Surat Luqman, Qur’an 31: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

The Prophet ﷺ  (peace be upon him) said in a hadith recorded in Bukhari, related by Uthman ibn Affan:

“.خيركم من تعلم القرآن و علمه”

“The best of you is the one who learns the Qur’an and teaches it.”

The word  تَعَلَّمَ  ta`allam is in a form which means takalluf (effort/exertion), meaning that the person struggled to learn the Qur’an, that their learning the Qur’an required effort and difficulty. Similarly, yesterday we talked about nations before us that struggled to carry the Torah. Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) uses the word hummilu at-Torah (they struggled to carry it).

خيركم khayrukum means the best of the Muslims. This shows that the success, honor, respect and glory of this Ummah is with the book of Allah (swt). That’s why I encourage our brothers and sisters who become Muslim that, after learning prayer and other basics of Islam, they should focus on the Qur’an. Find someone who can teach you the Qur’an. I meet Muslim brothers who tell me all the bad things about a particular scholar. I ask the brother if he can read Surah Fatiha. I find that he cannot even read the Qur’an properly, but he was able to speak about a scholar of Islam. What kind of Islam is this? When the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ  became Muslim, the first thing they concentrated on was Qur’an and how to pray. Alhamdullilah (praise be to God), I thank my teacher in Oklahoma. He was a large man from Senegal. When I became Muslim he grabbed me and he said, “Listen, learn the Qur’an and learn Arabic. Don’t waste your time with groups.” I remember he told me some stories about Senegal that I want to share with you.

First he said: “In my town in Senegal (St. Louis, which is next to Mauritania) if someone amongst the people of knowledge wants to get married he must first memorize the Qur’an, pray taraweeh with the Qur’an and also memorize the Mu’wattah of Imam Maalik.” Of course this is difficult for us today—we have difficulty memorizing the 40 Hadith of Imam Nawawi, but this criteria shows us the level of their study.

Then, my teacher told me that he finished learning the 10 major qiraat (recitations) of the Qur’an and he learned that from his sister. He said, “My father considered the Qur’an to be a simple pre-requisite that had to be done, and so he didn’t teach it to me. My father was busy teaching usool al fiqh (philosophy of Islamic Law), lugha (language), hadith (traditions of the Prophet ﷺ ) etc. My father told me that for the examination to get the real ijaazah (certification) we would be given empty notebooks. Then we had to write from Surat Al-Fatiha to Surat An-Nas in two weeks. Every day you had to write a certain amount of Qur’an, which would then be given to the Sheikh. They read what you write and if you made even one mistake, you don’t get an ijaazah. Just one mistake. I asked my teacher, “Where is your book in which you wrote the Quran?” He said, “No, we don’t keep it. It is a gift for our Sheikh.”

The third story he told me is about his grandfather who was the Mufti of Senegal. He said one day a group of youth came to his grandfather and told him they wanted to study the philosophy of Islamic Law. He said, “No.” They asked, “Why?” He asked them, “How much Qur’an have you memorized?” They replied, “We’ve memorized twelve ajzaa (parts).” He said, “Start with Qur’an. Forget usool al-fiqh.”

The Qur’an is very important, and we should not neglect it. If you have the time and the resources of people available to teach you,,then you will be asked by Allah (swt) why you didn’t study and make the effort to learn. One of my teachers, Sh. Muhammed Al Mahdi from Al-Jazaair in Egypt, started to teach five subjects every day after Fajr. I stopped going to this class of his, and one day he came to me and said, “I’m going to bear witness against you on the Day of Judgment that you didn’t come to class.” Then, I started to come to class!

How many of us want to be the chosen people of Allah (swt)? The Prophet ﷺ  said,

“.أهل القرآن أهل الله و خاصته”

“The people of the Qur’an are the people of Allah (swt) and His chosen people.”

 This is the final article in the Surat Al-Fatiha Series. 

The sixth trick of Shaytan – if he can’t make you fall into any of the previous traps and he knows that you’re going to do good – is to make you choose to do the good that has lesser reward.

For example, the students are going to organize a rally on campus one morning where they will have seminars about Iraq and the condition of the Muslim world, as well as civil and human rights in North America. You say to yourself, “It sounds good, but I have to pray my tahhajjud (early morning prayer). And if I pray my tahhajud I will have to sleep in the morning, so I won’t be able to go.” Both are good, but which one is better? Which one do you all think is the better reward?

[Audience]: Praying.

No. The rally. Imam Ahmed ibn Hanbal said, “Tahajjud is for myself. But the actions of the ummah (the Muslim community) are for everyone. So I would rather do what’s going to help the most number of people than help myself.”

This is something that many Muslims, especially here in the US, tend to neglect because we’re very individualistic. We’re stuck on “mine”. However, even while making du`a’ in Surah Fatiha (Qur’an 1), we don’t say, “guide me”; rather we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) to “guide us”. So, the actions which can benefit the masses of the Muslims earn more reward than the actions which benefit one’s self alone.

We learn the same lesson in the story of the great scholar Fudayl ibn Iyyad. During a time of jihad, Abdullah ibn Mubaraak was defending the Muslims from an attack and Fudayl had gone to Makkah to worship Allah (swt). Abdullah ibn Mubaraak wrote Fudayl a poem in which he said, “O Worshipper of the Two Houses! While you are busy in the night wetting your beard with your tears, we are busy in the day and the night wetting our beards with the blood of the shuhadaa (the martyrs).” When Fudayl read this, he started crying, realizing his selfishness.

The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) said that if you stroke the head of an orphan the hairs you touch will be a reward for you with Allah (swt). Why? Because when you help an orphan you’re helping more people than just yourself.

Shaytan tries to get us to fall into the acts of lesser rewards. How can we protect ourselves from this? The answer is learning and gaining knowledge. We don’t have to become scholars, but we need knowledge enough to make good choices, to be good Muslims and to help others.

Another way to remedy this is found in the famous hadith (narration) of Umar radiAllahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him). Umar (ra)’s daughter’s name was Hafsa. She was first married to someone named Khunays (ra). Khunays suffered an injury in the battle of Badr and he died of his wounds. She was 19 years old. After Hafsa finished her i’dah (waiting period), Umar (ra) went to find her a good husband. He went first to Uthman ibn Affan (ra) and asked, “Would you be interested in marrying my daughter?” Uthman (ra) declined, and Umar (ra) got mad. Then he went to Abu Bakr (ra) and said, “Would you like to marry my daughter?” Abu Bakr (ra) also declined. So, Umar (ra) got really upset. He went to complain to the Prophet ﷺ.

The question is, why did Umar (ra) get upset? Some people may say it’s because of the honor of his daughter. This is not the main reason. The main reason he got mad (sisters take note) is because he lost good men. Umar (ra) was looking for a good man to marry his daughter. Someone who would be good to his daughter, take care of her, and love her. Someone whom he knew was a good person. So, when Umar (ra) lost good men, of course he got mad. He didn’t get mad just because this was his daughter, Hafsa. He was mad because he wanted to give his daughter not to someone who was making six digits and driving a Lexus, but to someone who had good akhlaq (character and behavior) and iman (faith).

You see, we often misunderstand the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ  where he said, “Marry a woman for four reasons…” This also means, “Marry a man for four reasons…” Unfortunately no one tells the sisters this, so they sometimes think men get to choose but they don’t.

The four reasons the Prophet ﷺ  mentioned were beauty, wealth, family and deen (religion). The Prophet ﷺ then said, “Choose the one with religion, may you be blessed.”

Many people think that this hadith means that a person must only marry a person who is religious, and everything else doesn’t matter. This is not the correct understanding of this hadith. It means if you can find a woman/man who is religious that’s good. If you find a man who is religious and handsome, that’s better. If you find a woman who is religious and beautiful you have two out of four good qualities. And if you find someone with all four qualities, you’ve hit the jackpot! That’s why the Prophet ﷺ  didn’t marry anyone when he was married to Kahdijah (ra). She was beautiful, she came from a good family, she was wealthy, and she had deen. She was the epitome of the complete woman.

So, Umar (ra) wanted his daughter to marry a good man, and he approached two good men. The question is, isn’t Abu Bakr (ra) better than Uthman (ra)? What is our belief about Abu Bakr (ra)? Our belief about him is that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The greatest person after the prophets is Abu Bakr.”

So why did Umar (ra) go to Uthman (ra) first?  Because, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “If Umar goes this way, Shaytan goes that way (i.e. the opposite way)”. Let’s look at this situation.

Abu Bakr had three wives, one of them named Umm Rumman (the mother of Aisha (ra) and Abdul Rahman (ra)). Of her the Prophet ﷺ once said, “Whoever wants to see a woman from the women of Paradise, let them look at Umm Rumman.” Abu Bakr had two other wives as well.

However, Uthaman’s wife (who was one of the Prophet’s ﷺ  daughters) had just died. He had no wives at the time. So, if priorities were weighed between Uthman (ra) and Abu Bakr (ra) in terms of marriage, Uthman would take the priority. This is the wisdom of Umar (ra). Umar (ra) used priorities when choosing to do good. This is why in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) we have something called fiqh al-awliyaat (the fiqh of priorities).

Ibn Qayyim Al Jawzziya mentions that there’s one question that can help you to always choose to do the right thing. He posed this question to us and I will pose the question to you now.  What is the best form of worship?

[Audience]: Prayer

No, he said prayer is wrong.

[Audience]: Serving people.

Good try, but no. Serving people is wrong.

[Audience]: Da`wah (inviting to Islam)

No, wrong.

[Audience]: Dhikr (remembrance of Allah (swt))

No.

[Audience]: Follow the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Well, I can’t say no to that because it’s a general umbrella answer, so we’ll disqualify that one. What else?

[Audience]: Seeking knowledge?

No.

[Audience]: Fasting?

No, not fasting. You all give up?

Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyya said that the best act of worship is “time and place”. What will bring the most benefit and reward according to its time and place is what you should do. For example, salah (prayer). In salah are we allowed to talk? No? Then how come if the sisters can’t hear, someone can say, “Allahu Akbar (God is Greater)!” after the Imam? What changed? The time and place.

What if someone says, “Let’s go and put posters up around campus for this event.” But it’s time for salah. Both are good, but which takes precedence because of time? Salah. If food is served should you pray or eat? Eat, according to the Prophet ﷺ.

What if someone says, “Let’s go to the masjid and increase our iman,” but at that moment people are putting up posters for an event about Iraq, or Palestine, or something in America that will benefit people? In that case the posters take precedence because of the time we are living in.

The same applies for when a college student chooses a degree. Muslims in the liberal arts department of campuses have been put on the endangered species list. Unfortunately some parents believe they are allowed to force their children to be what they want their children to be. This has no basis in Islam. Parents can guide and advise their children, but they cannot force them. We can’t have Muslims concentrating only on one field, like law for example. We can’t only have people who do corporate law because they want to get paid well. How many of us want to be civil rights attorneys? This is a need Muslims have these days. We need Muslim lawyers and Muslim social workers. We need to choose majors that allow us to best serve the ummah (community) according to the time and place.

An All Out Attack

The last thing Shaytan does, if he can’t get you to fall into any of the first six traps, is an all out attack with jinn. This doesn’t mean that you’ll be sitting in your room and all of a sudden you see some strange creatures coming to get you. One of the ways he can use the jinn against you is that the jinn can go to others and cause them not to like you. They will say bad things about you, and you’ll be attacked because you’re on the truth. People will be speaking badly of you, trying to cause you to waver from the deen. This is why we find that people often say bad things about the great scholars in the Muslim world. They’re at that last level. That’s why we should be careful about what we say about other Islamic workers and scholars.

What will save you from this? The saying of the Prophet ﷺ  where he said, “Islam began as something strange, and it will end as something strange, so give good news to the strangers.”

It’s strange nowadays to dress correctly and not show your belly-button. It’s strange to not drive large metal objects through your nose and tongue (although according to the Hanafi madhab (school of thought), sisters can put a piercing in their nose). To have a beard, as was the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, is strange these days.

Let’s close now by answering the question we posed earlier. We learned that Shaytan said he will attack from the right, left, back and front, but he will not attack from the top. Why not?

[Audience] Because Allah (swt) is above us.

This is a good point. The sister is saying that Allah (swt) is above us, which is why Shaytan cannot attack us from the top. We understand this as Muslims to mean that Allah (swt) is Majestic. This is what we mean when we say Allah (swt) is above us; He is above us in a manner that suits Him. Good attempt, masha’Allah (through Allah’s will). Does anyone have another answer?

[Audience] Guidance comes from above.

Masha’Allah. That’s a good answer also.  Let’s read the answer that was turned in:

“Given that the devil attacks man from the left, the right, from behind, and from the front, and also given that the noor/light/guidance is singular, it is my guess that Allah (swt) has left us only on one path to reach guidance, and that is from the top, or through our minds.”

So, the writer is saying that the top is where our intellect is, and so, through our intellect we will reach the straight path. Very good, well thought out argument. It continues:

“In life we’re given an endless amount of choices every day, and although choices might seem like a good thing they truly only help to confuse even the most decisive and knowledgeable of men/women. Allah (swt) has left only one pathway open for us: it is through the mind that man gains knowledge and has the freewill to make both good and bad decisions. Man has the opportunity to go left, go right, go backwards and/or forwards where the devil waits for him. Or he can choose the correct path, the only righteous path which will, insha’Allah, lead him to God.

The mind here represents the knowledge and understanding of Islam. It also represents the ability to choose one’s own destiny by the choices one makes.”

So this writer is saying that because the intellect is the only way to God, Iblees doesn’t come from the top. Does anyone have any comment/constructive criticism for this response?

[Audience] Intellect can lead one astray.

Yes, that’s true. Look at, for example, the story of Khidr and Musa. When Khidr killed that boy, one’s intellect would say that is haraam (unlawful). Relying completely on the intellect can lead people astray. Another example we mentioned is the story of Adam (as) when Iblees told him and his wife that the only reason that Allah (swt) forbade them from eating from the tree was because they would become angels and live forever. This is an intellectual argument, and Adam (as) fell for it.

The intellect is one of the greatest gifts Allah (swt) gave human beings, but the intellect has to be guided by revelation. Sometimes we might find some things in Islam that if we try to rationalize, they don’t fit our rationalization. This is why we submit to Allah (swt).

This is a good answer, but it needs to be moderated a little bit to say that the intellect will guide us to Allah (swt) if we stick to the way that Allah (swt) sent us. Can we say that Karl Marx was smart? Most definitely. People can be intellectuals, but the question is, where does that intellect take us?”

Originally published in May 2007

The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) said, “Order your children to pray at seven and hit ((It should be noted that hitting here, as defined by Islamic Law, means a mere, at the most, spanking. However, if the spanking leaves a mark or a bruise, then it is a prohibited act and denounced by Islam. Thus, from a tap to a light spanking is permitted.)) them [for not praying] at the age of ten.”

In a recent comparative law class this hadith (narration) was addressed by one of our professors. He writes that the order here is not actually for the child, as a child is not mukalaf (charged with the responsibility to worship), but the order is in fact directed towards the guardian of the child. I pondered on that for some time and thought I would share where my thoughts led me:

Many of us have entered our thirties and found that our twenties went by like a flash. Now our little babies have suddenly grown up into little boys and girls before our very eyes. The thirties is really a strange period and, at times, reminds me of the time right after my high school graduation. What next? What are my plans? However, instead of thinking about my next academic move, financial responsibilities began to haunt me. The rising cost of living, insurance for the family, paying the high price for Islamic Education and future college costs are constantly replayed in my mind. And then, there is that massive demon known as home ownership. We get caught up, careers get tiring and we begin to drown in the sea of just plain survival. Then there is the reality that in a few short years we will be hitting our 50’s and preparing to retire and eventually meet Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He).

The soul takes a hit in the thirties. We become busy and, in many ways, we feel that we’re not respected. If the thirties were a child it would have to be the middle one. Not quite old enough to handle things and not too small to be absolved of responsibility. Thus, and I’ve found this in my own person, taking advice and humbling one’s self is not easy. “I’m thirty not twenty!” I have that one gray hair there on the front of my beard give me some respect.

A Gift for Parents and the Hadith above

Allah (swt) has made dhikr (remembrance) one of the important keys to the believer’s survival. However, during the twenties and thirties it is hard, at times, to take the reminder from others. At twenty, man you’re on top of the globe, and at thirty, you think you understand it. Thus, Allah (swt) in His wisdom and mercy orders us to order our children to pray. This is significant because the order is not directed to the child but to the mother, father or caretaker. Thus, while encouraging our children to pray we might stop and reflect on the following:

1. Hey, I don’t even pray
2. My prayer is not good
3. My relationship with Allah is down the tubes

Ahhhh what mercy! The shot is given and the patient feels nothing. Allah’s love is so great, so powerful and so intense that He knows that at this age we are not trying to hear anything from anybody. Thus, a sweet breeze comes and makes the patient the doctor. Sit, think and ask yourself while advising your little ones to pray, “Who is the order for?” Then remember the verse, “Why do you say what you don’t do?” The order is a gift, for you akhi and ukhti (brother and sister)! However. Allah is so cautious, so concerned with you, that He reminds you by ordering you to remind your little ones. Thus, the speaker is the one spoken to. Really, one has to be awed at this divine wisdom, the mercy and love of Allah (swt).

Thus, Dear Brothers and Sisters

This is a reminder for those of us struggling to swim in the deep sea known as the thirties to come back to Allah (swt). Truly, Allah has blessed our children to be a light for us. If we remind them now we are reminding ourselves and, inshallah (God willing), when we are older they will remind us again.

Some ideas on tying your children’s hearts to the Throne of Allah through prayers:

1. Mothers & Fathers take your (one is better) kids to the masjid. Have a competition between them:

Monday is Fatimah’s night
Tuesday is Ahmed’s
Then offer a prize to the one who prayed the best and acted the best in the masjid at the end of the week.

2. A Sheikh once told me that whenever his father would take him to the mosque he would give him some sweets after prayer if the boy did good. He told me, and this Sheikh still has a sweet tooth, that after that he associated the masjid with something sweet and nice. Thus, when he grew older he was attached to the masjid and those wonderful memories.

May Allah give us wisdom and patience to be noble parents. May Allah protect our children and make them the next ‘Umar or Aiesha.

Your brother Suhaib

Minor Sins

The fourth attack of Shaytan (Satan) is to get us to commit minor sins. Here you get to see how sneaky Shaytan really is. If Shaytan can’t get someone to be a kaafir (disbeliever), and he can’t get someone to do bid`ah (innovation in the religion), and he can’t get someone to commit major sins, then the next step is minor sins. Minor sins are called as-saghaair. An example would be having envy towards someone, or having a problem with someone and not trying to fix it.

Now, someone may be listening right now and thinking, “Well I’m all right; I don’t commit big sins, only minor sins.” This is how Shaytan gets you. The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) gave an example of the saghaair when he said, in an authentic hadith (narration), that there was a group of people who went to the desert where they wanted to make a fire. Each of them found little pieces of wood, which they collected together, and thus they were able to make the fire. The Prophet ﷺ said that this is how minor sins work. They keep throwing the minor sin on the pile until it becomes a major sin. That’s why the scholars said that if someone persists in committing a minor sin it will become a major sin over time.

Wasting Time

The fifth attack of Shaytan, if he doesn’t succeed in the other traps, is that he gets people to fall into what is called al-mubaahat, permissible things.  For example, chatting online with someone of the same sex. Not with the opposite sex, because when you chat with the opposite sex then this is khalwa (seclusion).  According to the scholars you are alone with that person, and one can fall into a relationship very easily. Let me give you a proof of this. Last week, when you went home maybe you were chatting online with someone of the opposite gender. As you were chatting, suddenly your mother or father walked into the room and asked what you are doing. What do you say? “Oh, I’m just checking the score of the last basketball game.” If you don’t think it’s that bad then print out the conversation and let your parents read it.

The Prophet ﷺ defined sin as something that you don’t want people to know about, something that embarrasses you. He said, البر حسن الخلق. Righteousness is good behavior.

How many brothers and sisters pray, fast, and dress properly, but are rude and mean to others? We have to have the complete package, not one or the other. How many sisters who don’t wear hijab have told me that when they come to the masjid the other sisters put them down? She is trying to take a step to get closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) and people look at her like she has a virus. On the other hand, we also can’t say we have good behavior and nothing else.

So, in our example let’s say you are chatting with someone of the same gender, which is permissible. But you’re talking about nothing for five or six hours. Talking is permissible, but in this case it’s a waste of time.

The same is true for video games—as long as it’s not Tomb Raider. For those of you who don’t know, Tomb Raider is a video game where a scantily dressed woman is the main character. But Muslims will play this game and say, “Oh, it’s only a video game.”

Another example is Vice City. I was talking about this video game in the khutbah (sermon). When it came out, I was warning parents about it and the kids were really mad at me. In this game there is a man who is living the life of an ex-convict who is a drug dealer. He takes over the neighborhood by selling his drugs. Along the way (not to offend anyone here) he pulls over and engages in a relationship with a prostitute. But the brothers who were playing the game said, “But you can’t see anything, the car just shakes.” SubhanAllah (glory be to God)! Such behavior is very offensive. Not only is it representative of the completely anti-intellectual climate which is now permeating the United States, but do you realize why most women are forced into prostitution? Poverty and drug addiction.

I was an educator, and I did my practicum in the worst school that I could think of because I wanted to make a difference in society as a university student. There were children there who were the children of prostitutes. Imagine the cognitive disorders they have. Imagine the type of exploitation they are exposed to every night. Imagine the impact left on them from seeing their mothers and fathers committing acts of prostitution. Yet, we’ve made it a game, for fun. The social ramifications of prostitution on people are outstanding. If you want to understand prostitution, look at Fir`oun (Pharoah). Why did Fir`oun say that he would kill the men and let the women live? What were those women going to do? Become prostitutes. This is indicative of what we call a Fir`ounic society. But now it’s become a game, it became fun. It’s like those of us who grew up with Star Wars, playing with lasers and so forth. Because of movies, magazines and books we’re used to seeing guns and lasers blow up things without ever seeing the results; therefore, the war in Iraq right now has no real impact on the American mind. But when people actually see the pictures of the outcome, they’re shocked.

Shaytan tries to get us to waste our time with these kinds of things that have no benefit and no reward, according to the fiqh (jurisprudence). Another example is shopping. Masha’Allah, nowadays our sisters and brothers have a new bid`ah: qiyaam an-nahar (standing in the day). You know in Islam we have qiyyamul layl where we stand in the night and pray. You’ll find them standing in the mall, rushing to 75% off sales. If you went to the same person and suggested that they stand in the night and pray they would say, “Oh, it’s too difficult. I can’t do it.” But for nine or ten hours a day in the mall they don’t mind. Why? Because they see the immediate rewards and benefits of their shopping.

Imam Al Ghazaali mentioned a beautiful poem in which a man says, “I am asleep in the night and I can hear the weak pigeons crying on the weak branch. Am I not stronger than pigeons that I can get up and cry in front of Allah (swt)?” How can the Muslims be the leaders of the world when they can’t even push a 3.5oz blanket off their bodies to stand and ask Allah (swt) for His help and guidance?

I’m sure all of us, myself first, are guilty of wasting time. This is a big trick of Shaytan because if you’re doing something and you’re not getting rewarded or punished, then Shaytan is winning. We take a lesson from this that as Muslims we have to be proactive; we can’t not be in park. We should not be neutral and doing nothing.

Last time we talked about the protection that Surat Al-Faatiha provides us from Shaytan (Satan). We also discussed the long story in the seventh chapter of the Qur’an in which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (exalted is He) orders the angels and Iblees (Satan) to prostrate to Adam `alayhi sallatu wa salaam (may God send His peace and blessings on him). The Devil refuses. Allah (swt) then asks Shaytan what stopped him from making the sujood (prostration) to Adam. Shaytan explains that he is better than Adam (as) because Shaytan’s essence is fire (he was a jinn) while Adam’s is clay. We then discussed the attack of Shaytan from the right, left, front and back, and Shaytan says very few people will be grateful to Allah (swt).  Next, we discussed the three doors which Shaytan uses to get to us and we explained that no one should feel secure from the plans of the Devil.

Today, we will discuss the seven habits of highly destructive individuals. These are the seven steps that Shaytan uses to get to us, and they become activated once Shaytan gets through one of three doors: anger, desire, or negligence.

Before we begin, I wanted to discuss some additional notes about negligence. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:

“And We have certainly created for Hell many of the jinn and mankind. They have hearts with which they do not understand, they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. Those are like cattle; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless.”(Qur’an 7:179)

It can be said about the Muslim who chronically misses Fajr (pre-dawn prayer) out of negligence that he is more astray than cattle. My grandfather was a farmer from Tonkawa, Oklahoma. He used to raise and herd cattle. Allah (swt) says the negligent are more astray than cattle—what time do cattle wake up? The crack of dawn. Shortly before the rising of the sun, cows will be up mooing. Subhan’Allah  (glory be to God) we see that the cow is more guided than this Muslim, because that Muslim prays his Fajr at 8:30 a.m. whereas the cow has the ability to wake up at the crack of dawn. That’s why Allah (swt) says they are even more astray than cattle.

Allah (swt) mentioned the quality of these people who are going to be in Hellfire is negligence. If you go to many Muslim countries, when do people say they’re going to make Hajj? Tomorrow? No. They say, “When I’m 70,” or “After I retire.” This is negligence.

When Shaytan enters through one of these three doors he attempts to destroy you. That’s why in the Qur’an in many places Allah (swt) says, “O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.” (Qur’an 2:208)

Allah (swt) says that Shaytan has khutwaat (steps). The word is plural, showing that Shaytan has levels that he works on. Shaytan doesn’t just come with one or two strategies, but he comes with a multiplicity of ways to wipe you out, and he has your playbook. He knows how to beat you, as the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) warned us.

One day while the Prophet ﷺ was in ‘itikaaf (extended period of prayer) at the masjid he was walking his wife Saffiyyah radi Allahu `anha (may Allah be please with her) home. Someone saw them and the Prophet ﷺ said, “This is Saffiyah!” They were surprised and they said, “Ya Rasool Allah (Oh Messenger of Allah)! We would never think that you had a girlfriend or something like that.” The Prophet ﷺ responded and said, “Yes, but Shaytan travels through people like blood through the body.”

In another hadith (narration) the Prophet ﷺ said that any time the sons of Adam have a child, Shaytan has a child. This child knows you. You have a Shaytan which is specifically assigned to you and he knows your weaknesses and how to play on them. We know the famous hadith of the Prophet ﷺ when he said, “When the month of Ramadan comes the doors of Paradise are open and the doors of Hellfire are closed and the devils are chained.” According to Ibn Hajr, this is all the devils except one: the devil that is specifically assigned to you. Even in the month of Ramadan he hangs out with you. If you don’t mention Allah’s (swt) name he will hang out with you more and more. That will be discuss at the end, insha’Allah (if God wills).

According to Ibn Qayyim, Shaytan uses seven strategies to wipe you out, and they are ranked according to your ability to defend yourself. They are:

1. To make someone a kaafir (someone who is given the message and he rejects it).
2. To make someone commit al bid’ah (innovation).
3. To make someone commit major sins.
4. To make someone commit minor sins.
5. Wasting time doing things that are permissible.
6. To choose to do the lesser of two good deeds.
7. An all out attack.

To make you a rejecter: The first goal of the devil is to make you a kaafir (a rejecter).

First of all, why do we say rejecter, not disbeliever? A kaafir is someone who was given the message and he rejected it. That’s why we don’t say every non-Muslim in America or in the world are kuffaar (rejecters). Only the people who have been given the message and rejected it are called kuffaar. The word kafara means to reject, to cover up. That’s why in classical Arabic a farmer is called a kaafir (don’t try this with your Arab friends though!).  Allah (swt) gives an example of the life of this world and says, “. . . like the example of a rain whose [resulting] plant growth pleases the farmers . . .” (Qur’an 57:20). The word used for “farmers” in this verse is kuffaar, because a farmer is someone who covers things up, he buries seeds in the ground. Similarly a rejecter is someone who covers up his fitrah (natural human disposition towards virtue, knowledge, and the oneness of God) when the message is given to him, and denies/rejects the faith.

So, the goal of Shaytan is to make us commit shirk (associate partners with Allah (swt)) or to become kaafir. Why do you think the devil starts there? What does belief entail, if someone believes in Allah (swt) correctly? Their deeds will be accepted by Allah (swt) and they will go to Paradise. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an “. . . Indeed, Allah only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him],” (Qur’an 5:27). Taqwa (God consciousness) is linked with belief. Someone who doesn’t believe in Allah (swt) is losing time in this life. If someone disbelieves in Allah (swt) it’s a one way ticket to Hellfire. That’s why this is the ultimate goal of Shaytan.

One lesson we can take from this is that Shaytan prioritizes. How many of us have priorities in our life? Whenever the scholars begin a book of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) they always begin with purification, because if you’re not purified you cannot do anything. They’re trying to teach us, even by the way they organize the book itself, to prioritize.

Shaytan can attempt to make us disbelievers in a number of ways:

1. Intellectually. Someone may become so convinced in their own intelligence that they decide, “I don’t believe in this. Islam doesn’t make any sense. This ruling doesn’t make sense.”
2. Through doubts, as was mentioned previously.
3. Through desires. Imam Ghazaali mentioned that if someone sins a lot they will start to justify the sin. For example, it’s your first day of college and, as one brother told me, the most difficult day to keep your iman (faith) is a hot day. You’re walking down the campus and suddenly you see something you shouldn’t see and you say, “ASTAGHFIRALLAH (I seek Allah’s (swt) forgiveness)!” Then you walk a few more blocks and you see it again and this time you say, “Hmm . . . AstaghfirAllah.” Then after you go across the entire campus you start to say, “Masha’Allah (Allah has willed it)! SubhanAllah (Glory be to Allah)!” This is because the iman (faith) is going down due to desires.

You can be safe from this attack by following the way of the Prophets, starting from Nuh (as). We don’t say that Adam (as) was a Messenger, we believe he was a Prophet. Messengers reform people, but Adam’s (as) family was born on fitrah (natural disposition to righteousness). His family was born as Muslims. The first reformer as a Messenger was Nuh (as), as is mentioned in the Qur’an. So in order to protect ourselves we should follow this line of prophetic teaching which came to us with what we call tawaatur (continuous narration). Prophet after prophet after prophet came and the message was the same. If we find someone who comes later on saying something different than what this large body of Messengers and Prophets said we should be careful of it. This is the way to make sure our belief, our understanding of life, our cognitive outlook, and our physical application in life are sound.

To commit bid’ah:

If Shaytan doesn’t succeed in making someone a disbeliever or a polytheist, he tries to make them commit al bid’ah (innovation).

We hear the word bid’ah a lot, sometimes it’s used correctly and sometimes it’s not. We can learn from the hadith of Aisha (ra). Aisha (ra) related over 2,000 ahadtih on behalf of the Prophet ﷺ. She narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever invents something new in this religion that’s not from it will have it rejected.” The ‘ulema (scholars) say that this hadith along with another hadith make up Islam in its entirety. The first hadith has to do with the interior aspects of the Muslim and this hadith from Aisha (ra) has to do with the exterior. The hadith that has to do with the interior is, “Actions are by intentions.”

The word bid’ah comes from the word ba-da-‘ah  بدع. Does anyone know one of the names of Allah (swt) that came from this same root? Al Badee’. Allah (swt) says He is Badee`ul as-samaawaati wa al ardh (Originator of the heavens and the earth). This shows that badee` is a word that can only be applied to Allah (swt). According to Einstein, matter is neither created nor destroyed. This is true in the realm of human beings, but Allah (swt) says, “Everyone on the earth will perish,” (Qur’an 55:26), so we believe that everything will be destroyed by Allah (swt). The laws of physics apply to us but not to the Creator of the laws of physics. Badee` means the One who created matter from nothing. There was no usage of elements to create something else, it was created from absolutely nothing.

If you understand the term al-Badee` then you can understand the verse, “Nor is there to Him any equivalent,” (Qur’an 112:4). There is nothing like Allah (swt) because we, as human beings, may create but it is not really creating. It is a manipulative creation. For example, now we’re cloning goats. They did not create the goat from absolutely nothing; rather they used something that already existed. But, as is mentioned in the Qur’an, “His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be” and it is,” (Qur’an 36:82). Allah (swt) creates from nothing. That’s why we say that Allah (swt) is not like anything else.

So, the word bid`ah means someone brings something into Islam that has no basis in shariah (Islamic jurisprudence). An example of this is the dhikr beads (prayer beads). Some people say the dhikr beads are a bid`ah. But, if we go to the authentic texts of the time of the Prophet ﷺ, we find that the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to make tasbeeh (glorifying Allah (swt)) with stones, according to a sound narration. So, is the use of dhikr beads founded on some source in shariah? Yes, because we found proof in shariah that the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ used to use a bead-like substance to do tasbeeh. That’s why Sh. Ibn Uthaymeen from Saudi Arabia said that to use tasbeeh is supported by shariah.

Now what if I said that next week instead of having class, we will meet at the top of a tall building. Then we will jump off the building and yell, “Ya Latif (Oh, the Most Subtle),” as loudly as we can, and we’ll do this every week until we die? This has no foundation in shariah. This would be a bid`ah. It’s very easy to understand this concept, but unfortunately we split our mosques and study circles because of this issue of bid’ah.

Why is it Shaytan’s goal to cause people to commit bid’ah?  Ibn Qayyam says that this is because when somebody is committing bid’ah they are assuming that they are doing something good. So, when you approach them and say, “SubhanAllah, brother. Jumping off a building and yelling ‘Ya Latif!’ is not good.” The person will respond, “Don’t you want to worship Allah?” This is the trick of Shaytan, to cause someone to think they are doing something good, so that when they are advised they reject the advice.

It’s also important to remember that when we are giving advice, we should do so gently. We shouldn’t come to someone and yell, “This is bid’ah, brother! This is haraam (forbidden)! You’ve left the sunnah (the teachings of the Prophet ﷺ)!” Rather we should approach them gently: “I love you so much. You are my brother/sister. I’d like to talk to you about this issue.” People would be much more apt to accept such advice. I remember one time there was a brother who was praying and in his salah (prayer) he did not do some of the sunnan (practices of the Prophet ﷺ) of the salah. Now, we know that the sunnan do not negate anyone’s salah, since they are not the arkaan (necessary components) of salah, for example raising the hands from rukoo (bowing). Afterwards one brother stood up and said, “Wallahi akhi (I swear by Allah, brother), your prayer is not according to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ !” And the brother who was praying responded, “And your way of advising me is not from the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ either.”  This shows that sometimes when we advise people harshly when it’s not needed we push them even further into doing something that’s incorrect.

Ibn Qayyim continues to say that when a person who is doing bid`ah thinks he is doing something right, this is a very dangerous situation. It’s like Pandora’s box. A person falls further and further into their incorrect practice and has no idea that they are making bid`ah, in the meantime rejecting any advice they receive. We can protect ourselves from this by sticking to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Anything that will bring you closer to Allah (swt), I have taught to you, and anything that will take you away from Allah (swt), I have warned you about.” (Tirmidhi). Unfortunately, especially overseas in some places where people are not very literate, we find the king of bid`ah minting money from the people. I remember a man who was selling lemons and he was telling the people that he was a wali (a friend of Allah (swt)). It is from our belief that we believe in the awliyaa (friends) of Allah (swt). But this man was telling people, “I am a wali, and I am selling lemons. And there is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ where he says that whoever buys lemons will go to Paradise.”

Now you might ask him, “Where did you hear this hadith?”

He will say, “Well, you see, I was given a dream, and in that dream I was told this hadith. I’m actually the only narrator of this hadith.”

Then you might say, “Well, are you sure the Prophet ﷺ said we should buy lemons, not oranges?”

“Yes, I’m sure he said lemons.”

“And, conveniently, you happen to be selling lemons.”

“Yes. And, I should also tell you something special. If I blow on a lemon for you, I have to raise the price because I have a blessed breath.”

Unfortunately, despite all of this, people will buy from such a person. I remember one of my teachers saw such a person and recognized the man to be a former classmate of his. He approached him and asked him what he was doing. The man said, “I am minting money.” Clearly, he was admitting this was something that’s not at all found in the shariah.

Another example is the famous email of Ahmed the janitor in the Prophet’s ﷺ mosque. According to the email, one day this janitor in the Prophet’s ﷺ mosque was sweeping when suddenly the Prophet ﷺ appeared in front of him, and brother Ahmed was completely in shock. The Prophet ﷺ told our dear respected friend, the Companion of the Broom, that he’d been chosen. “Indeed,” he was told, “you are a blessed janitor. No one wears rubber gloves the way you do. So I have chosen you to be my next khalifah (caliph), and I have given you the authority to change some aspects of shariah, and you are now the leader of the Muslims. They must obey you, or they will be cursed.”

Well, Ahmed happened to have his laptop with him, as he was sweeping the Prophet ﷺ ’s masjid. And it had a satellite connection! At that moment Ahmed wrote an email. He had already memorized the email addresses of every major Muslim email group in the world, so he sent the email everywhere, with a warning at the end of it that if you don’t resend this email you will be cursed by Allah (swt). It was even said that there was one brother who had an IT job in Santa Clara. He failed to forward this email, and now he’s jobless.

Sheikh Yusef Qaradawi received this email, so he called the masjid in Madinah to investigate. He said, “I need to ask you a very important question.”

They responded, “Oh, yes, Sheikh Qaradawi! Is it about a fatwa? Do you have some important issue?”

“No, actually I wanted to know, is there a janitor that works there named Ahmed?”

“No, Sheikh there is not.”

“Can you look through the records, even going to the time of the Ottoman empire, and see if there’s ever been a janitor working there named Ahmed?”

“No, Sheikh.”

Yet, people continued to forward this email, and the issue of Ahmed became a bid`ah. People may not be praying, but they were more afraid of this email than the consequences of neglecting salah. People who have girlfriends or boyfriends, or people going to the club, were more afraid of the fabricated janitorial existence of a person named Ahmed than they were of the existence of Allah (swt). Shaytan is very deceptive, so much so that he can convince someone to contribute to this bid`ah.

The way to be safe from bid`ah, as we mentioned earlier, is to stick to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said, “تركت فيكم أمرين لن تضلوا ما تمسكتم بهما : كتاب الله وسنتي” “I am leaving you two things, whoever holds fast to them will never go astray: the book of Allah and my Sunnah.” This is related by Imam Maalik in his Mu’atah. Notice at the end of Surat Al-Faatiha we say, “Guide us to the straight path; The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray,” (Qur’an 1:6-7). In this hadith the Prophet ﷺ talks about going astray, and he uses the word lan. Lan in Arabic is different from “no”. It means “never, ever, ever”. The Prophet ﷺ says you will never, ever be lost or astray if you hold fast to the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

To commit major sins:

The third trick of Shaytan in trying to destroy us is to get us to commit major sins. Major sins are called al-kabaair in Arabic. There’s a book written in Arabic by Imam Al-Thahabi called, “The Major Sins.” Read that book, especially if you feel that you are about to commit haram (something unlawful). It will wake you up.

What is a major sin, and how do we differentiate a major sin from a minor sin?

A major sin is any sin which is clearly mentioned in the Qur’an as being haraam, or any sin that Allah (swt) or the Prophet ﷺ linked to a punishment, such as the hellfire, lashes or being stoned. The greatest of all sins is shirk (associating partners with Allah (swt)). Some other examples of major sins are adultery, lying, disrespect to one’s parents, not praying, not praying on time, or not fasting in Ramadan without an excuse. There’s an innumerable amount of major sins. If someone here is thinking, “Wow, I commit all of these things, what am I going to do?” remember what Allah (swt) said in a famous hadith:

“O sons of Adam, if you were to sin, and your sins were to be stacked between the heavens and the earth, and you didn’t associate partners with Me and you asked for My forgiveness, I will forgive you.”

From this hadith we can take a few lessons. First, we now understand why the first thing Shaytan tries to make us do is associate partners with Allah (swt), because look at the condition Allah (swt) places in the hadith. Secondly, why does Allah (swt) call us “O sons of Adam” not “O human beings”? Because the first person to sin then repent and be forgiven was Adam (as), so Allah (swt) wants to remind us of this. This is the beauty of the speech of Allah (swt) and the Prophet ﷺ. A person hearing this hadith should think, “SubhanAllah, Allah forgave Adam (as) so if He wills, He can forgive me also.”

In discussing major sins, we should go to the hadith of isra wal miraaj (the night journey and the ascension) where the Prophet ﷺ described some of the punishments in al-barzakh (the time between death and judgment), not in the aakhirah (the hereafter). The Prophet ﷺ said, “I was with two angels and Jibreel (as). I saw some people in a big pit of fire. They were completely naked, and the fire would blaze while their bodies were on top of it and they would be screaming. I asked Jibreel, ‘Who are these people?’ and he replied, ‘These are the people of fornication.’ Then I saw a person in the middle of a river made of blood. This person was trying to get out of the river and come to the shore. As he was coming he would be hit in the face with stones, and it was the blood coming from his head that had made this river of blood. I asked Jibreel who the man was and he said, ‘The person of ribaa (interest).’ Then I saw a person who was sitting and a large stone was dropped on his head. The stone would return and his head would come back to normal. As soon as his head returned to normal, the stone would be dropped on his head once again. I asked Jibreel who he was and he said, ‘This is the person who has the Qur’an and doesn’t pray with it in the night.’ Then I saw some people whose lips and tongues were being cut with scissors, and as soon as their lips and tongues were cut they would come back to normal. I asked who those people were, and Jibreel said, ‘They are the people who backbite.’”

We find that in this long hadith in Sahih Bukhaari many of the major sins are mentioned. The major sins are those sins which can be linked with punishment. We learn that if Shaytan cannot get us to be a kaafir (someone who denies the truth) then he attempts to get us into punishment.

by Imam al-Qarafi | Translated by Suhaib Webb

The names of the Islamic months are rooted in certain events that took place in them. Ramadan is named after Ramda; Ramda are stones heated by the sun during summer. Shawal is derived from the lifting (Ar. shayl) of a camel’s tail to ward off flies (because of the extreme heat). Dhul Q`adah is named such because it was the first sacred month that prohibited fighting. Thus, people sat (refrained from fighting) during that time. Dhu al-Hijja is named such because the Hajj coincides with it. Muharram takes its name because fighting is prohibited during it. Safar takes its name from sifir, which means to be empty, because the trails that the Arabs used for travel and business were empty because the sacred months had ended and fighting returned. Rab`i al-Awal and Rab`i al-Thani took their names from rab`i al-‘ashab (dense grass) because it grew during these two months. Jumad al-Ula and Jumad al-Thani took their names from jumad al-ma (Eng. ice), because these two months occurred while it was cold. Rajab is coined as such because it is a sacred month. Sha`ban is taken from a word which means to split and divide. It took its name because the Arabs would return to fighting upon its onset and divide themselves.

Translated from Al-Dhakhira by Imam al-Qarafi, vol. 2 pg. 486

By Abu al-Hassan al-Nadwi | Translated by Suhaib Webb

Imam al-Dahlawi undertook efforts towards revival and reform by focusing on the following:

1. During his age, the majority of Muslims had major shortcomings in understanding how to have faith in God (Ar. tauhid). It was clouded by numerous ignorant ideas, corrupted philosophies, and un-Islamic customs, so It was incumbent to clarify the true faith in all its purity and clarity, explaining what the people of ignorance (before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, peace be upon him) believed, until the difference between their faith and what Islam brought was clear.
2. It was incumbent for the Muslim community to have direct access to the Qur’an and Sunnah (teachings of the Prophet ﷺ). A gulf occurred between the scholars and the teaching of the Qur’an to the masses, which prevented and weakened the common person’s ability to understand revelation. This was due to the scholars’ fear of losing their status, whether political or religious. Due to this, they did not translate it into the native language and they failed to teach the books of Prophet’s ﷺ traditions. Thus, it was imperative that the meanings and rulings of the Qur’an be rendered into the language of the people along with returning to the six authentic books of hadith (prophetic narration).
3. Religious knowledge in India had reached an all time low in general, and particularly in the knowledge of hadith. It was imperative to spread the knowledge of hadith. Thus, the sahih (authentic) texts (al-Bukhari and Muslim) were taught, as was the Muwatta of Imam Malik, until India became renowned in the Muslim world as a place that specialized in the science of hadith.
4. He noted that the world was about to welcome a new intellectual age. An age in which political upheaval was about to run rampant. Thus, it was incumbent to explain the idea of the Caliphate, as well as the different approaches and fundamentals that Islam employed in running a state and day to day activities. Therefore he wrote a number of books, which are still beneficial till this day: The Clear Proof of God and Removing the Doubts Surrounding the Differences of the Caliphs.
5. He noted that there was no hope in reforming the royal families or their youth of his time for reasons explained in the quote by Ibn Khaldun: “If a pyramid is established in a country, it will never rise again.” (Meaning: opulence tends to corrupt and pacify.) Thus, there was no hope in reforming them. True reform must start with a new group, from the bottom up, who could reform the society in the correct way.

Translated from pgs. 83-85 of Rabaniyya la Rahbaniyya fi al-Islam by Sh. Abu al-Hasan al-Nadwi (God be pleased with him)

We go now to the statement of Ibn Abbas radi Allahu `anhu (may Allah be pleased with him). He explains that when Iblees (the Devil) said he will come to you from your front (Qur’an 7:17) this means Iblees will cause you to doubt the hereafter. When Iblees comes to you from the back, he will cause you to have hope in the dunya (worldly life). Dunya comes from the word adnaa which has two meanings: something close and also something debased and low. What philosophy can be used to describe the fact that Iblees is coming to people to make them doubt in the hereafter and also to give them hope in this life? It’s called materialism. Iblees’s goal is to make people absolute materialists.

SubhanAllah (glory be to God), a brother can wait for five months for a new pair of sneakers, but he can’t pray qiyaamul layl (praying during the night) once in five months.  We know that during the last third of the night Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (exalted is he) comes to the lowest heaven and says: “Who is making du`a’ [supplication] so that I can answer? Who’s seeking My forgiveness so I can forgive them? Who is asking so I can give them?” SubhanAllah, which appointment is greater? I remember when I was in Oklahoma and the PS2 came out, some of the youth that I used to teach in the masjid went and camped out. The same guys who went and camped in front of Best Buy were unable to camp out one night for Allah (swt). Are we really soldiers of Allah (swt) if we can stand all night in front of Best Buy to get a PS2 but we can’t stand up in the night and pray in front of Allah (swt)? Absolute materialism. This is the goal of Iblees.

Ibn Abbas continues to say that the attack from the right is to cause people to have doubt in regards to their religion, to make problems in the religion, and to give you a hard time and cause you to question the religion. The way to cure doubts is to ask someone who knows, or read and study.

The last thing that Ibn Abbas mentioned is the attack from the left: falling into sins. Maybe most of us thought that falling into sins would be number one, but it’s the last. The previous three are all sins, but they can lead you to kufr (disbelief). The last one would lead you to ‘asee (disobedience to Allah) and if Iblees can make someone a disbeliever, he has won.

Now, let’s discuss the three doors of Iblees. According to Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Iblees comes to you from three doors. These three doors are like entrances. This isn’t where Iblees does his dirty work, but this is how he slides in under the radar. The three doors of Iblees are:

1) Babul Ghadab: The door of anger

Subhan’Allah, how many times have I heard as an Imam that a brother knocked the teeth out of his wife’s mouth because he was angry? When you ask him, “What happened to you? Why are you treating your wife like that?” He’ll say, “Oh, subhanAllah, man, I was angry, and she just pushed me to the point where I had to hit her.” Anger is not an excuse. And also on the other hand we have some brothers who become mentally depressed because the wife is always nagging and insulting him. The core element to a lot of marital problems is either misunderstanding of the deen (religion) or anger.

How many of us have stopped talking to a friend on campus because of anger? Maybe a sister thinks, “Oh, that girl thinks she’s better than us now that she has the nice jilbab (dress) from Eygpt.” Or a brother thinks, “Oh, that guy memorized two juz (portions) of the Qur’an—now he won’t talk to us because he thinks he’s so religious.” All of these thoughts come from anger.

And what about how we act with our parents? How many of us just go off on our parents? All of this is attributed to anger.

What is the remedy for anger? In Sahih Muslim the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) taught us how to deal with anger. One time, one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ got angry. The Prophet ﷺ told him to say something. The man refused to say it and he got even angrier. The Prophet ﷺ said, “I swear by Allah (swt), I know some words that, if he said them, his anger would leave him.”

What were the words? Authoo billahi min as-shaytan ar-rajeem (I seek protection with Allah from Satan, the accursed one). Why is this the first thing the Prophet ﷺ taught us about anger? Because anger is a door of Shaytan.

2) The Door of Desires

What is the greatness of Paradise? In one narration it is reported that Allah (swt) made Paradise and told Jibreel (the angel Gabriel) to fly for three thousand years. So Jibreel took a journey for three thousand years and then he came back. Allah (swt) asked him, “What did you think?” Jibreel responded, “I can’t believe it.” Allah (swt) told Jibreel to go for another three thousand years and then after that another three thousand years. When Jibreel finally came back Allah (swt) told him, “Do you know what you just saw? Part of the paradise of Abu Bakr (ra).”

In another authentic hadith (narration from the Prophet ﷺ) we learn about the last person to come out of Hellfire. He will be washed and all of the burns will come off of him. Then Allah (swt) will ask him, “What do you want?” This man will see a nice tree and he will say, “Oh Allah, can you put me under that tree?” Allah (swt) will say, “Yes, but you have to swear you will not ask Me for anything else.” The man will say, “I swear by Allah (swt) I will not ask for anything else,” so Allah (swt) will put him under the tree.

The man will be sitting under the tree and then he will see a tree with a river under it. He’ll say, “Oh Allah, can you put me over there by the river?” Allah (swt) will ask, “Yes, but you have to swear that you won’t ask Me for anything else.” He will swear by Allah (swt) that he will not ask for anything else, and Allah (swt) will put him there.

Then the man will see one of the doors of Paradise.  He’ll say, “Oh Allah, can you put me by that door?” Allah (swt) will say, “Yes, but you must swear that you will never ask Me for anything else again.” The man will swear by Allah (swt) that he will not ask for anything else again. Imagine, this man is saying wallahi (I swear by Allah) to Allah (swt) Himself, and he’s lying! So Allah (swt) will put him by that door.

Then the man will see some curtains. He will say, “Oh Allah can you put me by those curtains so that I can look inside and see the people of Paradise?” Allah (swt) will say, “Yes, but you must swear you will never ask Me for anything else after this.” The man will swear. So Allah (swt) will allow him to look through the curtains at Paradise. The man will see Paradise and he will say, “Oh Allah, put me in Paradise!”  Allah (swt) will put him in Paradise and then He will come to the man while he is in Paradise and He will ask him, “Are you satisfied? Are you happy? Do you need anything else?”

The man will say, “Wallahi I can’t ask for anything else.”

Allah (swt) will respond, “This is for you and ten times its equal.” This hadith is found at the end of the book Riyaad as-Saleeheen.

The ulema (scholars) ask, why does Allah (swt) allow him to say wallahi (I swear by Allah) even though he’s lying? It’s because Allah (swt) knows that none of us can be patient with Paradise. If you see Paradise you’re going to want it.

As related by Bukhari and Muslim, after Allah (swt) created Paradise He told Jibreel to go and look at it and then asked him what he thought. Jibreel said, “Wallahi anyone who hears about it is going to want to go there.” Then Allah (swt) surrounded Paradise with something and He told Jibreel to go and look at it again. Jibreel came back and told Allah (swt), “I don’t think anyone can make it to Paradise.” Then Allah (swt) made the Hellfire and told Jibreel to go and look at it. Jibreel saw it and came back. Allah (swt) asked him, “What do you think?” Jibreel replied, “Wallahi, anyone that hears about it will not want to go there.” Then Allah (swt) surrounded it with something and told Jibreel to go and look at it. When Jibreel came back and Allah (swt) asked him what he thought, Jibreel said, “Wallahi, no one can escape it.”

What did Allah (swt) surround Paradise with? Hard work. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning, making wudu (ablutions) and praying 2 rak’ah (units of prayer) and giving that sadaqah (charity) from your eye that you owe to Allah (swt). Being nice to your friends and forgiving your brothers and sisters who did wrong to you. Being active in the MSA, attending different programs, involving yourself in anything positive. Speaking out against injustice. Waking up and studying for your finals, not coming in unprepared and hoping Allah (swt) will help you.

What did Allah (swt) surround Hellfire with? Shahawaat (Desires), the Door of Shaytan. Ease, recreation, vacation, chillin’ like a villain. All of this surrounds the Hellfire.

3) The Door of Ghaflah (Negligence)

For people your age (college students) this door of Shaytan is the most dangerous. Shaytan messes with you in areas of negligence. For example, if you go overseas—when does everyone say they’re going to make Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca)? When they’re 70 years old. How does someone know they’re going to reach 70 years? This is negligence. Look at the example of this sahaabi (companion of the Prophet ﷺ). He was sitting with some dates and he asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Oh Prophet of Allah, if I stop eating these dates, join the battle and become a shaheed (martyr) where will I be?” The Prophet ﷺ answered, “Paradise.” The man threw down his dates and he went.

How about us? Are we negligent when it comes to our opportunity to obey Allah (swt)? Or do we say: Oh, I’ll start to pray after I get married. I’ll start to do this when I finish high school.

Do it now. SubhanAllah, with Nike, we “just do it”. But with Islam we take it slowly, step by step.

So these are the three doors that Shaytan uses to get inside you.