The Guiding Light — Page 173
S u rah al-Baqarah, Verses 9-17 173 Commentary The context of the verse makes it clear that by ﺷ ﻴ ﺎﻃ ني ( sha yati n ) is here meant not evil spirits but rebellious ringleaders among the disbelievers and the hypocrites who were proud and haughty and ready to transgress all limits. Reference to such leaders has been made in 33: 68 where God says, And they (the people of Hell) will say, ‘ Our Lord, we obeyed our chiefs and our great ones and they led us astray from the way’. These were the men who egged on the hypocrites to mischief and who were ever burning with jealousy and hate at seeing the Muslims prosper and who had gone far astray from the truth. Some Christian writers have rendered the word ﺷ ﻴ ﺎﻃ ني ( sha yati n ) in this verse as “satans” or “devils”, and then charged the Qur’ a n with reviling idolaters, Jews and Christians. The charge is groundless; for, as already explained, the word ﺷ ﻴ ﺎﻃ ني ( sha yati n ) does not here mean “satans” but simply proud and mischievous ringleaders. In fact, as shown above, the word ﺷ ﻴ ﻄﺎن shai ta n ) has a very wide significance in Arabic. The Holy Prophet sa once said to his Companions, “A single rider is a shai ta n , a pair of