Tag: Satan

Our only true enemy… ‘The whisperer’

MashaAllahu ta’ala the past few weeks have brought fresh illumination as in our study circle we’ve been learning about the real enemy. The one and only enemy. As told by God to us in His book, we have only one enemy very clearly;

O you who believe! enter into submission one and all and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan; surely he is your open enemy.
Quran 2:208

While I don’t want to paraphrase all I’ve been learning about the shayateen (devils) in the past weeks in to a few words on one post, I think there certainly is a simple take-home message. That really there is evil, but that evil is only the devil and all he can do is whisper. He tempts, deceives, confuses and moves man to great sin thereby. But in the end, he is not to be feared but only treated with contempt. And our Lord we seek refuge in from his devious whispers. But more importantly that all this cause of hatred/anger/jealousy really is not people but the one real enemy. How many wars are being fought, where brother kills brother, each pandering some truth as a truth above another’s truth. The US Army over the VietCon (Vietnam war), Iraq over Iran (Iran-Iraq conflict), the Gulf war…the list is endless… and now the situation in Libya. Fast deteriorating in to an all out civil war, one wonders what happened to the truth in this conflict.

As someone so wisely said (I forget who, was it Bernard Shaw?) ‘truth is the first casualty in war’.

So hate the sin, but not the sinner. If we hate the oppression wrought by an oppressor, we do not hate the oppressor himself, but only wish for him the same salvation we yearn for ourselves. The vital hadith again;

‘None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself’
– look at how strong this hadith is, recorded by al-Bukhari (13), Muslim (45), Ahmad (3/176), at-Tirmidhi (5215), Ibn Majah (66), an-Nasa’i (8/115), and Ibn Hibban (234)

Wanting that same salvation, that same peace for everyone is essential to training our hearts to that state of purity demanded by the fact that only those with a sound/serene/peaceful heart will be saved on that day

وَلَا تُخْزِنِي يَوْمَ يُبْعَثُونَ
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ
إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّـهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ

And do not disgrace me on the Day they are [all] resurrected
The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children
But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.”

Quran (26:87-89)

So hate the sin but not the sinner. This was beautifully expanded on by Sh. Hamza in his article expounding on Divine Love as understood by the Muslim tradition. An article very much worth reading and passed on. It can be found here

Without going on too much about it, here is in verse form some of that which mashaAllah I’ve learned about all this. I hope it is of benefit inshaAllah. Called ‘the whisperer’

The whisperer

Whispers have brought down empires
From Shakespearan tragedies to real life
Desdemona and Othello to
every day in some every day home
some husband walks out on his wife

A neighbour has whispered
On the streets a rumour spread
Brothers do not speak with brothers
for years. Nor their sisters
fathers, mothers
They are afraid to allow
the possibility that the human errs
Afraid to forgive lest it reduce ‘honour’
or display weakness?

Fools proclaimed in self righteous glory
Sit on your high seat till you taste that same sloth
of the sinner when sin you commit unknowingly
or in a moment of weakness, that you do not forgive in another

The devils can only whisper
And we have no other enemy
No other. Remember Abu Sufyan? Not an enemy but in the end
the Muslim brother. And that great sword of the deen
Khaled, once the attempted excutioner of the prophet

A mercy to the worlds

O Patient man. Teach us your patience
Your people are in disarray
They kill each other inventing enemies
Spurring on deeds of fresh bloodshed
While screaming ‘Allahu akber’

Only a heart serene will be saved on that day
Didn’t you read your book? Held aloft while you screech.
Ah, what are you screeching for?

Perhaps a little silence will lift that veil of ignorance
The constant cacophony of mad passion
Drowned out the whisperer so close to your ear
who has never ceased whispering…
stop the gun so you can hear

A vile enemy that is whispering
Just a whisperer. Just a doomed whisperer

Then love your brother
Your messenger honour. Worry eradicate
All the burdens of the earth fall away from heavy shoulders
You can now fight, knowing what you are fighting for
Just one enemy. Remember.

O my Lord, I seek refuge in Thee
And Thou art sufficient for me.

Copyright – Joymanifest’s blog. 2011

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‘O Muslim, your honour lies in humility before Allah and your strength lies in weakness before Allah’

I listened to this beautiful talk by Sh Yasir Qadhi today. Alhamdulillah, it is a beautiful call to faith in the kindness, compassion, beauty and love of our Creator. We often and easily forget that Allah has told us He loves it when we ask of Him. What bounty that is, that our Creator, the only Creator that exists, is one of Love. Real love, that is watching out for those loved…not one to make us and forget us. And then what sadness, deep deep sadness contemplating the individual who has forgotten Allah and then Allah has in turn forgotten him/her (it is important to understand that the forgetting begins with the creation and never the Creator)
It has been a difficult time in my life the past few days and listening to this helped me very much. Therefore I thought I would share it, in case it helps you too :).
But you know what is most profound, in this time of many burdens coming at the same time, all it has done is renewed my faith, washed my heart clean of dirt and reminded me of what is important. We are all here to try to be better people, to try and elevate our souls to that highest level, that highest level that is the reflection of the divine. To polish our souls so we like mirrors, reflect the light of Allah subhahana ta’ala. Some of us are given children to teach us this, some parents who are elderly and need us, others the sick to look after, yet others personal difficulty. And so pushed to go to the source of all love, and that too the pushing a very act of love. And then when nudged in to coming close to Allah, when we feel the incredible strength of that closeness with our Lord, what strength and comfort that is! How phenomenal the qualities of Allah are in their perfection. Allahu akber, I say that with deep love.

The title of this post is from the closing comments of the talk… it is so true, our real honour lies in humility before the One who bestows honour and our real strength comes when we acknowledge our weakness before our Creator. Is this not the quality we see in deeply spiritual people, great scholars, priests, rabbis, monks… that they are all so devoid of self and only a reflection of all that is from God.

May God make us all deserving of His grace and teach us to be better.