“Then I will come to them from INFRONT OF them and FROM BEHIND them and on THEIR RIGHT and on THEIR LEFT, and You will not find most of them grateful [to You].”
(Surah Al A’raf:17)
These are the words of Shaitan, which he has said to Allah SWT right after he blamed Allah SWT for him becoming astray. He said that he will attack us (children of Adam A.S.) from these four directions.
While we were studying the directions briefly, we realised that how he attacks us from BEHIND by pulling us back into our past mistakes/griefs/trials, making us despair of Allah’s mercy and making us unproductive muslims.
- He attacks us from our RIGHT by glorifying our good deeds in our sight, needless to mention the ‘feel good hormone – dopamine’ which makes one to do good because they get recognition, appreciations for it.
He attacks us from our RIGHT by glorifying our good deeds in our sight.
We should always remember that while doing the best of deed (while raising the walls of Kaaba), Prophet Ibrahim (A.S.) and Ismail (A.S.) were praying to Allah SWT-“Our Lord, accept [this] from us. Indeed, You are the Hearing, the Knowing.”
So, we need to ask for the acceptance of good deeds rather than being indulged in self admiration - How Shaitan deceives us from our LEFT side?
By distracting us through procrastination/delays in doing good deeds. We know the incident of Ka’b bin Malik (R.A.), while his intention was never to miss the Battle of Tabuk, but he procrastinated thinking that he has the best of she camels, and he can join the caravan even if he is a bit behind. So, he procrastinated in joining the Battle of Tabuk to an extent that he missed the opportunity entirely, but alhamdulillah he confessed honestly to the prophet (PBUH) though he was so good in eloquence in speech that he could easily would have made another excuse, but he knew that he couldn’t lie to Allah SWT and His Prophet (PBUH), so he chose to confess when asked about his absence. SubhanAllah! He was also given a punishment as well as per Allah’s command. Nobody spoke to him till Allah SWT revealed the ayah (Holy Quran 9.118) in his and the other two companion’s context. Lesson for us – Do not delay in doing good.
Shaitan also attacks us from left side by beautifying the evil deeds, imagine only one tree was forbidden in the ENTIRE Gardens of bliss in heaven but shaitan made that one forbidden tree beautified in the sight of Adam a.s, and sadly he does the same with us everyday, he makes everything which is forbidden very appealing in the garb of so called practicality and pragmatism, even if it means supporting the taghoot.
- How Shaitan deceives us from INFRONT OF US?
By instilling Fear of Right wing politics which we can see right infront of us,
and by making us supporting the Liberal/left wing as an alternative and practical way forward in the name of pragmatism, so called hikmah (human made wisdom abrogating Allah’s wisdom!) and practicality.
Shaitan is smart and he knows well our psychology. We believe he is an open enemy to us, but we need to study him to know him in order to confront him.
May Allah Al Hafeez protect us from the deceptions of Shaitan.
Ameen.