The wiles of Satan and how we can protect ourselves

Do you realize how many enemies have encircled you!  Enemies are masquerading as friends.  You are being deceived.  They are taking out their enmity on you.  For the sake of Allah, steady yourself.  Treat an enemy as an enemy and recognize who is a friend and who is an enemy.  Just see!  The Friend is describing to you the wiles of the enemy and methods to shield yourself.  The Friend is Allah Most High and the enemy is Satan.  The whispers that he casts into your hearts, they are his wiles.

 

 In its actual nature, the heart is like a sword or a horse.  Regardless of whether the sword is wielded by its master or by someone against its master, it will still cut.  No matter who mounts the horse, the master or the master’s enemy, the horse will still take you.  In the same way, the heart is ready:  Whether Satan affects it or an angel, it will accept that effect.

 

The human heart is in this dilemma.  It should use its intellect and differentiate between a satanic whisper from an angelic inspiration and then act upon it.  If Satan casts its effect on the heart, it leans towards him.  If the angel casts its effect, it leans towards it.  As long as the heart is not run over by any one of these forces, it is sometimes virtuous and sometimes evil.  The way Satan casts his whisper in the heart is that it sits between the 2 shoulders and extends its snout to the heart and casts a whisper.  For this reason, there was the Seal of Prophethood between both the blessed shoulders of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) because of which no satanic whisper could enter.  For this reason, His devil couldn’t cast a whisper at Him.

 

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  With every human being, a devil and an angel is born.  Someone asked:  Did the same happen with you too, O Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)?  He said:  Yes.  But the devil that was born with me has embraced Islam.

 

By casting whispers, Satan makes Muslims commit apostasy, ascribe partners to Allah Most High and show enmity against Allah and His Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  If he succeeds in it, then he turns to their deeds.  If he fails in the first one, he makes someone commit innovations.  Satan loves innovations more than sins.  If a sinner repents his sins, then all the sins are forgiven, but someone commits innovations with the intention of reward and as such, there is no hope of repentance.  Not considering a sin as a sin is the greatest sin.  If Satan doesn’t succeed in any of this, then he makes one commit grave sins.  If even that is not possible, then at least minor sins, as to set fire to a house, even a small spark is enough.  Otherwise, he gets one to commit permissible (Mubah, i.e. neither good nor bad) acts, in which there is neither reward nor punishment.  Is wasting one’s life being deprived of reward a small punishment?  Whatever chance one the enemy gets, he will definitely take it.

 

If a hungry dog comes to somebody and that person doesn’t have any chapatti or meat, then that dog will run away if shooed away once.  However, if a person has any chapatti or meat, then even if shooed away 1000 times, the dog will not go away.  This is the case with Satan.  Once the worldly impermissible thoughts are removed and the heart is settled with piety with the remembrance of Allah Most High, the snout of Satan can’t reach there at all.  Thus, he abandons casting his whispers.  For this reason, when the hearts of the pious have satanic whispers, they are startled and immediately repair to the remembrance of Allah Most High.

 

Satan takes the help of the human devils as well.  In such a case, saving one’s faith is as difficult as placing a burning ember of fire in one’s hand.  If the help of these human devils also doesn’t work out, then Satan takes the help of the human Self (Nafs).  Then this confidant of the house helps in burglary.  If for e.g. a non-Mahram woman is passing by, then Satan will keep saying:  Just see her!  More than this Satan can’t do.  If one lowers the head not paying attention to this, then Satan will keep saying:  Just raise your head and see!  It is not possible for Satan to turn one’s head to the woman.  Now, Satan takes the help of the human devils.  That person will forcefully raise the head of this person.  If this person closes the eyes, then the human devils will tease him and will make him open his eyes.  Then that person will lower the pupil of his eye.  Neither Satan can raise the pupil of the eye nor can the human devils.  If anyone can do this, it is only the Human Self.

 

When a Seeker (Salik) admits his (or her) defeat and comes under the protection of Almighty Allah, then the Lord Almighty Himself protects him.  Neither will He Himself hurt that person nor will He allow anybody else to do so.

 

Satan is our eternal enemy.  Hadhrat Hafidh Abu ‘Abdullah (May Allah shower His mercy on him) says:  I saw a beautiful Jew whose beauty startled me so much that I went to Hadhrat Junaid Baghdadi (May Allah shower His mercy on him) and said:  Will such a beautiful face also burn in hell?  The Shaykh said:  Son!  This is all the deception of the Self and a satanic web which is misguiding you.  Remember!  This gaze of yours was with lust and not admonitory.  There were many other wonders through whom you could have received some admonition.  This is just the deception of Satan so that you are face some punishment.

 

The Hafidh says:  Hadhrat Junaid had barely left after saying this that I forgot the whole Holy Quran.  Then for years I kept supplicating Almighty Allah and repented and kept crying and performed Tauba with great regret.  Only then was Allah Most High benevolent with me and I remembered the full Holy Quran.  Thus, seeing something which is against the Shariah is simply wasting time and rouses the wrath of Allah Most High.

 

The favorite pastime of Satan is to make husband and wife quarrel and fight with each other.  Satan holds his court at night on the surface of the sea and all his progeny come to him and give the daily report that we made so and so do such and such a bad thing.  On listening to all of it, he says:  You have done nothing great.  When some one tells him that he made the husband and wife fight with each other, he becomes very happy and says:  You have done a great thing indeed!

 

We consider the quarrels between a husband and wife as something unimportant, but if we consider it carefully, we will realize what trials and difficulties are hidden therein.  Only the wife and husband aren’t affected by it, but the children also face the brunt of it.  If the quarrel intensifies, the whole family comes in the line of fire and the peace and calm of both the families is destroyed.  Children will face the ill effects of it.  Their upbringing will not be done properly as a result of which they will grow up misguided.  In all this, the activities of Satan will increase.  He will cast thoughts into the hearts of the family members and destroy their calm as well.

 

A saint saw a dream that Satan is sleeping.  He removed the cover from his head and he sat up.  The saint asked:  Your work is to misguide people and you are sleeping?  Can you think what answer he gave:  The human beings themselves are doing my work.  I don’t have to go anywhere.  That’s why I am resting.  This sentence needs a lot of thinking about.

 

[Excerpted from Mawaaiz-e-Hasana of Hadhrat Muhaddith-e-Deccan]