There follow some of the methods by which we can avoid this temptation.
1 – Faith in Allaah.
Faith in Allaah and fear of Allaah provide a
safety valve and protect a person against committing haraam actions and following his own whims and desires.
If
the believer becomes aware that Allaah is
always watching and if he ponders the meanings of His names and
attributes, such as the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing,
the
Watchful, the Reckoner, the Preserver, the All-Encompassing, that
will generate fear of Him in secret and in public, and will put a stop
to
disobedience towards Allaah, and will reduce the strength of desire
that leads many people to commit haraam actions.
2 – Lowering the gaze and avoiding looking
at haraam things
The
gaze can generate bad thoughts in the
heart, which then lead to ideas and then to desires, then to will
and resolve, and then inevitably to doing haraam things. Think about the
meaning
of this verse which makes a connection between the first steps
towards haraam and the end result. Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“Tell
the believing men to lower their
gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private
parts (from illegal sexual acts). That is purer for them. Verily, Allaah
is
All-Aware of what they do”
[al-Noor 24:30]
Ibn Katheer said: “This is a
command from Allaah to His believing slaves, to lower their gaze
and avoid looking at that which is forbidden to them so that they
only look at that which they are permitted to look at. If it so happens
that a
person’s gaze accidentally falls upon something haraam, he should
turn his gaze away from it quickly.
3 – Warding off evil thoughts
Bad
thoughts pose a danger to the heart… If a
person dwells on them and does not push them away, they will develop
into an idea, then into will and resolve, then this will inevitably
lead to
haraam actions. Beware of dwelling on passing thoughts; rather what
you must do is to ward them off and crowd them out with good thoughts.
The treatment, then, is to ward off these
passing thoughts and keep yourself busy with beneficial thoughts.
4 – Marriage
It
was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood
said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
“O young men, whoever among you can afford it, let him get married, and
whoever cannot, let him fast, for it will be a shield for him.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5065.
5 – Fasting for those who cannot afford to
get married
– because of the hadeeth quoted above, in
which it says, “…and whoever cannot, let him fast, for it will be a shield for him.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5065.
Al-Qurtubi said:
The less a person eats, the weaker his desire
becomes, and the weaker his desire is, the less sins he commits.
6 – Keeping away from bad companions.
The
Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “A man will follow the way of his close
friends, so let each one of you look at who he takes as a close friend.”
Narrated by Abu Dawood, 8433; classed as hasan by al-Albaani in
Saheeh Abi Dawood, 4046.
7 – Keeping away from places of
temptation.
It
is obvious that we are living in a society
that is filled with temptation – media of all types, magazines,
flirting in the marketplaces, satellite TV, the internet, etc… So you
have to flee
from all of these in order to keep your religious commitment sound.
8 – Do not make your houses graves.
Make
your house a reminder of obedience, not
of sin. If a room is connected to sin for example, that will make a
person commit sin repeatedly, because every time he enters that room he
will
remember the sin and may be provoked to commit the sin again. So he
should make his room and his house a reminder of obedience to Allaah, so
when
he enters he sees the Mus-haf which he reads, and he remembers
praying qiyaam al-layl for Allaah, and the regular Sunnah prayers that
he offers in
this room. Doing a lot of acts of worship in your house will make a
connection in your mind between the house and doing good deeds, so you
will do
more and will think less of sin, and the calls of desire will grow
less.
9 – Trying to make the most of your time in worshiping and obeying Allaah.
Time
is one of the great blessings that
Allaah has bestowed upon His slaves, but there are many who are not
making the most of it. It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allaah be
pleased
with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “Two blessings which many people do not make the most of:
good
health and spare time.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6412.
10 – Remembering the blessings of the Hereafter.
Particularly
appropriate in this context is
remembering al-hoor al-‘iyn and their attributes, whom Allaah has
prepared for those who are patient and steadfast in avoiding sin. This
can help
the Muslim to look at these transient haraam pleasures which only
lead to regret and loss.
We advise you not to pay
any attention to these whispers, and to ignore them, and to do the opposite
of what they are calling you to do. For these whispers (waswaas) come from
the Shaytaan to cause grief to those who believe. The best way to deal with
them is to remember Allaah a great deal (dhikr), to seek refuge with Allaah
from the accursed Shaytaan, to keep away from sins and wrong actions which
are the means by which Iblees gains control over the sons of Adam. Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Verily, he [the Shaytaan] has no power over those who
believe and put their trust only in their Lord (Allaah)”[al-Nahl 16:99]
The kind of waswaas which tempts a person to listen to or
look at haraam things or to commit immoral actions, and makes such things
appear attractive to him, comes from three sources: the nafs or self which
is inclined to evil (Yoosuf 12:53), the devils among the jinn, and the
devils among mankind.
