Tactics of the accursed devil in misleading people
Read : 108 | Print : 4 | Sent : 0 | Rate : 0
The world of devils is the hidden and the most atrocious enemy of the Children of Aadam (People). They ceaselessly attempt to corrupt the manners and beliefs of mankind. They instill hostility and hatred among them. Therefore, there is no wonder that there are numerous verses in the Noble Quran and narrations of the Prophetic traditions that point out the danger of this enemy, the tactics he uses in misguiding people and his corruption so as to warn people against him and to keep them safe from his cunning and evil.
Allaah The Almighty has revealed many verses concerning the devil, pointing out the ways he uses to mislead and misguide people in a clear presentation that acts as the argument over all creation and eliminates any excuse of ignorance.
Amongst such verses is the Saying of Allaah The Almighty (which means): {Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.} [Quran 35: 6] It is an explicit declaration indicating his bitter enmity towards the Children of Aadam, so they should meet his hostility with the like of it {so take him as an enemy}.
Allaah The Almighty went beyond that declaration and revealed many other verses that explain the ways that the devil uses in tempting and misleading people, so Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Satan - indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing.} [Quran 24: 21]
This verse indicates the ways with which the devil deals with his victims. He does not attack them directly and in a single endeavor to get them out from faith to disbelief and from obedience to disobedience; rather, he approaches his victim with stealthy steps and searches for his points of weakness and then tries to enter from them. But if the person proves to be strongly adherent to his faith, the devil moves to tempt him from the direction of the permissible matters and incites him to indulge in them to prevent him from doing some recommended acts of worship. Then he persists until he makes him neglect the acts of Sunnah and so on until he makes him neglect his religious obligations.
If he finds that the person exaggerates in fulfilling the rulings of the religion and is inclined to extremism, he adorns for him illegitimate innovations in religion until he makes him propagate and defend such innovations.
If he finds that the person neglects the duties of religion and indulges in prohibited matters, then it is an easy victory for him. He keeps enticing him to neglect such duties completely and urges him to do prohibited matters until he becomes totally lacking in religion and morals.
The devil does not stop at just misguiding people but he follows that with adorning their misguidance. He never leaves his victims to be an easy prey to their guilty conscience or a captive to the criticism of admonishments; rather, he tries to keep them in their inner peace by making their evil deeds fair-seeming to them so that they may not feel any regret for them or feel that they go against natural inclinations and sound reason. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
• {And Satan made attractive to them that which they were doing} [Quran 6: 43]
• {And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them.} [Quran 8: 48]
The adornment of evil deeds come in a form of justifications invented by the devil for his victims to justify their heinous deeds. So he adorns fornication and obscene deeds so that one may think that he is practicing his personal freedom, and adorns stealing so that one may think that he is earning the cost of his living, adorns dictatorship and oppression so that one may think that it is a way of preserving the unity of people and protecting them from the trends of sectarianism and ethnicity and so on.
The amazing thing is that the tactics of the devil do not go beyond the psychological influences which Allaah The Almighty has called 'whisperings' i.e. the private speech and hidden words that cannot be heard. The devil whispers in the breasts of the people. He enjoins them to do what is evil and forbids them from doing what is good. Allaah The Almighty has given him the ability to whisper and insinuate to the soul. In this regard, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, The Sovereign of mankind. The God of mankind, From the evil of the retreating whisperer Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind. From among the jinn and mankind} [Quran 114: 1-6] Whispering is Satan's most effective weapon; and it was nothing but his whispering that drove Aadam 
out of Paradise; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
{Then the devil whispered to him; he said, "O Aadam, shall I direct you to the tree of eternity and possession that will not deteriorate?" [Quran 20:120]
Although Satan has no material weapons in approaching mankind, he has misled many people – may Allaah guard us against him. His devilish insinuations had a great effect on misguiding people. He is aided in his efforts by the desires and lusts of souls who converge with what he calls for. Accordingly, both the soul and the devil unite together against the slave, so no one can resist them except the believer who has sincere and strong faith, otherwise, most people will fall into the traps of Satan even if it happens in different levels and degrees.
Although Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak} [Quran 4: 76] The weakness of the human soul before temptations gives strength to the weakness of the devil. The strength of the enemy in many times may not be inherent but rather draws from the weakness of the other party. Therefore, the verses of the Quran have focused on warning against the methods and the ways that the devil adopts in misleading people so as to strengthen the defenses of the human soul and fortify it against any attack.
Allaah The Almighty has explained the reality and aims of the call and invitation of the devil and that they will result in nothing but hardship for every individual in the worldly life and the Hereafter. So Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality.} [Quran 2: 268]
The devil does not want happiness for humanity but rather its destruction; he does not want its richness but its poverty, and does not want its purity but its impurity.
Allaah The Almighty also explains that from the aims of Satan is to provoke internal and external disputes among people and ignite wars and hostilities among believers. In this regard, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allaah and from prayer. So will you not desist?} [Quran 5: 91]
Allaah The Almighty explains that the source of all vices, evil deeds and obscene acts is the accursed Satan. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allaah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.} [Quran 5: 90]
In the context of the comprehensive conflict between the two parties of good and evil and the two parties of belief and disbelief, the devil uses many methods to defeat the believers such as instilling fear and panic among them. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {That is only Satan who frightens [you] of his supporters. So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers.} [Quran 3: 175]
Mujaahid 
said: Allaah The Almighty threatens believers with the disbelievers. When fear overcomes someone, it makes him lose his ability to take the initiative, paralyzes his mind, and puts him on the attack list of other people so that he has no power either for benefit or for harm to himself.
Amongst the different styles that Satan uses to defeat the believers is circulating malicious rumors and disappointing news. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And when there comes to them information about [public] security or fear, they spread it around. But if they had referred it back to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it. And if not for the favor of Allaah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan, except for a few.} [Quran 4: 83] This verse includes a clear indication that any malicious rumor is nothing but a devilish insinuation, seeking to disappoint and weaken the believers.
In his struggle to keep the group of evil submitting to him and following his orders, he starts his journey with them by arousing in them false desires and dreams. So he promises them to be victorious over the believers, and promises them riches, wealth and luxury. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan promises them and arouses desire in them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion.} [Quran 4: 120] Actually, the deceived followers of the devil will receive nothing but failure and disappointment. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And ever is Satan, to man, a deserter."} [Quran 25: 29]
To be continued...
Read : 89 | Print : 4 | Sent : 0 | Rate : 0
Examples of the plots and cunning of the devil
1. Changing the creation of Allaah. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And I will command them so they will change the creation of Allaah.} [Quran 4: 119] His mischief is not limited to be against Allaah The Almighty in His religion; rather, it went beyond that to be against His creation.
Scholars of Tafseer mentioned some of the forms of distorting the creation of Allaah The Almighty in the pre-Islamic era such as gouging out the eye of the camel and naming it Al-Haami which is the male camel whose back is protected of carrying anything on it for it has many offspring. So, it would be freed from work for the the sake of the idols. Other evil ways of changing the creation of Allaah The Almighty are tattooing and branding the faces of animals with fire.
Also, thinking of some creatures in different ways from which Allaah The Almighty assigned (designated), such as believing in planets as gods or believing in solar and lunar eclipses as indications of the conditions of people, are also included in changing the creation of Allaah The Almighty and all of such things are from the plotting and whispering of the devil to misguide the creation from worshiping and believing in Allaah The Almighty alone.
2. Averting people from the remembrance of Allaah The Almighty. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And to avert you from the remembrance of Allaah and from prayer.} [Quran 5: 91], {And when you see those who engage in [offensive] discourse concerning Our verses, then turn away from them until they enter into another conversion. And if Satan should cause you to forget, then do not remain after the reminder with the wrongdoing people.} [Quran 6:68} This is one of the greatest aims of the devil i.e. to instill negligence in the hearts of people so that he may overcome them easily after that. Actually, the remembrance of Allaah The Almighty is the best means to expel the devil, and Allaah The Almighty describes the devil with two descriptions saying: {the retreating whisperer } [Quran 114: 4] i.e. he is the one who whispers in the breasts of the Children of Aadam and who always retreats and withdraws when the slave mentions his Lord. Mujaahid said: When Allaah The Almighty is mentioned he (the devil) withdraws and contracts, and when He The Almighty is not mentioned he expands over the heart.
3. Misleading scholars. This is one of the most important aims of the devil, for misguiding a scholar means misguiding his followers. Allaah The Almighty mentioned the story of the scholar who preferred his own desires to obeying his Lord. Then Satan overcame and dominated him, so he became one of his soldiers and became a source of misguiding and misleading people after he had been a source of guidance to them. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And recite to them, [O Muhammad], the news of him to whom we gave [knowledge of] Our signs, but he detached himself from them; so Satan pursued him, and he became of the deviators. } [Quran 7: 175] Accordingly, the scholar should be more wary of the traps and plots of Satan. He should also know that his knowledge will not make him safe from the plots and cunning of Satan and that Allaah The Almighty is the only protector with His power and strength.
4. Evil suggestion of the devil. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And if an evil suggestion from Satan pricks you, then seek refuge in Allaah. Indeed, He is Hearing and Knowing.} [Quran 7: 200] Allaah The Almighty likened Satanic insinuations in the human soul to the prick that a needle causes for it is hard to observe it or to observe its effect. This is an eloquent metaphor for one does not observe the whispers of Satan and he may be too negligent to observe their effects. So Allaah The Almighty draws our attention to that so as to expel the temptations of Satan and avoid their effects by seeking refuge with Him from Satan and his plots. Allaah The Almighty is the only One Who is able to expel such temptations and their harmful effects.
5. Impulse of the devil. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, those who fear Allaah - when an impulse touches them from Satan, they remember [Him] and at once they have insight.} [Quran 7: 201] This verse has an eloquent description of how Satan misleads the Children of Aadam. Satan roams around them like the one who roams around a place before entering it so that when he observes a state of negligence from them, he touches them with his impulses and casts his whispers in their hearts to commit sins and misdeeds. However, the believer is intelligent enough to know his plots and cunning and to expel them with the remembrance of Allaah The Almighty before the satanic insinuations and suggestions have full control of him. That is because if such insinuations were neglected, they would turn to be determinations and then actions and then a habit which would be difficult to get rid of.
6. Incitement of Satan and his partnership with the Children of Aadam in their wealth and children. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And incite [to senselessness] whoever you can among them with your voice and assault them with your horses and foot soldiers and become a partner in their wealth and their children and promise them." But Satan does not promise them except delusion.} [Quran 17: 64] This verse represents the greatest and the oldest battle; a battle whose field is the heart and mind of the son of Aadam; and whose protagonists are the devil and the son of Aadam. Its aim is to occupy the mind and heart of the son of Aadam and to submit him to obeying Satan and his party. The arms of Satan in that war are his voice i.e. everything that calls for what Satan calls for of obscene and evil deeds, and his horses and foot soldiers i.e. his soldiers whom he sends to mislead people. Jaabir 
narrated that the Messenger of Allaah 
said: "Iblees (Satan) erects his throne on water and sends his emissaries among the people. The closest to him is the one who causes the most Fitnah (mischief)." [Muslim]
Also, amongst the arms of Satan are his promises that he gives to people if they obey and submit to him. It is with that weapon that he got Aadam and his wife out of Paradise when he said to them as Allaah The Almighty Says (what means) on his behalf: {Your Lord did not forbid you this tree except that you become angels or become of the immortal.} [Quran 7: 20] His promise was just a lie and deception.
7. Enticement and prolonging hopes. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, those who reverted back [to disbelief] after guidance had become clear to them - Satan enticed them and prolonged hope for them.}
[Qruan 47: 25] This is also one of the strategies that the devil adopts in misguiding and misleading those who know the right and the way of guidance by adorning, beautifying, and facilitating evil matters. In this way, souls proceed to such evil matters willingly and discouraged not by hardship or difficulty. If the remembrance of death hinders them, Satan hastens to mend the situation by deceiving them with hopes of a long life.
To be continued...
Read : 108 | Print : 4 | Sent : 0 | Rate : 0
The world of devils is the hidden and the most atrocious enemy of the Children of Aadam (People). They ceaselessly attempt to corrupt the manners and beliefs of mankind. They instill hostility and hatred among them. Therefore, there is no wonder that there are numerous verses in the Noble Quran and narrations of the Prophetic traditions that point out the danger of this enemy, the tactics he uses in misguiding people and his corruption so as to warn people against him and to keep them safe from his cunning and evil.
Allaah The Almighty has revealed many verses concerning the devil, pointing out the ways he uses to mislead and misguide people in a clear presentation that acts as the argument over all creation and eliminates any excuse of ignorance.
Amongst such verses is the Saying of Allaah The Almighty (which means): {Indeed, Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be among the companions of the Blaze.} [Quran 35: 6] It is an explicit declaration indicating his bitter enmity towards the Children of Aadam, so they should meet his hostility with the like of it {so take him as an enemy}.
Allaah The Almighty went beyond that declaration and revealed many other verses that explain the ways that the devil uses in tempting and misleading people, so Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Satan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Satan - indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing.} [Quran 24: 21]
This verse indicates the ways with which the devil deals with his victims. He does not attack them directly and in a single endeavor to get them out from faith to disbelief and from obedience to disobedience; rather, he approaches his victim with stealthy steps and searches for his points of weakness and then tries to enter from them. But if the person proves to be strongly adherent to his faith, the devil moves to tempt him from the direction of the permissible matters and incites him to indulge in them to prevent him from doing some recommended acts of worship. Then he persists until he makes him neglect the acts of Sunnah and so on until he makes him neglect his religious obligations.
If he finds that the person exaggerates in fulfilling the rulings of the religion and is inclined to extremism, he adorns for him illegitimate innovations in religion until he makes him propagate and defend such innovations.
If he finds that the person neglects the duties of religion and indulges in prohibited matters, then it is an easy victory for him. He keeps enticing him to neglect such duties completely and urges him to do prohibited matters until he becomes totally lacking in religion and morals.
The devil does not stop at just misguiding people but he follows that with adorning their misguidance. He never leaves his victims to be an easy prey to their guilty conscience or a captive to the criticism of admonishments; rather, he tries to keep them in their inner peace by making their evil deeds fair-seeming to them so that they may not feel any regret for them or feel that they go against natural inclinations and sound reason. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
• {And Satan made attractive to them that which they were doing} [Quran 6: 43]
• {And [remember] when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them.} [Quran 8: 48]
The adornment of evil deeds come in a form of justifications invented by the devil for his victims to justify their heinous deeds. So he adorns fornication and obscene deeds so that one may think that he is practicing his personal freedom, and adorns stealing so that one may think that he is earning the cost of his living, adorns dictatorship and oppression so that one may think that it is a way of preserving the unity of people and protecting them from the trends of sectarianism and ethnicity and so on.
The amazing thing is that the tactics of the devil do not go beyond the psychological influences which Allaah The Almighty has called 'whisperings' i.e. the private speech and hidden words that cannot be heard. The devil whispers in the breasts of the people. He enjoins them to do what is evil and forbids them from doing what is good. Allaah The Almighty has given him the ability to whisper and insinuate to the soul. In this regard, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, The Sovereign of mankind. The God of mankind, From the evil of the retreating whisperer Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind. From among the jinn and mankind} [Quran 114: 1-6] Whispering is Satan's most effective weapon; and it was nothing but his whispering that drove Aadam out of Paradise; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means):
{Then the devil whispered to him; he said, "O Aadam, shall I direct you to the tree of eternity and possession that will not deteriorate?" [Quran 20:120]
Although Satan has no material weapons in approaching mankind, he has misled many people – may Allaah guard us against him. His devilish insinuations had a great effect on misguiding people. He is aided in his efforts by the desires and lusts of souls who converge with what he calls for. Accordingly, both the soul and the devil unite together against the slave, so no one can resist them except the believer who has sincere and strong faith, otherwise, most people will fall into the traps of Satan even if it happens in different levels and degrees.
Although Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak} [Quran 4: 76] The weakness of the human soul before temptations gives strength to the weakness of the devil. The strength of the enemy in many times may not be inherent but rather draws from the weakness of the other party. Therefore, the verses of the Quran have focused on warning against the methods and the ways that the devil adopts in misleading people so as to strengthen the defenses of the human soul and fortify it against any attack.
Allaah The Almighty has explained the reality and aims of the call and invitation of the devil and that they will result in nothing but hardship for every individual in the worldly life and the Hereafter. So Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality.} [Quran 2: 268]
The devil does not want happiness for humanity but rather its destruction; he does not want its richness but its poverty, and does not want its purity but its impurity.
Allaah The Almighty also explains that from the aims of Satan is to provoke internal and external disputes among people and ignite wars and hostilities among believers. In this regard, Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allaah and from prayer. So will you not desist?} [Quran 5: 91]
Allaah The Almighty explains that the source of all vices, evil deeds and obscene acts is the accursed Satan. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars [to other than Allaah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.} [Quran 5: 90]
In the context of the comprehensive conflict between the two parties of good and evil and the two parties of belief and disbelief, the devil uses many methods to defeat the believers such as instilling fear and panic among them. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {That is only Satan who frightens [you] of his supporters. So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers.} [Quran 3: 175]
Mujaahid said: Allaah The Almighty threatens believers with the disbelievers. When fear overcomes someone, it makes him lose his ability to take the initiative, paralyzes his mind, and puts him on the attack list of other people so that he has no power either for benefit or for harm to himself.
Amongst the different styles that Satan uses to defeat the believers is circulating malicious rumors and disappointing news. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And when there comes to them information about [public] security or fear, they spread it around. But if they had referred it back to the Messenger or to those of authority among them, then the ones who [can] draw correct conclusions from it would have known about it. And if not for the favor of Allaah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan, except for a few.} [Quran 4: 83] This verse includes a clear indication that any malicious rumor is nothing but a devilish insinuation, seeking to disappoint and weaken the believers.
In his struggle to keep the group of evil submitting to him and following his orders, he starts his journey with them by arousing in them false desires and dreams. So he promises them to be victorious over the believers, and promises them riches, wealth and luxury. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Satan promises them and arouses desire in them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion.} [Quran 4: 120] Actually, the deceived followers of the devil will receive nothing but failure and disappointment. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And ever is Satan, to man, a deserter."} [Quran 25: 29]
To be continued...
Share via Mercury Browser
Comments
Post a Comment