The Age of Ego: Satanic Traits in Contemporary Society
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful
The rebellion of Iblis in the story of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, is a cautionary tale against arrogance and ego which can lead to Divine punishment. But what if these Satanic traits are not just glorified but prevalent in today’s society? In Western liberal culture individualism has created self-serving people. Traits such as selfishness, narcissism and ego are seen as necessary for success and material gain. This article explores how far Western society contains Satanic traits.
The Devil’s Rebellion
When Iblis rebelled against the command of Allah the Almighty to prostrate to Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ the Quran mentions the characteristics he exhibited and how it should be perceived.
And ˹remember˺ when We said to the angels, “Prostrate before Adam,” so they all did—but not Iblîs, who refused and acted arrogantly, becoming unfaithful.
Allah said, “ What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?” Satan replied, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay.” (7:12)
Allah said, “Then get down from Paradise! It is not for you to be arrogant here. So get out! You are truly one of the disgraced.”
The mention of arrogance is significant as the Quran identifies this as a negative trait which was the catalyst for Iblis’ expulsion and becoming a disbeliever. In psychology, arrogance is defined as a desire to overpower others. Arrogant individuals possess an inflated and warped sense of identity. They consider themselves superior to others and lack empathy, awareness and rely on delusion to justify their actions. An example of arrogance is attempting to dominate or intimidate people to achieve personal goals.
Notably, Iblis stated ‘I am better than him’ to justify why he didn’t want to prostrate to Adam. He pointed out that he was made from fire in comparison to clay. This statement was not inspired by Divine revelation but personal belief, displaying an inflated ego warped by a sense of self. In order to come to this conclusion it relied on perceiving Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ as inferior. This shows that arrogance is a Satanic trait which leads to rebellion against Divine commands.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ described arrogance as a barrier to Paradise:
It was narrated that Abdullah said: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'No one will enter Paradise who has even a mustard-seed's weight of arrogance in his heart, and no one will enter Hell who has even a mustard-seed's weight of faith in his heart.'"
This establishes that arrogance deprives one from salvation and leads to disgrace in this world and the next.
By extension those who adopt this mentality are considered the followers of Iblis/Satan. But what happens when the characteristics of Iblis are turned into an ideology with its own set of values?
The Ideology of Satanism
In the 1960’s Satanism became a contemporary political movement leading to the establishment of the Church of Satan in 1966. It was founded by Anton LaVey who aimed to re-interpret the theological figure of Satan into a value based doctrine. Satanists view the Devil as a 'symbol of sex, pride, nonconformity and individualism.' (Dyrendal, Lewis & Peterse, 2015, 3)
At its core, Satanism believed in the worship of one’s desires - particularly the ego. In his book The Satanic Bible, LaVey chastises the idea of relinquishing the ego, considering it to be a positive force. He associates it with qualities such as ‘pride, respect and self realisation.’
Instead of worshiping an external God, Satanism rejects religion entirely. LaVey believed that God should not dictate the moral guidelines for humanity but the individual should decide how they live. As a result, the human being is led by their lower desires such as lust, ego, envy and pride. (Olander, 212, 1-16)
On their website The Church of Satan outlines their views: ‘Our position is to be self centred, with ourselves, being the most important person (the God) of our subjective universe. We are sometimes said to worship ourselves.’
Allah سبحانه و تعالى criticises this mindset in Surah Al-Furqan:
Have you seen the one who has taken their own desires as their god?
In contrast, Islam teaches believers that restraining desires is the way to salvation.
And as for those who were in awe of standing before their Lord and restrained themselves from ˹evil˺ desires,
Paradise will certainly be ˹their˺ home.
To summarise, it can be said that Satanists follow the characteristics of Iblis in his original rebellion against Allah by admiring traits such as arrogance, pride and ego. This in turn rejects Divine submission in favour of self worship.
However, the average person doesn’t identify themselves as a Satanist. So how do contemporary individuals engage in ‘self worship’ and how prevalent is this mentality in modern society?
The Age of Ego: Narcissism = Success?
Every society is influenced by its culture. It shapes a group's morals, values, behaviour, identity - affecting whether citizens see themselves as part of a community or a collection of self-reliant individuals.
In his book The Culture of Narcissism Christopher Lach argues that Western Europe has an individualist culture which promotes personal superiority, hierarchy and control over others. Its citizens adopt a survival mentality based on self interest and material gain. As a result the West is fuelling generations of narcissistic people. He describes narcissism as ‘self vanity, self satisfaction and glorification.’ These traits lead to groups adopting ‘ethnic or racial prejudice and fanaticism’ against others.
In an individualist society, the needs of the individual are projected onto the collective. This culture demands them to be competitive and self-serving. They are focused on their own interests at the expense of others. Narcissists view people as obstacles they need to control or influence in order to succeed.
In contrast, a collectivist society is signalled by values of cooperation and loyalty. This mindset represents the needs of the majority and not the individual, whose desires are ‘subordinated into the demands’ of the collective.’ (Lasch, 1979, 31-3).
Psychoanalyst Michael Maccoby conducted interviews with 250 corporate managers in the United States to identify the personality traits of the most successful leaders. His research revealed it was the “Gamesman” — a personality driven by the pursuit of glory and the desire to win. This leader has a competitive streak and a love of winning, prioritising it more than money and status. They relish challenges and take risks, driven by success, entitlement and self advancement. Their ambitions push them to dominate others, driven by a need to win above all else.
The Gamesman lacks the qualities of loyalty, friendliness or compassion which are seen as moral limitations to their goals. This frames corporate life as being a competitive game of power politics between individuals rather than motivated by ethics or communal enterprise. (Time Magazine, 1976)
Restraining our Desires
Arguably, we are living in an age of ego - where arrogance, narcissism and superiority are necessary traits to survive in the workplace and daily life. By socialising people to be self-serving, Western society in turn creates individuals with ‘Satanic traits’. Therefore the average Muslim must have Taqwa (God-consciousness) when navigating society. When we recognise society’s role in fostering self indulgent traits, we can restrain our desires from corruption.
This is struggle summarised in Surah Shams:
Successful indeed is the one who purifies their soul
and doomed is the one who corrupts it!
May Allah protect us from corrupting our souls, guide us to live by His commands and protect us from those who follow their desires. Ameen.
___________________________________________________________________
Jazakallah khair for reading. Please benefit the ummah by sharing this knowledge and downloading a transcript below. Feel free to use it for your own research or personal study.
Bibliography
Asbjørn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis & Jesper A. A. Petersen, The Invention of Satanism (Oxford University Press, 2015).
Cheng, A.W., Rizkallah, S. and Narizhnaya, M. (2017) ‘Individualism vs. Collectivism’, in Zeigler-Hill, V. and Shackelford, T.K. (eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 1–56.
Church of Satan Official website. Available at: https://churchofsatan.com (Accessed: 22 December 2025)
CoachHub, Confidence vs Arrogance: Understanding the Critical Differences. Available at: https://www.coachhub.com/blog/confidence-and-arrogance#what-is-arrogance
Lasch, C. (1979) The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Time Magazine (1976) Management: Age of the Gamesman. Time, 1 March. Available at: https://time.com/archive/6848562/management-age-of-the-gamesman/ (Accessed: 22 December 2025).
Olander Lap, Amina, 2012, ”Categorizing Modern Satanism: An Analysis of LaVey's Early Writings”, The Devil’s Party: Satanism in Modernity,
Sūrah Al-ʿAʿrāf 7:12-3. Available at: https://quran.com/al-araf/12
Sūrah Al-Baqarah 2:34. Available at: https://quran.com/2/34
Sūrah Al-Furqān 25:43. Available at: https://quran.com/al-furqan/43
Sūrah An-Nāziʿāt 79:40–41. Available at: https://quran.com/an-naziat/40-41
Sūrah Ash‑Shams 91. Available at: https://quran.com/ash‑shams
