Due to the imminent arrival of
Ramadan, I thought it would be beneficial to talk about the approaches that Satan
uses against us, at every moment of our lives to get us away from the
remembrance of Allah (Zikrullah). Insha-Allah, this can be for all of us -
myself first - a humble reminder and contribute to our spiritual preparation
for the month of Ramadan, the aim being, of course, that when the time comes, Insha-Allah, we maximize the best of
these blessed days.
We can read in the Holy Quran the
following words which Allah addressed to Satan:
“Excite
with your voice whoever you can among them, and assault them with your cavalry
and your infantry, and become a partner in their wealth and their children and
make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit. As for
My (believing) servants, you have no power over them. And your Lord is sufficient
to protect them!” (17: 65-66)
This verse contains information
relative to the main routes used by Satan and his allies to exert power over
the human being and thus mislead him from the Straight Path. They often act:
- Through what man perceives through his sense organs, as
mentioned in the verse in question: “Excite with
your voice…”
-
Through the negative impact of his acts of disobedience: “…assault them with your cavalry and your infantry…”;
verily, all those who acts in disobedience to Allah make up the cavalry and
infantry of Satan.
- Via natural impulses that inhabit him, those innate
qualities that make his character and the feelings he develops from his own
individual or his surroundings: “...become a
partner in their wealth and their children…”
-
Via suggestions addressed directly to his conscience and
mind: “...make promises to them…”
Satan can thus infiltrate and
access the human heart by internal or external ways, exposed or concealed.
Hence the need for the believer to exercise constantly for increased vigilance
with respect to the multiple assaults of his sworn enemy, whom the Quran mentions
the words thereof, in these terms:
“‘Because You have put me in error’,
said (Satan), ‘I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path., then I
will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and
on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful (to You).’” (7: 17-18).
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
had clearly warned his Companions (ra) about it. Abdullah Ibn Masud (ra)
narrates:
“The Messenger of Allah (pbuh)
drew a line for us and said, ‘This is the path of Allah.’
Then he drew several other
lines to the right and to left of the straight
line. Then, he said, “These are diverse paths, and there is a Satan at every
other path beckoning towards himself.”
Then, the Prophet read this verse from
the Quran (6:154): “(Allah has enjoined), ‘This is
My straight path; so follow it, and do not follow other ways: that will lead
you away from His path.’ That is what He enjoins upon you, so that you may
guard yourselves.” (Musnad
Ahmad).
It is not without a valid reason that
the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that those who ventures too close to the
limits set by Allah, that they are more liable to transgress and fall into the
forbidden.
Despite the fact that you thought that
you were religious and close to Allah, but Satan may sow doubt in you and make
you deviate from the right path. It would be appropriate here to recall some of
the internal doors - in the sense that
they are related to human feelings and impulses - those most frequently
used by Satan to get to impregnate the human heart with his evil influence.
There is:
- Anger: Man’s violent nature can indeed bring him to lose of his
self-control, and thus giving Satan the golden opportunity to use him and
provoke him to do all that he (Satan) pleases.
-
Desire: If not controlled, it can lead man to commit very serious
sins, from a vicious look to fornication, and also having illicit thoughts and
fantasies. Satan can cunningly use a single wretched way to bamboozle your mind
to a point where he makes you testify against the truth of Allah for fear of
creatures and also makes you do bad deeds on a whim or out of anger or by
passion, and so the nafs (passion/ego)
surpasses the spirituality that is in you.
- Jealousy and Greed/Envy: Two inclinations that can absolutely blind and deafen
those who are affected by them and make them forget their sense of responsibility.
It was really jealousy and envy that brought about the loss and the curse of
Iblis, when they prevented him from serving and obeying Adam (as). And this is
what one might consider to be some greed which played a decisive role in the mistake
of Adam (as) and his wife, which pushed them to eat from the one tree which Allah
had clearly forbidden them to approach.
- The excessive
love of material things, fear of poverty and avarice: Satan uses these feelings to influence man, by developing
and maintaining constantly in him a way of life purely based on materialistic
criteria. Man thus comes to waste all his precious life to run after goals which
he will never achieve - because it will not be possible for him to satisfy all his
material desires in this very world.
To illustrate this sad reality, one can
cite the example of the person who obtains suddenly, without expecting it, a
thousand rupees: Often in such cases, as an immediate response, his heart is
found assailed by the desire to satisfy multiple material desires, each of
which requires at least an amount equivalent to that which he obtained. Thus, the
sum he received is suddenly not at all enough for him and he feels the need to
have even more money! Therefore, this person, who a few moments ago only had a
serene heart and who felt no need for any particular material comfort suddenly
finds himself in a spiral of needs which he just has to fulfil! And if he is
not careful about this kind of spiral of material needs and does not rid
himself of it, therefore the desire to satisfy his new and supposed needs will monopolize
all his time and shall not even leave him enough time to fulfil his real duties
– that is, those which he has towards his Creator and towards those people who
surrounds him.
- The burning
desire to always please people - not the
Creator: Such ambition has the direct
consequence of developing in the heart of the one who carries it, very serious
spiritual diseases such as ostentation. The people whom he seeks to please is
thus comparable to deities: Indeed, all his actions as well as his behaviour and
attitude are constantly guided by the desire that animates it, with all the
adverse consequences this implies – the least of which is that he will sink
into the vilest of flatteries (moudahana),
daring not anymore to acquit himself of his Muslim duty to enjoin good and
prevent evil, for fear of offending those he reveres so much.
- Hastiness: The Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) clearly stated that “Haste is from Satan…” (Tirmidhi).
Whoever does not take the time to think before acting decreases (partially or
totally) the control of reason which impacts on his decisions: It is not
surprisingly, therefore, that he becomes a prey of choice for satanic
suggestions.
- The desire to denigrate one’s opponents and sectarianism: The spirit of contradiction is a
disposition present in most people, but however at different scales. It is precisely
this personality trait that Satan often happens to exploit in a perverse and
vicious way: Thus, on issues related, in one way or another, to religious
aspects, Satan gives the illusion to man that the critics that he formulates
towards others are quite fair and that they contribute to establish justice. Result:
Rather than becoming aware of his own weaknesses and thinking of repenting for
his own misdeeds and sins, he derives from his sectarian attitude and his
constant denial of others a sense of accomplishment.
-
Commitment to
topics of controversy and differences: This
is also a way employed by Satan to divert man from what is essential, that is,
from his personal reform for better submission to Allah. It is not without
reason that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had stated the enormous merit related
to the abandonment/settlement of dispute, even when one is right.
These are some of the main “internal”
accesses used by Satan to exert his evil influence on the human heart. It is
incumbent upon us now, to redouble our vigilance and make our best to block
these “ways” used by Satan, and we can do this by multiplying the spiritual
reform exercises and good works, but above all by imploring for the help and
assistance of Allah.
May Allah preserve us against the
incentives of Satan and keep us on the right path and give us the opportunity
to always act well, remaining committed to the teachings of Islam and following
the model of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Ameen.
- Friday Sermon of 12 June 2015 ~(24 Shabaan 1436 Hijri) delivered by the Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.