Shaytan has sabr??

The Strategy of Shaytan: Lessons from the Story of Adam

Where is the best place that we can learn the strategy of the Shaytan? If we go back to the very first story — the story of Adam (peace be upon him). When Allah gives Adam (peace be upon him) paradise with all its beauties and all its halal, but He only makes one thing haram for him. And that one thing that is prohibited, Adam (peace be upon him) is not thinking about it. But Shaytan comes to him and whispers.

And not once, but again and again and again. Allah uses a word for this in the Qur'an — a very interesting word. He does not use it anywhere else in the Qur'an. Only here, to describe what the Shaytan did to our father Adam. Allah says:

The Shaytan dallahuma. What is dalw in Arabic? Who can tell me? It's a bucket. The one you put inside a well to get water. When you pull the rope to get the bucket out — slowly, slowly, slowly — until your water comes up. You have to be very patient. The Shaytan, this is how he works. Dalla.

The Gradual Descent — Step by Step

The devil never ever calls you directly to disbelief in Allah. He asks you first to leave something that is just Sunnah. So he reduces the importance of following the Sunnah in your eyes. You think, khalas — the Sunnah after Dhuhr, the Sunnah before Fajr. It's optional. Out the window.

Then slowly, slowly, slowly, you start to pray the salah at the end of its time. It's okay — it's still within the time. Maghrib at 3:57, Asr at 3:53. It's okay, it's still within the time. You start to do this regularly with all your salawat. One day comes — that last 3 or 4 minutes of the time of the salah you were intending to pray, it just goes — and you missed your first salah.

And that day you're shocked. But as you do it once more, and once more, and once more — it becomes normal. Until the day comes, you stop praying salah altogether.

The Final Deception

But the Shaytan's work is not done yet. This is his deception. This is the way he works. Someone comes to you and says, "You know, if you don't pray salah, some scholars say you might be a disbeliever." You say, "Allah never ordered us to pray salah anyway. Muslims don't have to pray salah."

And now you have left the fold of Islam by consensus. Just from salah — slowly, slowly, slowly — the Shaytan was able to deceive someone and kick them out. This is how he works.