Human Devils in Ramadan

Human Devils in Ramadan

We begin by praising Allah and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped or unconditionally obeyed except for Him. And we bear witness that Muhammad is His final Messenger. We ask Allah to send His peace and blessings upon him, the Prophets and Messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him, and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment.

We ask Allah to make us amongst them. Allahumma Ameen.

The Shaytan in Human Form

Dear brothers and sisters, when the Prophet was reaching his final moments in Mecca, the leaders of Quraysh were meeting in a place known as Dar al-Nadwa, which was the place in Mecca where all of the tribal heads would come together to make their most important decisions.

At that point, they had decided that there were three options for the Prophet. Either we imprison him, or we exile him, or we execute him. And each one of those three plans was going to have a very particular strategy behind it — to essentially deal with the blowback that would happen with Quraysh hurting its own, and the damage to the reputation of Quraysh that could be done as a result of them carrying out such an action.

And SubhanAllah, we finished just a couple of nights ago, Yusuf, when his brothers got together and they came up with a plan for Yusuf. And one of the plans was:

Don't kill him — instead throw him in the bottom of the well. And that was not the majority plan initially, but it became the consensus plan because it seemed a lot less harsh than killing him, but the impact would be the same for them.

And so here they were discussing what to do with the Prophet. Do we kill him? Do we imprison him? Do we exile him? And then this old wise man entered into the gathering from Najd. He had the appearance of wisdom and softness to him. And he put forth the idea amongst them that you should kill him and end this fitna once and for all.

"End this trial and tribulation that's been visited upon you, O sons of Mecca, once and for all." And he instigated within them that plan to kill the Prophet and to remove him from the face of the earth — and even helped them come up with a strategy: have multiple people from different tribes strike the Prophet all at the same time. Therefore, the blood cannot be upon just one of us, but instead it's distributed across the board.

And so they agreed with that plan. And little did they realize that the man who entered upon them was physically the Shaytan — that the Shaytan had taken a human form, that the devil had taken a human form and entered upon them in the form of a wise, sincere man. But he gave them the advice to kill the Prophet.

Allah then mentions — after the plot was foiled, after the hijrah of the Prophet and the Muslims went out — that the Battle of Badr takes place. And again, the passion of the people of Mecca is instigated and incited, and they say: "Let's go kill our fathers. Let's go kill our sons. Let's go kill our siblings." And they decide to go out with an army to surprise the small battalions of the Muslims.

And the man that's amongst them is not a man that's unfamiliar to them. They see a man in the person of Suraqah ibn Malik. Who is Suraqah ibn Malik? He was the bounty hunter that was sent out to kill the Prophet or capture him on the route of the hijrah. And when he found the Prophet, and the miracles of Allah took place in that moment — to where his horse would sink into the ground and he would be thrown off — he famously goes up to the Prophet and asks for protection, as he knew that the Messenger of Allah was divinely protected and was assured divine victory. And he fled the scene.

Imagine — as they're going forth on the day of Badr, they look and they see Suraqah ibn Malik amongst them. But it's actually not Suraqah ibn Malik. And this is when Allah says:

Remember when the Shaytan beautified their actions to them. And he was marching amongst them on the day of Badr saying: "You will not be defeated today by these people — I guarantee you." If it's Suraqah ibn Malik, he's a skilled horseman. That's the type of man you want inciting you on the day of Badr. But it wasn't Suraqah ibn Malik — it was actually the Shaytan.

The Shaytan had taken on the appearance of Suraqah ibn Malik, رضي الله تعالى عنه. And as the Shaytan then saw Jibreel and the angels descend on the side of the believers, he turned his back, fled the scene, and said:

"I am free from you people. I see that which you don't see. I fear Allah, and Allah is severe in His punishment."

SubhanAllah — what happens here? Again, a human being, but not just any unknown human being. Suraqah ibn Malik shows up and then flees the scene.

And on the day of the fitna of Sayyidina Uthman, رضي الله تعالى عنه, you can read the accounts of the Sahabah when they said: "We looked at the people that were surrounding the house of Sayyidina Uthman. And they looked possessed. Some of these people — we didn't know their faces. They weren't from Ahl al-Madinah, nor were they from the companions of the Prophet." So were they actual shayateen amongst the crowds that were inciting the people to kill Sayyidina Uthman? Or were they people under the influence of the Shaytan, who whispers and who is unseen?

And as Ali, رضي الله تعالى عنه, said: the one who lit the fire is not one of you. The one who lit the fire is made of fire himself, but he's not one of you. And SubhanAllah, it's a very powerful analogy to the moment.

Shaytan lights the fire. But sometimes as human beings, we become the representatives of that fire. And it doesn't matter at that point if shayateen al-jinn are tied up or chained up — because there's already enough amongst us as human beings to be shayateen to one another.

Who Are the Human Devils?

So who are the human shayateen? What does it mean to be a human devil? And how do we identify them?

Allah mentions:

"For every prophet, We have set up enemies" — and He mentioned shayateen al-ins wal-jinn — the human devils and the jinn devils. And the ulema mention in the tafsir of this ayah, SubhanAllah, even in the tartib, even in the order of the ayah — Allah put shayateen al-ins before shayateen al-jinn. The human devils before the unseen devils. Because the harm of a human devil is greater than an unseen devil.

And they use that based upon the hadith in Sunan Abi Dawud — it is an authentic hadith — where a man came to the Prophet and complained that sometimes he has this waswasa inside of him, a whisper that tells him to stop believing, that calls him away from Allah. And the Prophet said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Book 40, Hadith 5)

"Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. All praises be to Allah who minimized the impact of that Shaytan to al-waswasa — to whispers." That a jinn Shaytan, that an unseen devil, at the end of the day can only whisper to you. But a human Shaytan is far more impactful.

Because a human Shaytan looks like you. A human Shaytan can show you visible concern for you on their face. You see, the unseen Shaytan comes to you with the same tactics but he is limited. He comes to you and he says:

"I am to you a sincere advisor." But it doesn't have the same impact when it's just an invisible whisper. But when someone comes in front of you and says, "I am advising you sincerely. I am doing this because I care about you. I love you. I want you to be able to do this. This is for your sake" — it's far more impactful. When it's a friend you've grown up with and there is peer pressure and they call you to the disobedience of Allah, it's a lot harder to say no to the seen friend than the unseen devil. Far more impactful.

Human Devils in Ramadan

And so how do we understand this dichotomy, especially in a month of Ramadan, where Allah has given us the blessing of safda al-shayateen — that the shayateen are chained up, minimized in their impact, minimized in their effect? What about the human devils amongst us?

Now here's the thing — please don't look to the person next to you and say, "This person looks different today. Is it really him or is it someone else?" That's not how this works. We're looking at the Battle of Badr. These are moments from the seerah that give us a precedent, that give us a foundation. Could it be that sometimes a strange individual arises — and SubhanAllah, if you look at some of the fitnah in history, people come out and you never know who they are. It's like: where did these people come from? No one ever saw this person before the fitnah, and after the fitnah is gone they disappear. Are there actual human shayateen that appear amongst us? Maybe. But that's not the most likely case. That's not the most likely scenario.

Instead, the reality is that we become shayateen to one another. As human beings, we become shayateen to one another. The majority of this is that we drink the poison of Shaytan and then we spew it. That we become his representatives — often unknowingly — to each other. And that's extremely dangerous.

And the ulema mention — SubhanAllah, if you look at the ayah:

Allah mentions: "From your spouses and your children are enemies to you." That doesn't mean that they're actual a'da' to you — actual enemies to you. But something could happen; what they could represent to you could be in opposition to your actual interest with Allah. And so in that capacity they become an enemy to you. In that capacity your spouse can become a fitna to you.

So when the Prophet mentions that the greatest trial, the greatest fitna for men is women — it's not that women are fitna because there's something inherently evil about them. It's that they represent a test and a trial for men. And likewise, your spouses and your children — they're not evil; they're a blessing from Allah. You say:

"Make them the coolness of our eyes." You could be written as الذَّاكِرِينَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا وَالذَّاكِرَاتِ — those who remember Allah frequently, from the men and the women. But they can represent, in an instant or in a situation, that which actually poses enmity to you in terms of your Hereafter.

And so the tafsir of this ayah actually comes down about Awf ibn Malik, according to many of the scholars — who, as he was about to go out fi sabil Allah in battle with the Prophet, his children held on to him and said, "Don't go." And he listened to them. His children were doing what natural children will do. But the problem was that he was pulled by that sentiment, pulled by that emotion. So what they represented to him in that moment was enmity — because they're standing in the way of what he was supposed to be pursuing for the sake of Allah, being by the side of the Prophet in those difficult moments. But he got pulled at that moment.

And so the question should not just be: who are the human shayateen in my life? The question should also be: am I a shaytan to somebody else? Do I harm somebody else? Do I call someone to evil? Do I incite someone to evil?

Manifestations of Human Devils

So what are the various manifestations of human devils? The very first one that the ulema mention is Al-Jalisu al-Su' — an evil companion. Who if you sit with that person, whether they tell you something or not, whether they push you to something or not, just being in their presence means — as the Prophet mentioned — their stink, their smell will rub off on you and you'll start to smell like them. So Al-Jalisu al-Su' — a bad friend — is the most resembling of a Shaytan. Because they don't even have to get you to do anything. Just you welcoming their presence and being in their presence — you will hear evil, you will smell evil, you will feel it, it will hurt your heart. And that's not a person that you want to be around. And that person indeed represents to you a human Shaytan.

Whether they're actually a Shaytan or not — which most likely they're not — they're a person who is lost and perhaps taking people with them. But at the end of the day, Al-Jalisu al-Su'.

And then there is the person who calls you towards evil, who calls you towards the disobedience of Allah. And how many times — SubhanAllah — when you find yourself about to do something noble, about to do something good, and a Shaytan in the form of a human being comes to you and says, "What are you doing? That good is not worth it. Don't even bother doing that good. That good will take you nowhere." Or tries to actually incite you towards the opposite path with Allah — tries to incite you towards evil.

And SubhanAllah, you'll see this amongst friends. Friends have a fallout and there's a third friend or a fourth friend in the crew. And those friends have a fallout, and usually you can't be neutral when the clique splits. And so two people — the heart starts to soften towards each other — and then the third friend says, "What are you doing? Why would you do that?" and incites in you that you don't reconcile. I mean, if Shaytan is going to throw sticks and stones — as the Prophet mentions — between husband and wife and between people, of course it's the same impact. And it's far more powerful than the invisible sticks and stones. To say, "Hey, what are you doing? Of course not." And in the process, it prolongs your distance from Allah.

A Shaytan is someone who tells you that your spirituality is not worth it — that your spiritual potential is not worth it. Someone that comes to you in Ramadan and says, "Come on, why are you acting all religious? We all know what's going to happen when you go back after Ramadan." A Shaytan is someone who tries to cast doubt in your heart about the faith — when they sit and they speak with you, that's your Shaytan in that moment — and says, "You know, do you really believe in this and this and that?"

Identifying and Responding to Human Devils

At the end of the day, dear brothers and sisters, we have to identify — first and foremost — the most harmful people in our lives by tracing the output of those people and comparing it to the intended output of the Shaytan. And recognizing that while that unseen Shaytan only has whispers in his arsenal, the human shayateen have far more in their arsenal against us. And we ask Allah to protect us from shayateen al-ins wal-jinn — from the human devils and from the jinn amongst the shayateen.

And on top of that, dear brothers and sisters — ask yourself what's even worse than that: am I being a Shaytan to someone else? Are you holding someone back from their faith? Are you the one inciting in someone a grudge? Are you the one holding someone back from giving their sadaqah? Are you the one taking someone away from the masjid? Are you the one holding someone back from doing da'wah, from doing something good in their lives? Because then you could represent that to someone else. Are you the one holding back a friend who wants to change their ways — maybe they don't want their Eid party to look the same this year, because we all know that Eid parties don't always look the way that they should — and are you the one saying, "No, come on, it's not a big deal. Ramadan will be over anyway." Are you that person?

At the end of the day, we have to identify the influence we have on others and the influence that others have upon us.

The Counter: Righteous Companions as an Angelic Presence

I end with this idea, because SubhanAllah it's a very powerful counter to all of this. Just as when we come together as brothers and sisters fi sabil Allah, the angels surround us — and how beautiful a sight that we can't see — every Jumu'ah, every night in these masajid, if only we could see the angels gathering all around us as we're gathering fi sabil Allah, prompting one another towards good. Those angels gather when we gather for the sake of Allah. They praise us to Allah when we incite one another or influence one another towards the praise of Allah.

And so in some ways — wallahi — a good friend can be like an angelic presence in your life. Because they push you towards khayr, they push you towards good. They prompt you towards putting your nafs down, putting your ego down, putting your desires down — instead aiming for the reward of Allah. Sometimes that's even more powerful than an unseen angel: a seen, righteous friend.

And so surround yourself with righteous people — that even being in their presence, you'll be embarrassed to disobey Allah, or to say certain things, or to do certain things. And be that presence to someone else. Be that presence to someone else who upholds a standard — to where people will feel uncomfortable disobeying Allah in your presence. People will feel uncomfortable backbiting in your presence. People would not dare say, "Let's not go to the masjid, let's not do this" — people would not dare, in your presence, because they know that you set a different standard. Be that type of presence in someone's life. And solicit that type of presence in your own life.

May Allah protect us from the shayateen. May Allah protect us from being like the shayateen to others. May Allah surround us with His mala'ika, with His angels. May Allah allow us to be like those amongst each other who call towards what the angels praise us for. And may Allah in that process make us all praiseworthy in His sight and pleasing to Him. Allahumma Ameen.

"Indeed Allah commands justice, good conduct, and giving to relatives, and forbids immorality, bad conduct, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded."

Remember Allah and He will remember you. Thank Him for His blessings and He will increase you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest thing. And Allah knows what you do. And establish the prayer.

Address by Zahir Khan — Human Appeal

Bismillah, Alhamdulillah, wa Salatu wa Salamu ala Rasulullah.

My dear brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaikum. My name is Zahir Khan, I'm the Global Director of Fundraising for the charity Human Appeal. And I've travelled 5,000 miles to be here today — 5,000 miles — to relay a message which, unfortunately, isn't great.

For many of us, we're already aware of the situation. But I want to talk to you about what is actually happening in Gaza right now. Because we're already aware, my brothers and sisters, that we have seen barbarism on a level that we've never seen before. In 20 years of working in the charity sector, I have never seen such evil.

My brothers and sisters — and I remind myself as well as yourself — 50,000 of our brothers and sisters inside Gaza are confirmed dead. Generation upon generation of families have been wiped away. We know that over 20,000 children have been left orphaned. We know that Gaza right now is populated with more children with amputees than any other area in the world. Over 5,000 children right now are severely disabled, handicapped because they've lost limbs.

Human Appeal's Work on the Ground

Human Appeal has been working in Gaza since 1991. My brothers and sisters, we have a track record of delivering aid every single day. Since the 9th of October to today, we have delivered aid. Alhamdulillah. I have evidence on our phone. You can go to our social media. You can go to our website. And you will see that just in the month of Ramadan, we have been delivering cooked meals.

We operate the largest water desalination plant inside of Gaza. We have provided over 6 million cooked meals. We have provided over 1,000 tents to all 25 of the UN schools operating in Gaza. We are a charity that's delivering water. We are now providing prosthetic limbs. Over 60,000 medical kits have been distributed by the permission of Allah and of course your donations.

The biggest worry that I have, brothers and sisters, is that many of us are giving up on hope and thinking our aid is not getting to Gaza — so, "Don't give your zakat there this year. Don't give your sadaqah there this year." My brothers and sisters, I can stand before you and testify that aid is getting into Gaza. And I can prove it to everyone here. Just yesterday we delivered 11,000 cooked meals inside Gaza. Every day there is activity. Today we delivered mattresses. Every day we are clearing rubble. We are helping the people.

WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family

20,000 of our children are now being described as WCNSF. No children have ever been described like this — not in World War I, not in World War II, not in the war in Syria, the war in Yemen, the war in Sudan, the war in Ukraine. Children have never been described by this acronym. It stands for: Wounded Child, No Surviving Family. We are desperate to locate these children and take them into our care.

How You Can Help

My plea, brothers and sisters — you will see on the screen, you can scan the codes. You can sponsor an orphan today. It costs $2 a day. And I mean this with the most respect: I believe everyone here can do something towards taking on an orphan.

You can also provide the sponsorship of a prosthetic limb. Imagine giving the gift of an arm or a leg to a child, to an adult who is unable to walk. $2,656. I know this is not affordable for everyone. But there are some brothers and sisters and families that Allah has blessed with wealth — please scan the code, inshallah. We will be outside. Happy to answer any questions.

Jazakumullahu Khair. Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.