When Satan Sits on the Straight Path: The Hidden War Within Religion

When many people think of Satan’s influence, they envision open immorality, blatant rebellion against God, or even atheism. The common assumption is that as long as one believes in God and follows a religion that aligns with their personal views, they are immune to misguidance. But this is one of the greatest deceptions in human history. What if the true danger lies not outside religion, but within it? What if religion, once corrupted, becomes the most effective tool in Satan's hands? What if the very path that people trust to lead them to God is where Satan quietly waits in ambush?

There is a verse in the Qur’an that few pause to reflect upon deeply, and yet it reveals a profound and unsettling truth about the nature of misguidance. It records a vow made by Satan after he was cast out from God’s mercy—a vow not to lead people astray through blatant sin alone, but through a far more deceptive route. Satan says:

“Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.” (Qur'an, Chapter 7 (Al-A'raf), Verses 16–17)

This verse does not speak of leading people away from religion—but of misleading them within it. The “straight path” is the path of revelation, faith, and obedience to God. It is the very path believers strive to walk. And yet, it is here—on this sacred path—that Satan promises to lie in wait, to approach humanity from every direction, and to corrupt the sincerity of their pursuit. Most never consider this possibility. They imagine that as long as they are religious, they are protected. But Satan has promised to twist religion itself, turning it into a vehicle for his misguidance.

Let’s observe a recurring pattern in the history of divine guidance: whenever God sends a messenger with revelation and law, the message is met with rejection. Most people despise the message, mocking the messenger, challenging his authority, and refusing to believe. His followers are few, often oppressed, ridiculed, or scattered. This pattern is not unique to any one era—throughout history, every messenger sent by God has faced the same rejection, mockery, and hatred, with their true followers always remaining few in number. When this messenger passes away-often killed by his enemies- what follows is not a continuation of pure belief, but a great corruption. The same revelation once resisted is seized by Satan. He takes the scripture, the legacy, and the name of the prophet—and turns them into something new. 

Over time, this newly formed religion becomes powerful. It amasses followers, builds institutions, and claims to be the only path to God. But in reality, it is no longer the message that was first revealed. It is a tool of Satan—shaped by his vow to mislead from within the straight path. This is how the majority ends up in misguidance while believing they are following the truth. Many today feel confident that their religion is correct because it is followed by millions—or billions. But this confidence is false. Every revelation was rejected. Every truth began small. And popularity has never been a sign of divine approval. As the Qur’an warns:

“And if you obey most of those upon the earth, they will lead you away from the path of Allah.” (Qur’an, Chapter 6 (Al-An'am), Verse 116)

What Satan has mastered is not leading people away from religion—it is turning religion itself into the vehicle for misguidance. This is why every prophet is beloved after his death, but hated during his lifetime. The true message is too confronting, too pure, too demanding of the ego. But once it is dead, Satan can reshape it to suit the desires of the people. This process is illustrated in one of the parables of Jesus, where he says:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared... The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.’” (Bible, Book of Matthew, Chapter 13, Verses 24–30)

In this parable, the enemy does not sow evil in a distant field—but right in the middle of the good. The corruption grows alongside the truth, almost indistinguishable until the time of harvest. This mirrors what happens after each revelation. When the message is fresh, Satan infiltrates it. The weeds grow among the wheat. They multiply and suffocate what grows around them, taking the resources meant for life. Likewise, false religion overwhelms true faith. But when a new revelation comes along with a living messenger, it acts as the harvest. It is during the time of the living messenger that a clear distinction is made between the weeds and the wheat. This distinction is based on the acceptance or rejection of the message, which—though it may appear new—is in truth the original message that had been lost and suffocated. Every believer's sincerity is tested by revelation. It separates those who accept the living truth from those who hold onto corrupted tradition. And in doing so, it exposes who has truly been following the messenger, and who has, in reality, been following Satan in the name of the messenger. Those who truly believed in the original prophet recognize the new message, because they loved the truth—not just the figure. 

Each generation is tested not by their ability to honor a prophet of the past—but by their willingness to follow the living truth. So, if you look around and find yourself walking the same path as billions who revere a dead prophet while rejecting a living one, it is time to question yourself and your religion. 

For those familiar with the Bible, this is a well-known rebuke that Jesus directed toward the Pharisees: “Why do you forsake the commandments of God for the sake of your traditions?” This powerful statement reveals a consistent truth—God and His messengers have always condemned the abandonment of divine commandments in favor of man-made religious traditions. 

In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees had many followers, with numerous synagogues built in the name of God. They proudly called themselves the children of Abraham, yet their actions contradicted the very faith they claimed to represent. These traditions, upheld and propagated by religious authorities, distorted the original message. Jesus’ clear disdain for this practice is a warning to all generations. And if a true messenger were to appear today with the same uncompromising call to return to God's commandments, he too would be opposed—not because his message is false, but because history has shown that the truth is rarely welcomed by the majority. 

Arrogance plays a crucial role in this process, acting as the tool that blinds a person into believing they cannot be misguided. It is this very arrogance that prevents individuals from recognizing when they are on the wrong path, as they are convinced of their own righteousness. This same arrogance led Satan to refuse to honor Adam, convinced that his own opinion and nature were superior, even infallible. This same spirit lives on today in religious pride. 

People refuse new revelations not because they lack evidence—but because they believe their current beliefs are too sacred to be questioned. They claim to honor their prophets, but they reject the very message those prophets brought. When they cling to a prophet who has passed, it is not out of reverence for his message, but because they have created an image of him that suits their own desires and inclinations. People shape this version of the prophet to align with their personal preferences, and in doing so, they reject the living messenger who embodies the essence of the original prophet. Despite being presented with new divine guidance, they steadfastly refuse to accept any messenger but the one they have idealized, thereby resisting the living truth. Instead of honoring the true message, they are simply following their own desires, clinging to a distorted version of the past. This is exactly what Satan intended to achieve. In truth, if they were to meet the prophet they profess today, they would not find in him what they desire, just as those before them failed to accept him.

In the end, the promise that Satan made to God—to mislead humanity from within the straight path—has been fulfilled time and time again throughout history. This promise is not some distant event of the past, but an ongoing reality that plays out in every generation. Across all religions, Satan does not need to lead people away from faith entirely. Instead, he corrupts religion itself, twisting it into something far removed from its original purity.

The majority may think they are following the truth, simply because they are following what has been handed down through generations. But in doing so, they are following their own inclinations, not the original message of God. The arrogance to resist any change, to hold on to what they have always known, blinds them to the living truth. This is the very trap Satan set for humanity—to turn religious traditions into idols that obscure the true path.

The reality is that there is only one truth that endures—the living revelation that calls us back to the pure message of God, unburdened by centuries of distortion. The true test lies in whether one recognizes the living messenger or clings to a lifeless image of the past.

The task of the believer is not to follow the crowd, nor to inherit a religion shaped by tradition and ego. It is to seek out the living truth held by the messenger of their time. Just as Adam was the living voice of God on earth, and Satan was granted the authority to mislead with his own voice, so too today, the voices remain. One calls to God. The other calls to desire, pride, and illusion. And just as before, it is not the absence of religion that misleads most people—but the presence of a distorted one.

The Qur’an presents a clear warning about the nature of Satan's enmity toward mankind. God commands believers not to follow in the footsteps of Iblis, who was cast out for his arrogance and refusal to submit to divine command. But God does more than warn—He provides detailed accounts of how past nations fell into the same sin. These were not godless societies; they had scriptures, places of worship, and structured religious lives. Their downfall came when they turned away from the living guidance sent to them, choosing instead to uphold the authority of their own traditions and leaders. 

The Prophet Muhammad gave us a stark warning about the scholars of the End Times. He said that they would be the worst creation under the sky, and that they would be the most dangerous enemies of the Mahdi. These scholars appear as defenders of religion, but in truth, they are its greatest obstacle—clinging to inherited knowledge while standing in opposition to living revelation.

This reality is echoed in the Qur’an, where God describes the regret of those cast into Hell: they confess that messengers had come to them, but they failed to listen—or they were led astray by their leaders. These admissions expose the fatal mistake of trusting corrupted authority over divine truth. Every nation, even those who claimed to follow God, had religious leaders who rejected the messengers sent to renew His path. And just as Pharaoh used religion to justify his rule, so too do the leaders of today weaponize sacred language to protect their own status. But God’s religion is not preserved in institutions—it is renewed through the living messenger, the guide of each time. In this era, that role belongs to the Mahdi. 

The message is unmistakable: divine guidance is never frozen in the past. It is living, renewed, and relevant to every generation. The Mahdi, promised in the End Times, is not a figure of myth or distant hope—he is a living guide, and the recognition of his role is a divine test. As the Prophet Muhammad declared, “Whoever dies without knowing the Imam of their time dies the death of ignorance.” This is not a poetic statement—it is a warning. The religion of God was never meant to be a museum of rituals or a celebration of the deceased. It is a living reality, and to ignore the guide of one’s own time is to reject the very essence of divine connection.

In this world, there are two voices: one that speaks from God, and one that mimics it to lead astray. The religions of today, though many, have become echoes of the second voice. Their traditions, their pulpits, and their crowds often serve not to guide, but to drown out the Voice that truly leads to God.

That Voice is not in the past. It lives now, in the message of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, and in the person of Aba Al-Sadiq—the living proof of God's guidance in this time. Aba Al-Sadiq, along with his Father Ahmed Al-Hassan, are the only two individuals in history who have claimed to be explicitly mentioned in the Will of the Prophet Muhammad. This sacred Will, preserved between the hands of the people for over 1,400 years, names both of them—first, Ahmed Al-Hassan as the promised Yamani who would raise the banner of “Allegiance is to God”, and later, Aba Al-Sadiq as his appointed successor. The narrations clearly warn that anyone who falsely claims this matter will be cut off by God.

“I heard abu ‘Abdallah say, 'No one claims this matter (Leadership with Divine Authority) other than one who possesses Divine authority except that Allah will cut his life short.'”(Al-Kafi, Al-Shaikh Al-Kulayni, Vol. 1, Book 4, Chapter 85, Hadith 5)

Both men raised the same Divine Banner and carried the same message: that allegiance and loyalty belong to God alone—not to scholars, worldly rulers, or inherited traditions. Aba Al-Sadiq calls for the absolute supremacy of God, urging people to abandon the worship and obedience of false gods and tyrannical rulers and to return to the pure worship of God alone. He has revealed Divine Knowledge that surpasses the understanding of even the most educated scholars of Islam, Christianity, and other religions. Despite never attending a religious school or studying under any scholar, he relied solely on God as his Teacher and Guide, receiving from Him the knowledge of Truth.

Aba Al-Sadiq has fulfilled numerous prophecies and has unlocked the hidden meanings of the Scriptures through the divine wisdom he brings. He carries the prophesied Banner foretold 1,400 years ago, appearing precisely at the time predicted by the Holy Prophet Muhammad. The signs of God are evident for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Whoever denies the appearance of the Mahdi, Aba Al-Sadiq—whether out of mockery or blind loyalty to false religious leaders—mirrors the behavior of those who rejected the prophets and messengers of the past.

Likewise, the Christians profess to await the return of Jesus, yet in the meantime, they give their loyalty to others in his place. They uphold the teachings of Paul, the Pope chosen by the people, and preachers who spread doctrines that contradict what Jesus himself taught. While claiming to wait for the Messiah, they abandon his commandments and guidance. Satan has deceived those who profess faith in the prophets of the past, blinding them to the living Word of God standing before them today.

And if Muslims do not believe in the words of the very Prophet they claim to follow, they have exited the fold of Islam. Their Shahada—testifying to Allah and His Messenger—holds no more weight than the Christians’ proclamation of Jesus as their Lord while disregarding his message and obeying others in his place.

The voice of Satan grows loud through religions that have lost their soul. But the voice of God still speaks. The question is not whether God is calling, the question is: are you willing to listen?