Part 3

- 23 - "When one of you doubts about his prayer and does not know whether he prayed three or four, let him resolve his doubt and act upon what he is more certain of. Then prostrate two prostrations of forgetfulness before tasleem. If he prayed an odd number, then it will complete it evenly for him; and if he prayed four, then they are a humiliation for the Shaytan" [Muslim]

The above discussion shows the persistence of Shaytan in achieving his goal! If he fails at one stage, he does not give up and keeps trying, and lies in wait along the path of goodness as he had avowed, "…surely I will sit in wait against them 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." [surah al-A'raf (7): 16-17] Ibn Abbas t commented, "Then I will come to them from before them," (means) raising doubts in them concerning their Hereafter, "and (from) behind them", making them more eager for this life, "from their right", causing them confusion in the religion, "and from their left" luring them to commit sins." This is meant to cover all paths of good and evil. Shaytan discourages the people from

- 24 - Katheer] Al-Hakam ibn Abban said that Ikrimah narrated from Ibn Abbas concerning the above verse (7): 16-17, "He did not say that he will come from above them, because the Mercy descends from above." [ibid] Ibn Abbas also explained that the word thankful in the verse, "You will not find most of them to be thankful," refers to tawhid, "(it) means, those who single Him out (in worship)." The Prophet r said, "Shaytan lies waiting for a person in all his paths. In the path of Islam, he will tell him, 'Will you become a Muslim and leave the religion of your fathers and grandfathers?' If the person disobeys him, and becomes a Muslim, he will meet him on the path of Hijrah. He will tell him, 'Will you leave your land and your sky? It is not wise.' If the person does not submit and continues on his way, Shaytan will wait for him on the road to striving in the path of Allah, saying, 'Will you go to struggle putting yourself and your wealth at risk? You will fight and be killed. Your wife will find another partner, your money will be divided,' (and in another version, 'and your children will be orphans'). If the person disobeys Shaytan, and is killed, Allah will owe him the right to enter Paradise.' [Musnad Ahmad] Even at the verge of death, Shaytan does not leave the believer alone without making one last attempt to ruin his life's worship. Allah's Messenger r used to seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan's enticement at the point of death, he r would say, "...I seek refuge with You (O Allah) from being disturbed by Shaytan at the verge of death..." [Sunan an-Nasaee] Shaytan thus never despairs from diverting people away from the path of Allah. For this reason, he has appointed one devil for each person, the Prophet r said, "Every single person has a companion from the jinn, and a companion from the angels." They said, "Even you, O Messenger of Allah r?" He replied, "Even me. But Allah has supported me, and my jinn companion has become a Muslim. He only encourages me to do good." [sahih Muslim]

- 25 - mankind little by little; beginning with a few steps and eventually leading them to the final downfall. Allah warned us in the Qur'aan, "follow not the footsteps of Shaytan. Verily! He is to you a plain enemy." [surah al-Baqarah (2): 208] While speaking about the idols that were worshiped by the Arab Pagans in the days of Jahiliyah, Ibn Abbas t explained that these idols were first worshiped by the people of Nuh, before whom there was no Shirk in the world. Ibn Abbas further elaborated how Shaytan persuaded the people of Nuh into worshiping these idols in stages, he t said, "Indeed these five names of righteous men (that have been given to those five idols) are from the people of Nuh. When they died, Shaytan whispered to the people to make statues of them and to place these statues in their places of gathering as a reminder of the people, so they did this. However, none from amongst them worshiped these statues, until when they died and the purpose of the statues was forgotten. Then (the next generation) began to worship them." [Agreed upon] Abu Ja'far t said, "Those from the later generation saw what the (previous generation) had done and considered that... to the extent that they took him (i.e., the righteous man) as an ilah (deity) to be worshiped besides Allah." He then said,

- 26 - this idol, Wadd." [sahih al-Bukharee (8/534)] Similarly, in a gradual manner, Shaytan had persuaded Adam and Hawa into eating the forbidden fruit. Allah commanded, "O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Dhalimoon (wrong-doers)." [surah al-Baqarah (2): 35] It is worth pondering that Allah did not say, 'Do not eat the fruit of this tree,' rather He commanded them to stay away from the tree itself saying "but come not near this tree." If they strolled near the tree or sat in its shade there was a greater possibility of them being tempted into eating its fruit. So Allah commanded them to keep away from the tree absolutely! This is the Sunnah of Allah in all matters. He closes all doors that lead to evil by forbidding the means that can lead His slaves into committing greater sin or evil. For instance, it is forbidden to build mosques, domes or any structure on graves, it is prohibited to pray in the graveyards, or light lamps on graves; all this in order to prevent the people from falling into Shirk with regard to the deceased as what took place amongst the people of Nooh. Knowing that Allah prohibited Adam and Hawa from approaching the forbidden tree; Shaytan first enticed them to come near the tree. He then beautified for them its fruits, their color and fragrance, and finally caused Adam and Hawa to eat from it. So, Shaytan enticed them into disobeying Allah in a gradual way. Shaytan uses the same ploy with the children of Adam and this necessitates extra precaution on our part. We not only have to refrain from committing sins but it is also necessary to keep away from every path that may lead to disobeying Allah, including visiting places and gatherings where the limits of Allah are not respected, keeping bad company or participating in innovated celebrations etc.

- 27 - waswaas (whisperings to commit acts of disobedience to Allah) but he does not use the same approach for everyone. People differ in their nature, personality and ways of thinking; what appeals to one, may not appeal to another. So Shaytan may seek to conquer someone by exploiting his love for money, while he may subdue another by his lust for fame, or might delude another by emotion. Shaytan has different ways to enter a man's soul and misguide it; these doorways to a person's heart are referred to as, 'weakness.' Ibn Jareer mentioned that Yazid bin Qusayt said, "The Prophets used to have Masjids outside their cities, and if a Prophet wanted to consult with his Lord about something, he would go out to his place of worship and pray as Allah decreed. Then he would ask Him about whatever was concerning him. Once while a Prophet was in his place of worship, the enemy of Allah - meaning Iblees - came and sat between him and the Qiblah (direction of prayer). The Prophet said, 'I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan.' The enemy of Allah said, 'Do you know the one you are seeking refuge from here he is!' The Prophet said, 'I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan' and he repeated that three times. Then the enemy of Allah said, 'Tell me about anything by which you

- 28 - something in which you can overpower the son of Adam.' Each of them insisted that the other answered first. Then the Prophet said, 'Allah says, 'Certainly, you shall have no authority over My servants, except those of the astray who follow you.' The enemy of Allah said, 'I heard this before you were even born.' The Prophet said, 'And Allah says, 'And if an evil whisper comes to you from Shaytan then seek refuge with Allah. Verily, He is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.' [surah alA'raaf (7): 200] By Allah, I never sense that you are near but I seek refuge with Allah from you.' The enemy of Allah said, 'You have spoken the truth. In this way you will be saved from me.' The Prophet said, 'Tell me in what ways you overpower the son of Adam.' He said, 'I seize him at times of anger and times of desire.'" [See, Tafseer Ibn Katheer ] Imam Ibnul-Qayyim said in Igaathat al-Lahfaam (1/32), "The Shaytan flows through the son of Adam like blood, until it is as if he becomes part of him, so he finds out what he likes and prefers; once he knows that, he uses it against a person and enters into him through this door. He also passes this information on to his brothers and allies among mankind, so that when they want to achieve their nefarious aims against one another they do so through means of that which people love and desire. Whoever tries to enter through this door will gain entry, and whoever tries to enter through any other way will find that the door is barred to him and he will not get what he wants." Imam Ibnul-Qayyim further explained how Shaytan used this trick to mislead our father Adam u. "The enemy of Allah sensed what our parents liked, and felt that they wanted to live forever in that abode of joy. He knew that he could not reach them in any other way so he swore to them by Allah that he was one of the sincere ones and said, 'Your Lord did not forbid you this tree save you should become angels or become of the immortals.' And he (Shaytan) swore by Allah to them both (saying), 'Verily, I am one of the sincere well-wishers for

- 29 - of the tree, that which was hidden from them of their shame (private parts) became manifest to them and they began to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. And their Lord called out to them (saying), "Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you, 'Verily, Shaytan is an open enemy unto you." [surah al-A'raf (7): 21] It is thus not the way of Shaytan to openly call one to disobedience. He will encourage negligence in prayers by whispering to the person to complete his worldly work before he leaves for prayers. After he has completed his work, Shaytan will remind him of food, and after that he will remind him of something else until the time of prayer has perished. Similarly, if a person runs a business, Shaytan whispers to him that if he goes for prayer, he might miss some customers. However, if Shaytan finds man to be zealous in performing Salaat, he comes to him through different means in which he is weak. He whispers to him concerning his wealth and encourages him to unlawfully usurp the wealth of others and forbids him from paying Zakaat while telling him that this will bring him poverty. Whereas, Allah's Messenger r said, "By spending in Zakaat, wealth does not decrease…" [sahih Muslim] Furthermore, if he finds the believer to be strong in his Salaat and Zakaat, he will beautify women for him, until he causes him to commit adultery. Also, if he is strong in all these Shaytan lures him to intoxicants and so on: