The Tricks of Shaytaan

Listen Here: The Tricks of Shaytaan (Devil) and How to be Safe  by Shaykh Omar Hussaini

I thought it would be a good idea to do this lecture since Shaytaan has been roaming free ever since Eid. It gets a little tough in Ramadan though, realizing that it’s actually your Nafs that loves to play games…

The Main Tricky Tricks:

• Shaytaan tries to trick us into believing that we don’t have to preform any supererogatory good deeds. If you try to wake up for Tahajjud, Shaytaan will whisper that you always pray the mandated prayers and that there’s no need for more: you have work in the morning!
  • How to be safe: Anytime you want to buy some commodity, you need currency. Remind yourself that you need the currency of good deeds to attain Paradise. You cannot get it for free. Everything we do is part of our effort to earn Jannah, that is our full time job.
• He tries to make you procrastinate. He makes you think that you will have more time tomorrow. But in reality, your busyness changesbut never ends (i.e I will do this or that when I get out of college, but then you have a stressful job and kids taking up your time). You will never be completely free, something will always come up.
  • How to be safe: You never know if you will live to see another day. People think they have time, but how many people do you know that died in their youth? Anything can happen, you cannot leave your Jannah to chance by living in the delusion of eternal time.
• He tells you to rush salah so you can get to your other duties. Even though salah can’t be much prolonged, Shaytaan gets you to finish it in as few minutes as possible.
  • How to be safe: Realize that worrying and being in a hurry will never get you anywhere. The deen emphasizes controlled and conscious acts of worship. To Allah سبحانه و تعالى‎, a few quality actions are better than a lot of actions done without any quality.
• You do something initially for Allah سبحانه و تعالى‎ but right after it, you get the urge to share it with others. The Shaytaan convinces you tell others so they can “benefit.” Sometimes you do sincerely want to benefit others by detailing some aspect of worship, like when trying to rub off on children. However…
  • How to be safe: If there is some sort of inner debate in your mind as to your intentions for sharing, then all your hard work likely went down the drain. Remember to keep the reward with Allah. The One who should know about your deeds, already knows.
• You hide your good deeds hoping someone will find out later.
  • How to be safe: This is similar to the last one in the sense that you are doing things for people. Remind yourself that people can’t give you anything. Seek reward with the Creator, not the creation.
• Once you start becoming somewhat religious, Shaytaan puts the seed of arrogance in your heart by highlighting all the people who are not doing everything you’re doing.
  • How to be safe: When you meet someone and you immediately think yourself better: know that Shaytaan is creeping in your heart. Once you realize that any righteousness you have comes from Allah سبحانه و تعالى‎, you will never be arrogant. We have no greatness in ourselves.
• The last tricky trick of Shaytaan is that he manipulates the concept of destiny and oversimplifies it so that you begin to think, “What’s the point?” He makes you think that your actions don’t matter and that you cannot control where you end up.
  • How to be safe: Even if that were true, a person destined for hellfire would only benefit from good deeds and one destined for paradise would be hurt by bad deeds. Recognize that Allah has given us free will, his knowledge of events does not compel us to act in a certain way. And Allah سبحانه و تعالى‎ is just. He does not do anything except what is just. He is even looking for excuses to put us in paradise.