Chapter 45 46. ​​I, Satan

I love the smell of fried red peppers in olive oil, the morning rain falling on the calm sea, the face of a woman flashing by the window, silence, contemplation and patience.I believe in myself, and, usually, I never give a shit about other people's criticisms of me.Nevertheless, I have come to this café tonight to clear up some gossip with my fellow miniaturists and calligraphers. Of course, since I was the one who spoke, you're going to believe me to be ironic no matter what I say.However, you who are shrewd should also realize that the contradictory meaning of my words is completely accurate, and even if you doubt me, you who are cunning must also be interested in my words: you know very well that my name is in the glory. Occurring fifty-two times, it is one of the most frequently mentioned names.

That being the case, I will start with the glory of Allah.Everything that is mentioned about me in the book is true.Please don't get me wrong, when I say this, there is extreme humility in my heart.Because there is a question of style.The honorable humiliation of me has long caused me great pain, but this pain is my way of life.I'm not arguing for that. It is true that God created human beings in front of our angelic eyes.He then asks us to prostrate ourselves before this creation.Yes, the situation is as described in the "Ladder" chapter: when all the angels bowed to humans, I refused.I reminded everyone that Adam was only made of mud, but I was born of fire, a well-known superior element.Therefore, I do not bow to human beings.So Allah considered my actions, how to say, "arrogant".

"Fall away from these layers of heaven," he said. "There is no place for you who seek your own greatness." "Allow me to live until Judgment Day," I said, "until the dead rise." He agreed, and I told him that during this period, I will tempt the offspring of Adam who caused me to be punished, and those who have been successfully corrupted by me, he said, will send them to hell.You also know that both of us have always kept these promises.I have nothing more to say about this. Some claim that Allah Almighty made a pact with me at that time.According to them, by trying to destroy people's faith, I am actually helping Almighty God to test His people: good people who are good with firm judgment will not go astray; If you commit a crime, you will fall into the abyss of hell in the future.Therefore, my work is extremely important: if all people could go to heaven, no one would be afraid, but the whole world can never be run and ruled by virtue alone.In our world, vice is as necessary as virtue, and crime as much as justice.Although the earthly order created by Allah is enforced through me—with His sanction, of course (how else would He allow me to live to the day of judgment?)—I am forever marked as evil” and, at the same time, never It is a secret pain in my heart that I am not rewarded as I should be. Some people like Mansur of Mysticism, the Woolcomer, or Ahmet Gehmet, brother of the famous Imam Ghasali Sali continued to follow this logic, and even wrote the conclusion in the article: If the crimes I caused were indeed approved and willed by Allah, then they were actually what Allah wanted. Further, they Zhang Shan and Evil does not exist because everything originates from God and even I am a part of Him.

Some of the dull ones were duly punished and burned, along with their books.Because, of course, good and evil exist, and how to distinguish between them is everyone's responsibility.I am not Allah, forgive Allah, and it is not I who planted such absurd ideas in the heads of those fools; This leads me to a second complaint: I am not the cause of all evil in the world.Many people commit crimes that have nothing to do with my instigation, deceit, and seduction, but purely on the basis of their own blind ambition, lust, weakness of will, inferiority, and most often, their own idiocy.As some Bo mystics have tried to exonerate me, so to suppose that I am the origin of all evil is as absurd and contrary to the glorious scriptures.I didn't entice fruit sellers to treacherously deceive customers with rotten apples, to encourage children to lie, to incite sycophants, to instigate old people to have lecherous dreams, or to inspire boys to masturbate.Not even God Almighty can find any evil in these last two.Indeed, I have done my best to drive you to great sins.But some deans wrote in the book: Everyone who yawns, sneezes or even farts is my prisoner.This proves that they don't know me at all.

Just let them misunderstand you so you can trick them more easily, you might suggest.That's right.But let me remind you that I have my pride and that was what drove me to break with Allah Almighty in the first place.Although I can assume various forms, despite the tens of thousands of references in various books that I have disguised myself as a bright and attractive beauty, and successfully seduced many devout people, brothers miniaturists here tonight, can you No, please explain why people insist on painting me as an ugly monster with deformities, sharp horns, and long tails, and my face is always covered with raised moles?

So, we come to the real subject: painting.A preacher, I do not want to be named lest he will harass you in the future, mobilizing a mob in the streets of Istanbul, condemning the following acts against the will of God: calling people to prepare for prayer like singing; meetings in ascetic monasteries; sitting on each other's lap on; indulgent chanting to the music of an instrument; and drinking coffee.I have heard that some miniaturists among us, out of fear of the preacher and his followers, declared that I was behind all Frankish painting.Over the centuries, I've been charged with countless accusations, but never this outrageous.

Let's start from the beginning and everyone is obsessed with me tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, forgetting the beginning of the whole thing.No, nor did it begin with my arrogance before Almighty God.It all started with him creating humans before us and expecting us to bow our knees to him, only to be properly and firmly rejected by me—though the other angels obeyed.Do you think he is right?He actually asked me, who was created with fire, to bow down to humans, who were created with mud?O my brethren, speak your conscience.Forget it, it's okay, I know you're thinking, but you're just worried that it's not convenient to talk here: he'll hear every word and use it to scold you later.Well, let's investigate, if that's the case, why did he give you a conscience in the first place.I agree, your fears are justified, and I'll forget about the question and the mud vs fire debate.But there's one thing I'll never forget—yes, something I'm always proud of: I've never bowed to a human being.

However, this happens to be what the Frankish masters are doing now. They are not satisfied with presenting every trivial detail of every kind of person, from gentlemen, priests, wealthy businessmen to women, eye color, skin color, curves, etc. pouty lips, wrinkled brows, rings, and dirty sideburns—even the glamorous shadows that fall on a woman's breast.These artists even dared to put their protagonists in the center of the canvas, as if human beings deserved to be worshipped; more than that, they displayed these portraits as idols, demanding the viewer to bow before them.Is a human being important enough to be drawn in every detail, including his shadow?If every house on the street is depicted according to the fallacy of human beings, shrinking in size with distance, isn't human beings actually usurping the place of Allah and standing at the center of the world?This, Allah, the Almighty, must know better than I.In short, it seems ridiculous to attribute to me the idea of ​​painting these portraits on the face of it.How can I do this?I, who refused to prostrate before human beings, suffered unspeakable pain and isolation; I, who lost the favor of Allah, became the object of everyone's curse.It would be more reasonable to say that every young man who plays himself and every fart is seduced by me, as some mullahs have written in their books and some preachers have said.

I have one last comment on this subject, but I don't intend to address it to ordinary people, who are so full of worldly ambitions, carnal lusts, money cravings, and other ludicrous passions!Only Allah, in His Infinite Wisdom, can understand me: Is it not You who asks angels to bow before man, making man self-inflated and filled with pride?Now that they see themselves the way you want angels to see them, humans have come to worship themselves and put themselves at the center of the world.Even your most loyal servant will want a portrait of himself in the style of a Frankish master.As for the end of narcissism, I know too well that you will be completely forgotten soon.However, when the time comes, they will put all the blame on me.

How should I tell you?Actually I don't care about any of this.Naturally, only by standing firmly on my legs, I can bear the cruel stones, insults, curses, and public reprimands that have been thrown at me for hundreds of years.I only hope that those violent and superficial enemies who scold me at every turn can remember that Almighty Allah blessed me to live until the Last Judgment Day, but only allocated them sixty or seventy years.If I suggest that they drink more coffee to prolong life, I believe that many people will decide to do the opposite because it is Satan who is talking, completely banning coffee, or even more exaggerated, standing upside down and pouring coffee into their assholes.

Do not laugh.What matters is not the content of thought, but the form of thought.What matters is not what a miniaturist paints, but his style.But these things need to go unnoticed.I was going to end with a love story, but it's too late now.The smooth-talking storyteller who gave me my voice tonight promises to hang up a portrait of a woman Wednesday night after tomorrow, and he'll tell the love story.