Superiority
of Satan’s Element
Satan possesses many characteristics by
which he surpasses man, among such characteristics is his agility, our
inability to see him, and his capacity to pervade our souls. Thus, what is
demanded from us is to resort to the One, Who is Most Strong and All-Powerful,
and no one is stronger against Satan than His Creator. And Allah is All-Hearer,
All-Knower; He hears us whenever we seek refuge with Him, and knows from what
we are seeking refuge. The Noble Qur’an says 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)
The believers remembers the power that
Allah, The Exalted and EverMajestic, possesses over the devil and they remember
that the Law of Allah protects them against the devil and that the All-Watchful
Eye of Almighty God is never inattentive to the servants. Therefore, The Truth,
says in the Divine Hadith:
“O My servants! If you think that I do not see you then the
defect is in your faith, and if you do think that I see you then why did you
let Me be the One Whom you care the least about of all those who are watching
you?”
As we have said Satan is viler and more
combative when enticing the believers because the sinner has already helped the
devil by obeying his desires and becoming a slave to them. Thus, the devil no
longer needs a big effort to lead him astray. Bus as for the obedient believer,
the devil surely needs a big effort with him to entrap him into sin.
Thus, the devil can come to you with a
provoking thought that infuriate you, drive you mad and you commit what may
incur upon you the Anger of Allah, all because of a fit of temper.
The devil may also suggest to you, in
hushed tones, devising a plan for you to realize the sin. As for evil
whispering, it the devil’s unceasing endeavor. He creeps to you from your weak
side, striving to endear to you sin and that is the permanent work of the devil
- his mission.
But what is (the influence of) the
touch? Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, says about those who devour Ribâ
(usury or usurious interests) what means:
“Those who devour
usury will not stand except as one whom the devil has prostrated by (his) touch
will stand.” (Al-Baqarah, 2: 275)
As though the devil has touched the
human constitution so the soundness of the faculties is corrupted. The human
structure possesses a soundness of faculties in a way that makes every movement
harmonious with the other. But when the devil touches a human that touched
person loses the harmonious movement of his organs and his faculties come into
collision and consequently his moves are irregular and irrational.
In the Hereafter this is the
description characteristic of the takers of usury and in worldly life it is
characteristic of the irrational movement of man, in a way hysterical. When we
contemplate the world today and what is happening in it we will find that
turbulence and hysterics prevail. Like a man who bursts into a nursery school,
which he does not know and have no enemies in it and kill all the children
there without a reason, or when a man approaches a man he does not know and
hurls him under the subway train.
