From Al-Ghazali's An Exposition of the Hearts

Excerpts of Al-Ghazali's An Exposition of the Hearts:

From "Satan and His Punishment":

Allah says: "If you turn away," in other words, if you turn away from the obedience of Allah and His Messenger, "then surely Allâh does not like the unbelievers." In other words, He does not forgive them and does not accept their repentance as He did not accept the repentance of Satan [Iblis] because of his unbelief [refusing to obey an order makes you an unbeliever] and his haughtiness [i.e., arrogance]. But He turned in repentance to Adam and accepted his repentance because he confessed to committing the sin, expressed remorse over its commitment, and reproached himself. All this despite the fact that what he did was not really a sin because the Prophets are protected from sin, according to the correct opinion, they do not commit acts of disobedience ever - not before prophethood nor after it. Rather it looks and appears like a sin. It is for this reason that he and his wife, Hawwa, said: "O our Sustainer! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall certainly be among the losers." He thus expressed remorse, hastened towards repentance and was not despondent of the mercy of Allah . Allah says: "Do not despair of the mercy of Allah."

As for Satan [Iblis], he did not confess to his sins, he did not express any remorse over them, he did not reproach himself and he did not hasten towards repentance. Instead, he felt satisfied with the mercy of Allah and was haughty. So the person who is like Satan will not have his repentance accepted. As for he who is like Adam, Allah will accept his repentance. This is because when the origin of disobedience is desire, its forgiveness can be hoped for. But when the origin of disobedience is haughtiness [arrogance], its forgiveness cannot be hoped for. The origin of Adam's disobedience was desire while that of Satan was haughtiness.

It is related that Satan came to Musa and said to him: "You are the one whom Allah chose for His message and spoke to you?" Musa replied: "Yes. So what do you want and who are you?" Satan replied: "O Musa! Say to your Sustainer that one of His creation has asked Him for repentance.” So Allah inspired to Musa saying to him: "Say to him that I have accepted what he has asked. But order him, O Musa, to prostrate to the grave of Adam. If he prostrates to his grave, I will accept his repentance and forgive him his sins." Musa informed Satan thereof but he became angry, displayed his haughtiness and said: "O Musa! I did not prostrate before him in Paradise, how can I prostrate before him when he is dead?"

It is related that the punishment will be made very severe on Satan when he is in the Hell-fire. He will be asked: "How did you find the punishment of Allah?" He will reply: "The severest that it can ever be." It will be said to him: "Adam is in the gardens of Paradise. Prostrate before him and seek forgiveness so that you may be forgiven." But he will refuse to do so. The punishment will be increased upon him 70,000 times more than what all the other inmates of the Hell-fire are experiencing. It is stated in a Tradition that Allah will remove Satan from the Hell-fire every 100,000 years. He will bring Adam before him and order Satan to prostrate before him. He will refuse and will be returned to the Hellfire.

My beloved brothers, if you want to save yourself from Satan then hold on fast to the Master [Allâh ] and seek refuge in Him. On the day of resurrection, a chair of fire will be placed and Satan, may he be cursed, will sit on it. All the other devils and unbelievers will gather around him. He will speak like the braying of a donkey and say to them: “O people of the fire! How did you find what your Sustainer had promised you.” They will reply: “We found it to be true.” He will then say: “Today is a day in which I am despondent of mercy.” Allâh will then order the angles to strike him and his followers with hammers of fire. They would then fall into Hell for forty years and will never hear the order to come out of it forever. We seek refuge in Allâh from it. It is mentioned that Satan will be brought forward on the day of resurrection and he will be ordered to sit on a chair of fire with a necklace of curse around his neck. Allâh will order the zabâniyah (angels appointed to fling the damned into Hell) to drag him out from that chair and to fling him into Hell-fire. They will go and grab him in order to fling him but they will not be able to do so. Allâh will then order Jibra’îl together with 80 000 angels to do that but they will not

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O my Sustainer! You expelled me from Paradise because of Adam.

[...]

Allah distorted his [that of Iblis] beautiful appearance to that like a pig. His head was like that of a camel, his chest like the hump of a camel, his face was between these two like that of a monkey, his eyes were split vertically along the length of his face, his nostrils were open like the cup of a cupper, his lips were like that of an ox, his teeth were sticking out like those of a pig, his beard had seven strands of hair. Allah then expelled him from Paradise, in fact from the skies, in fact from the earth to the islands. He therefore only enters earth very stealthily. Allah cursed him till the day of recompense because he became of the unbelievers.

[...]

[Iblis is the father of shadowy twins of every human child that is born.]

Satan said: "Give me more power.” Allah said: “Every time a child is born from Adam’s progeny, two from your progeny will be born."

[...]

[In the end, Iblis is made to face Adam again and asked to prostrate, but will refuse.]

He will bring Adam before him and order Satan to prostrate before him. He will refuse...