Chapter Five

The Devil’s Doorway
Into Mankind

Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, has informed us in the Noble Qur’an that the devil
has the influence of inciting to anger, insinuating evil, whispering evil and
touch, but what is the difference between all these maneuvers? And what are the
means by which the devil penetrates the human soul, thus driving it into
committing sin? How does the devil frightens his followers, mastering them by
fear? And how he ultimately flees deserting the man fallen in sin, after he
declares himself innocent of him?

Before we
begin, we must know that there is evil whispering from the devil, and evil
whispering and pushing into sin from the human self. As Allah, all praise and
glory is to Him, has informed us in the Noble Qur’an that human selves differ,
for there is the kindly self, the self constantly self-reproaching, and the
self that incites to evil.

The kindly self
is the one that performs nothing but what is good and benevolent. As for the
reproaching self, it is the self of a man who when falls into sin, it
reproaches him, thus he returns to goodness once more, for man may fall into
sin more than once. As for the self that incites to evil, it is that of a man
who got used to evil, thus nothing can spur feelings of remorse and disapproval
in him; he is living with this evil, enjoining it, he got used to it in a way
that all his actions have become wicked, and he is enjoying this wickedness!

But how can we
tell that whispering is either from the devil or the self?

As for the
devil, he wants man sinful anyway, so it does not matter what is the kind of
sin, but rather all he cares about is that man falls into sin. Hence, the devil
attempts to lure man with ill-gotten money, if he does not respond to such
allurement, he hastily shifts to tempting him into committing adultery and
vice; upon failing, he tries with him the temptation of liquors, thus if he
finds all doors of sin closed before him, he changes his maneuvers by
attempting to mar his obedience through making him boast of the charity he
offers, hence he forfeits its reward, or when prayer is due, he tries to hinder
him from performing it.

One should know
that such temptations do not happen by force or compulsion, as the devil has no
subjugating power over man. But for instance, when the Azan [Call to
Prayers] is pronounced, the devil tempts man not to perform the prayer, but
postpone it till the film he is watching ends, and when it does end, he starts
reminding him of things he should do, like calling a friend, or eating his
supper first, or making a visit he has forgotten, and other wiles that the
devil resorts to.

If man is a
merchant, he starts frightening him by the thought that if he went to prayer
now, he might forfeit many bargains, and thus would lose profit. In such a way,
he keeps busying him with one matter after the other, till the prescribed time
of prayer is gone, or he gradually abandons it. But if he fails in this, he
starts whispering to him during ablution and praying, in order to cause him to
feel that he did not perform ablution correctly, raising doubts about his
ablution, so that he repeats it more than once, then when he stands for prayer,
he casts doubt into him in such a way that man keeps repeating the prayer and
no longer knows how many rakahs(9) he truly
prayed or no longer knows whether he performed ablution correctly or not.

Hence, the
devil does not care about the sin itself, but all he pants for is to make man
sin.

As for the evil
whispering of oneself, it insists on a certain act of disobedience, and does
not crave any other form of sinning, in other word, the self impels one to
commit a specific sin, and repeats it, without tempting into other sins.

The Difference Between
The Two Whisperings

To know who is
whispering to you, see if the one whispering only wishes that you fall into
sin, regardless of what it is; if so then it is the devil, but if there is
insistence on a certain sin you got used to, then it is from your self.

Satan always
sneaks through the doors where there is weakness in abidance by the doctrine;
if he finds man unyielding to temptation in a certain aspect, he finds his way
through another aspect where man shows weakness. Hence, if man for instance
adheres fast to praying, performing them at their due prescribed times, Satan
creeps into him from the door of money, whispering to him not to pay the Zakah
(Obligatory Charity), to be tightfisted, and to eat up other people’s money
unjustly, deluding him into thinking that by such a way he would be rich, his
money would grow, and he would be safely away from poverty. But the truth is
otherwise, as the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said: “Never would wealth decrease because of
charity”, because it is charity which makes money grow, and
place the Blessings of Allah in it so that it increases. Wealth belongs to
Allah, and we all leave it behind us upon departing from this worldly life, but
the unbeliever is unaware of such a truth.

Hence, when
Satan finds a man, who strictly guards the performance of prayers but loves
money, he approaches him from this side, by stopping him from giving in
charity, and all sorts of benevolent acts. Then, he starts to allure him with
ill-gotten money, so sins starts to weave their threads around his heart little
by little, till it smothers his heart wholly, preventing him from remembering
Allah.

Little things
that man can give thanks for is better than plenty that man can not tolerate,
for the devil may exploit the love of money within the heart of one of the
servants of Allah to shun him away from obedience and the Law of Allah, thus he
may abstain from paying Zakah (Obligatory Charity) driving him into
sinning, and ingratitude. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says (which
means):

“And among
them are those who made a covenant with Allah, [saying], ‘If He should give us
from His bounty, we will surely spend in charity, and we will surely be among
the righteous.’ But when he gave them from His bounty, they were stingy with it
and turned away while they refused. So He penalized them with hypocrisy in
their hearts until the Day they will meet Him – because they failed Allah in
what they promised Him and because they [habitually] used to lie.” (At-Tawbah,
9: 75-77)

There are many
examples for satanic ways, for he searches for the weak points in man in order
to penetrate to him through them. His endeavors never abate, till he entraps
man in his snares and drives him out of the Doctrine of Allah.

Searching For WeaknessHence, the
faces of temptations are versatile, if Satan found man strictly observing the
Prayers and paying the Zakah and is weak before women for instance, he
approaches him from that side and keeps adoring to him unchaste women, evilly
insinuating to him, till he fall into adultery or fornication and thereby he
commits one of the major sins.And if the
believer is strong in all these respects Satan creeps to him and adorns to him
drinking intoxicants, or gambling, or bad company, or backbiting…the important
thing is that Satan always approaches man from his points of weakness, leaving
the points where he shows firmness.

Never think
that when the devil tempts man, he comes to him from an evil path that man may
recoil from, but rather Satan cloaks this evil in a delusive guise that makes
it appear favorable to the self, easy to do and is desirable.

Thus, if man
suffers from straitened circumstances, Satan starts bedecking to him stealing.
He first whispers to him that it is a simple process that will go smoothly and
no one will discover it. Like telling him trip that man, so that when he falls
pretend that you are helping him get up, and while unconscious, steal his
wallet.

Satan here
tends to simplify matters to man, always masking evil. He thus would incite man
to take ill-gotten money, like in the case of a man working as a cashier, he
whispers to him that he needs the money in his treasury and that it will only
be a loan, which he would pay back once conditions improve. The cashier is thus
driven to take unlawful money, and he fails to pay it back.

Satan is not a
fool to presents evil to you as evil, in a way that reminds you of the torment
that would be inflicted on you in worldly life and in the Hereafter, but he
rather deludes you into believing that it is good to you, for Satan circulates
in the human body as blood circulates in it.

Out of Allah’s
Mercy, all praise and glory is to Him, is that He disclosed to us Satan’s
stratagems, so that we can protect ourselves against him. Satan never forgoes
seducing you, as long as you are obedient. He tries hard to sneak to you from
one side after the other till he pushes you into sinning, except if you seek
refuge with Allah always and beg His Help, for he can never thus reach you and
can never have any power over you.

Whispering During
Prayer

Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, has warned us against the way that Satan always
adopts in inveigling the creatures of Allah into committing sins. Allah, all
glory is to Him, says (what means):

“O you who
have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to
other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of
Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.” (Al-Mâ’idah, 5: 90)

Hence, whomever
follows the path of drinking intoxicants, gambling, attempts of drawing closer
to idols through offering sacrifices, or using divining arrows(10) or palmistry, playing-cards
or any art of charlatanism to know the Unseen is committing an abomination of
Satan’s handiwork which he beautifies in the eyes of mankind, so that he can
remove them away from worshipping Allah and entraps them into sin.

Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, has warned us against this in the glorious Ayah
saying (what means):

“And obey
Allah and obey the Messenger and beware.” (Al-Mâ’idah, 5:92)

Through this
warning, Allah informs us that the devil will never let us enter into the
obedience of Allah and His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
He will always strive hard to prevent us from doing so. If we barred all ways,
he would come at the moment of performing ablution and make us forget whether
we washed our hands or not, or whether we performed ablution as ought to be or
not. Then, when the time of offering prayers comes he makes us forget how many rakahs
or prostrations we offered, and this in fact does not constitute a bad sign, on
the contrary, it is a sign in our favor, for Satan never comes near ruins. If
our prayer were not accepted, he would have never approached it, but the fact
that he tries to spoil it for us, means that it is accepted, and that he craves
to ruin it. Therefore, the moment man starts offering the prayer he reminds him
of things forgotten and keeps whispering to him trying to spoil his prayer.

From satanic
insinuations also is that he entices us to disobey the Messenger of Allah (may
Allah bless him and grant him peace), so he whispers secretly to us: “Such a
command was not mentioned in the Qur’an, so do not obey it.” Though Allah,
all praise and glory is to Him, clearly says (what means):

“Say: ‘Obey
Allah and obey the Messenger.’” (An-Nûr, 24: 54)

Besides, Allah,
Blessed and Exalted is He, has given the authority of legislating to the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) saying (what
means):

“And whatever
the Messenger has given you – take; and what he has forbidden you – refrain
from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.” (Al-Hashr, 59: 7)

The Messenger
of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “Shortly, a man leaning on his couch speaks about one of my
Hadiths, thus saying: ‘Between us and you is the Book of Allah, The Exalted and
Ever-Majestic, whatever lawful we find in it, we will regard as lawful, and
whatever unlawful we find in it, we will regard as unlawful,’ Beware! For
verily what the Messenger of Allah has prohibited is like what Allah has
prohibited.”

Satan’s evil
whisper or insinuations cast in the soul provoking thoughts that enrage it and
such rage causes it to act foolishly, in a way that neither agrees with reason
or religion.

When the
Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked His Lord
about how to guard oneself against anger, The Truth, all praise and glory is to
Him, said (what means):

 

“And if an
evil suggestion comes to you from Satan, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, He
is Hearing and Knowing.”(11) (Al-A‘râf , 7: 200)

We are not here
discussing this issue as regards the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him
and grant him peace), even though some people may wonder if Satan can whisper
to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace): the answer
is that the Ayah says “If” which introduces a condition that may or may
not happen; thus the matter itself is a doubtful condition.

But let us
assume that it did happen, so why should Allah deprive His Messenger (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) from the joy of confronting and defeating Satan.
The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: “There is no one among you but a comrade from among the
jinn is assigned to him.” They (the Companions present in that occasion) asked:
“Even you, O Messenger of Allah?” He said: “Even me, but Allah granted me
victory over him and I am safe from him, so he only enjoins me to do that which
is good.”

The devil did
appear to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace)
while he was on his way to the Masjid (mosque); for the Messenger (may Allah
bless him and grant him peace) narrated, saying: “A
demon from the Jinn came to me yesterday suddenly, so as to spoil my prayer,
but Allah enabled me to overpower him, and so I caught him and intended to tie
him to one of the pillars of the Masjid so that all of you might see him, but I
remembered the invocation of my brother Solomon (as stated in the Qur’an): 'And
bestow upon me a kingdom such as shall not belong to any other after me.' (Sad,
38:35) so I dismissed him humiliated."

Thus, the
confrontation did happen, and the defeat of Satan was fast. Allah, all praise
and glory be to Him, asked His Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him
peace) to seek refuge with Him, and seeking refuge is to turn to Him for help.
One can only ask help from someone who is stronger than him, and indeed
stronger than the one trying to attack him.

Superiority of Satan’s
Element

Satan possesses
many characteristics by which he surpasses man, among such characteristics is
his agility, our inability to see him, and his capacity to pervade our souls.
Thus, what is demanded from us is to resort to the One, Who is Most Strong and
All-Powerful, and no one is stronger against Satan than His Creator. And Allah
is All-Hearer, All-Knower; He hears us whenever we seek refuge with Him, and
knows from what we are seeking refuge. The Noble Qur’an says what means:

“Indeed,
those who fear Allah – when an evil thought comes to them from Satan, they
remember [Allah] and at once they have insight.” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 201)

The believers
remembers the power that Allah, The Exalted and Ever-Majestic, possesses over
the devil and they remember that the Law of Allah protects them against the
devil and that the All-Watchful Eye of Almighty God is never inattentive to the
servants. Therefore, The Truth, says in the Divine Hadith:

“O
My servants! If you think that I do not see you then the defect is in your
faith, and if you do think that I see you then why did you let Me be the One
Whom you care the least about of all those who are watching you?”  

As we have said
Satan is viler and more combative when enticing the believers because the
sinner has already helped the devil by obeying his desires and becoming a slave
to them. Thus, the devil no longer needs a big effort to lead him astray. Bus
as for the obedient believer, the devil surely needs a big effort with him to
entrap him into sin.

Thus, the devil
can come to you with a provoking thought that infuriate you, drive you mad and
you commit what may incur upon you the Anger of Allah, all because of a fit of
temper.       

The devil may
also suggest to you, in hushed tones, devising a plan for you to realize the
sin. As for evil whispering, it the devil’s unceasing endeavor. He creeps to
you from your weak side, striving to endear to you sin and that is the
permanent work of the devil - his mission.

But what is
(the influence of) the touch? Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says about
those who devour Ribâ (usury or usurious interests) what means: 

“Those who
devour usury will not stand except as one whom the devil has prostrated by
(his) touch will stand.” (Al-Baqarah, 2: 275)

As though the
devil has touched the human constitution so the soundness of the faculties is
corrupted. The human structure possesses a soundness of faculties in a way that
makes every movement harmonious with the other. But when the devil touches a
human that touched person loses the harmonious movement of his organs and his
faculties come into collision and consequently his moves are irregular and
irrational.

In the
Hereafter this is the description characteristic of the takers of usury and in
worldly life it is characteristic of the irrational movement of man, in a way
hysterical. When we contemplate the world today and what is happening in it we
will find that turbulence and hysterics prevail. Like a man who bursts into a
nursery school, which he does not know and have no enemies in it and kill all
the children there without a reason, or when a man approaches a man he does not
know and hurls him under the subway train.

Complementarity….Not
Repetition

Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, created the universe on the basis of
complementarity and not repetition. Therefore, talents and capabilities varied
and man achieved progress in the universe. Logic would have dictated that the
world should live comfortably and peacefully, because progress and development
offered man the greatest fruits with the least effort and in the shortest time.

Based on this
reality is the world we are living in a rational one? No, we find the richest
country in the world and the best as regards economic progress is the one
teeming with psychological disorders as anxiety, sadness, depression,
dejection, nervous tension, perversion and suicide. That is because the world
we are complaining of today does not live according to the Law of Allah but
according to desires and satanic allure. Therefore, the world is afflicted with
hysterics, conflict, stumbling and falling. Truly, the world and its events
looks now as a substantiation of the Saying of The Most Exalted, which
means:          

“Will not
stand except as one whom the devil has prostrated by (his) touch will stand.”
(Al-Baqarah, 2: 275)

Why then do not
the thinkers investigate the secret of this misery? Why do not they ask
themselves about the cause behind all this wretchedness when they have from the
means of material progress what may guarantee happiness to mankind! Why have
not they searched when they had to?

And if the
calamity is general it excludes neither an underdeveloped nor a developed
country but it reigns in all countries. Therefore, it must have a common cause
and investigation must lead us to the conclusion that the world has strayed
from the Law of Allah, thus worldly life became to us an end and not only a
means. Also, wealth became our purpose and not only a necessary means for the
movement of life and making the earth a prosperous place. For truly, wealth all
belong to Allah Alone. None possesses it and when we die we shall leave worldly
wealth to worldly life, so why then have people distorted its use and made it a
goal itself? The answer in words: it is detachment from the Law of Allah.

Worldly life
cannot be an end, first because it is a limited period that will surely end;
second because its enjoyments are but little and third because staying in it is
uncertain because you can not guarantee to live the next hour.

If we want to
specify Satan’s mission in a few words, its basis is to make us forget that
Allah exists and that He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. Man never steals, commits
adultery or fornication, or kill while bringing to mind that Allah surely sees
him and that He will punishes him for his crime. Had he remembered the
punishment at the commission of the crime, he would have never dared. But
Satan’s mission is to make us forget that Allah exists, for the one who commits
a sin behind closed doors imagine that as long as he is concealed from people’s
eyes then no one sees him and forgets that Allah hears and sees and nothing
whatsoever is hidden from Him.

At the end of
this chapter we say: the way of Satan is to discover the weak points of man to
pierce through. He portrays sin in a picture pleasing and agreeable to the
soul, enveloping it in fake goodness. His chief concern is to entice the
servants obedient to Allah, and he never leaves them. He incites man with
provoking thoughts. He whispers to man what facilitates sinning. He adorns
disobedience in his eyes. And if he overmasters man he touches him and causes
him to lose the harmony of his movements thus his behavior turn into a kind of
hysterics and floundering. Satan has many wiles of temptations but Allah, all
praise and glory is to Him, helps His believing servants resist Satan and
disobey him, and He leaves the disbelieving servants to Satan to make them sin
more and go further astray. Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might,
neither helps nor guides a disbeliever in Him.