Quora Answer: How Do I Make Sure that Satan is Not the Author of Islam?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How do I make sure that Satan is not the author of Islam?” 

To understand any Scripture, we must be cognisant that the heart must also be clean.  Consider this: if the heart is like a bowl, and Scripture is the water we pour into that bowl, does it matter how pure the water is, when the bowl is filthy? 

Whether it is the Qur’an or the Bible, if the heart is occluded, then whatever is read is never the Divine Intent.  That is why two people can read the same passage in the Qur’an, and one finds love, and another uses it to justify oppression. It is not the verses, but the heart. 

Whether “Satan” is the author of “Islam” depends on two things: the one observing, and the one being observed.  And if only one of them has their heart occluded by fear and hate and love of other than God, they will find Satan.  And if the heart is purified, they will find truth.  Whether they choose to call that truth “Islam”, is another story.