War Between Heaven and Hell

[salman47]

I’m using the terms ‘Heaven’ and ‘Hell’ differently than what you might be understanding them in this context. Basically, Heaven is referring to God and His side, and Hell is referring to the devil and his side.

Now if you are asking is there actually a ‘war’ between God and the devil, that is a legitimate question from the perspective of Islamic theology. As I mentioned in the OP, in our theology, the Devil is not an independent force in the sense of having authority in his own right. He is on a short leash and his powers are determined by Allah. This is how Islam differs from Zoroastrianism.

Now where Islam differs from Judaism’s view of Satan is that Islam does say that the Devil too possesses free will, that he is wicked, evil and rebellious against God. In Judaism, as least as explained by contemporary orthodox rabbinical stream, the devil is merely a synonym for man’s evil inclinations. So in our Faith, we make a distinction between Satan as an external force, and the ‘Nafs’ of man, the internal inclinations. We see the Devil as constantly trying to corrupt the ego, but not synonymous with the ego. The Devil is a real, conscious person.

As I said, we have to define what is winning and losing in the context of this struggle between Light and Darkness. For sure it is a struggle. But in this struggle, the Devil already knows he is doomed to Hell, his aim is to bring as many humans with him there as possible. The Devil even knows that he won't be able to mislead the pure, chosen servants of Allah ('the elect'). But even the Devil doesn't know who exactly they are, so he tries to mislead everyone, and exerts his greatest effort on those who are going on the Right Path.

No need to do anything, The Quran already gave us the answers.