Eleventh Ramadan Lecture Presented by Al-Sayyid Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, 1444 A.H.
Shaytan (3)
the symbol of evil
his most dangerous methods and the expansion of his activities
I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the outcast.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. I believe that there is no god but Allah, the Sovereign and the Manifest Truth, and that Muhammad, our master, is His servant, Messenger, and Last Prophet.
O Allah, confer Your salat and blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad as You conferred Your salat and blessings upon Ibrahim and the Family of Ibrahim. You are Owner of Praise, Owner of Glory! And be pleased with Muhammad's good companions and all Your righteous servants and mujahidin.
O Allah, guide us and grant us acceptance, for You are All-Hearing, All-Knowing; accept our repentance, for You are the Relenting and the Merciful.
Brothers and sisters, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
In the context of discussing Shaytan's warfare against humanity and his targeting of humans, we spoke about how he embarks on this mission fueled by intense malice and enmity, as well as by the tremendous loss he has incurred. He is the cause of his own loss, yet he directs all his malice and enmity towards humans, towards mankind, towards Adam and his descendants until the Day of Judgment.
Shaytan's loss is tremendous: He lost his status and position. He was among the jinn, then elevated to the ranks of angels, inhabited the heavens, and worshiped Allah among the ranks of the angels, which signifies the lofty position he attained. He remained in the state of worship among the angels for thousands of years. However, his problem was that he fell into a state of vanity and became deluded and impressed with himself, as he did not purify his soul after reaching that lofty status, and he instead deviated in his inner reality towards self-admiration, vanity, and arrogance. Therefore, when the test came, his true inner state was revealed. The test was the command to prostrate before Adam and the appointment of Adam and his descendants as vicegerents on the earth.
When he lost that lofty status, in which he was respected even by the angels, and was expelled by Allah from the heavens as a rejected, cursed, and condemned one, whom Allah cursed, became angry with, expelled from the heavens, and deprived of His mercy, leading his soul to become more and more corrupt and turning him into a wicked, misguided, sinful, corrupt being, he descended to the lowest level in the corruption of his soul. (We seek refuge in Allah.)
Furthermore, despite his loss of his faith and lofty status among the ranks of the angels, his loss became immensely horrifying in terms of the Hereafter. His inevitable destiny became the fire of Jahannam (We seek refuge in Allah). He will be eternally punished therein. He has become the symbol of evil, disbelief, and criminality, embraced by criminals, transgressors, disbelievers, and all the categories of Jahannam within human society.
With all that malice and the overwhelming sense of loss, he directed himself . He turned from one of the noble worshippers among worshippers into a transgressor, a criminal, and one who is wicked, evil, misguided, disbelieving, and corrupt (We seek refuge in Allah). With all his malice, he turned his focus towards targeting humans.
Shaytan has no authority except over those with weak faith
However, Allah (Glory be to Him) did not grant him authority over humans. {'You will certainly have no authority over My servants, except the deviant who follow you'}. The problem lies with humans themselves, for Shaytan has no pre-existing authority over them whatsoever.
{'His authority is only over those who take him as a patron and those who associate partners with Him'}: If a person inclines towards the wrong path, corrupts his soul, and opens himself up to the influence of Shaytan, then Shaytan begins to have influence on him. The more a person corrupts himself and keeps following his desires and submitting to the temptations of Shaytan, the more Shaytan gains control over him (We seek refuge in Allah). So Allah (Glory be to Him) has not granted Shaytan authority over humans. Rather, He has exposed his methods to all human society, from Adam and Eve (Peace be upon them) to their descendants, generation after generation. Allah has also made Shaytan's plots weak by nature. His influence only strengthens upon those who deviate, as they lack the natural and spiritual defences against him. When a person's faith weakens, the influence of Shaytan becomes stronger (We seek refuge in Allah).
Human beings, on their own, have the potential to deviate and follow their own inclinations, even without the presence of a devil from the jinn. However, the existence of a devil from the jinn at the forefront of the path of evil, deviation, and corruption—a devil who is an enemy to humanity and bears enmity towards humans, as Allah informed us so—should serve as a motive to avoid that evil path (the path of deviation, corruption, transgression, and misleading) for those humans who are aware of this, do understand this well, and follow the means of guidance and success. This is true especially as at the forefront of that path is an extremely wicked and evil element, symbolizing evil, corruption, wickedness, criminality, sinfulness, and immorality. It is the filthy wicked one and the enemy of humankind: Shaytan, the outcast. However, humans need to understand this enmity, consider him as an enemy and oppose him, and nurture this enmity within themselves towards Shaytan
This should become an important factor in limiting the influence of Shaytan on humans and even pushing them towards righteousness and the path of truth, goodness, success, triumph, elevation, and human dignity, and keeping them away from the path of deviation that would subject them to the accursed Shaytan (May Allah be our refuge).
The method of steps as the most dangerous method Shaytan relies on
Allah (Glory be to Him) has exposed the methods of Shaytan and revealed that he relies on the tactics of temptation, deceit, and misleading human beings. Shaytan tries to lead humans astray and beautify for them the repugnant acts that are incompatible with their nature. He also employs the strategy of gradual steps, which is one of the most dangerous methods he uses to lure and slide people towards corruption or misleading. Allah (Glory be to Him) warns in the Quran, {'O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Shaytan. And whoever follows the footsteps of Shaytan—indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing. And if not for the favour of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever, but Allah purifies whom He wills'}. This is a very important warning that, when adhered to, can fully protect us from the influence of Shaytan, his entanglements, and his attempts to drag us into major sins and transgressions that incur the displeasure of Allah and cause humans to end up losers.
Shaytan approaches human beings from all directions: from in front of them, from behind them, and from their right and left. This means that he seeks to exploit any weakness or vulnerability within a person. He knows that if he whispers to you about certain grave sins, attitudes, or transgressions from the very beginning, you will get upset and reject them, for your sound nature, faith, conscience, and belief remain alive within you. As soon as those sins, bad attitudes, or extremely grave steps come to your mind, you immediately condemn them within yourself, feel repulsed by them in your conscience, and completely distance yourself from them. So what does Shaytan need to do? He tries to lure you towards them step by step, and he prepares you mentally until you reach a certain stage where he can suddenly push you into that sin, attitude, or behaviour, catching you off guard. Your soul will then be ready to get into that (We seek refuge in Allah).
To illustrate, if Shaytan were to present the crime of fornication or moral corruption to some individuals from the very beginning, this would provoke them to the utmost extent: Their human nature, faith, chastity, honour, dignity, chivalry, and living conscience would reject it with the utmost defiance. They would detest such a heinous, despicable, horrendous, ugly, and criminal act, which is a major sin in the sight of Allah that brings upon oneself the wrath of Allah, undermines one's good deeds, and has a terribly devastating effect on one's soul. However, Shaytan begins by luring them into it step by step. He starts with actions that pollute a person's psyche, weaken his state of faith, deaden his living conscience and faith-based emotions, gradually erode his chastity, and reinforce and ignite corrupt feelings and inclinations towards corruption. This can take place through obscene scenes on television channels, on social media platforms, through lewd conversations, or through corrupt flirtations. And so, step by step, he strikes down all the barriers of faith and innate moral values, until he ultimately succeeds in ensnaring the person (May Allah be our refuge). In the end, one will find himself entangled in a tremendously grave and abhorrent situation.
In other situations and different directions such as materialistic desires, he approaches you with false hopes, temptations, and various justifications to gradually weaken your faith step by step. He starts with something small that you take lightly and see as insignificant—he makes it look so.
When it comes to important responsibilities, he tries to distract you from them, even if gradually, by exploiting any factors that have a negative impact on you and divert you from them: {'He said, "For leaving me to stray I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path"'}. How does he distract you from important worship and great sacred responsibilities? He searches for the influences that affect you: fears, anger, agitation, or any other emotional states—anything that can have an impact on you. He constantly works on utilizing them to distract you from those responsibilities, and so on.
When a person follows the first step, this encourages Shaytan and makes him desire for more. He then tries to lure him towards the second step, and once he slips towards the second step, this encourages Shaytan more and grants him more influence on the person. He then attempts to lead him towards the third step, and so on. That is why Allah says, {'O you who have believed, do not follow the footsteps of Shaytan.'} From the very first step, close the door on him, do not take a single step behind him, because when you take the first step behind him, his influence on you strengthens while you weaken. With each step you take, your faith weakens gradually, and he distances you from all the factors that preserve your faith and innate Invulnerability, which Allah has granted you. He weakens your conscience, which initially reproaches you, and weakens your natural, faith-driven conscience that makes you feel deep regret for any slip. He tries to gradually influence it (We seek refuge in Allah).
{'And whoever follows the footsteps of Shaytan—indeed, he enjoins immorality and wrongdoing'}. Immorality comes high on the list of the most important matters that Shaytan seeks to ensnare people in. In fact, it is one of the most widespread sins in the world because Shaytan primarily focuses on it. He mobilizes all his allies, followers, and those who submit to him to work in this direction in various countries, starting with the Western world, which has become a hub for spreading immorality to the rest of the world. It is a significant priority for Shaytan, and he works extensively to spread it. They also work towards promoting that. {'And wrongdoing'}—this involves the other forms of evil and sins.
Shaytan works in two directions:
- pushing you to exceed the limits set by Allah, to commit forbidden actions and violate prohibitions;
- and encouraging negligence and abandonment of important religious responsibilities, obligations, and tasks.
Thus, you neglect the commands of Allah and commit sins, which is disobedience, and/or transgress what Allah has forbidden, which is also a sin. Shaytan works in both directions to influence humans.
When Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {'And if not for the favour of Allah upon you and His mercy, not one of you would have been pure, ever'}, He warns us and clarifies the methods of Shaytan, his deceitful tactics, the vulnerabilities he exploits, and the factors that shield us from him. It is true that Shaytan whispers to us, but Allah has made the utmost clarification, conveyed His guidance to us, and warned us. He has also provided us with everything that helps us correct ourselves, purify our souls, and maintain their purity through great, effective, and clear means that can reach humans with utmost clarity, effectiveness, and explicitness. They reach the heart when one receives them with an open heart and attentive ears. It is then the matter becomes completely clear to him.
The diversity of Shaytan's methods based on his extrapolation of one's reality
The method of Shaytan in luring and ensnaring humans through steps is a method where he keeps making attempts again and again. This means that he tries in you once, tries again, and repeats his endeavours. He tries to study your reality, looking for specific vulnerabilities or moments of heedlessness. He seeks to hunt you in these moments and exploit the state in which he finds you weak in your faith and resilience, misguided, or attracted towards transgressions. He takes advantage of negative influences that affect you.
Some situations in which a person falls into a state of heedlessness or attraction, whether towards engaging in evil actions or neglecting important duties, are dangerous, for Shaytan sees in them an opportunity to set traps to hunt and ensnare you. Therefore, one should beware of such states.
Moreover, Shaytan continues his attempts, as what he did with our father Adam and our mother Eve. Allah says, {'So he lured them with deceit'}: He continued his attempts to make it appealing to them to eat from the tree that Allah had forbidden on them. In fact, they did not need to eat from that tree, because Allah had provided them in that garden with a comfortable life where everything was available in abundance: {'Here it is guaranteed that you will never go hungry or unclothed, nor will you suffer from thirst or heat'}. However, Shaytan keeps whispering, making transgressions appealing, and seeking gradual influence: He has some influence this time, then gains more influence next time, and continues like this with more deceit, adornment, justifications, and temptation to make the matter seem insignificant, until he brings about one's fall.
He works with flexibility and in all fields. That is, if it proves difficult for him to influence you in a certain field, he will search for another one. For example, if you possess chastity, dignity, and honour that prevent Shaytan from leading you towards immorality, he has no problem with that as long as he can trap you from another angle. For instance, he may find in you an aspect of pride and arrogance in which he sees an opportunity to ensnare you in sins or to push you to neglect great, important tasks that are at the core of faith-based commitments between you and Allah, and so on. All what he cares about is to make sure that you go astray or commit transgressions by any means, even to slit the ear of a sheep: {'Also, I will order them and they will slit the ears of cattle'}. Then he will draw you to another step—it is not a problem for him—for what is important for him is to find in you a weakness in any aspect through which he can lure you in more and more transgressions. His major concern is to entangle you by any means so that you live in misery, go astray, and eventually end in torment (We seek Allah for refuge).
{'He only incites you to commit evil and indecency, and to claim against Allah what you do not know'}. He works even in the educational fields, even in what is presented in the name of religion: {'and to claim against Allah what you do not know'}. This means that he even targets the educated and scholarly elites in their educational and scholarly activities, where religion is present. He seeks to entangle them in speaking about Allah what they do not know. Even though all people are targeted with this kind of targeting, he focuses more on this particular group.
And that is why Allah (Glory be to Him) says: {'And recite to them the story of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he detached himself from them, so Shaytan pursued him, and he became of those who went astray. And if We had willed, we could have elevated him thereby, but he inclined to the earth and followed his own desire. So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase it, it pants, or if you leave it, it still pants'}. Allah granted this scholar knowledge of the verses, guidance, and the book and teachings of Allah, but he deviated from them in terms of following them, seeking guidance, and adhering to them. Once he began to deviate and turned towards an alternative path of following his own inclinations and being enslaved to worldly desires, materialistic ambitions stirred within him, influenced him, and became the target of his ultimate focus. At that moment, Shaytan found an opportunity and worked to exert more influence over him and lure him into positions that involve disobedience to Allah, hindrance from the path of Allah, animosity towards the righteous servants of Allah, and so on. Thus, he became a follower of Shaytan, and Shaytan fulfilled his role and task and seized the opportunity by taking advantage of the vulnerability he found in that individual.
Therefore, he targets all humans, using all headings. When it happens that he finds difficulty in influencing some humans due to the religious nature they enjoy, he whispers to them that it is all right to limit themselves to fasting, praying, and other worship matters and keep away from other matters and major responsibilities that have to do with caring about the issues of Muslims and having a position against the enemies of Allah, religion, and humanity and against the people of injustice, tyranny, and criminality. He wants you to keep away from enjoining good, forbidding evil, and carrying out other responsibilities. Here, he takes his toll on you: He strikes you in those matters which you neglected and undermines your prayers, fasting, and other acts of worship because you neglected those important acts and responsibilities. Thus, those other actions were not accepted from you. This is how it goes. His main objective is to strike you with a blow that undermines your faith.
He may tempt you with the idea of repentance: He might encourage you to commit a sin or neglect a responsibility, and say to you, 'Don't worry! You can repent from that and remedy your shortcomings. You can turn back from this disobedience through repentance to Allah.' Then he entices you through this to fall into crime or grave sins (May Allah forbid). This is an extremely dangerous matter because you do not realize that you will lose much of your self-purification and incur the wrath of Allah. You do not know the extent of the predicament you will find yourself in, from one trouble to another, from one crime to another, from one sin to a greater one, and so on. You take that lightly because of the procrastination that he makes appealing to you, saying, 'We can fix it. Allah willing, we can take care of it in the future.' It is like what the brothers of the prophet Yusuf said, {'Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some distant land; the attention of your father will then be exclusively yours, and after that, you may become righteous people'}. It was a great crime that they contemplated, and he was whispering to them and sought to make them believe that it would bring about such a situation while they were having such wrong thoughts: {'And after that, you may become righteous people.'}
After being expelled from Jannah and becoming a wicked, misguided, sinful, criminal, and corrupt being, Shaytan (May Allah curse him) began his activity alone, moving on his own. In the first round of his conflict with Adam and his descendants, he worked on targeting Adam and Eve to drive them out of the garden they were in to begin their journey as vicegerents on the earth. He made efforts to deceive them to commit what could drive them out of that garden, seeking to make them fall into a state of suffering and misery and lose the comfort they were in, as Allah (Glory be to Him) forbade them from eating from that tree, warned them about Shaytan as their sworn enemy, and told them that they would be expelled from Jannah if they were to eat from the tree. So Shaytan focused on tempting them to eat from the tree, and he made that appealing to them and magnified the tree through deceit and misleading: He portrayed it as a plant that can grant eternal life to the person who eats from it and have the effect of making him enjoy everlasting dominion without decay and live forever in that dominion and even turning him into angels: {'Your Lord has forbidden this tree to you only to prevent you from becoming angels or immortals'}. He continued his efforts until he made them eat from the tree, and they then lost even their garments in that garden. They were then expelled and found themselves covering their bodies with leaves to conceal their private parts. He was pleased that he caused them to suffer and drove them out of that kind of comfort they once enjoyed, for he wants to make humans miserable, misguided, and entangled in loss with him and lead them towards the immense loss (the loss of Jannah and Allah's pleasure) and towards what makes them deserve to suffer the punishment of Allah and get into Jahannam as their abode and destiny (We seek refuge in Allah).
The expansion of Shaytan's activities through his extensive organized groups
At first, he began his activity alone, but he then expanded his activity and operated through large collectives. The reality of humans themselves also expanded as well: Allah blessed Adam with numerous offspring according to His divine plan, for He created Adam to generate large progeny that would serve as vicegerents on the earth. Humans multiplied in number from generation to generation, growing more and more. In this era, there are billions of people on the earth, and throughout history, populations have often been abundant. At times, nations flourished, and at other times, punishments were inflicted, leading to a decline in their numbers. However, with the expansion of human activity and the abundance of people, there was a corresponding expansion in the activities of Shaytan (May Allah curse him). Various collectives moved along with him to work in the same direction, with his own descendants being at the forefront, as he also has his progeny, though the methods of reproduction in the realm of jinn may differ from those in the realm of humans.
In the Holy Quran, Allah (Glory be to Him) says: {'And when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," and they prostrated, except for Iblees. He was of the jinn and departed from the command of his Lord. Then will you take him and his descendants as allies other than Me while they are enemies to you? Wretched it is for the wrongdoers as an exchange'}. Shaytan has his own progeny, those who branched out from him. They align themselves with him in wickedness, deceit, and temptation. They are his helpers, moving based on that foundation, and their activities have expanded. In other words, Shaytan does not need to act alone, pursuing each individual of Adam's descendants, travelling from one place to another to target every person. He does not need to do that, for he now works through a system, a network, and extensive organized groups that he spreads—they even work in an organized way.
He has a clan, and that Is why Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {'O children of Adam! Do not let Shaytan deceive you as he tempted your parents out of Jannah and caused their cover to be removed in order to expose their nakedness. Surely, he and his clan watch you from where you cannot see them. We have made the devils allies of those who disbelieve'}. Shaytan has his clan: his helpers, numerous jinn who are his descendants and whom he has attracted from the jinn. They move with him. So at times, you may not see anyone beside you and think you are contemplating alone, but you then notice that your thoughts take a negative and evil turn and find yourself consumed by negative, evil feelings and negative responses in situations involving desires, fears, anger, or emotional turmoil. In fact, some of them may be right beside you, sometimes not just one devil but several, attempting to ignite those feelings within you or tempt you because they have observed from your reality, your actions, and your behaviour that you respond to a specific subject or desire. It might also be because they targeted you before with some whispers and found that you responded to them, so they continue their active work around you while you are unaware of their presence. You imagine that those thoughts, ideas, and obsessions are solely your own, products of your own thinking, without realizing that you have become vulnerable to the influence of the devils and that the changes in your preoccupations, thoughts, and intense emotions are being contributed to by a devil or a group of devils hovering around you, surrounding you, interacting with you, exploiting your negligence, indifference, and inclination towards the wrong path. This is a serious state for humans to be in.
Shaytan moves with his clan and descendants, and he has numerous soldiers. Allah says regarding the people of the Fire, {'So they will be overturned into it,'}—they will be thrown on their faces into the fire of Hell (We seek refuge in Allah)—{'they and the deviators and the soldiers of Iblis, all together'}.
The specialization system adopted within the networks of Shaytan (the outcast)
The expansion of Shaytan's activities through networks, assistants, and numerous jinn devils is something that we should understand well. In the narrations attributed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&F), they even work according to a system of specializations. This means that devils specialize in specific fields and strive to excel in that specific fields:
- There are devils who work in spreading corruption and immorality.
- Some devils dedicate themselves to educational and informational fields to spread misguidance. They try to acquire knowledge about various subjects, including science, religion, ideas, beliefs, and other related matters because there is no way they can exert influence in these fields and in creating doubts and misleading titles without devoting some of their attention to these fields.
- Others specialize in sowing discord among people. In other words, they work on stirring up evils and conflicts. They specialize in those fields related to how they can stir up problems, how they can inflame them if they already exist, and how they can work to fuel conflicts between humans.
- Some devils even seek to create confusion in matters of worship, how to confuse you in your ablution, Salat, and worship acts.
And they report their activities daily to Shaytan (May Allah curse him). They inform him of their achievements, and he rejoices when successes are achieved, such as their success in deceiving people. They daily succeed in deceiving people; however, their influence is not the sole factor behind that! Rather, their influence only comes as an additional factor to the inclinations of people's souls. Depending on the reports presented to him, Shaytan rejoices when devils deceive many individuals. He also rejoices when they manage to deceive someone who has not been deceived by him or by his assistants before. If there is a person who remains steadfast for a certain period of time, his steadfastness becomes a source of annoyance to devils, wondering how they could not have been able to tempt that person! So when they succeed in deceiving such an individual, Shaytan rejoices greatly due to his extreme enmity. The believer's righteousness, steadfastness, and adherence to the means of divine guidance and protection annoys and angers Shaytan. For him, it remains a troublesome and irritating matter. If one becomes negligent and stumble, it becomes a problem for the person himself. However, he considers it a problem if this person returns to the path of divine guidance, repents, and turns to Allah. This greatly infuriates Shaytan, and he considers it a failure for him and his assistants, those whom he has assigned and dedicated to focus on this person. Thus, Shaytan is actively engaged in his work, perceiving himself in a continuous war with human society, humans (both men and women), as his battlefield. He assigns some of his devils to focus on women, while others focus on men. However, their work is coordinated, with daily reports, as they seek to exploit their specializations for more influence.
That is enough for today because the topic is lengthy and there are still some important points. Allah willing, we will discuss them in the coming lecture.
We ask Allah (Glory be to Him) to accept our fasting, nights of worship, and good deeds.
O Allah, have mercy on our virtuous martyrs, heal the wounded among us, set free our captives, and grant us victory. You are All-Hearing!
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.