Shaytan: Our Open Enemy And His Deceptions

Opening Praise and Salutations

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets and the Messengers, and upon his family and his companions, the good and the pure, and whoever obeys them with good, and calls upon them with their call, and abides by their Sunnah, and follows their guidance until the Day of Judgment.

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Our Open Enemy: Shaytan

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, our Creator, our Maker — He, in the Qur'an al-Karim, has guided us towards everything that is right and beneficial, and at the same time has warned us from all that is harmful. And one of the warnings of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that repeats throughout the Qur'an is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us about our enemy, our open enemy.

Verily, shaytan is your enemy — so regard him as your enemy. عَدُوٌّ مُبِينٌ — he is your open enemy. Not only is he your enemy, but he is the enemy of your father, and grandfather, and forefathers, and the father of all of humanity, Adam alayhi as-salam. He is his sworn eternal enemy.

And this is the enemy whose enmity has lasted generation upon generation, and he has declared he will continue in his enmity till the Day of Judgment. And when he was expelled from Jannah, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

"You are expelled, get out of here, you are cursed, eternally cursed." He had taken a pledge to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

"I will misguide all of these children of Adam — except for some of your beloved servants, they may escape my grasp — but I will definitely make this the mission of my life, and the life of all of my dhuriya, my progeny, that we will be misguiding them. If we are going to burn in hell, we will not burn alone, we will take the entire humanity with us."

"I will misguide them from in front and behind, from their right and their left. And you will not find many of them grateful to you, O Allah." This is what Iblis told Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And he asked Allah ta'ala for a respite — a long life for it.

"O my Lord, grant me a respite and an opportunity till the Day of Resurrection." Allah ta'ala said, "Okay, I give you that chance." And this is what he wants to do with it — it is a stated mission and goal.

The Deceptions of Shaytan: Talbis Iblis

And that is why the mashayikh have given us so many different ways for us to protect ourselves from shaytan, and his wasawis, and his attacks, and his deceptions. Many books have been written on this topic. The most famous is Talbis Iblis by Ibn al-Jawzi rahmatullahi alayhi.

He talks about the different deceptions of the devil, and how he deceives different categories of people. What are the tests and the deceptions from shaytan when he comes to ulama, when he comes to awam, when he comes to scholars, when he comes to laymen, when he comes to kings and rulers, governors, and those that are governed. The rich and the poor. The men and the women. The young and the old. The educated and uneducated. The one who lives in the city, the one who lives in the desert. All the different groups and demographics of society — there are different deceptions of shaytan who is out there to misguide us.

The Common Denominator: Seeking Allah's Protection

But how do we protect ourselves? There is one common denominator, and then there is further tafasil and further details for each group. The common denominator is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told us in the Qur'an. And that is that we need to at all times seek the protection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from shaytan. That is the only place that we can get protection.

And Allah ta'ala mentioned this in so many different ways, so many different ayat:

"O my Lord, I seek Your protection from the whisperings of the shaytan. And I seek Your protection that the shaytan may come upon me." This is an ayah in the Qur'an. This is not just a du'a Allah mentioned — which by itself would be an evidence for us to recite it and to invoke Allah. It's not something just to be read or recited, but rather to supplicate Allah with that du'a. But beyond that, it's a command — it's an imperative verb, فِعْلُ أَمْرٍ. Allah ta'ala says, قُلْ — "Say: O my Lord, I seek Your protection from the attacks of shaytan."

Even this Qur'an al-Karim that we recite is a source of mercy from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, a source of guidance for us. One of the instructions is:

"When the time comes for you to recite the Qur'an, when you begin the ritual recitation of the Qur'an — the tilawah of the book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — then seek the protection of Allah from shaytan the accursed." And that is why before we begin tilawah, we always say:

And this is a practice that we have, but we need to be focusing on it.

The Rational Argument of Imam Fakhruddin Razi

This act of seeking the protection of Allah from shaytan — and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala being the only source of protection from shaytan, from their wasawas, and their makr, and their planning and plotting — Imam Fakhruddin Razi rahmatullahi alayhi approaches it in such a beautiful, logical, philosophical manner in his Tafsir al-Kabir. As he was someone who was very rational, and he approached things in a very rational manner that is very appealing to us in this day and age when everyone is trying to understand things, and question things, and be skeptical. This is part of our environment that we are living in.

He says — taking the concept from him but putting in a modern context, not necessarily using the same words he used — when you have an enemy, and you need to protect yourself from your enemy, one of the most important divisions in any military is the military intelligence unit, the espionage. The purpose of that is: how do you defend yourself from your enemy? You have to have knowledge of the strength of your enemy, and where he would potentially attack you from — where are the surface-to-air missiles, where are the air defenses, where are the radars located. You need to avoid them with your air force if you want to invade their territory, or you have to take out some targets. You have to be aware of the military strength of your enemy. Then you can plan your military campaign accordingly.

For this, there is espionage. For this, there is military intelligence. The entire world of spying is all part of this. This is not something new, but was there from eras of the past, all the way to the time of Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And there are so many fascinating examples of this in the books of Seerah and the books of Maghazi.

The Battle of Badr: A Lesson in Intelligence

We see how Rasulallah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was planning when he was going toward Badr — what ended up being the Battle of Badr. He wasn't originally going toward Badr. Allah ta'ala says:

You wanted to just go get the caravan of your stolen items — that Abu Sufyan, later to become radiyallahu anhu, had gone to Syria to fetch. But then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed that caravan to escape, and Allah ta'ala brought the army of the Quraysh, and you faced them in the plains of Badr.

So Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was sending out spies to figure out what was going on. He sent some sahaba, and they captured two khuddam — servants — from the army of the mushrikun, by the wells of Badr. They had gone there to get some water for the troops and for their animals. When they were brought in, Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was actually performing salah, so some of the sahaba were interrogating them.

They asked: "Who are you working for?" They said: "We are working for the army of Abu Jahl — there is an army behind the mountain of Badr, on the other side." The sahaba said: "No, you are lying." They were in denial — they didn't want to believe it. There are five stages; the first stage is denial. So they said: "No, you are from the caravan of Abu Sufyan." They replied: "No, we are from the army of Abu Jahl, and there is a whole army." Then the sahaba, astaghfirullah, beat them, and then he said: "Okay, okay, yes, we are from the caravan of Abu Sufyan." That is why testimony under any type of torture is unacceptable.

Then Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam finished his salah and told them: "What are you doing? When he was speaking the truth, you denied him. And when he said a lie, you believed him. He is from the army. You don't want to see the army tomorrow, but there is an army here. He is speaking the truth."

Then Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Let me talk to them." He asked: "How many soldiers are in your army?" The man said: "I don't know — a lot." So Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "How many camels are you slaughtering every day for food?" He said: "Nine or ten." So Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: "Between nine hundred to a thousand" — because a hundred people typically eat one camel. This is how he determined the numbers. This is military intelligence from Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's side.

Spying from Abu Sufyan's side is also there, radiyallahu anhu. He was trying to figure out what was happening, where the different groups from Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam were in the desert, because he was afraid. He had all the stolen property of the muhajirun with him. He had gone to Sham and come back with a lot of profit, and he knew that Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would potentially send out a sariyya, or even a ghazwa himself, to go and capture it.

Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had also sent out spies a few days earlier. They were passing by, asking about the caravans. They passed by one oasis — these bir, like Bi'r Aroha, and all these wells in the desert, were like rest areas. That's where you would get a lot of information, because the source of water is the source of life:

"From water We have made everything alive." Every living organism needs water. That is why when our space explorers go to different planets, they are looking for water — in any form, gas form, frozen form, ice or liquid form, H₂O, source of life. If you see water: oh, there may be some extraterrestrial life.

Anyway, by the water, the spies were investigating and then moved on. Then Abu Sufyan came with his caravan to take water. He asked: "Did you see any spies from Yathrib, from Medina?" They said: "We don't know any spies. But there were two people who were passing by and asked about the caravan." He said: "Where was their camp?" They showed him. He found where the camels were parked, and he found the excreta of the camels — the dung. He took a stick, dissected it — a forensic study — and in there he found the pits of the seeds of the dates of the tamar of Medina. He said: "Oh, the people of Medina are around this neighborhood. I've got to get out of here." Then he escaped and sent a messenger to Makkah, and the army of Abu Jahl got ready.

Prophet Sulayman and the Hudhud Bird

Anyway, spying is part of history from that time. And even before that — centuries before — in the army of Sulayman alayhi as-salam, when he took the roll call of his troops:

"Why don't I see the hudhud bird? Is he absent?" Some people are absent with an acceptable excuse, and some are absent without excuse — he had not taken permission. So he was in big trouble. This is Uslub al-Hakim — he was a king, so he speaks like a king: "I will torment this bird with a severe punishment, or I will slaughter it — 100% zabh, not 99% — or the bird must bring me a clear evidence for why it is not present."

The hudhud bird was military intelligence — it would go and search the strength of the troops and different army positions, and come back and report. The bird came back with a report:

"And after a little period of time passed, he said: 'I have come with the knowledge of something that you do not know — I have some new information. I come from Saba — there is a queen Bilqis there, there is an entire kingdom, they don't know about Allah, they are worshipping other than Allah — the sun — and we need to go and spread Hidayah there.'"

The Key Insight: An Enemy You Cannot See

In this context, Imam Fakhruddin Razi makes a crucial point. He says: to protect yourself from any enemy, you have to have knowledge of the enemy — that is number one. But when it comes to Iblis, there is alam al-mushahada and alam al-ghayb — the physical world and the metaphysical world, that which we see and that which we do not see. Shaytan is not from the alam al-mushahada that we see. He is from the alam al-ghayb that we cannot see.

The physical world — the simple definition — is that it is made up of elements on the periodic table of elements. And if something is composed of elements not on the periodic table of elements, that is from the alam al-ghayb, the metaphysical world. So shaytan is not made from H₂O or any of the atoms that we know. He is from the alam al-ghayb. So you cannot see him.

How in the world, then, are you going to protect yourself from an enemy you cannot see? Because you don't know where he is going to strike, where he is going to attack. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2038; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2174)

He is flowing through you in your veins like blood. How are you going to protect yourself from someone you cannot even see?

So he said: the only way is to flip the table — flip the script. You ally yourself and take the protection of that Being who, if shaytan is invisible to us, is invisible to shaytan. Allah ta'ala says:

None of the eyes of the creation can encompass Him. SubhanAllah. Who is that? وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ — Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So you have to have Allah on your side. Or rather, you have to be on the side of Allah. And you take the protection of Allah because Allah is invisible to shaytan. Not only is Allah invisible to shaytan — the entire army of Allah is invisible to shaytan:

Nobody has knowledge about the army of Allah except for Allah. So Allah is invisible to Iblis and his army, and the entire army of Allah is invisible to Iblis. Now you have become invisible — like a stealth aircraft that is invisible to radar.

The Army of the Elephants: A Physical Example

A beautiful example of how the army of Allah is invisible:

In this day and age, we have air forces and squadrons of jets. So the tayyiran ababeel — the question is: which base did they originate their flight from? We don't know. And after discharging their payload on the army of Abraha, where did they return to? We don't know. There is no tracker on them. They appeared out of nowhere and disappeared back. This is how we have to take the protection of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect us from shaytan.

Closing Du'a

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to continually be in His protection. Morning and evening — recite the du'as of protection. Recite them before we go to sleep. They are more important now than ever. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allow us to appreciate these beautiful gifts that we have been given in the Qur'an and the Sunnah to protect us from our mortal enemy.

Let us fill in the gaps and inshallah come forward and perform the sunnah.

Announcements

Three important Jumu'ah announcements inshallah. Please pass donation boxes from left to right. Please ensure the boxes reach the other side. Donate generously. Sadaqah wards off calamities and draws the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Please join us for our Seventh Annual Winter Intensive. This is a very important event that takes place every year. This year it is about: Harmony Within — Cultivating Love and Unity in the Modern Muslim Household. December 21st to 23rd. We have great speakers coming from all over the country, speaking about mastering marital communication, upholding marriage and morals in an evolving world, Islamic guidance on divorce, and all the different masa'il regarding these important topics. We will be able to learn inshallah. We also have female speakers for a full parallel program for the sisters, and for young children ages 5–7, 8–12, 13–17 — young men, young women, boys and girls — separate sessions inshallah. Topics include: Daughters in Islam, Crown of the Family, Fiqh of Social Media, different games, Q&A sessions, open gym, and much more is planned.

Weekly programs inshallah: Team Fajr on Saturdays — 6:15 a.m. Iqamah. Tuesday Tafsir. Weekly Urdu Seerah program on Thursday nights. And for the sisters, there is a Tafsir program after Dhuhr Salah on Thursdays.

Continue to make du'a for Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and the entire Muslim Ummah.

Second Khutbah: Congratulations and Du'a for Syria

To the brothers that may not know that are here — from our heart, from Darussalam, we wanted to definitely convey our congratulations. Everyone should share in this joy as well. This is part of being a Muslim — that we share in the happiness with our dear brothers, and we also share in the sadness with them. This is a promise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Sometimes, you know:

This is an example of this that happened in the Qur'an — Banu Israel were subjugated, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala turned Pharaoh and destroyed him and brought a victory to them. But at the same time, we are very cautious and fearful about the future — what the future holds and what is happening. We are witnessing that, taking advantage of this opportunity, Israel has completely decimated and destroyed whatever military resources that Syria had — from all of its military bases, all of its aircraft, all of its helicopters, its naval fleet. Everything has been destroyed with hundreds and hundreds of Israeli airstrikes, and completely all the positions of the Syrian military that were unmanned have been destroyed. So that is happening. Whatever the plan is, Allah ta'ala knows best.

But at the same time, we should celebrate the happiness of all of the prisoners that were released — that the Zalim, Taghut, these cruel, oppressive rulers Hafiz al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad — Allah ta'ala has removed them. And Allah ta'ala has given opportunity for all of our brothers and sisters from Syria throughout the world to go back and meet their loved ones. And this is an opportunity for us to be thankful for that. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala increase the blessings.

So let us make a du'a for Syria.

Oh Allah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah — the people of Syria who have been suffering so many years and decades in the prisons. Some of them are coming out and saying: "Oh, is this the army of Saddam Hussein who has come to release us? Or is Hafiz al-Assad still there?" They have been locked up for decades in their dungeons and have been going through so much torture.

Oh Allah, Oh Allah — allow them to see that which will please them in this dunya as well as in the akhirah. Oh Allah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah — unite those widows who have lost their husbands. Oh Allah — those husbands who have lost their wives and their children — Oh Allah, grant them sabr al-jamil, ya Rabbal 'Alamin. And all those that are reuniting after so many decades and years — Oh Allah, Oh Allah, Oh Allah — allow their happiness to last, ya Rabbal 'Alamin. Oh Allah, continue to protect Syria and all of the Muslim countries, ya Rabbal 'Alamin. Allow us to be thankful for Your blessings so that You further increase them upon us, ya Rabbal 'Alamin. Oh Allah, do not test us in this country in a like manner, ya Rabbal 'Alamin.