The fourteenth chapter of the Qur’an, Abraham, contrasts two would-be intercessors: Abraham and Satan. They are contrasted twice in the Gospels, and have parallel, if opposite, roles in the Bible: Abraham’s faithful leadership of Sarah lead to the birth of Isaac: Satan’s faithless leadership of Eve lead to humanity being expelled from the Garden. Abraham’s obedience to God was tested during the sacrifice of Isaac, where it triumphed: Satan’s disobedience to God led him to being destroyed in the end. Abraham is our father in faith — Satan is the father of lies.

Readings

A Reading, from the Book of Genesis:

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'”

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:1-6

A Song, from the Psalms:

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalms 1:1-3

A Reading, from the First Letter of St. Peter:

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear.

Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

For in this manner, in former times, the holy women who trusted in God also adorned themselves, being submissive to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, whose daughters you are if you do good and are not afraid with any terror.
1 Peter 3:1-6

A Reading, from the Holy Gospel according to John:

“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”

They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.”

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
John 8:37-44

A Qur’anic Homily

Satan’s promises will fail, and the Qur’anic author believes at the end Satan himself will preach God’s glory:

When this matter is all over, Satan will say, ‘Indeed, God made you a promise that was true and I made you a promise, but I failed you, I have no authority over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. So do not blame me but blame yourselves. I cannot respond to your distress calls, neither can you respond to my distress calls. I indeed disavow your taking me for partner aforetime. There is indeed a painful punishment for the wrongdoers.’
Qur’an 14:22

Satan’s declaration here should be read carefully. Satan’s promises and intercessions only appeared to be a result of his power: their only actual result (according to the Qur’anic author) was to encourage a change in intention in a sinner. Abraham likewise made intercessions, and (in the Qur’anic view) the effects of these should be seen to be pious and devotional:

All praise belongs to God, who gave me Ishmael and Isaac despite old age. My Lord indeed hears all supplications. My Lord! Make me a maintainer of prayer, and my descendants, Our Lord, accept my supplications. Our Lord! Forgive me, my parents, and all the faithful, on the day when the reckoning is held.
Qur’an 14:39-41

We can think of Abraham and Satan as the two trees in the garden of Eden, the two men crucified with Christ, or the hero and the shadow archetypes — Abraham is a good tree, Satan a wicked one:

Have you not regarded how God has drawn a parable? A good word is like a good tree, its roots are steady and its branches are on high. It gives its fruit every season by the leave of its Lord. God draws these parables for mankind so that they may take admonition.

And the parable of a bad word is that of a bad tree: uprooted from the ground, it has no stability.
Qur’an 14:24-25

Or in the Biblical verse the Qur’an is paraphrasing here:

Thus says the Lord:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.

For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
And whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
Jeremiah 17:5-8

Satan, the father of lies, is the wicked reflection of Abraham, our father in faith. Both sought to organize parts of the created order into a power hierarchy with themselves at the top. But see how this goes. Consider the long blessing of Hebron, which began with Abraham negotiating it from Lot:

So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.

And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”

Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.
Genesis 13:8-18

continued with Abraham purchasing land from the Canaanites:

And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.
Genesis 23:14-20

The Qur’an incorporates this “city” — Hebron — and Abraham’s prayers for it. . Abraham prayed to God, both to bring his followers to God, and to ask that Hebron itself be transfigured:

When Abraham said, ‘My Lord! Make this city a sanctuary, and save me and my children from worshiping idols. My Lord! They have indeed misled many people. So whoever follows me indeed belongs with me, and as for those who disobey me, well, You are indeed all-forgiving, all merciful!
Qur’an 14:35-36

But Satan does not have the faith that can move mountains, and his schemes will come to not:

They certainly devised their plots, but their plots are known to God, and their plots are not such as to dislodge the mountains.
Qur’an 14:46

The point is obvious. While Satan grows his own power:

Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

For some have already turned aside after Satan.

If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.
1 Timothy 5:14-16

We know that God is righteous, God is faithful to us, He will remember the promises the made to Abraham, while the promises of Satan are meaningless:

So do not supposed that God will break His promise to His apostles. Indeed, God is all-mighty, avenger. The way when the earth is turned into another earth and the heavens, and they are presented before God, the One, the All-paramount — on that day you will see the guilty bound together in chains, their garments made of pitch, and the Fire covering their faces, so that God may regard every soul for what is has earned. God is indeed swift at reckoning.
Qur’an 14:47-51

Consider this good news a warning. The LORD God, He is one God! Let he who has eyes see, and has ears, hear!

This is a proclamation for mankind, so that they may be warned thereby and know that He is indeed the One God, and those who possess intellect may take admonition.
Qur’an 14:52