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How sound is the statement attributed to Satan regarding women: "You are half a soldier, and you are my arrow which I shoot and do not miss, and you are the place of my secret, and you are the messenger of my need, for half my soldier is lust"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Some scholars have mentioned a statement attributed to Iblis, in which he describes women as "half his army, the repository of his secret, and his arrow that never misses." This was narrated by Ibn al-Athir, al-Manawi, and Ibn al-Jawzi in wordings that do not conclusively prove its authenticity, and certainty regarding it can only come through revelation. However, many texts confirm that lust and exploiting the natural inclination between genders are among Satan's dangerous entry points, as in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "I have not left behind me any trial more harmful to men than women," and his saying: "The gaze is a poisoned arrow from the arrows of Iblis," and "Woman is 'awrah (nakedness), and when she goes out, Satan beautifies her for men" (meaning he makes her appear appealing to men or looks at her to tempt her and to tempt with her).

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