Confronting our Worst Enemy Shaytan

http://islamicspiritualityk.wordpress.com/category/spirituality/ Posted in Acquiring Sacred Knowledge ['ilm], Nafs, Our Spiritual Enemies, Spirituality, Taqwa with tags angels, iblis, satan, sayyidina adam a.s., Shaytan on February 15, 2012 by Islamic Spirituality [2:208] [37:180-182] In the month of Ramadan,many of us may have heard that Allah swt chains up all of the Shayateen and many of us may have felt in the month of Ramadan that in addition to many many reasons this certainly was a major reason why we felt closer to Allah swt, why we had the ability to engage in more ibadah and then this brings the question that since the month of Ramadan has ended and that Shaytan and the Shayateen have been unchained and unleashed and again they are being musallat; are coming upon us how is it that we can protect ourselves from Shaytan. In the month of Ramadan, Allah swt Gave us 29 or 30 days of training how we can control and subdue are Nafs. Those of us who spent that month properly you would now be much stronger viza-viz our Nafs now we should think how to make ourselves stronger viz-a-viz Shaytan. Anycase, in the Deen of Islam, the second the month of Ramadan ends the month of Shawwal begins. from the 1st of Shawwal begins what are known as the Ash-har-ul Hajj the months of Hajj. A person can make niyyah and leave their home from the very first of Shawwal and make the journey for Hajj. Originally before the Muslim Ummah was blessed with the invention of Airplanes or airtravel, when people would travel for Hajj they would leave weeks or months in advance. And, one of the ultimate features of Hajj is Rami which means the pelting and stoning of Shaytan and one of the climaxes of Hajj is this repudiation of Shaytan. So, it means that in these months of Hajj, this month of Shawwal we should think how we should protect ourselves from Shaytan. Now Shaytan is unseen; the unheard. Normally people dont like to talk about him; but any good strategist knows that you should know your enemy; you should study your enemy And Allah swt has said this in the Quran-e-Karim, that O you who believe! you should enter the Deen of Islam entirely And you should not follow the whisperings mechanisms of Shaytan that Indeed his is a clear/open/manifest/die-hard enemy to you! [2:208]

Shaytans Enmity for us The way we normally explain this to people is that we dont appreciate and understand how much enmity Shaytan has. Imagine if there is someone who you think is your enemy or somebody who you think is your familys enemy or perhaps you think that hitler was the enemy of Jews infinitely more than any of the enmities that have ever existed between any two human beings; infinitely more than that is Shaytans enmity for each and every believer. The enmity that Shaytan has for a momin is more than the enmity that hitler had for the Jews; more than had for the cambodians; more than slovedon Miloevi had for the Bosnian Muslims more than anyone you think alive on this earth have enmity for the Muslims infinitely more than any human being can have anmity Shaytan has enmity for the momineen. And how long has he had this enmity for? He has had this hatred and hasad; enmity and jealousy; spite and malice for millions of years! Allahu akbar kabira Now, in this day and age if someone has an dushman [enemy] they think and talk to their friend to plan some defensive strategy. So why not plan some defensive strategy against the biggest Dushman that we have which is Shaytan. So it is important for us to reflect upon Who is Shaytan? How did he become Shaytan? What exactly is his relationship with us? And how can we protect ourselves and preserve ourselves from Shaytan. All of you are very familiar of the famous story of how Iblees became Shaytan. I would just highlight a few points of that. Allah swt has Mentioned this story in many different places in the Quran-e-Karim, but most importantly Allah swt has Mentioned a lengthy dialogue that takes place between Him and Shaytan in three places in the Quran Surah Suaad, Surah Al-Hijr and Surah Araaf. The Story of Shaytan As all of you know Allah swt Created Sayyidina Adam alayhisalaam and then He called all of the angels to witness that act of creation and make Sajdah to Adam a.s. then Allah swt also called one representative from the Jinn whose name was Iblis. He was called so that he could be an ambassador of all the Jinns and also because he had spent so many years prior to this event in ibadah in worship that Allah swt had Let him hang out with the angels. Sometimes he is referred to in Arabic as Taoos-ul-Malaika Companion/Likeness/Comrade of the angels. And as all of you know Allah swt Commanded all of those present in that gathering to Make Sajdah to Adam a.s. The angels, because its not in their ability to disobey a direct command certainly when Allah swt Created Adam a.s. the angels asked that O Allah what are you doing? this is some type of creation that is going to create fasaad on earth! this is a creation that also has the propensity and potential for evil in it, why would You create such a creation when You have us the angels who have only good! this is a type of creation whom You are Giving and endowing with freewill and the freedom to disbelieve and disobey in You why would You want to create such a creation when You have us who always believe and obey You so certainly they asked these questions but when Allah swts Direct Order and Command came to make Sajdah all of the angels, because that is the way they are they have the freedom to think and to ask and question but they dont have the freedom to disobey Allah swt so automatically they obeyed and fell into Sajdah.

Iblis being Jinn had that freedom to disobey and he chose to exercise that freedom and he didnt make sajdah to sayyidina Adam a.s. How did Allah swt Express this act of Iblis not making Sajdah, He swt said in Quran: [2:34] the first word means: he rejected; he denied; he refused the commandment of Allah swt And then he had takabbur on top of that very important many times people think that Shaytan refused the commandment because he had takkabur. No. - Shaytan refused the command because he had hasad; he had envy for sayyidina Adam a.s. - After refusing, Allah swt Mentions that he had takabbur this is a particular type of takabbur and this is that type of takabbur that when a person disobeys Allah swt they feel justified in doing so; they feel they have a valid reason and excuse in doing so and therefore they feel absolutely no shame; remorse or regret whatsoever in that act of disobedience. - If someone were to ask them that why are you doing this when Allah swt Wants you to do it otherwise? Why are you doing this when the Quran and the Sunnah say otherwise? They give their reasons and they feel justified in doing so! this is a particular type of takabbur First lesson derived from this verse: - Many times the most common lesson that people mention in this ayah is that Shaytan was worshipping for millions of years and those millions of years of ibadat didnt help him at all and that doesnt make such an impact on our hearts because we are not people who worship millions of years anyway! so if that is the lesson to be learnt that if you have a lot of ibadah even that wouldnt help you most of the young men and women would think that oh i dont even have lots of ibadah anyway - The Second Lesson: What is going to happen to us if we choose to reject and deny the commandments of Allah swt and we feel justified and remorseless in doing so. That is the asl link that Shaytan is trying to make; Shaytan wants that human beings should become like him that means that not only should they become disobedient and distant from Allah swt, they should feel justified and proud in doing so. Whether they do so in the name of Modernism; they do so in the name of Reformism/Secularism/Liberalism/Nationalism/Marxism, they go all the way and do so in the name of Agnosticism and Atheism but they should feel absolutely content and proud and firm on their disobedience! They should have a deep, intellectual philosophical grounding for their disobedience which makes them absolutely disobey Allah swt without any hesitation and without any regret thats what Shaytan wants because that is his Satanic Attribute. So, Allah swt Says in the ayah that:

 that he denied and rejected the commandment of Allah swt And he had takabbur. So, what was the result of that? And, interestingly Shaytan does not disbelieve in Allah swt at this moment. Its not that he becomes an Atheist; he is looking at Allah swt, he cannot be in a state of Atheism or agnosticism because he is in the roiyyat, deedaar of Allah swt but he is called among the kafireen because knowing Allah swt exists and disobeying Him is the ultimate type of Kufr its even more ultimate than Atheism and Agnosticim! This is the kind of Kufr that Shaytan wants the momin to fall into. Because the momin believes that Allah swt Exists, just like Shaytan knew Allah swt Exists! So, the Shaytanic Kufr is to know Allah swt Exists, but to disobey Him. And that is what Allah swt Mentions in this Ayah: that he became eternally, permanently amongst the Kafirs. Then, lets look at these different conversations and dialogues that take place between Allah swt and Shaytan Dialogues between Allah swt & Shaytan So, first in Surah Suad, Allah swt Asks Iblis: [38:75] Is it that you have adopted takabbur or are you amongst the people who view themselves to be higher and exalted aali So, Shaytan responds: that I am better than him [38:76] i.e. he gives a justification. What you say in Urdu, thak jawab deina . Now can you imagine, Allah swt ko thak jawab deina? Shaytan did it with his words, me and you do it with our lives. - Allah swt has the Muazzin call out, As-Salatu khairun min an-naum, hum thak jawab deitey hain, we keep sleeping! - Allah swt Says in Quran,

 [33:21] that you have in the Prophet a beautiful example, hum thak jawab deitey hain we like to adopt a different type of lifestyle. We have our own views as to what is beautiful; we have our own dictates and mandates of Fashion, culture and society Atleast Shaytan was honest about it; atleast Shaytan verbally said it. How is he better? he said: that You Made me from fire and You Made him from the elements of the earth You made me from the elements of Fire thermal energy; and hes made up of the elements of earth Calcium in his bones and iron in his blood and magnesium and zinc and copper and all of that So, Im better then, Allah swt Responded that Exit from My Company! Leave My Presence! Leave My Auspicious Court! Indeed you are repudiated! Then, Allah swt added: that Indeed upon you is My Curse means that I Pick you up and Put you outside the reach of My Mercy! Never ever will My Mercy Ever Focus itself upon you again Until the End of Time; until the Day of Judgment Then, Shaytan responded: that O my Rabb! Give me some respite until that Day in which You will Resurrect all of humanity

[38:76-79] The Mufassiroon write that since at that moment Shaytan used the word, - my Rabb that is why his dua was accepted. He made dua the same way the Ambiya made dua with the word rabb and saying Rabbi, My Rabb. A lot of duas of the Ambiya-e-karaam have been mentioned in the Quran-e-Karim and they all called upon Allah swt with this word Rabb. So, this is such a word that even Iblis, when he uses it, Allah swt Grants his dua this is also a lesson for us the momineen that Ya Allah swt, hum bi toh bil aakhir Aap ko Rabb ke hi naam se pukaartey hain; agar iblis ne ain nafarmani ke waqt aap ko Rabb se pukaara Aap ney usko bi mohlat dia; tu agar hum gunah ke baad aap ko Rabb se pukaartey hain, hamein bi muaaf kerdein this is the power of the word Rabb! Iblis called upon Allah swt with this word Rabb and Allah swt Said: you are amongst the people who have been given respite; stay you will not be touched until the Day of Judgment [38:80-81] until that Day whose time has been appointed and known to Allah swt But, Iblis was Iblis almost like a spoiled child when they get what they want from their parents they go back to their naughtiness! So, he called upon Allah swt with this Dua; he got what he wanted; Allah swt said okay you have been given respite. Then, Shaytan said: He swore by the Izzat of Allah swt! Allahu akbar this is the most level of Kufr that you can imagine! Me and you could never dream like this - that we would disobey Allah swt and then looking at Allah swt, invoke Allah swts Izzat the Honour and Sanctity and Maqam of Allah swt. Iblis looks at Allah swt and says I will distract and destroy and despoil all of humanity! So, if you want to understand how much of any enemy he is, this is his moment of declaring his enmity for me and you! Looking at Allah swt, and swearing by the izzat of Allah swt! Allahu akbar Then, Shaytan even said, a strange thing: Except those who are

Your Ibaad, who are Your worshipful servants from all of that humanity those who have Ikhlaas [38:82-23] Even he knew, at that ultimate moment of enmity that he wont be able to distract and lead astray those people who have two characteristics Ibadat and Ikhlaas. Anybody who has that, even Shaytan felt that he wouldnt be able to distract them. Another Conversation between Allah swt & Shaytan In another conversation, very similar to this, Allah swt Mentions in Surat-ul-Hijr. I will just mention to you the extra part of this conversation, most of the conversation is the same. Here, after Shaytan mentions this, the same thing: that I will distract all of them, except those among them who are your worshipful servants and those who are people of Ikhlaas. The exact same words. One ayah later, Allah swt Responds to him: [15:42] (that, Know Shaytan that) Indeed! My servants that you will not have any ability or power over them Except from those human beings; those who will follow you

from those who are distracted and astray and deluded to be continued, inshaAllah