Shaytaan Gradually Deals Mankind Towards the Disobedience to

As Salaam o Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barkatuh!

A`uzu billahis Samee`il`Aleem, minash shaytanir rajeem!

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem!

Wa Salaatu wa Salaam `alaa Rasulullah-Salallahu `Alayhi wa Sallam

Shaytaan gradually deals mankind towards the disobedience to Allah


References:
Alam al-Jinn wal-Malaikah by Shaikh Umar al-Ashqar, Informational answers given by Shaikh Muhammad Salih al-Munajjid, Shaytan: Khutuwatihi wa-Gayatihi by Wail Umar Ali Basheer, Adawatush-Shaytan lil-Insan by Muhammad Mutawalli ash-Sha'rawi, itab at-Tawheed by Shaikh Salih al-Fawzan, Tafseer Ibn Katheer and others.

Allah, the Exalted, has informed us in the Qur’aan that Shaytan has the power to lure, persuade and insinuate mankind.
So, how does he enter the human soul and drive it towards sins and transgression?
What are the deceptions and tricks that he plays on man and how he abandons his victims After indulging them in wrongdoings?

Allah has given Shaytan the ability to flow in the body of man in a way, which we do not know or understand. Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alaihi wa-sallam) said, ‘Shaytan flows through the sons of Adam like blood.’ [Mishkaat al-Masaabih]

Shaytan may reach a man’s heart and mind and whisper or tempt him to listen to or look at haraam things or to commit immoral actions. This is called waswaas. Shaytan may also sometimes appear in human forms, and directly speak to a person or he may choose a person (whom they call medium) and speak on his tongue.

However, Shaytan does not directly approach humans and ask them to abandon their religion, for no sane person would willingly disobey Allah choosing to follow Shaytan instead and share in his dreadful fate! So, Shaytan has his own ways of distracting mankind from the religion of Allah and deceiving them into committing evil deeds. What follows is a brief look into the tricks and plots of Shaytan.


In order to ease the path of sin for the people, Shaytan tempts mankind little by little; beginning with a few steps and eventually leading them to their final downfall.

Allah warned us in the Qur'aan saying,

'follow not the footsteps of Shaytan.
Verily! He is to you a plain enemy.'
[Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 208]

The first to commit Shirk amongst mankind were the people of Nooh (alaihis-salaam) . Ibn Abbas (radhi allahu anhu) explains how Shaytan lead them to worshiping idols in stages,

'Indeed these five names of righteous men are from the people of Nooh. When they died, Shaytan whispered to their people to make statues of them and to place these statues in their places of gathering as a reminder of the people, so they did this. However, none from amongst them worshiped these statues, until when they died and the purpose of the statues was forgotten. Then (the next generation) began to worship them.'

[Agreed upon] Abu Ja'far (radhi allahu anhu) said, 'Those from the later generation saw what the (previous generation) had done and considered that... to the extent that they took him (i.e., the righteous man) as an ilah (deity) to be worshiped besides Allah.' He then said, 'This was the first idol worshipped other than Allah, and they called this idol, Wadd.' [Saheeh al-Bukharee (8/534)]

In the same way, Shaytan in a gradual manner misled Adam and Hawa to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree.

When Allah commanded them,

'O Adam! Dwell you and your wife in Paradise and eat both of you freely with pleasure and delight of things therein as wherever you will, but come not near this tree or you both will be of the Zalimoon (wrong-doers) .'
[Soorah al-Baqarah (2): 35]

It is worth pondering that Allah did not say, 'do not eat from this tree' but He commanded them to stay away from the tree saying, 'but come not near this tree.' This is because if they strolled near the tree or sat in its shade, there was a greater possibility for them to be lured in eating its fruit. So, Allah commanded them to keep away from the tree completely.

This is the Sunnah of Allah, the Exalted, where He closes the door to evil by forbidding anything that could lead His slaves to committing that sin, for example, it is forbidden to build mosques, domes or any structure on graves, it is prohibited to pray in the graveyards, or light lamps on graves. All this in order to stop the avenues to magnifying or worshiping the deceased as what occurred amongst the people of Nooh.


Having known that Allah has prohibited Adam and Hawa from approaching the forbidden tree, Shaytan first enticed them to come near the tree, then beautified for them its fruits, their color and fragrance, and then finally caused them to eat from it. So, Shaytan fooled them into disobeying Allah in a gradual way.

He uses the same ploy with the children of Adam and this necessitates extra precaution on our part that we not only refrain from committing sins but also keep away from every path that may lead to disobedience of Allah, including visiting places and gathering where the limits of Allah are not respected, keeping bad company, or participating in innovated celebrations, etc.

Taken from As-Sunnah Newsletter - http://www.qsep. com
As-Sunnah Vol. 2 Issue No. 11


FROM EMAIL