Part 2

- 11following reasons (mentioned in brief);

A) Allah's Wisdom decreed that the father of mankind should be tested, and that his children after him should be tested as well. Those who fight against Shaytan will achieve salvation and those who go along with him will share his fate. So Shaytan should remain alive in order to fulfill the aim for which he was created.

B) Allah is All-Just and He compensates every good deed. In case of the believer, He rewards him in this world and the Hereafter, while the disbelievers are allotted their rewards in this world without any recompense waiting for them in the Hereafter. Abu Dawood At-Tayalisi recorded in his Musnad that Anas t said that the Messenger of Allah r said, "Allah does not wrong the faithful even concerning one good action, for he will be rewarded for it by provision in this life and awarded for it in the Hereafter. As for the disbeliever, he will be given provision in this life for his good action, and on the Day of Resurrection, he will not have any good deed." [Quoted from Tafseer Ibn Katheer] So, Iblees was given respite as a reward for some of the good deeds that he had performed in the past.

C) The sin of Iblees was extremely serious; he questioned Allah's Wisdom and persisted in disobeying Him. Moreover, he is the leader and origin of evil and disbelief. He should thus be punished accordingly for all the evils that follow his foremost transgression. So, Iblees was given respite in order to increase in sin. Respite until the Day of Resurrection is not an honor for him. In his case, death would have been better; it would reduce his evil and punishment.

- 12who will not be fit to dwell in Paradise. He left those people to be misguided by Iblees, so he may lie in wait for them and every time one of them passes by, he does what he likes with them.

Iblees deserved to be led astray because of what his hands earned for him. He took pride in himself and was not considerate of the fact that Allah is the One, Who created him and taught him everything he knew. So, Allah left him alone with his pride and he was misguided as a result. The initiation was thus, from Shaytan (i.e., pride, rebellion and disobedience), and so he deserved to be left alone and as a result, he was misguided and fell in Kufr. Allah tells us in the Qur'aan that, "Allah guides not the people who are al-Fasiqoon (the rebellious and disobedient)." [surah al-Maidah (5): 108] Allah is not unjust to anyone, injustice comes from the soul, when the creation does injustice to himself and takes the path of Kufr, Allah leaves him to the way he chooses - even if he chooses Kufr because Allah is in no need of His creation if they turn away.

- 13 - body of man in a way which we do not understand. Allah's Messenger r said, "Shaytan flows through the sons of Adam like blood." [Mishkaat alMasaabih] Shaytan may reach a man's heart and mind, and whisper or tempt him to listen to or look at haraam things or commit immoral actions. This is called waswaas. Shaytan, however, does not directly approach humans and ask them to abandon their religion. No sane person would willingly disobey Allah while choosing to follow Shaytan instead and share his dreadful fate! Shaytan has his own ways of distracting mankind from the religion of Allah and deceiving them into committing evil deeds. What follows is a brief look into the tricks and plots of Shaytan.

- 16the Day of Resurrection. He sensed that this was an ideal way to take revenge on Adam. He hates mankind, who are the children of Adam u. He is hostile towards them because he is cursed and has been banished from the Mercy of Allah due to his refusal to prostrate to their father, Adam. So, "he (Iblees) said to Allah, 'I will take an appointed portion of your slaves; Verily, I will mislead them…" [surah an-Nisa (4): 118-9] Iblees knows that his destination is the Fire and he is eager to mislead and corrupt mankind, so as to increase the number of his followers to share in his fate. He hopes to take everyone with him to Hell, out of envy, hatred, Kufr and stubbornness. "Surely, Shaytan is an enemy to you, so take (treat) him as an enemy. He only invites his Hizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire." [surah al-Fatir (35): 6]

- 17 - until the appointed day, Iblees avowed, "Surely I will sit in wait against them (human beings) on Your Straight Path. Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them as thankful ones (i.e. they will not be dutiful to You)." [surah al-A'raf (7): 16-17] Ibn Abbas t explained, "When Shaytan said this, it was a guess and an assumption on his part. Yet, the truth turned out to be the same because Allah says in surah Saba, "And indeed Iblees did prove true his thought about them, and they followed him, all except a group of true believers. And he had no authority over them, except that We might test him who believes in the Hereafter, from him who is in doubt about it. And your Lord is Watchful over everything…" [surah Saba (34): 20-21] So, although Shaytan has no power over the believers, he is able to gain control over those who accept his ideas and follow him willingly. Allah said to Iblees when he avowed to mislead the children of Adam, "Certainly, you shall have no authority over My slaves, except those who follow you of the Ghaawoon (those who go astray; criminals, polytheist and evildoers)." [surah al-Hijr (15): 39-42] and it is mentioned in surah an-Nahl (16): 99-100, "Verily! He (Shaytan)

- 18 - Lord (Allah). His power is only over those who obey and follow him (Shaytan), and those who join partners with Him (Allah)." Shaytan can thus, do no more than call people to misguidance and make it look attractive to them. He has no power over them to force them into doing what he wants. People who respond to his call do so because it suits their whims and desires. So blame is attached only to those who respond to him. On the Day of Judgement, the Qareen (jinn companion who encourages evil deeds) will testify against man and disown the actions of man saying he was misguided in himself, receptive to falsehood and resistant to the truth as Allah says, "his Qareen will say, 'Our Lord! I did not push him to transgression, (in disbelief, oppression, and evil deeds), but he was himself in error far astray.' Allah will say, 'Dispute not in front of Me, I had already in advance sent you the threat. The Sentence that comes from Me cannot be changed, and I am not unjust to the slaves." [surah al-Qaaf (50): 27-29]

Shaytan is given power over the believers because of their sins for example Allah's Messenger r said about a Qadhi (judge), "Allah is with the Qadhi so long as he is not unfair. If he judges unfairly, then He forsakes him and lets the Shaytan be with him." [(hasan) al-Hakim and Bayhaqee]

- 19 - can defeat Shaytan. Allah's Messenger r said, "The believer can seize the forelock of his Shaytan as one of you seizes the forelock of his camel whilst traveling." [Musnad Ahmad] Imam Ibn Katheer explained, "What is meant by seizing his forelock is defeating him and overwhelming him, as one does with a camel when it runs away, then you seize it and overpower it." [alBidayah wan-Nihayah (1/73)] Moreover, Shaytan is afraid of and flees from the strong believers. For example, the Prophet r said about Umar Ibn Khattab t, "the Shaytan is certainly afraid of you, O Umar." He also said, "I can see the Shayateen among the jinn and mankind running away from Umar." Allah's Messenger r also said to Umar once, "By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, no Shaytan sees you walking along a path but he takes a different path."

- 20 - first lures mankind into committing Shirk and Kufr through invoking the dead, practicing magic, etc., because Shirk (associating partners with Allah) is the greatest sin. Anyone who dies upon Shirk will not be forgiven, nor will he ever be taken out of Hell-fire. So, if Shaytan overwhelms the son of Adam by causing him to commit Shirk, then he is satisfied and pleased. "Like when Shaytan says to man, 'Disbelieve in Allah.' But when (man) disbelieves in Allah, Shaytan says, 'I am free of you, I fear Allah..." [surah al-Hashr (59): 16] If he cannot manage to deceive people into committing Shirk and Kufr, he does not give up. He causes people to follow bidah (innovations in the religion) like innovative celebrations such as Mawlid, celebrating the night of Isra wal-Miraj, celebrating 15th Shabaan, etc. and other actions that have no basis in the religion. Sufyan ath-Thawri said, "Bidah is dearer to Shaytan than sin, for, one may repent from sin, but not from bidah." One who sins, knows that he is disobeying Allah and some time, he may turn to Allah and seek forgiveness and be pardoned. But he, who practices Bidah, deems his action to be a form of worship to Allah and thus, never even thinks of repentance! "Say (O Muhammad), 'Shall We tell you the greatest losers in respect to

- 21 - they thought that they were acquiring good by their deeds!'" [surah al-Kahf (18): 104] meaning, they performed deeds that were not in accordance with the prescribed way and thus not acceptable. If Shaytan fails at causing people to follow innovations, he will move on to calling them to major sins like abandoning prayers - particularly, if the person is a respected personality, because huge number of people will follow his example. If the believer keeps steadfast, Shaytan is still not discouraged, he calls them to minor sins. It is recorded in Sunan Tirmidhee (2/230 (no. 1753), "Shaytan has despaired of ever being worshiped in this land of yours, but he will be obeyed in matters that you think of as insignificant, and he will be content with that." "The Shaytan will be content with that," because even minor sins can have devastating effect on one's Hereafter. Allah's Messenger r warned us concerning minor sins by giving an example of how a great fire can be kindled by means of small wooden sticks collected in a place. Similarly, minor sins if allowed to accumulate, might destroy the sinner. He r said, "Beware of the insignificant sins, like a people who stayed (abode) in a valley, then this one brought a stick, that one brought a stick and others brought sticks too, until they cooked their bread (meal). Verily, the person who commits these (minor) sins will be seized by these sins and be destroyed." [Musnad Ahmad] If the believer still emerges safe from his traps, Shaytan seeks to keep him occupied with permissible matters, like sleeping, eating, pursuing worldly affairs, etc. Spending time and effort in these will neither earn him reward nor bring punishment. He will, however, miss the rewards he would have gained if he had spent his time in performing good deeds. If the believing slave is still not deceived and manages his time well, Shaytan keeps him busy with less virtuous deeds instead of what is more preferable and rewarding in order for him to miss the

- 22 - If after employing all kinds of temptations and deceptive arguments, Shaytan still does not succeed in diverting the son of Adam from his religious commitments, he resorts to corrupt his acts of worship and deprive him from the rewards. He stirs up doubts and makes the person anxious and uncertain. In sahih alBukharee, it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah t that the Messenger of Allah r said, "When the call to prayer is pronounced, the Shaytan runs away breaking wind loudly, so that he will not hear the adhaan. When the call to prayer ends, he comes back, but when the iqaamah starts, he runs away. And when the prayer begins, he comes back until he whispers into the heart of the person, and says to him, 'Remember such and such, remember such and such - things that he did not remember before the prayer until he does not know how many raka'ahs he has prayed." [sahih al-Bukharee (608)] Such whisperings of Shaytan are the weakest of his tricks. The Sahabah once complained that they experienced waswaas which they disliked and would never want to speak of. The Prophet r commented, "Praise be to Allah, Who has reduced his tricks to whispers." [sahih Abu Dawood] If the person still remains undefeated, Shaytan's next step is to harm the person, for example, by causing him to be persecuted, or by distorting his reputation. By this trick Shaytan intends to discourage the person from his religious commitment. How many scholars have been tortured or killed in prison because of their commitment to Islam!