Qur’anic root KH Ṭ W (خَطَا)
Stepping and moving forward: from foot movement and traversing a path to following Satan’s footsteps
Qur’anic and lexical forms
خُطُوَات
(khuṭuwāt)
Only Qur’anic form: five occurrences in four verses
خَطَا
(khaṭā)
Stepped; lexical form, not Qur’anic
خَطْو
(khaṭw)
Verbal noun: stepping; not Qur’anic
خُطْوَة
(khuṭwah)
Step or distance of a step; not Qur’anic
خَطْوَة
(khaṭwah)
One instance of stepping; not Qur’anic
خُطًى
(khuṭan)
Another plural for steps; not Qur’anic
خَاطٍ
(khāṭin)
Active participle: one stepping; not Qur’anic
تَخَطَّى
(takhaṭṭā)
Stepped over something; not Qur’anic
تَخَطٍّ
(takhaṭṭin)
Form V verbal noun; not Qur’anic
اِخْتَطَى / اِخْتَاطَ
(ikhtaṭā / ikhtāṭa)
Two lexical forms for stepping; not Qur’anic
أَخْطَى
(akhṭā)
Made another step; not Qur’anic
الخَطَوْطَى
(al-khaṭawṭā)
Lexical use for a rash person; not Qur’anic
1. Introducing the root and its semantic field
The Arabic root KH Ṭ W concerns stepping, moving a foot to advance, and covering a distance. Khaṭā is the verb for taking a step; khuṭwah is a step or the distance formed between the feet in stepping.
Related uses include crossing, passing beyond something, and moving past a boundary. A step carries someone from their previous position to another. The movement can be bodily or depict progress along an intellectual, ethical, or social course.
The Qur’an uses this root only as plural khuṭuwāti, always within khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni, “Satan’s footsteps.”
It occurs five times in four verses: Al-Baqarah 2:168, Al-Baqarah 2:208, Al-Anʿām 6:142, and twice in Al-Nūr 24:21. No verb or singular form of the root occurs in the Qur’an.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: five occurrences in four verses
This restricted distribution matters. None of these references to Satan’s footsteps concerns his feet physically moving on the ground. The expression depicts people following a course, conduct, or direction attributed to Satan.
All details of misguidance, temptation, or Satan’s conduct must not be built into khuṭuwāt itself. It means steps; Satan is identified by the genitive complement, and following by the verb ittabaʿa.
2. The semantic core and important forms
Stepping and changing position
Discussing KH Ṭ W alongside related hamzated forms, Ibn Fāris’s Maqāyīs al-Lughah identifies a core concerning passing beyond a position and moving away:
الْخَاءُ وَالطَّاءُ وَالْحَرْفُ الْمُعْتَلُّ وَالْمَهْمُوزُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى تَعَدِّي الشَّيْءِ وَالذَّهَابِ عَنْهُ
al-khāʾu wa-al-ṭāʾu wa-al-ḥarfu al-muʿtallu wa-al-mahmūzu yadullu ʿalā taʿaddī al-shayʾi wa-al-dhahābi ʿanhu
“Khāʾ, ṭāʾ, and the weak or hamzated final radical indicate passing beyond something and going away from it.”
He gives khaṭawtu akhṭū khaṭwatan as an example, discussing a step and the space between the feet.
Movement and passing beyond are prominent in this definition.
Maqāyīs al-Lughah: KH Ṭ W and the hamzated family
Stepping takes someone beyond a former position, without necessarily meaning wrongful transgression, sin, or departure from truth. A step may serve a right destination, helping others, or ordinary activity.
The root therefore carries no fixed ethical direction. Steps can serve right or wrong; destination, conduct, and context identify their value.
Important Arabic forms
Form I khaṭā yakhṭū means stepping or advancing through foot movement. Its verbal noun is khaṭw.
Khaṭw denotes stepping or moving itself.
In a familiar lexical explanation, khuṭwah denotes the distance between the feet in a step. “Step” is a natural equivalent.
Khaṭwah, with initial a, denotes a single instance of stepping in one early lexical distinction. Classical sources discuss its difference from khuṭwah.
Khuṭuwāt is the plural of khuṭwah, meaning steps. This is the Qur’anic form.
Khuṭan is another recognized plural of khuṭwah for steps.
Khāṭin is the active participle of khaṭā, someone stepping. It differs from khāṭiʾ, belonging to KH Ṭ ʾ.
Form V takhaṭṭā means stepping over, crossing, or passing beyond something.
Takhaṭṭin is its verbal noun, concerning crossing or passing beyond.
Lexical sources record ikhtaṭā for stepping. Some also record metathesized ikhtāṭa with the same meaning.
Akhṭā in reported lexical usage means making another person step. It must not be confused with hamzated akhṭaʾa, “made an error.”
Some sources record al-khaṭawṭā for a rash, flighty person. This limited use does not change the root’s general meaning.
These derivatives are recognized Arabic, but only khuṭuwāt occurs in the Qur’an.
Khuṭwah and khaṭwah
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Lisān al-ʿArab distinguish the two familiar forms.
Khuṭwah, with initial u, denotes the distance between the feet while stepping.
Khaṭwah, with initial a, denotes one instance of stepping.
Imagine someone taking one step forward. Moving the foot is one act of stepping; the distance formed between the foot positions is also called a step.
The lexical distinction matters, but should not become an absolute boundary in every Arabic use. Early sources also sometimes treat them as closely related pronunciations.
Lexical and reading reports also give plurals khuṭuwāt, khuṭwāt, and khuṭawāt. Vowel differences alone do not change the Qur’anic meaning into another concept.
Tāj al-ʿArūs and Mufradāt: forms and vowel distinctions
A physical image: one step after another
Human walking provides an image of this root.
A person moves one foot forward, transfers their weight, and moves the other. Each step changes their position.
Someone following the same route might see the first person’s footprints and follow the course.
Stepping and following another’s steps are two distinct matters in this image.
KH Ṭ W concerns the step; T B ʿ supplies following.
The distinction is fundamental to khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni. The Qur’an does more than describe people stepping: it prohibits following steps attributed to Satan.
The plural can depict a series of steps along a course, but does not alone establish that every misguidance necessarily occurs through specified stages or time intervals.
3. Early Arabic usage
Steps describing a horse’s movement
A verse attributed to the pre-Islamic poet Imruʾ al-Qays reads:
لَهَا وَثَبَاتٌ كَوَثْبِ الظِّبَاءِ
فَوَادٍ خِطَاءٌ وَوَادٍ مَطِرْ
lahā wathabātun ka-wathbi al-ẓibāʾi / fa-wādin khiṭāʾun wa-wādin maṭir
“She has bounds like those of gazelles: one valley she crosses in steps, another she traverses with a rainlike rush.”
The verse depicts a horse’s bounds and speed, using khiṭāʾ to describe a differing manner of movement.
Khiṭāʾ in this reading is connected with stepping.
The lexical commentary describes the horse sometimes stepping and ceasing to run, sometimes running with speed.
The second half has variants. Some transmit khaṭīṭ, relating the image to rain falling on one area while leaving another dry.
The variant affects detailed interpretation; the witness must not imply agreement across every transmission and explanation.
Khiṭāʾ nevertheless supplies an early witness for stepping and manner of movement in that reading.
Tāj al-ʿArūs and al-Ṣiḥāḥ: Imruʾ al-Qays and variant transmissions
Stepping over something
Arabic takhaṭṭā al-shayʾa means stepping over something and passing beyond it.
Lifting a foot over a low obstacle can be described through takhaṭṭī.
Takhaṭṭā ilā kadhā also concerns passing beyond an earlier place or situation and reaching something else.
Figurative crossing of a limit or obstacle belongs to this field.
Not every crossing is wrongful transgression. Passing an obstacle may be permissible or necessary.
Takhaṭṭī therefore does not inherently mean sinning; wrongfulness depends on the boundary and prescription crossed.
Khuṭṭiya ʿanka al-sūʾu: harm passing away
Classical dictionaries record the prayerful expression khuṭṭiya ʿanka al-sūʾu: may evil or harm be removed from you.
Movement and passing away are prominent here.
The expression does not make warding off harm the root’s meaning in every use. The passive construction and ʿan help form the prayerful sense.
A dictionary record alone also does not establish the expression’s precise historical period without independent evidence.
Tāj al-ʿArūs and al-Muḥkam: the prayer for harm to pass away
From physical steps to following another’s course
Figurative steps in Arabic can extend to following another person’s traces and course.
Under khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni, Lisān al-ʿArab transmits explanations such as his paths and traces.
They emphasize what someone follows after another. A step then depicts a course or conduct the follower adopts, beyond merely moving a foot.
“Satan’s paths and traces” explains the complete expression; khuṭwah itself does not lexically mean Satan, temptation, or sin.
The step’s image must therefore remain distinct from following Satan, formed with the sentence’s other words.
4. Qur’anic uses of KH Ṭ W
Every Qur’anic occurrence belongs to khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni.
Their contexts differ. Two concern food and The God’s provision; another addresses believers about entering silm. Al-Nūr concerns social conduct, indecency, wrongdoing, and purity.
Satan’s footsteps should therefore not be restricted to one particular sin or behavior.
A. Al-Baqarah 2:168: Satan’s footsteps in relation to lawful, wholesome food
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
yā ayyuhā al-nāsu kulū mimmā fī al-arḍi ḥalālan ṭayyiban wa-lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni innahu lakum ʿaduwwun mubīnun
“O people, eat what is lawful and wholesome on earth, and do not follow Satan’s footsteps; he is a clear enemy to you.”
Al-Baqarah 2:168
The verse addresses people through yā ayyuhā al-nāsu, beginning with eating what is on earth.
Ḥalālan and ṭayyiban occur together. They belong to independent roots without changing stepping’s meaning.
The command wa-lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni follows.
This connection places the prohibition in relation to food, lawfulness, and wholesomeness.
The next verse particularly illuminates the relationship:
إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
innamā yaʾmurukum bi-al-sūʾi wa-al-faḥshāʾi wa-an taqūlū ʿalā Allāhi mā lā taʿlamūna
“He commands you only to evil, indecency, and saying about The God what you do not know.”
Al-Baqarah 2:169
The Qur’an identifies evil, indecency, and speaking about The God without knowledge as directions of Satan’s command.
The last matters particularly in a food context. Presenting something as The God’s ruling without knowledge goes beyond personal choice into making a claim about Him.
Khuṭuwāt should nevertheless not be lexically translated as “forbidding foods.” That is one contextual setting rather than the root’s meaning.
Al-Baqarah 2:170 also contrasts following inherited ancestral practice with following what The God revealed.
The verses thus connect food, religious claims without knowledge, and following inherited ways.
Disliking a food or refraining from it does not alone constitute following Satan. The issue changes when someone presents personal preference or custom as divine law without authorization or knowledge.
This difference comes from context and related verses, not khuṭuwāt alone.
B. Al-Baqarah 2:208: following Satan in relation to entering silm
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū udkhulū fī al-silmi kāffatan wa-lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni innahu lakum ʿaduwwun mubīnun
“O you who believe, enter silm fully, all together, and do not follow Satan’s footsteps; he is a clear enemy to you.”
Al-Baqarah 2:208
Unlike Al-Baqarah 2:168, this verse identifies its audience as those who believe.
Entering al-silm comes first, followed by the prohibition of Satan’s footsteps.
Arabic silm concerns peace, soundness, and submission. Its precise range here requires independent study of S L M.
The construction nevertheless clearly contrasts entering silm with avoiding Satan’s footsteps.
Following Satan can thus stand opposed to silm.
Khuṭuwāt itself does not mean war, discord, violence, or leaving silm. Those concepts would come from its relation to the first command and wider context.
Does belief remove the possibility of following Satan?
No. The verse itself addresses believers and prohibits following his footsteps.
Being called a believer therefore does not alone confer immunity from wrong choices.
Someone may consider themselves a believer yet follow a course inconsistent with truth and justice in a particular decision.
The verse does not, conversely, make every disagreement among believers necessarily satanic following.
Attributing a behavior to khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni requires clear indications. Disagreement, opposing a person, or rejecting a group’s position alone does not establish it.
The prohibition again accompanies Satan’s being a clear enemy, as in Al-Baqarah 2:168.
C. Al-Anʿām 6:142: Satan’s footsteps and divine provision
وَمِنَ الْأَنْعَامِ حَمُولَةً وَفَرْشًا كُلُوا مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ اللَّهُ وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ
wa-mina al-anʿāmi ḥamūlatan wa-farshan kulū mimmā razaqakumu Allāhu wa-lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni innahu lakum ʿaduwwun mubīnun
“Among livestock are beasts of burden and those close to the ground. Eat what The God has provided you, and do not follow Satan’s footsteps; he is a clear enemy to you.”
Al-Anʿām 6:142
The verse concerns livestock and divine provision.
Ḥamūlatan and farshan describe or classify livestock; their exact meanings belong to their own root studies.
The point for this root is the connection between eating The God’s provision and avoiding Satan’s footsteps.
The construction closely resembles Al-Baqarah 2:168.
Al-Anʿām’s context gives greater detail.
Al-Anʿām 6:138 describes people alleging restrictions on crops and livestock.
Al-Anʿām 6:140 criticizes forbidding The God’s provision by falsely attributing it to Him.
Al-Anʿām 6:143 and Al-Anʿām 6:144 question livestock classifications and alleged prohibitions.
Satan’s footsteps here connect with following courses leading to inventing religious restrictions without divine authorization.
Personal choice and claiming legislation
Ordinarily, someone may dislike and avoid a food without claiming a religious prescription.
The issue changes when they tell others that The God prohibited it.
They are then attributing a ruling to The God, beyond expressing taste, culture, or personal caution.
Al-Anʿām’s context highlights the difference.
Khuṭuwāt itself means neither legislating nor prohibiting. KH Ṭ W supplies the steps image; the verses together identify the deviation.
Following Satan’s footsteps here can concern adopting and continuing a course based on uninformed claims and false attribution to The God.
D. Al-Nūr 24:21: footsteps and commands to indecency and wrongdoing
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ وَمَنْ يَتَّبِعْ خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَإِنَّهُ يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ مَا زَكَىٰ مِنْكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ أَبَدًا وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يُزَكِّي مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ
yā ayyuhā alladhīna āmanū lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni wa-man yattabiʿ khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni fa-innahu yaʾmuru bi-al-faḥshāʾi wa-al-munkari wa-lawlā faḍlu Allāhi ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatuhu mā zakā minkum min aḥadin abadan wa-lākinna Allāha yuzakkī man yashāʾu wa-Allāhu samīʿun ʿalīmun
“O you who believe, do not follow Satan’s footsteps. Whoever follows Satan’s footsteps: he commands indecency and wrongdoing. Were it not for The God’s favor and mercy toward you, none of you would ever become pure; but The God purifies whom He wills, and The God is Hearing, Knowing.”
Al-Nūr 24:21
Only this verse repeats khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni twice.
First comes the direct prohibition lā tattabiʿū.
Then comes the condition wa-man yattabiʿ.
The repetition combines prohibition with an explanation of following’s consequence.
Al-faḥshāʾi wa-al-munkari follows.
Faḥshāʾ and munkar are independent words understood through their own roots and Qur’anic contexts.
Their combination associates Satan’s footsteps here with objectionable conduct and moral corruption.
Al-Nūr’s social context
The preceding verses concern accusation, circulating uninformed speech, and spreading indecency among believers.
Al-Nūr 24:15 criticizes passing a report from tongue to tongue and saying what one has no knowledge of.
Al-Nūr 24:19 warns those who wish indecency to spread among believers.
The prohibition in Al-Nūr 24:21 thus concerns a setting where reputation, speech, accusation, and social conduct matter.
Accepting an unsupported report, repeating it, and spreading an accusation can place someone on a wrongful course.
The image of steps can illustrate hearing an unfounded claim, accepting it without examination, and then passing it to others.
Each act has its own responsibility, while continuing the conduct can spread social harm.
Khuṭuwāt itself does not mean rumor-spreading or slander; those instances arise from the sūrah’s context.
Nor should the verse be restricted to that example, since it speaks broadly of indecency and wrongdoing.
5. Do Satan’s footsteps necessarily mean gradual misguidance?
This question is central to a precise understanding of the root.
Common explanations sometimes depict Satan leading someone step by step from a small fault to a great sin.
This can intelligibly describe some conduct: someone accepts a small wrong, justifies it, and gradually proceeds to more serious acts.
Does khuṭuwāt itself conclusively express that sequence?
What the word itself supplies
Khuṭuwāt is plural and denotes steps.
Steps can be components of movement along a course.
The image makes progress from one stage to another readily imaginable.
The plural alone nevertheless does not establish that every misguidance begins with something small or develops through a fixed number of stages.
Someone may depart from truth through one major, overt decision, or reach the same result through successive, apparently small choices.
Both are possible in human conduct.
The Qur’anic expression explicitly condemns following Satan’s footsteps rather than merely moving slowly or gradually.
Direct meaning must therefore be distinguished from an explanatory possibility:
The direct meaning is following Satan’s footsteps, course, or method.
Gradual misguidance is one image that may explain particular examples of such following.
Human choice and responsibility
All four verses attribute following to human beings.
Al-Baqarah and Al-Anʿām prohibit people from following.
Al-Nūr 24:21 also warns whoever follows Satan’s footsteps.
The constructions present human conduct in relation to choice and responsibility.
In Ibrāhīm 14:22, Satan says at resurrection that he had no authority over people, but called them and they answered.
Invitation and following must therefore be distinguished from compulsion and the removal of choice.
Satan’s footsteps do not depict a force moving people involuntarily like lifeless objects.
This does not deny the effects of temptation, deception, or social pressure. A person may be influenced while remaining responsible for choices and conduct.
7. Morphological and structural notes
Khuṭuwāti: the only Qur’anic form
Khuṭuwāti is used in all five occurrences.
It is plural of khuṭwah and forms a genitive construction with al-shayṭāni.
Khuṭuwāti is the first member of the possessive construction; al-shayṭāni is its genitive complement.
Although khuṭuwāt lacks al-, attachment to a definite noun makes the complete expression definite: Satan’s footsteps.
Every occurrence is the object of a verb of following and is accusative. Kasrah marks its accusative because this sound feminine plural takes kasrah in the accusative.
The final kasrah must therefore not be mistaken for a genitive case ending.
Lā tattabiʿū: prohibition of following
Lā tattabiʿū occurs in all four verses.
Lā prohibits; tattabiʿū is a plural second-person Form VIII imperfect of T B ʿ.
The verb means following.
The command directly concerns the audience’s conduct: not to follow Satan’s footsteps.
It does not state that no temptation or wrongful invitation reaches people, but asks them not to follow it.
An invitation or temptation occurring and a person responding by following it are distinct matters in the construction.
Wa-man yattabiʿ: the conditional construction
The second occurrence in Al-Nūr 24:21 follows wa-man yattabiʿ.
Man is conditional and yattabiʿ a jussive imperfect.
The construction relates the statement to whoever fulfills its condition.
After directly prohibiting believers, the verse thus gives a broader statement concerning whoever follows Satan’s footsteps.
It does not limit exposure to such following to one social or religious group.
The plural in khuṭuwāt
The plural depicts multiple steps.
It may reinforce continuation along a path without alone specifying speed, number of stages, time intervals, or each step’s intensity.
The Qur’an does not use singular khuṭwah. Its absence does not make one wrong step unimportant or condemnation applicable only after repeated acts.
The verses prohibit following satanic conduct and direction; each act’s responsibility requires independent Qur’anic criteria.
8. Challenges in understanding and translation
Do Satan’s footsteps refer only to small sins?
No. The word supplies no such restriction.
A step can be small or large; their size is unspecified in the expression.
Someone may begin with an apparently small act and reach a major deviation, but that is only one possible pattern of wrongful following.
The relevant verses also concern uninformed religious claims, opposition to silm, and commands to indecency and wrongdoing.
These cannot be restricted to small errors.
Does following imply knowing the course is satanic?
Not necessarily.
Someone may knowingly follow a wrongful course or follow under habit, imitation, prejudice, or attractive speech without understanding its nature.
The situations differ in epistemic and ethical responsibility.
The expression alone does not establish that every follower knows the truth and consciously conceals it.
Awareness, intention, and responsibility require further evidence.
Does Satan have coercive control over people?
All four verses concern people following and ask them not to follow Satan’s course.
This is consistent with responsibility for human choice.
Other verses about temptation, beautifying deeds, and Satan’s invitation also describe his influence.
That role must neither be denied nor made a complete removal of human choice and responsibility.
Can every wrong act be called Satan’s step without examination?
No.
The Qur’an provides criteria for evil, indecency, wrongdoing, injustice, and uninformed claims about The God.
Applying Satan’s footsteps to a particular behavior therefore requires examining evidence about that behavior.
Religious, cultural, or political disagreement with us alone is insufficient.
Someone may also make a mistake, recognize it, and correct it. Making an error, persisting in it, and consciously inviting others to falsehood are different situations.
9. Translation proposals for Forqan
Arabic khaṭā can mean “stepped” or “took a step.”
Khaṭw naturally means “stepping” or “taking steps.”
For khuṭwah, the primary equivalent is “step.” A precise lexical explanation may also use “the distance of a step.”
For khaṭwah with initial a, “one instance of stepping” is a suitable explanatory rendering.
Takhaṭṭā can mean “stepped over,” “crossed,” or “passed beyond,” according to context.
The primary equivalent of khuṭuwāt is “steps.”
The proposed rendering of the expression in all Qur’anic uses is:
“Satan’s footsteps.”
This preserves the central image naturally.
For wa-lā tattabiʿū khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni, the proposal is:
“And do not follow Satan’s footsteps.”
“Do not follow Satan’s paths” also conveys the contextual meaning, but replaces steps with a broader explanatory image.
“Footsteps” should therefore remain in the translation, with connections to method, course, conduct, and following explained in a reflection.
“Satan’s errors,” “Satan’s small sins,” “stages of misguidance,” or “gradual temptations” are not direct equivalents of khuṭuwāt.
They may describe an instance or behavioral analysis without replacing the Arabic word in translation.
10. Summary
KH Ṭ W concerns stepping, foot movement, and covering a distance. Crossing something, passing beyond, and leaving a position behind belong to the same field.
The Qur’an uses only plural khuṭuwāti, always in khuṭuwāti al-shayṭāni.
The expression depicts following another’s steps and course. Steps themselves carry no negative ethical value; Satan and the context identify their wrongful direction.
Al-Baqarah 2:168 and Al-Anʿām 6:142 concern food, divine provision, and alleged prohibitions without knowledge. Al-Baqarah 2:208 combines it with entering silm; Al-Nūr 24:21 concerns social conduct, indecency, and wrongdoing.
The differences prevent making Satan’s footsteps the name of one specific sin. The Qur’an warns against following directions and behaviors leading away from truth.
Steps can suggest gradual progress, without establishing that every misguidance necessarily follows small, predetermined stages.
The verses also prohibit human following: Satan’s temptation and invitation differ from people responding and following.
The brief meaning of KH Ṭ W is stepping and advancing through foot movement; khuṭuwāt means steps.
Together with following and Satan, the Qur’anic image means adopting Satan’s course and method. “Satan’s footsteps” is therefore a suitable, textually faithful equivalent; its ethical, social, and legislative instances must come from each verse’s context.