Satan Prettifies Bad Deeds to Deceive Us
When one keeps committing sins and doing bad things, their ugliness and evilness disappears in his view gradually and it becomes a habit. After some time, he begins to justify his unacceptable actions and even his bad deeds seem to be beautiful in his eyes.
Man’s conscience can distinguish between good and bad when it is healthy but when he keeps walking on the path of sins and corruption, the role of conscience becomes less and less and it loses its ability to prevent sins and bad deeds. It is then that bad deeds seem pretty to one’s eyes. The Holy Quran refers to this as decorating one’s deeds.
But who decorates wrongdoers’ evil deeds? There are three kinds of this, according to the Quran.
1- Sometimes God makes the deeds of those who do not believe in the Hereafter look attractive. “As for those who do not believe in the Everlasting Life, We have decorated for them their works, and they wander blindly.” (Surah An-Naml, Verse 4)
This is not just about individuals but can refer to societies as well: “We have made every nation's deeds seem attractive to them.” (Surah Al-An’am, Verse 108)
2- Sometimes it is Satan who decorates actions of people. Those who do not reflect on their deeds and follow Satan out of arrogance are deceived by Satan who make their improper deeds look attractive. “Satan made their (pagans') deeds seem attractive to them.” (Surah Al-Anfal, Verse 48)
3- Sometimes the verb is in the passive voice and it is not clear who has decorated the deeds: “Their evil deeds seem attractive to them but God does not guide the unbelieving people.” (Surah At-Tawbah, Verse 37)
This verse refers to unbelievers who believe neither in God nor in the Day of Judgment. They insist on their disbelief and there is no way for their guidance.
Overall, it seems that it is man himself that by continuously doing bad deeds changes the criteria in his mind about what is beautiful and what is not. However, on the Day of Judgment he will have to be accountable before God about the decisions he has made in this world.
