Does Evil want good to prevail? One day, the Persian poet Mo’ania, the first

Does Evil want good to prevail? One day, the Persian poet Mo’ania, the first of the Ommiad Caliphs was sleeping in the palace when he was woken up by a strange man: “who are you?” he asked. “I am Lucifer” came the reply. “and what do you want?” he enquired. “It is the hour for prayers,” he answered, “ and yet you are still asleep”. Mo’ania was amazed. Why was the Prince of Darkness, who seeks out the souls of men, reminding him to do his religious duties? “Remember” Lucifer explains, “ I was brought up as an angel of light. Despite everything that has happened to me, I cannot forget my origins. A man may travel to Rome or to Jerusalem but he always carries the values of his own country with him in his heart. Well, the same thing happened to me. I still love the Creator who nourished and cared for me when I was young and taught me to do good. When I rebelled against Him, it was not because I did not love him; on the contrary I loved Him somuch that I felt jealous when He created Adam. At the moment I wanted to defy the Lord and that was my downfall. Nevertheless I still remember the blessings bestowed on me and hope that perhaps by doing good I can, one day, return to Paradise.” Mo’ania replied, “I can’t believe what you are saying. You have been responsible for the destruction of many people on earth.” “Well, you should believe it” insisted Lucifer. “Only God can build and destroy because He is all powerful. When He created man, He also created, as part of life, desire, vengeance, and fear. So when you look at the evil around you, don’t blame only me; I merely reflect back to things that happen.” Mo’ania was sure that something was wrong and he began to pray desperately to God to enlighten him. He spends the whole night talking and arguing with Lucifer but despite the brilliant arguments that he heard, he remained unconvinced. When day was dawning, Lucifer finally gave in and said “You were right. When I came yesterday informing you not to miss the hour of prayer, my real intention was not to bring you closer to the Divine Light. I know that if you fail to fulfill your obligation, you would feel profoundly sad and over the next few days would you pray with twice the faith, asking forgiveness for having forgotten the ritual. In the eyes of God, each one of those prayers made with love and repentance would be equivalent to two hundred prayers said on any ordinary automatic way. You would, then, end up more purified and more inspired, God would love you more and your soul would be beyond by grasp.” Lucifer vanished and angel of light took his place saying: “never forget today’s lesson. Sometimes evil comes disguised as an emissary of good but its real intention is to cause more destruction than good.” On that day and the days that followed, Mo’ania prayed with repentance, compassion and faith. -Pamyaphy Chamroy