بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that you are well.
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that shaytan flows in the son of Adam like blood flows. [Bukhari]
Shaytan has many schemes and tricks to turn us away from Allah Almighty and become his companion in Hell. They come in various types, shades and colors. They can be summarized in seven doors from which shaytan enters the heart of the human being and affect them. If we ponder upon the entrances, we will correctly close or avoid them.
1) Steering the human being away from pious works. For example, a person might have a desire to wake up at night and stand in prayer. Shaytan comes and says "You are tired, just don't pray." If Allah protect the person and give him tawfiq, the person will say, "I must do this, I need it."
Then shaytan will then try the second entrance.
2) Procrastination. For example, the person might say, "I'll start learning Qur'an when I finished college," or "when I am 50, I will pray at night," or "I will put on the hijab when I get married," or "I'll get back to my studies to after my wife have the baby or when I am settled." There is always some excuse that prevent you to do something you are supposed to do right now.
The remedy for this is remembering death. We might not live even till the next breadth. Even if you do, if you postpone today's good works till tomorrow, when will you do good works of tomorrow and the ones after that? Remember, wasting time without acts of obedience to Allah is wasting something that can never be compensated for.
3) Riya' (ostentation, showing off in worship)
This is wanting other than Allah for doing pious works. This is a subtle shirk (polytheism) and it is more illusive than the creeping of a black ant on a gray stone on a dark night.
Shaytan will say to the person, "Do your pious work, let people see you." "If you gave charity, do it publicly or inform others so people mention you." "If you help build a masjid, make sure your name is mentioned." "If you contribute to a charitable foundation, make sure they write your name down."
If Allah wants to protect a servant from this subtle shirk, He fills the person's heart with the magnificent of Allah so that the person will refuse to do anything for other than Allah. Remember that Allah is free of need of any partner.
Riya' ruins our good deeds and Allah will not accept the works if we have riya'. A person should search for and try to fill his hearts with awareness of Allah’s magnificence. If his relationship with Allah is correct, he is clear of need of other people.
If shaytan is unsuccessful to enter your hearts from the above entrances, he will try the fourth.
4) Haste
For example, when you recite the Qur'an, shaytan will rush you to finish one juz and then second juz, without reflection/contemplation, without proper tajweed, without alertness. Shaytan will rush you through your obligatory prayer quickly so you can go to your sunnah prayer.
Hastiness prevent a person from the light of an act of worship, the fruit of an act of worship, and taste of an act of worship.
The remedy for this is patience, deliberation and thoughtfulness. Remind ourselves that Allah does not want from us a lot of commotion but Allah wants us to benefit from our works and develop a taste for it.
If shaytan cannot come from this entrance, then it tries a fifth entrance.
5) 'Ujb (pride, self glory}
The shaytan will try to make you fall into pride. Shaytan comes and says, "Ma sha Allah you are good," "you are upright, no one is like you.” So the person looks at his pious work as though it is emanating from himself. He forgets that in reality the action was from tawfiq of Allah.
Self glory is believing that Allah benefits from your act of worship, and believing that the act originates purely from the your will, the result of the person's effort. Self glory becomes the reason for nullifying the act of worship.
The remedy for this is for the person to remember that he is incapable and for him to ascribe the whole thing to Allah. He says, "Were it not for Allah’s honor and generosity, I would have been insignificant. Were I of no significance, He would have cast me away and left me in a state of disobedience. It is Allah's will to honor me and made me ready for obedience."
When shaytan despairs with regard to this entrance, he comes from the sixth entrance, subtle ostentation, unique to shaytan.
6) Subtle riya' (ostentation) and 'ujb (self glory).
After passing the previous entrances--obedience, riya', procrastination, haste, 'ujb/self-glory, shaytan comes to a subtle effect that still might ruin one's work.
The shaytan says, "You be sincere with Allah, worship Allah alone, do not seek the countenance of people, and after that Allah will manifest your works. Allah will show light on your face. Allah will make people love you and make them favor you and approach you."
Remember we seek sincerity to attain Allah's favor and good pleasure, not to attain the pleasure of people.
Also self glory has many subtleties as it has obvious manifestations. One of the subtle illusive aspect of pride is that when one feels that other people have an obligation towards him because of favors or goodness extended to them. So, if two people did something wrong to us, most people are affected or more offended or hurt by the one to whom the favor has been done. Remember, wealth is Allah's wealth, and the servant is Allah's servant. Our goodness is none of our doing; it is from Allah. Were it not for Allah's tawfiq, we won't be able to do anything good. The good that we do, Allah will reward us by manifolds. So how do our goodness compare to what we receive in recompense? So the favor is upon us when people accept our goodness, not upon them.
It is important to learn the knowledge of purification of the hearts. This knowledge is important because it can make people aware of the calamity that would fall upon them from places that they are not aware of.
7) No need of good deeds.
The seventh entrance is when the shaytan comes and says, "Why do you tire yourself like this. Were you with Allah dammed even if you were to worship Allah, in the end you will be damned. And if you were with Allah as one of those saved, even if you are negligent, in the end you say la illaha illallah, you will enter the Garden. The matter is decided on the basis of pre-ordainments."
This is the most dangerous entrance.
The remedy for this is for the person to say, "Allah did not create me to ask if I am dammed or saved. He created me and ordered me to obey Him and leave disobedience of Him and worship Him, that I travel to Him. I am going to Him and I am eager to meet Him. The matter if I am dammed or saved that knowledge goes back to Him. This is the responsibility of the Lord, not the slave, whether I am dammed or I am saved."
Our mission as slaves of Allah is to expend our effort in obedience to Allah and to constantly and excellently do our utmost for Allah's sake as we travel to Him. The fruits of all this lies with Allah and not with us.
It was told that one of righteous servants among the People of the Book worshipped Allah with great vigor as a hermit, very diligent at night and during the day in worship. Jibril looked and saw that he was among those who are dammed. He was surprised by this and sought Allah's permission to inform this to the man. He said to the man, "Indeed, I am Jibril and I found your name in the guarded tablet that so-and-so the son of so-and-so is dammed. I want to inform you as long as you are among the dammed, and you are going to the hellfire, so enjoy a little of this world, instead of wasting your life. The worshipper said, alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah), inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un, (to Allah we belong and to Him we are returning), la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (there is no will and power except by Allah). Then he returned to his worship and did not decrease any at all. Then Jibril was even more amazed and Jibril came down and said to the worshipper, "I told you that you were dammed." He said, "inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un and Allah has a will. Allah created me and ordered me to worship Him and He did not consign the knowledge to me whether I am going to be dammed or to be saved. My responsibility is that I worship Him and after that the affair is to Him. Jibril's astonishments increased and he ascended to Heaven and foundin the guarded tablet, that so-and-so is saved, saved, saved. "Allah eliminates what He wills or confirms, and with Him is the Mother of the Book." [Qur'an Ar-Ra'd 13:39]
The essence is for a person to be aware. The shaytan is weak, but then the weakness that lies in us allow for the possibility that at any moment shaytan could enter. Not a moment should pass that a person feels that his security against shaytan is guaranteed. Indeed shaytan has stratagems here and there that lead humans astray.
It has been related that when Imam Ahmad Hanbal was in the throes of death, those who were around him were saying "la illaha illa Allah" and his students wanted him to say it during the throes of death. But he said, "No, not yet." People were anxious--"Is Ahmad ibn Hanbal being denied la illaha illa Allah at time of death? This is an evil ending, how can this be?" He regained consciousness in throes of death and asked the people what they were saying. So they informed him what he said when they asked him to say la illaha illa Allah. He said, "Indeed, I did not hear you and was not able to speak to you. But in my throes of death the devil was standing next to me biting his fingers and saying: 'O Ahmad, you have escaped from me'; and I was telling him: not yet, no, not until I die. This filthy devil want me to finish my life with pride. If I were to say 'Yes, I escaped you,' I will be in the state of pride and I would die in pride and my works would be ruined. So then when I said to him 'No, not yet as long as my soul is in my body,' Iblis cried and he said 'I misguided by this trick 70 scholars. I made them die in a bad state.'"
It was mentioned in another story that one of the virtuous servants was dying and he was told: “Say: la ilaha illa Allah”, and he was saying: “No, no”, and when he became conscious the people told him what happened, then he said: “Two devils came to me, one on my right and one on my left: one says to me: “Die as a Jew as it is the best religion, and the other says: “Die as a Christian as it is the best religion”, and I was telling them: “No, no.”
It has been related a pious person was dying and people were telling him to say la illaha illa Allah and he was saying it in his heart because he could not speak. Iblis came to him and say, "Raise your finger, so that people around you know that you are pronouncing la illaha illa Allah. And he said in his heart,'Be gone O Accursed. You want me to finish my life with riya’, I say la illaha illa Allah so I can face Allah with it not for people to say that I die in la illaha illa Allah. Iblis cried, 'With this deception I have led astray 70 scholars. I made them die with ostentation in their acts of worship.'
We should be aware of these subtleties of riya'.
We must constantly seek refuge with Allah from shaytan. Among the fortification from shaytan is persisting to stay in a state of of ablution (wudu'), persisting in a lot of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), reciting the Prophetic invocations for the morning and night and reciting the al-mu'awidhataan (such as Surah Al-Ikhlas, Al-Falaq, An-Naas, Ayatul Kursi, the final 2 verses of Surah Al-Baqarah).
May Allah make us of those who hear His word and follow it. May Allah show us the Truth as Truth and grant us to follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and grant us to avoid it. Ameen.
Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
Source: Wayfarers to God (Ma'alim As-Suluk) by Habib Ali Al Jifri
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