like, thank you so much.
I'll tip you more today, right? Your wife comes and does the same thing and you're like, it's too warm, I need ice, right? The ones that are closest to us should get the most gratitude. When it doesn't make sense, the ones that are closest to us should get the most gratefulness from us, the most gratitude.
You know, your son comes home with an exam, he gets a 98%, mashallah.
Instead of saying, where'd the other 2% go, right? You say, mashallah, 98%. Awesome, give him a hug. I'm so proud of you.
Thank you for studying and doing well. You know what's interesting? If you thank the ones you love for the things that you love them to do for you, they're gonna do it again. Because when people love you, they wanna do things that will make you happy.
So if you thank your kids for getting good grades, you're never gonna have to tell them to study again. Because they're gonna be like, I remember that one day that baba and mama or abu and ammi or mom and dad, I remember that one day that they made me feel so good in my heart for getting that good grade, I'm gonna do it again. I'm gonna do it again.
You'll never have to tell them, do this, do that. All you do is say, thank you. Thank you so much.
This is what the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) teaches us, number one, to thank people.
Second Tip: Understanding the Psychology
Number two, and this is a very, very interesting point. This is deep, so get your life jackets on.
He says that if you don't thank people, you won't be thankful of Allah. He's teaching us basic psychology. He's teaching us that the things that you do as a habit, the habits that you develop amongst other people, amongst the relationships you have with your fellow men and women on this earth, he's saying that these relationships or these habits will extend to your creator and our creator and our nurturer and sustainer, Allah.
So if we have an issue of being ungrateful to people, guess what? That might extend to our relationship with Allah. If we're lazy and if we procrastinate with fulfilling our promises with people or our appointments with people, guess what? That might extend to your relationship with Allah. So he's teaching us that the way you act in your private life will extend to Allah in that relationship.
It's very important to realize that. Extremely important to realize that. The second way to increase your shukr, the first is to thank people around you.
Third Tip: Spending Time in Sajdah
The second way to increase your shukr is to spend. This is one of my shuyukh, may Allah protect him, Sheikh Abdul Nasir Jengda, one of my teachers, he taught me something very interesting. I was praying normally, you know how we all pray, alhamdulillah, and I said, you know, I read about in these books all these great scholars and these great Muslims, right, they have like this, it's like this hilya to salah, like they have like sweetness in their prayer.
How can I get that sweetness in prayer? And Sheikh Abdul Nasir told me, because he teaches a class, Meaningful Prayer, I'm sure it's been here, he said, spend some extra time in sajda, with your face on the ground. Because think about it this way, what is the most honorable part of your body? Someone could punch you in the arm and you wouldn't care, but if someone touches your face, right, that's serious, that's business. He's saying, you're taking your face, the most honorable, and for some people in the room, me included, the most beautiful part of your body, right, and you're putting it on the ground, and you're saying what? (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) You're putting your face on the lowest part of the ground, and you're saying, who is the highest (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) How perfect is my Lord who is the highest.
So he says, if you really want to taste the sweetness of iman and shukr, he's saying, spend, and my shaykh Abdel Nasser told me, spend 30 seconds extra in sajda. Normally we go down, (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) He's saying, no, say (سُبْحَانَ رَبِّيَ الْأَعْلَى - subhana rabbiyal a'la) (اللهُ أَكْبَرُ - Allahu Akbar)
Breathe and then just say, oh Allah, thank you. Oh Allah (الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ - Alhamdulillah) All praise be to you, the one who gives me everything, gives me life, gives me health, gives me everything here.
Fourth Tip: Realizing Our Advantages
The third tip, and we're going to wrap up the khutbah with this tip inshallah, is to realize the goodness that we have over other people.
(سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - Subhanallah) There is no one on this earth who does not have it better than someone else. And that might logically not make sense, but realize that we all live different lives with different variables. And maybe someone has a million dollars, but they are stuck in a wheelchair from paycheck to paycheck, but their body is perfectly healthy.
Everyone has an advantage over someone else in the way that we think of advantages. And so whenever the human beings (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ الْإِنسَانَ - subhanallah al-insan) they say it comes from the root word nisyan which means to forget.
So human beings have a tendency to forget the good things that we have.
We have a tendency to forget. Whenever anything bad happens (سُبْحَانَ اللهِ - subhanallah) I bought a Toyota Camry, right? And I loved it. My first car that I bought on my own, I leaned back on my car a little bit, had the steering wheel up, and I was like, this car is fly, (الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ - alhamdulillah)
My wife is going to love this. And then instantly, like literally as I'm pulling out of the parking lot of the Toyota dealership, I see an Audi S4 drive by. I'm like, man, my car stinks.
I want an Audi, right? And I just bought this car, and I was like so excited. Human beings have a tendency to forget the goodness that we have. (وَاللهُ الْعَظِيمُ - Wallahul 'Azim)
It's important, the Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, when you see people in deen, or when you feel like you're content in your deen, look at those people who are above you, who pray Fajr at the masjid, who donate sadaqah, who are good to their families, good to their wives and parents and kids. But when you see people in dunya, and you begin to get jealous of the people in dunya, look at those people who don't have as much as you. And this is an instant.
If there's such thing as a shukr pill, that's what it is. As a shukr shot, like an injection, that's just going to give you automatic gratitude, that's what it is. Look at those people who don't have as much as you.
And wallahi, I don't need to elaborate. That is the end of this khutbah.
Closing Dua
Inshallah, I ask Allah to allow us to practice what has been said and heard.
I ask Allah to give all of us health and happiness and good wealth for His sake in this life, as well as our loved ones. And I ask Allah to join us all in Jannah with our families, (بِغَيْرِ حِساب - bighayri hisab) with no accountability. And I ask Allah to make us all join in the path of righteousness.