The Tricks of The Devil

As for the tricks of Shaytan against you they are seven.

1. He obstructs you from doing acts of obedience . Repel him, if Allah protects you, by realizing that you are in need of these acts of obedience in order to gather provision from this life for the next life which will have no ending.

2. He commands you to procrastinate in acts of obedience . Repel him , if Allah protects you, by realizing that your appointed time is not in your hands and that you could die at any moment.

3. He commands you to rush in acts of obedience by suggesting to you , ” Hurry! In order that you can do so-and-so!” Repel him, if Allah protects you, that realizing that few acts of obedience done with perfection is better than many done incompletely.

4. He commands you to perfect your worship in order to be seen of men. Repel him, if Allah protects you, by realizing that the sight of Allah is enough for you over the sight of men.

5. He whispers arrogance and pride in your heart by saying, ” Who is greater and more precise than your obedience?” Repel him, if Allah protects you, by realizing that your acts of obedience to Allah is a blessing from Allah, not from yourself. If it were not for the bounty of Allah, you would not be able to establish any act of obedience , which are nothing next to the blessing of Allah Ta`ala.

6. This is the greatest of his tricks, he says to you, ” Make strenuous effort in keeping your obedience of Allah secret. Soon He will make your acts manifest before the world!” Repel him, if Allah protects you, that you are a slave of Allah and that He alone is your Master. If He wills , He will manifest you and is He wills He will keep you concealed. If He wills, He will make you important and if He wills He will make you insignificant. That is for Him to decide, and you should not care whether He manifest your good deeds to people or not, because there is nothing in thier hands worth seeking after.

7. He suggest in your heart, ” There is no need for you to perform acts of obedience to Allah. Truly, if you were created and destined to be among the people of bliss, then there is no danger in you neglecting the acts of worship. And if you were created and destined to be among the people of wretchednedd, then there is no benefit in doing them. Repel him , if Allah protects you, that realizing that you are a slave . And that it the duty of a slave to obey the commands as is the rights to slaveness (`ubuudiyya).

[Uthman Dan Fodio, Tareeqah al-Jannah Bab Muhaarabatush-Shaytan] Faraz Rabbani

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