Spiritual Warfare - Why Muslims live in Bondage
- Aug 4
- 7 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Have you ever experienced a season of life where just about everything seems to be going wrong? Maybe you lost your job, experienced the death of a family member, and got into a car accident, all at the same time. Or, maybe you have experienced intense persecution for sharing the Gospel.
Whether or not you have faced spiritual warfare, it is something that all Christians will have to deal with. This is because the spiritual realm is real, and there is an actual Devil who is doing everything he can to oppose God and those He loves.
Christians are to be constantly alert (1 Peter 5:8-9), but because of Christ, we do not have to be fearful of the spiritual schemes of the Devil. Christians are well armed for spiritual battle (we will discuss this more later).
But the Devil also wants the soul of your Muslim friend. And your Muslim friend stands defenseless against the spiritual battle. The Devil uses the fear of spiritual things that Islam teaches to keep people blind to the spiritual deception of Islam. Let’s take a look at what Islam teaches about spiritual warfare.
What kinds of spiritual beings are present in Islam?
Before we look at spiritual dangers in Islam, we have to understand the two types of spiritual beings: jinn and angels.
Islamic Jinn
Like many things in Islam, the idea of jinn is borrowed from polytheism. Jinn are invisible to people (jinn means “to hide”) (Sura 7:27), they are made of fire (Sura 55:15) and they can hear (Sura 72:1). Even though they are spiritual beings, they engage with the material world and can possess objects, animals, or even people.
According to the Quran, jinn were made to worship Allah (Sura 51:56), but they also have free will. Good jinn follow Islam and go to paradise. Evil jinn, reject Islam and go to hell (Sura 72:14-15).
5 types of jinn:
Marid are the most powerful jinn
Ifrit are fiery winged beings that inhabit desolate places (ruins and underground)
Shaitan are evil jinn who reject Islam
Ghoul are bloodthirsty jinn who roam graveyards
Jann are the leaders of the jinn and are serpent-like
Islamic Angels
The angels in Islam are winged messengers made of light (Sura 35:1, Riyad as-Salihin 1846).
Islam’s angels were made to worship Allah. Unlike jinn, they do not have free will. Like robots, these angels obey without question (Sura 16:49-50, Sura 66:6). Allah’s angels can’t sin, because they can’t reject Islam.
You can think of Islam’s angels as agents of Allah. They run paradise, serve as a shield to him, deliver his messages (Sura 16:2), and record the deeds of every Muslim. Angels keep a detailed account of a Muslim’s every word and action:
“There is no soul without a vigilant angel ˹recording everything˺.” (Sura 86:4).
In fact, every Muslim has two accountability angels assigned to them:
“As the two recording-angels—one sitting to the right, and the other to the left—note everything, not a word does a person utter without having a vigilant observer ready to write it down. (Sura 15:17-18)
What a contrast this is between Quranic angels and the biblical angels described in Psalm 91:11-12:
“For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone.” While Islam’s angels number the sins of Muslims, love “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” (1 Corinthians 13:5)
Important Angels in the Quran
Jibril- imparted Quran to Mohammed and announced the birth of Issa (Islam’s false Jesus)
Malik- gatekeeper of hell
Azrail- “Angel of Death” (Sura 32:11)
Eight - “Throne Holding Angels” (Sura 69:17)
Ridwan- gatekeeper of paradise
Munkar and Nakir- interrogate the dead
“19 Keepers of Hell” (Sura 74:30-31)
What is Spiritual Warfare in Islam?
In Islam, there are various kinds of spiritual warfare. Muslims must be constantly aware of Satanic beings, the evil eye, and magic.
Satanic Beings- Iblis and Evil jinn
In Islam, the Devil is known as Iblis (also called Shaytan or Iblees). Iblis became an evil jinn by disobeying Allah (Sura 18:50).
Muslims are also taught that Iblis infects humans with sin at birth. For more on Islam’s view of sin, read here.
The mission of Iblis and his evil jinn is to cause Muslims to disown Islam. Muslims are told that Iblis and his jinn try to lure them into doubt, sin, temptation, forgetfulness, and chaos.
Muslims are warned to be on guard against satanic whisperings (waswasa), and dreams meant to make them doubt Islam. Ironically, many Muslims have been saved because of dreams they have had about Jesus. For more on this, read here.
Muslims fear satanic influence because the Hadith teaches that each person has a jinn responsible for entangling them (Sahih Muslim 2814). Even Muslims are not immune to being possessed by jinn.
The Evil Eye
If you have ever studied Judaism or Hinduism, you have probably heard of “The Evil Eye.”
In Islam, “The Evil Eye” is a curse that can fall on a person when someone (human or jinn) looks at them with adoration or envy (Sura 113:5). The victim supposedly suffers from physical ailments or spiritual distractions. Despite this, Muslims are told that Allah allows “The Evil Eye” to curse people as a test of their faith. Muslims are told that Non- Muslims look at them with envy because of their faith in Islam:
“The disbelievers would almost cut you down with their eyes when they hear ˹you recite˺ the reminder, and say, “He is certainly a madman.” (Sura 68:51)
To cure the effects of an “Evil Eye,” Muslims are advised to recite the Quran, exhale into a cup, or perform ritual cleansing. Read more about ritual cleansing here.
Magic
Along with jinn, there is a host of other spiritual beings for Muslims to fear, such as fairies, dead imams and ancestors. Like Christians, Muslims must avoid magic, witchcraft, sorcery, spells and omens.
The Quran tells Muslims to find refuge in a god who is distant and unloving:
“Say, O Prophet, ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak from the evil of whatever He has created, and from the evil of the night when it grows dark, and from the evil of those witches casting spells by blowing onto knots, and from the evil of an envier when they envy.’” (Sura 113:1-5)
How do Muslims “protect themselves" from Spiritual Warfare?
Once again, the Quran advises Muslims to “seek refuge in Allah” from evil (Sura 114:1-6). But how could anyone find security in a god who is called “The Greatest of all Deceivers” and “The Bringer of Death?”
There are some general things Muslims can do to try to protect themselves from spiritual darkness. These include having faith (tawhid), remembering Allah (dhikr), regular prayer (salat), reciting the Quran, and following the Five Pillars of Islam. Muslims must not only strive to earn their salvation, but they try to ensure their own spiritual safety by perfectly performing their faith.
If Muslims desire to go into a house, eat, go into a bathroom, change clothes, or have sexual intercourse, they must guard themselves against Iblis by saying the “Bismillah” prayer recitation (found in Sura 23:97). This recitation supposedly deters satanic forces.
What does the Bible say about Spiritual Warfare?
The Bible talks extensively about Spiritual Warfare, but these are several key things to understand:
Christians do not fight a physical battle, but a spiritual battle on a spiritual battlefield (Ephesians 6:12).
Christians are to keep their minds on things above (Colossians 3:2) and resist the Devil (James 4:7).
Christians fight with spiritual weapons (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) and are clothed with the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-16).
The battle Christians fight is against the “father of lies,” the "adversary,” the Devil. Satan currently rules and roams the earth (Job 1:7, Job 2:2). Satan is described in the Bible as a serpent (Genesis 3:1), a vicious lion (1 Peter 5:8), a dragon (Revelation 12:9), and a disguised “Angel of Light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). His goal is to “steal, kill and destroy.” (John 10:10)
But our God is far greater than the Devil and his greatest tactic- death. Death and the devil were defeated at the cross, once and for all. The Devil stands no chance against the whispered, prayed, spoken, shouted name of the Risen Christ. In fact, no spiritual power can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:37-39). Consider Colossians 1:13-14:
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
As Christians, we have no reason to fear (Matthew 10:28), our Lord will protect us from the evil one (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
How to talk to your Muslim friend about Spiritual Warfare
For the Muslim, the unseen realm teems with dark and dangerous forces. It causes them to live in continuous fear. As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit, the Armor of God, and angelic protection as we wage spiritual warfare. But your Muslim friend has none of these safeguards. Your Muslim friend has been blinded by the Devil, as 2 Corinthians 4:4 explains. As a Christ follower, you have a responsibility to proclaim the freedom Christ purchased at the cross for your Muslim friend. Use spiritual warfare as a conversation starter. Here are some questions you can ask:
Are you afraid of the spiritual realm?
Does Allah protect you from spiritual forces of darkness?
Have you ever felt spiritually attacked? What did you do?
Dear Lord, thank you that You are the God of the seen and unseen. Thank you for hedging me with protection and arming me for the spiritual battles I will face on this earth. Please unveil your Gospel to my Muslim friends and open their minds to your love and light. Amen.
