The eternal enemy - II

Satan deceives the Muslim in several ways that he follows in order, so
that if he fails to deceive him through the first way, he moves to
thesecond, and so on. Ibn Al-Qayyim said,
Satan's evil is limited to six categories that he uses with the son of
Aadam till he traps him inone or more of them. Thefirst evil is the
evil of disbelief, polytheism, andenmity toward Allaah TheAlmighty and
His Messenger . If he succeeds in dragging man into this, his pain is
assuaged and he is spared hard work with him. This is the first aim he
wants to achieve fromthe slave until he commits a share of it.
If Satan despairs of him in this respect and the person is destined to
be aMuslim since he was in the womb of his mother, Satan would move to
the second category of evil, i.e. religious innovation which is more
loveable tohim than immorality and sins. That is because the harm of
religious innovation affects the religion itself, and this is a
transitive harm. If Satanfails to take man to this level, he would
move to the third category of evil,i.e. major sins with their various
forms. Satan is very keen to make man fall into the major sins. If he
fails, he would move to the fourth category, i.e. minor sins which, if
accumulated, destroy those who do them, as the Prophet said: "Beware
of committing minor sins, for they accumulate till they destroy the
man. It is like a man who camped in the wilderness, and one man
brought a stick, another man brought a stick, and so on, until they
accumulated a lot, then they lit a fire and cooked their food."
[Saheeh]
If Satan fails in this level, he would move to the fifth category, he
would busy the man with lawfulthings that command no reward or
punishment. The consequence of such things lies in missing the reward
for the acts that these things distracted him from. If Satan fails in
this level and the man made good use of his time and he is aware of
the value of his breaths and their loss and the corresponding bliss
and punishment, Satan wouldmove to the sixth category, i.e. busying
the man with less virtuous acts at the expense of more virtuous ones.
By doing so, Satan takes virtue away from the man and makes him lose
the reward of highly virtuous acts by enticing and urging him to do
lessvirtuous acts and beautifying them for himshould this involve
leaving a more and higher virtuous act.
If Satan fails in the six categories and feels powerless, he lets his
assistants from humans and jinn attack the man with all sorts of harm,
accusations of disbelief, misguidance, and religious innovation and
warning people about him. Satan resorts to this method in order to
extinguish man's enthusiasm, confuse his heart, busy his thoughts, and
prevent people from benefiting from him. Therefore, Satan
uninterruptedly devotes his endeavors to instigating the falsifiers
from human and jinn devils at him.'
Mu'aath sighed and said,"What is the way out then, Shaykh Yoosuf?"
Shaykh Yoosuf replied quickly, "Scholars mentioned several
fortifications that I will tell you about briefly.
1. Seeking refuge with Allaah The Almighty from Satan. Allaah The
Almighty Says (what means): {And if there comes to you from Satan an
evil suggestion, then seek refuge in Allaah. Indeed, He is the
Hearing,the Knowing.} [Quran 41:36]
2. Reading Surahs Al-Falaq and An-Naas.
3. Reading Ayat-ul-Kursi (Verse of the Chair).
4. Reading the last verses of Surah Al-Baqarah.
5. Reading Surah Al-Baqarah.
6. Saying "La ilaaha illa Allaah, wahdahu la shareeka lah,
lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu, wa Huwa 'ala kulli shay'in Qadeer"(There
is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah. Heis One and He has no
partner with Him; His is the sovereignty and His isthe praise, and He
is Omnipotent)" one hundred times. It was narrated on the authorityof
Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:
"A Muslim who says "La ilaaha illa Allaah, wahdahu la shareeka
lah,lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu, wa Huwa 'ala kulli shay'in Qadeer
(There is no deity worthy of worship except Allaah. He is One and He
has no partner with Him; His is the sovereignty and His isthe praise,
and He is Omnipotent)" one hundred times a day, he will have a reward
equivalent to that for emancipating ten slaves, a hundred good deeds
will be recorded to his credit, a hundred of his sins will be erased
from his scroll, and he will be safeguarded against the Devil on that
day till the evening; and no one will exceed him in doing more
excellent good deeds except someone who has recited these words more
often than him." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
7. One of the most useful fortifications from Satan is frequent
remembrance of Allaah, the Almighty.
8. Avoiding unnecessary looking, talk, food, and mixing with
people, since Satan dominates the son of Aadam and achieves his aim
from him through these four channels.
9. Ablution and prayer are among the strongest
fortifications from Satan.
10. Purification of listening or keeping one's ear away from
listening to falsehood.
11. Spending in the Cause of Allaah The Almighty.
12. Following the authentic Sunnah (Prophetic tradition). Thisis
the most important cure for possessed people. Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim
said, "Whoever wants to get rid of this scourge, should be certain
that the right course is to follow the Messenger of Allaah in words
and actions, and be determined to follow his way with no doubt that he
is following the right path. He should be certain that disobeying him
is a result of Satan's insinuation and whisperings and that Satan is
an enemy to him and does not call him to any form of goodness; rather,
he calls his party to be denizens of the Blazing Fire."
"Now, do you think that you are able to confront Satan, or that you
are not, Mu'aath?"
Mu'aath answered enthusiastically, "Of course, I will be able to
confront him and defeat him as well — Allaah willing." - - ▓███▓
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