@Abu Ali
If I may play devil's advocate
The difference between allah's testing and shaytan's misleading is that allah tests his subjects to separate the righteous from the wrong doers and shaytan's purpose is only to get have as many people burn in the hellfire as possible.
Allah is the teacher or professor who gives an exam to test his students on their knowledge and shaytan is the jealous student who deliberately tempts his fellows classmates with beer so that they fail the exams
It still begs the question as to why Allah would bother going through such an elaborate and inefficient process. If he is al- knowing and all-powerful, then he could create beings from the get-go that would fulfill all of his requirements - worshipping him and praising him eternally.
Starting off with a “test” seems to imply that he was not sure which of his products would function properly and which wouldn’t. Manufacturers do tests on their creations all the time because they know that they themselves are fallible; they may have produced a product that does not operate as intended. This is ultimately what we would call a “manufacturer’s defect.” Even if we do end up destroying those defective creations, the blame ultimately lies on their creator. It is further absurd to suggest that these flawed creations should be punished
eternally for turning out the way they were created. This is especially important because if this punishment is indeed eternal, it can serve no purpose. It exists in a realm when it cannot serve as an example or deterrent for those to come. Nor can those being punished ever benefit from the “lesson” they have learned.
This is unlike a university test that aims to distinguish the bright and hardworking from the dull and lazy. If you fail a university exam, your failure IS your punishment/consequence. There is no additional torture required. In cases when parents or interested parties might punish a student for failing, it is only for the sake of encouraging them to do better. It it’s not a punishment for the sake of punishment.
Allah’s punishments, on the other hand, appear to be completely vindictive if they happen at the “end of time.” I once heard the analogy of hell as punishing a child who is on his death bed dying of cancer for not washing his hands or not making his bed last week. It’s a moot exercise.
On the subject of jinn versus devils, this distinction exists in Arabic. The Qur’an often speaks of shayateen, which are evil “devils” that can be human or jinn. The jinn, just like humans, can be good or evil. In the verse of Harut and Marut specifically, the word shayateen is used, which actually does not say much about whether they were shayateen of men or shayateen of jinn, though it is usually understood that the shayateen of jinn were implied.
Topic: Discussion about "My Ordeal with the Qur'an"