Part 24

' Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Sa‘d ibn Abi Waqqas te. ? Fath al-bari (7/47).

Abu al-Malih reported that one of the Companions said: “I was riding on a mount behind the Prophet 4%, when it stumbled. Thereupon I said: ‘May the devil perish!” Hé 3 replied: ‘Do not say, ‘May the devil parish!” For if you say that, he will swell so much and say: ‘By my power.’ But say: ‘In the Name of Allah,’ for when you say that, he will diminish so much so that he will become like a fly.””!

Abu Hurayrah 2 said: “The Prophet 3% said: ‘The bell is the musical instrument of Satan.’”

As the devils carry bells, the angels refuse to be with any company that has a bell with it; Abu Hurairah 2 reported that the Prophet % said: “Angels do not accompany the travelers who have a dog or a bell with them.’?

Satan’s approach to one’s meal

Jabir ibn ‘Abdillah 2% said: “When the Messenger of Allah 48 ate food he licked his three fingers, and he said: ‘When any one of you drops a mouthful, he should remove anything filthy from it and then eat it, and should not leave it for Satan.” He also commanded us that we should wipe the dish saying: “You do not know in what portion of food the blessing lies.””*

Tbn ‘Abbas 4 reported that the Prophet # said: “When you eat, do not wipe your hand till you have licked it or had it licked by somebody else.”*

' Targheeb wa Tarheeb (5/276). ? Recorded by Muslim.

* Recorded. by Muslim.

* Recorded by Muslim.

> Recorded by al-Bukhari.

Markets represent the battlefield of Satan

Salman said: “Do not be the first to enter the market or the last to exit from it, because it is the battlefield of Satan, and in it his banner is raised”!

Al-Nawawi said: “He compared the events in the market, and the participation of the devil in any action, to the battlefield, because of all the evil deeds involved, such as: fraud, deceit, false conjurations, invalid contracts of buying and selling, etc. Satan raises his flag in the market — i.e. he is well established in it, with all his aides to support him creating all sorts of enmity between people, enticing them to commit all sorts of illegal acts.”

' Recorded by Muslim. ? Sharh al-Nawawi of Sahih Muslim.

Chapter Five: Satan’s conduct to corrupt hearts

The importance of the heart

Ibn Al-Qayyim said: “The heart is to the limbs as the king is to his soldiers, who obey all his orders; they are all under his authority; they are either rightly guided or misguided according to his determination or slackness. The Prophet # said: ‘There is a piece of flesh in the body, if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good, but if it gets spoilt, the whole body gets spoilt, and that is the heart”! He (the heart) is their king; he is responsible for all of them, as any

guardian is responsible for his subjects”.

Therefore, the heart is always the place for test and trial; Hudhaifah bin al-Yaman said: “I heard the Messenger of Allah 38 said: “trials are exposed to the hearts one by one, like the lining of the spikes in the mat; so whichever heart consumes them, a black spot will develop in it, and whichever heart ignores them (turns away), a white spot will develop so purely in it until no trial will harm him as long as the heavens and the earth exist. The other blackened heart will remain

distant of any goodness, following one’s desires”.

Tbn Al-Qayyim said: “The Prophet 38 compared the exposition of trials on the hearts like the lining up of the spikes of a mat; and he # divided the hearts in two categoties: a heart which absorbs a fitnah (trial) exposed to it like a sponge absorbing water, so it leaves a black spot inside it, and as it indulges in more trials; the black spot extends until it dominates the whole heart, and makes it liable to destruction, because it is exposed to two dangerous ailments:

' Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim. ? Ighatat al-lahfan (1/5). > Recorded by Muslim.

The first: confusing what is good with what is evil; so he/she does not enjoin good and forbid evil. He/she might even be overwhelmed by this ailment until he/she would believe that what is good is immoral, and vise versa; that a Sunnah is an innovation and vise versa; that truth is falsehood and vise versa.

The second: letting his/her own interpretation judge the revelation brought by the Prophet % - i.e. to subject anything in the Qur’an and the Sunnah to his/her own judgment and interpretation — which is basically following his/her own desires.

While the white (pure) heart is shining with the light of Iman; when he/she is exposed to trials, he/she renounces them, so the brightness of the light increases.

The trials which approach hearts are the reasons for their ailment; they represent many categories: the temptations of one’s desires, doubts and uncertainties, transgression, misguidance, sins, innovations in religion, and ignorance.

So the first leads to the corruption of the aim and the will; while the second one leads to the corruption of knowledge and belief”.

Therefore, a Muslim should examine his/her heart and its condition accordingly, once in a while, with counseling; he/she should know that if the heart is raised in goodness, there will be eternal happiness, but if it is raised in wrongness, there will be hardship, tribulation and absolute failure.

Whenever the belief in the heart increases, and certainty is strengthened, then his/her light (of Jman) increases to help him distinguish between truth and falsehood, between the right way and misguidance.

In a Hadith, Sa‘id al-Khudri # reported that the Prophet # said: “There are four kinds of hearts: a heart which is pure with a bright light; a heart which is wrapped around its cover; a heart which is reversed, and a heart which is ‘flattened’. The pure heart is the ' “Tghatat Al-Lahafan” (1/12).

believer’s heart which shines with the light of iman; the wrapped heart is that of the kafir (disbeliever); the reversed heart is that of the hypocrite who knows the truth but denies it; as for the flattened heart, it comprises both faith and hypocrisy; the example of iman in it is like that of a vegetable which grows with pure water, and the example of hypocrisy in it is like that of a wound which is stretched by pus and blood. Whichever substarice overwhelms the other, it overwhelms the heart.”!

The method of Waswasah

Ibn al-Qayyim said: “A/-Waswas (the whisperer) comes from the verb waswasa (to whisper), and the origin of waswasah (whispering) is derived from a movement or undetected sound. So the whispering is the release of a hidden voice in the mind; it is a sound heard only by the person to whom it is sent, without a sound at all, like the whispering of Satan to mankind.”

He also said regarding waswasah: “It is the starting point of any bad action; the heart is usually void of any evil or sin, so it may receive whispering and temptations to commit a sin; Satan turns it into a nice attractive action in the person’s imagination, to make it so desirable, then he makes him forget about its consequences, until his heart becomes so attached to it. He would eventually go for it, with the help of the devils dispatched to ensure the sins are committed; Allah 3€ said: {Do you not see that We send devils against the polytheists to goad them on)’ i.e. stirring them up to commit sins, and enticing them more whenever they show any laxity.

Satan has permitted himself to lead the children of Adam to immorality; he was the one who showed arrogance and refused to prostrate to their father Adam #8. So the source of any sin and misfortune is the devil’s whispering.

' Transmitted by. Ahmad and al-Tabarani. ? Surat Mariam, verse 83.

How does Satan approach mankind?

Tbn al-Juziy said: “He approaches mankind according to his ability; his control over them depends on the level of their awareness or negligence, their ignorance or knowledge.

You should know that the heart is like a fortress which has surrounding walls, each wall has doors and windows, and the mind resides therein. It is a place visited frequently by angels, while the devils and the person’s low desires lurk outside. There is a state of war existing between those inside the fortress and those outside; the devils keep roaming around seeking a careless moment from the guard to get in through one of the windows. Therefore, the guard should be aware of all the gates and alert all the time, because the enemy does not slacken one second, the enemy does not take a break. A man asked al-Hasan al-Basri 2: “Does Iblis (Satan) sleep?” He replied: “If he were to sleep, then we would have a rest.”

The fortress is lit with the remembrance of Allah, and shining with faith in Him 38, however the Devil never ceases in his attempt to get in using all means, sometimes even daringly before being chased away by the guard.

One of our predecessors said: “I saw the Devil who said to me: ‘I used to meet people and teach them; now I meet them and learn from them!’”. The most powerful and useful bond for Satan to tie his captives is ignorance; the less powerful one is desire, and the weaker one is negligence and carelessness. But as long as the armour of iman

is in place with the believer, the enemy stands hopeless”’.

AJ-A‘mash said: “We were informed by a man who talked to Jinn that the latter said: ‘We stand hopeless before people who follow the Sunnah (of the Prophet 3), as for people who follow their own desires,

we manage them easily””. You should know, O Muslim brother/sister, that Satan comes only to a person whose heart is void of the remembrance of Allah (dhikr), taqgwa (fear of Allah), faithfulness and certainty in iman; so he (Satan) cast ' Talbis Iblis (38).

his whispering which find the place empty and establish themselves inside. But if the heart is full of Iman and Taqwa, well shielded by supplication and dhikr, then Satan will not have any authority over it.

Therefore, if the heart is full of worldly desires, it should be purified first, then filled with tagwa; thereupon if he says: “I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the accursed”, the Devil will run away from him.

So, whoever understands this, will know the reason why so many people are unsucessful in seeking refuge in Allah from Satan; their hearts are full of the power of the Devil, therefore it should be purified first and filled with fagwa and iman; Allah 3% said: (And those who have faqwa, when they are bothered by visitors from Satan, they remember and immediately see clearly)’ this verse concerns exclusively those who are fearfully aware of Allah 38.