If you read the Quran you come to understand why God created human beings and why we were put here on Earth. Many people believe that the original sin was committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden from where they were expelled and sent down to Earth.

The original sin happened in the High Society when Satan challenged the absolute authority of God. Every creation in the High Society was given the chance to decide if Satan could be a god alongside God. Human beings were the creations who decided that they needed more proof of Satan’s challenge and were created with freedom of choice, free will, to decide for themselves if Satan could live up to his contest.

Adam (man of the earth) and his wife were the first human beings that God created for the first of the rebellious creations to inhabit. They were set a test in the garden known as Paradise or the Garden of Eden. They were told not to eat the fruit of a certain tree; they were also told to beware of Satan because he was their enemy and would dupe them into committing sin.

The couple disobeyed God, listened to Satan and ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Their nakedness was revealed to them and they realised they had listened to Satan’s lies and forgotten the words of God. God then sent them down to Earth to live as enemies of one another. Because both of them had listened to Satan and both of them had eaten the fruit, encouraging each other to disobey God.

They were also to procreate, to bring into life, as a human being, all of the creatures from the High Society who wanted the proof of Satan’s authority. So began the test, to see if Satan could rule as a god over his earthly dominion. He vowed to take every soul he could except for those who belonged to God. God knows which souls belong to Him and which Satan will take with him to Hell but He leaves the choice entirely up to each individual human being He creates.

Idolatry is the worship of something, anything, alongside God. It is the belief that something or someone other than God is an authority alongside God. The Quran tells us the history of the previous communities on Earth who turned to idolatry and the consequences of their actions.

God is a forgiving god, He forgives any sins He wants to forgive but there is one exception, ‘Do not worship any god but Me.’ Idolatry is the only unforgivable sin if you commit it until the moment you die. We are told in all scriptures not to worship false idols.

The ego is the first god of most human beings. The first commandment in the Quran was given to Moses who told his community to ‘Kill your egos’. Total submission to God and God alone is how we redeem ourselves for the original sin of rebellion and for the sin we are still guilty of in one form or another - idolotry.

Satan is our enemy and he will find amazing ways to lead us astray. To lead us into believing that he can be an authority alongside God is his mission. His descendants are our constant companions who will be witnesses to our crimes on Earth on the Day of Judgement.

So seize the moment and give up false idols before you take your last breath. None of us knows when that last breath will be, so implore God for forgiveness and repent the sin of idolatry. God made human beings to worship Him alone but the freedom of choice that we took has taken us further away from God. Idolatry has been Satan’s greatest success.