The Cunning of Satan is Weak
Man's greatest enemy, since the Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, has
always been Satan. Satan pledged himself to lead people astray when the
Prophet Adam was created, and has committed himself to this cause by devising
schemes that make the world appear charming and alluring to mankind. The
Qur'an also informs us that his scheming is feeble and that he can exercise
no authority over people:
Those who believe fight in the Way of God. Those
who disbelieve fight in the way of false gods. So fight the friends of
Satan! Satan's scheming is always feeble. (Surat an-Nisa': 76)
Diabolis (Iblis) was correct in his assessment
of them and they followed him, except for a group of believers. He had
no authority over them except that We might test those who believe in
the hereafter from those who are in doubt about it. Your Lord is The Preserver
of all things. (Surah Saba': 20-21)
In fact, that Satan's scheming is feeble and that he has no power over
people is God's making things easy for mankind. Satan is the only negative
power against religion and His weakness implies that believers will not
experience any difficulty in living by the values of the Qur'an. However,
for this to happen, sincere faith is essential. In the Qur'an, God informs
us that those with sincere faith will not be affected by the tricks of
Satan:
He (Satan) said, 'My Lord, because You misled me, I will make things
on the earth seem good to them (mankind) and I will mislead them all,
every one of them, except Your servants among them who are sincere.' (Surat
al-Hijr: 39-40)
In other verses, God has revealed that Satan will have no power over
those who believe and put their trust in their Lord:
He has no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their
Lord. He only has authority over those who take him as a friend and associate
others with God. (Surat an-Nahl: 99-100)
THE SECRET OF HOW TO ESCAPE FALSE HOPES AND THE WHISPERINGS OF THE SATAN
Despite Satan's inefficacy on the believers, he may sometimes attempt
to bother them with his whisperings because of a deed they have committed.
Another important secret God reveals in the Qur'an is how to escape the
whisperings of Satan. This is a very important subject for believers who
fear God and hope to attain paradise, because the whispers of Satan are
misleading words that divert man from God's way and keep him occupied
with vain and trivial issues. Satan tries to inject feelings of sorrow,
fear and distress to people, to sow discord amongst them, to cause them
to feel doubts about God, the Qur'an or the religion (deen). He fills
them with false hopes. Some of the verses that describe Satan's whisperings
to man are as follows:
"I will lead them astray and fill them with false
hopes. I will command them and they will cut off cattle's ears. I will
command them and they will change God's creation." Anyone who takes Satan
as his protector in place of God has clearly lost everything.
He (Satan) makes promises to them and fills them
with false hopes. But what Satan promises them is nothing but delusion.
(Surat an-Nisa': 119-120)
(The insidious whisperer) who whispers in people's breasts (hearts) (Surat
an-Nas: 5)
No matter what Satan whispers to believers, he will not be able to distract
them from God's guidance as long as they follow the path that God shows.
God reminds believers of the following against Satan:
If an evil impulse from Satan provokes you, seek refuge in God. He is
All-Hearing, All-Seeing. As for those who have fear of God, when they
are bothered by visitors from Satan, they remember and immediately see
clearly. (Surat al-A'raf: 200-201)
As can be understood from the verse, believers remain alert to the whisperings
of Satan. They lose no time on thinking about his whisperings, and, aware
that it would not please God, they never allow themselves to be carried
away by pessimism, fear or sorrow, which are all negative feelings shunned
by believers. When believers are troubled with something not in compliance
with Qur'anic morality, they immediately recognise it to be a noxious
whisper from Satan that would not please God. They dismiss the whisperings
of the Satan through the remembrance of God and the verses of the Qur'an.
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