The Difference Between The Two Whisperings - Mankind and Satan

The Difference Between The Two Whisperings

To know who is whispering to you, see if the one whispering only wishes that you fall into sin, regardless of what it is; if so then it is the devil, but if there is insistence on a certain sin you got used to, then it is from your self.

Satan always sneaks through the doors where there is weakness in abidance by the doctrine; if he finds man unyielding to temptation in a certain aspect, he finds his way through another aspect where man shows weakness. Hence, if man for instance adheres fast to praying, performing them at their due prescribed times, Satan creeps into him from the door of money, whispering to him not to pay the Zakah (Obligatory Charity), to be tightfisted, and to eat up other people’s money unjustly, deluding him into thinking that by such a way he would be rich, his money would grow, and he would be safely away from poverty. But the truth is otherwise, as the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:

“Never would wealth decrease because of charity”,

because it is charity which makes money grow, and place the Blessings of Allah in it so that it increases. Wealth belongs to Allah, and we all leave it behind us upon departing from this worldly life, but the unbeliever is unaware of such a truth.

Hence, when Satan finds a man, who strictly guards the performance of prayers but loves money, he approaches him from this side, by stopping him from giving in charity, and all sorts of benevolent acts. Then, he starts to allure him with ill-gotten money, so sins starts to weave their threads around his heart little by little, till it smothers his heart wholly, preventing him from remembering Allah.

Little things that man can give thanks for is better than plenty that man can not tolerate, for the devil may exploit the love of money within the heart of one of the servants of Allah to shun him away from obedience and the Law of Allah, thus he may abstain from paying Zakah (Obligatory Charity) driving him into sinning, and ingratitude. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says (which means):

“And among them are those who made a covenant with Allah, [saying], ‘If He should give us from His bounty, we will surely spend in charity, and we will surely be among the righteous.’ But when he gave them from His bounty, they were stingy with it and turned away while they refused. So He penalized them with hypocrisy in their hearts until the Day they will meet Him – because they failed Allah in what they promised Him and because they [habitually] used to lie.” (At-Tawbah, 9: 75-77)

There are many examples for satanic ways, for he searches for the weak points in man in order to penetrate to him through them. His endeavors never abate, till he entraps man in his snares and drives him out of the Doctrine of Allah.

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan

CHAPTER FIVE - THE DEVIL’S DOORWAY INTO MANKIND - Mankind and Satan

Chapter Five

The Devil’s Doorway Into Mankind

Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, has informed us in the Noble Qur’an that the devil has the influence of inciting to anger, insinuating evil, whispering evil and touch, but what is the difference between all these maneuvers? And what are the means by which the devil penetrates the human soul, thus driving it into committing sin? How does the devil frightens his followers, mastering them by fear? And how he ultimately flees deserting the man fallen in sin, after he declares himself innocent of him?

Before we begin, we must know that there is evil whispering from the devil, and evil whispering and pushing into sin from the human self. As Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, has informed us in the Noble Qur’an that human selves differ, for there is the kindly self, the self constantly self-reproaching, and the self that incites to evil.

The kindly self is the one that performs nothing but what is good and benevolent. As for the reproaching self, it is the self of a man who when falls into sin, it reproaches him, thus he returns to goodness once more, for man may fall into sin more than once. As for the self that incites to evil, it is that of a man who got used to evil, thus nothing can spur feelings of remorse and disapproval in him; he is living with this evil, enjoining it, he got used to it in a way that all his actions have become wicked, and he is enjoying this wickedness!

But how can we tell that whispering is either from the devil or the self?

As for the devil, he wants man sinful anyway, so it does not matter what is the kind of sin, but rather all he cares about is that man falls into sin. Hence, the devil attempts to lure man with ill-gotten money, if he does not respond to such allurement, he hastily shifts to tempting him into committing adultery and vice; upon failing, he tries with him the temptation of liquors, thus if he finds all doors of sin closed before him, he changes his maneuvers by attempting to mar his obedience through making him boast of the charity he offers, hence he forfeits its reward, or when prayer is due, he tries to hinder him from performing it.

One should know that such temptations do not happen by force or compulsion, as the devil has no subjugating power over man. But for instance, when the Azan [Call to Prayers] is pronounced, the devil tempts man not to perform the prayer, but postpone it till the film he is watching ends, and when it does end, he starts reminding him of things he should do, like calling a friend, or eating his supper first, or making a visit he has forgotten, and other wiles that the devil resorts to.

If man is a merchant, he starts frightening him by the thought that if he went to prayer now, he might forfeit many bargains, and thus would lose profit. In such a way, he keeps busying him with one matter after the other, till the prescribed time of prayer is gone, or he gradually abandons it. But if he fails in this, he starts whispering to him during ablution and praying, in order to cause him to feel that he did not perform ablution correctly, raising doubts about his ablution, so that he repeats it more than once, then when he stands for prayer, he casts doubt into him in such a way that man keeps repeating the prayer and no longer knows how many rakahs he truly prayed or no longer knows whether he performed ablution correctly or not.

Hence, the devil does not care about the sin itself, but all he pants for is to make man sin. 

As for the evil whispering of oneself, it insists on a certain act of disobedience, and does not crave any other form of sinning, in other word, the self impels one to commit a specific sin, and repeats it, without tempting into other sins.

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan

Lures - A Struggle in Worldly Life(3/3) - Mankind and Satan

Allah, praise and glory is to Him, wants us to know that the trial of Satan expels us from the blessing of assignment (enjoined duties) that would lead us to the Paradise of Eternity in the Hereafter. Afterwards, Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says (what means):

“Indeed, he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you do not see them.” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 27)

This part of the Ayah means that the devil sees us but we do not see him, and that gives him the power of exercising temptation. Because as long as we cannot see him, we cannot know from where he will come or notice that he is whispering evil to us. 

But did Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, desert us alone with Satan, to lure us and lead us astray? Or did He create protection for us?

By His Justice, Allah, be ever gloried His Majesty and Might, granted us protection against diabolic insinuations and from all this evil. This protection can only be through close abidance by the Law of Allah. Whoever adheres firmly and sincerely to the Law of Allah, the devil will never be able to reach him nor tempt him. Therefore, we find a confession of Satan that he cannot approach those who are loyal to Allah and hold fast to His Law, because such people are protected against him by their abidance by the Law of Allah in the glorious Ayah saying (what means):

“[Iblees] said, ‘By your might, I will surely mislead them all, except, among them, Your chosen servants.’” (Sâd, 38: 82-83)

Then, comes the Saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, which means:

“Indeed, My servants – no authority will you have over them, except those who follow you of the deviators.” (Al-Hijr, 15: 42)

Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has guaranteed protection to every servant who sincerely believe in Him and who sincerely worship Him. Allah, The Most Exalted and Ever-Majestic, guards the believers against satanic temptation. Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says about the description of the believer (what means):

“Indeed, those who fear Allah – when an evil thought comes to them from Satan, they remember [Allah] and at once they have insight.” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 201) 

 

This means that when Satan comes to the pious, believing servants of Allah, Allah never leaves them, but He makes them remember His Law, only then do they see the truth and they return to closely following the Law. As if the one who follows the devil is like the blind, who sees nothing thus move confusedly, stumbling and falling. Satan strives to blind the sight and insight, to keep us from seeing the truth and the Signs of Allah in His Universe, and be only in the dark.

The Truth, Blessed and Exalted is He, presents to us this picture while depicting to us the followers of Satan in the Hereafter in the Ayah saying (what means):

“He will say, ‘My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?’ [Allah] will say, ‘Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them; and thus will you this Day be forgotten.’” (Tâ-Hâ, 20: 125-126)

Thus, the mission of Satan is to make people blind to the Signs of Allah in the universe and deprive them from perceiving the greatness or mightiness of The Creator, all praise and glory is to Him. Blindness to these signs makes man forget his submissiveness to Allah and makes him regard worldly life as an end and not only as a means to the Hereafter. This way man tries to take from worldly life all he can, be it lawfully or unlawfully. For as long as there is only worldly life for him, his goal is to seize of it all it can offer either lawfully or unlawfully. The thing most important for him and his gauge of success is what he realizes of desires and whims, thefts and bribes etc. 

Such a group of people when comes to the Hereafter, Allah raises them up blind, seeing nothing, stumbling and falling. When they shall ask about the reason of this blindness after being endowed with eyesight in worldly life, Allah will answer them saying that they were surely blind in worldly life. They truly had eyes but they did not see with them the proofs, evidences, signs, revelations of Allah is His Universe, therefore they gave free reign to sin and disbelief. And as they forgot the Signs of Allah in the life of this world, Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, will forget them in the Hereafter, so they will not attain His Mercy on that Day. Therefore, Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says (what means):

“And whoever is blind in this [life] will be blind in the Hereafter and more astray in way.” (Al-Isrâ’, 17: 72)

Blindness in this glorious Ayah does not mean loss of sight but rather means loss of insight by which man sees the Signs of Allah that urge him to belief and obedience to the Divine Law.

From the Mercy of Allah is that He exposed before us the ways of Satan and how he lures mankind, and He has clarified how Satan stealthily steals in the human soul and the wiles by which he leads man into error. Allah has clarified all this to warn us against satanic inlets into the human soul in order to bar all these inlets so that Satan never approaches our souls….so what are these inlets?

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan