“Did I not command you, O Children of Adam, not to follow Satan, for he is truly your sworn enemy,” 36:60

Satanic traits

Satan misguides Muslims in different ways.  His only mission is to deceive

humanity.

Pride–the root of the problem

 

Iblees was turned from Jin to Satan because of his pride. Allah ordered all the angels to prostrate before Adam. Angels obeyed the command. But iblees rejected to do so because of his pride. He told Allah that he is superior because he is from fire and Adam is from dust. 

“I am better than him [Adam], You created me from fire, and created him from clay.” Qur’an 7:12

Allah cursed Satan and threw him out of paradise. His pride made him kafir. He requested Allah to let him free till the day of judgment. His only mission is to misguide the Muslims from the correct path.

” [Satan] said, ‘Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them [mankind] on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].’, “Qur’an 7:16-17.

Satanic deception

Satan is the worst enemy of Muslims. He tries his best to mislead the believers. He lies and whispers in the ears of the believer to disobey Allah. He did the same thing with Adam and Hawwa.

Allah permitted Adam and Hawa to enjoy and cherish the things of paradise but forbade them from one tree.

“0 Adam! Dwell you and your wife in the 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 Zalimeen (wrong-doers).,” Surah 2: 35.

However, Adam and Hawa was a human being. Satan made them forget the order of Allah. He instigated them to eat the fruit of that tree.

“Shall I guide you to the Tree of Immortality and the Eternal Kingdom?” And he said to them: “Your Lord did not forbid you this tree save you should become angels or become of the immortals.” And he (Satan) swore by Allah to them both (saying): “Verily, I am one of the sincere well-wishers for you both.” Surah 7: 20-21.

Iblees continuously instigated them to consume the fruit of the tree. He made them occupied with the thought of being immortal and staying in paradise forever. Adam and Hawa consumed the fruit from the tree.

Allah Almighty said in the Holy Quran, Surah 20: 121:

So they both ate from the tree and then their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. So Adam disobeyed his Lord, and ˹so˺ lost his way.

Allah is the best advisor. He stopped Adam and Hawwa for their benefit. Adam and Hawwa became naked after eating the fruit. They started to clothe themselves with the leaves of the tree. Allah punished them by removing them from heaven to the earth.

Have you ever noticed whenever we are going to commit any sin our inner self stops us but we give reasons to ourselves that I am right or I have my reason. It is because Satan whispers in our ears; he deceives us and makes us forget the command of Allah.

Commanding to do evil

Every human being has desires. It can be a good or a bad one. Allah has given us a mind to differentiate between good and bad. Allah is the best protector.

 He protects those who obey him but Those who disobey him and walk on iblees path do nothing but wrong with themselves. 

In the holy Quran (4,120) Allah has mentioned that,

“He (the Satan) makes promises to them, and he tempts them with hopes. The Satan does not make a promise to them but to deceive”.

He beautifies the evil deed

“Why then, did they not supplicate in humility when a calamity from Us came upon them? Instead, their hearts were hardened and Satan adorned for them what they were doing”. Qur’an 6:43

Sins are never beautiful.it is Iblees who make it attractive and beautifies it. He makes the good things burdens on the heart and beautifies the evil deeds.

He did the same thing with Adam and Hawwa. Millions of things surrounded them but they chose forbidden fruit because of Satan. He presents the bad thing in a beautiful light and make us forget the command of Allah.

Satan whispered to Adam, saying,

“‘O Adam! Shall I lead you to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that will never waste away?’,” Qur’an 20:120.

Modification in the Religion

Islam is a complete religion. It doesn’t need any modification or innovation. Satan lures Muslims to practice new things. Islam and Quran carry complete guidance about life.

Allah has mentioned in the Holy Quran

“I have perfected for you your religion” (5:3)

The belief that Islam is a conservative religion and incomplete is considered disbelief because it is a rejection of Allah’s order and Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) guidance.

Today innovations are considered religious things and people practice them as a religious observance.. people who bring innovation and practice it believe that they are doing a good thing and they will be rewarded for it. However, these innovators are doing a major sin. Satan never let them realize they are doing sin. They remain in the misconception and never repent.

Neglecting Obligatory Deeds

Allah has made few things obligatory for his people. Satan makes Muslims busy in doing uncertain things and slowly removes them from the correct path.

Salat is obligatory for every Muslim but Satan keeps us busy in other work to make us miss our obligatory prayers. He delays our prayer, shortens it, and then manipulates us to prefer other things over salat.

 “Satan wishes only to plant enmity and malice between you through wine and gambling, and to prevent you from the remembrance of Allah and from Salāh. Would you, then, abstain?” Qur’an 5:91.

Anger is haram in Islam. Allah prohibits it. One should always keep calm as anger makes us do foul deeds.

Man loses the power of thinking and control in anger. Satan takes benefit our anger state and makes us do the foul thing which later leads to the exploitation of humanity.

One should keep in mind that Anger is a manifestation of EGO and Allah dislikes those who show pride or ego.

He makes you forget

Satan makes us forget the commands of Allah. He captures our minds and raises the feeling of arrogance and superiority. He did the same thing with Musa A.S.  

Musa A. S delivered a sermon to his nation. One man asked him ‘O Musa is there anyone more learned than you?’

Musa was the prophet of the time. Satan made him proud, and he told that ‘It is true, I am the most learned,’  forgetting that the most learned is Allah. Allah immediately scolded him “Musa, you are wrong to think you are the wisest of men. At the junction of the two seas, there is a slave of mine who is more learned than you.”

Prophet Musa (AS) was apologetic and immediately asked for forgiveness.

What does Satan want?

Satan is the everlasting enemy of man. He only wants to exploit our end and wants us to be in the fire with him. Allah has guided us to fight the enemy and ask for His forgiveness because He is the forgiver.

Surely Satan is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy. He only invites his followers to become inmates of the Blaze. 35:6

Have you ˹O Prophet˺ not seen those who claim they believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you? They seek the judgment of false judges, which they were commanded to reject. And Satan ˹only˺ desires to lead them farther away.(4:60)

Distraction

Satan distracts us during prayers. He whispers in our ears and makes us forget the salat. He distracts our minds. Salat is the medium of communication with Allah. Salat makes Muslims closer to Allah. Satan distracts us to engage our mind in wrong thoughts and worldly things to keep us away from the real creator- Allah. he is our enemy. We need to betray and him and make him lose and Allah loves those who repent and ask for his forgiveness.

Wasting time

Satan traps us to do sinful deeds but when he fails he tries to engage us in meaningless things so we don’t do any good deeds in that time. He wastes our time and occupies us with useless work.

What does Satan say?

Satan only instructs us, he can only try to misguide us. It is in our hands to choose the right or wrong path. In the day of judgment, sinners will cry and scold Satan for their suffering but he will deny the blame.

In the holy Quran, Surah Ibrahim, verse 22 it is mentioned that

Satan will say when the matter will have been decided, “Allah promised you a truthful promise while I gave you a promise and did not fulfill it. I had no authority over you, except that I invited you and you accepted my call. So, do not blame me, but blame yourselves. Neither I can come to your help, nor can you come to my help. I disown your associating me with Allah in the past. Surely, there is a painful punishment for the unjust.”

Results of following the Satan

Makes people shameless

Whoever follows Satan will become shameless. Satan arouses the desire. It makes haram beautiful and halal unattractive.

It is easy and attractive to get into haram relations than to marry, haram earning and haram foods look more delicious and easy because of Satan’s influence on man.

For the first time, sin feels like an evil deed but soon Satan makes us feel good. He makes sins way more attractive. We feel like we are not doing anything wrong or Allah is merciful he will forgive us but slowly as the day passes he removes the shame of doing the sin. We become habitual and the inner filling of repentance gets killed by satanic whispers.

Terrible ending

Those who will follow Satan will go to hell. Their end will be terrible. They will have to face their acts. Satan can only betray those who follow him and disobey Allah.

Those who believe in Allah and worship him will not get affected by satanic traits because their powerful connection with Allah helps them to fight satanic instigations. These people might make mistakes but they turn to their lord and ask for his forgiveness.

Allah had mentioned In the holy Quran

Surely he has no power over those who have faith and who place their trust in their Lord. He has power only over those who take him as their patron and who, under his influence, associate others with Allah in His Divinity. Sura Nahl 99-100.

Satan has powers to instigate us but Allah has given us so many ways to get rid of him. We need to understand his conspiracies and deal with our biggest enemy in the best possible manner. He might possess power but remember, Allah has given us superiority over him. We can fight him and enter paradise and this would be an enormous loss for him.

How to save?

Turn to Allah

Whenever you get any bad thoughts or intend to do any sin, immediately realize that it was Satan and turn to Allah. Satan cannot manipulate those who turn to Allah and ask for his help.

We should never forget that as long as we are alive Satan will continuously attempt to misguide us but we need to keep our self connected to Allah. This connection will help us defeat him. Recite Surah-Al-Falaq and Surah Nas. These surahs will help to get rid of satanic traps.

Salah and Zikr

Offer prayer daily. Whenever we perform Salat, Satan feels bad. Salat is a great tool to fight Satan.

In the holy Quran Allah has mentioned that

“Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?” [Quran, 5: 91]

Satan doesn’t want us to offer a prayer or to remember Allah because these are the key tools to make him lose. Allah is so merciful that he protects those who pray salat and remember him. Only Allah can give us the power to resist sin.

“… Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing…” Qur’an 29:45

Recite Surah Fatiha and 1^st kalmia daily to get rid of satanic traits

Recite the Qur’an

Recitation of the Qur’an helps believers understand Islam, the orders of Allah, and the conspiracies of Satan

Although the whole Quran is powerful Surah Baqarah is considered essential to fighting Satan. Whoever recites the last 2 verses of surah Baqarah- get rid of Satan as these powerful verses make Satan flees.

Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said,

“The house in which al-Baqarah is recited is not approached by Shaytan.” [Muslim]

Saying the name of Allah

Take Allah’s name and say Bismillah at the start of every work. Satan flees as soon as we take Allah’s name. If we don’t recite bismillah, he eats and drinks with us. He can enter our house if we don’t recite bismillah when we close the door.

Stay in Wudu

Satan fears those who stay purified. We should stay in wudu to save from satan. Wudu is great worship; it removes all the sin from the believer’s body and makes us purified.

He is the honest “nasih”

Allah is honest. He is the best advisor. He is the Creator. He is the All Knower.  Allah has given us thousands of beautiful things, lovely relations, and delicious food. He only condemns us for our benefits. We should stay away from the things, food, relation, or anything else that has been condemned by Him. He is merciful; He forgives us for our mistakes.

Our big fight is to fight with our enemy-Iblees. He will try his best to mislead us but we have to hold the guidance of Allah tightly.

“O children of ’Ādam, “Do not let Satan put you in trouble the way he had your parents expelled from Paradise, having their dress removed from them, so that he could show them their shame. Indeed, he sees you – he and his company – from where you do not see them. Surely, We have made the devils friends to those who do not believe”.

Surah 7: 27

Related Links:

• The Strategy of Satan by Nouman Ali Khan
• How Shaytan Will Rope You In – Khutbah by Nouman Ali Khan
• Defeating Tactics of Shaytaan – Ustadah Yasmin Mogahed
• This is how Shaytaan influences your life