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The Knots, Whispers, Sticks & Stones of Shaytan | Khutbah
Dr. Omar Suleiman explains in his khutbah how we can understand and overcome Shaytan’s tactics to distract you, trouble you, and take you away from what brings you peace in this life and the next.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Dear brothers and sisters, I'm going to get right into it because it is a long topic, but one that is so specifically relevant to Ramadan. And that is the topic of the impact of the shayateen upon us, the impact of the devils. And when we talk about the impact of the shayateen, we know that one of the blessings of Ramadan is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chains the shayateen. And we've talked about in previous khutab what that exactly means according to various interpretations of the scholars. But at the bare minimum, they are limited in the impact that they can have upon us once Ramadan comes. So what that means is, imagine being a prisoner whose sole purpose is to ruin someone and you know that you're about to be put in chains. How hard are you going to be working in the 10 days or 2 weeks before you go into that prison to make sure that you leave enough seeds of discord and distractions so that that person cannot meaningfully connect to Allah in a way that when you come out, you will not have the same impact. So the shayateen will be extremely busy in sha'ban, in these next 10 days in particular as we await Ramadan. Allahumma ballighna Ramadan. Oh Allah, allow us to reach Ramadan. Allahumma ameen. And so as they are particularly busy, I wanted to run through a few narrations where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam talks about the tactics of shaytan and some of the underlying things that we can take from it because they're actually incredibly empowering. You know usually there's a sense if you talk about the shayateen it's going to just instill a lot of paranoia and oh my god I can't succeed because the shayateen are out there. No, every time the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam talks to us about the impact of the shayateen, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam gives us a way to overcome them so that we understand inna ibadi laysa laka alayhim min sultan.
As Allah says, My servants, as for My servants, you have no control over them except for those that willingly follow you. So what are the underlying themes? And I'm going to run through them and I want you to try to identify in your own life, your own interaction with them. First and foremost, Anas ibn Malik radiyaAllahu ta'ala narrates that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, inna ash-shaytana wadi'un khatmahu ala qalbi ibn Adam fa in dhakara Allaha khanas wa in nasya iltaqama qalbahu fathalika alwaswas al khannas. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, Verily, shaytan is lying overweight over the heart of the child of Adam. He's waiting right over your heart. Think about the last few weeks, what we've been talking about, your thoughts, your heart, protecting them. So shaytan is right there waiting over your heart to see when he can get in. He's waiting for the opportunity to ambush. And what is that ambush? That ambush is when you forget Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How can I wait for him to forget so I can penetrate at that moment? So the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, if you remember Allah, he sinks away. He can't do anything. He has to retreat. He has absolutely nothing to get into if you remember Allah. Because that's your fortress, is the remembrance of Allah in your heart, in your words, in your deeds, the places in which Allah is remembered. Shaytan is just not finding an opening. But the moment that you forget, shaytan will devour your heart. And that is al-waswas al-khanas, the whisperer and the one who retreats. He waits for the moment that you forget Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so he can penetrate. So a space or a place, including the heart and the mind, where Allah is not remembered is right for the shaytan. He's waiting for it.
So obviously, when you remember Allah, then he doesn't have much of a place to go. And every night before you sleep, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said, يَعْقِلُ الشَّيْطَانُ عَلَىٰ قَافِيَةِ رَأْسِ أَحَدِكُمْ إِذَا هُوَ نَامُ ثَلَاثُ عُقَدٍ That every night when you sleep, he gets on top of your head and he ties these three knots. And as he ties these three knots, يَضْرِبُ مَكَانَ كُلِّ عُقْدَةٍ عَلَيْكِ يَضْرِبُ مَكَانَ كُلِّ عُقْدَةٍ عَلَيْكِ He strikes the place of every knot and as he ties every knot, he says, شُّعَلَيْكَ لَيْلٌ طَوِيلٌ You have a long night ahead of you. You worked so hard today. Sleep. Sleep. Make sure that you go deep into your sleep. You have a long night ahead of you. What a long day that you had already. Go ahead and sleep and sleep deep, deep, deep so that you don't wake up for prayer. فَإِنْ اَسْتَيْقَضَ فَذَكَرَ اللَّهِ إِنْ حَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٍ If you wake up and you remember Allah, one of the knots comes loose. فَإِنْ تَوَضَّعَ إِنْ حَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٍ And then if you make wudu, another knot comes loose. فَإِنْ صَلَّ إِنْ حَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٍ And if you pray, then the last of the three knots comes loose. And the Prophet ﷺ said, فَأَصْبَحَ نَشِيطًا طَيِّبًا نَفْسًا وَإِلَّا أَصْبَحَ خَبِيثًا نَفْسِي كَسْلَانًا So you wake up fresh, pure-souled, energetic spirit. You undid all three knots because you remembered Allah ﷻ. You did wudu and you went to the prayer. You came to your salah. And you know the difference between the days you miss fajr and the days that you don't. In fact, you know the difference, especially the days that you pray fajr in the masjid and you're fresh. And the days that you even barely catch it.
But there is a difference in your energy, there is a difference in your spirit as you're waking up, right? As you're going through those days. And the Prophet ﷺ, as he's sharing this with us, what is the underlying theme? Ibn al-Jawzi says, The main tool of shaytan is procrastination. Wait, he didn't tell you don't pray when you went to sleep at night. He said, prolong your sleep. He didn't tell you salah is not important. Don't remember Allah. Don't do wudu. He said, what a long day you've had. Shhh, alayka layl al-taweer. Sleep, sleep. Put off your prayer. It's okay, the time will come. And that is how shaytan corrupts all of our acts of worship. When we know, at least here, that worship is important and that we have to do what we have to do, then shaytan can merely mess with our priorities. He can merely mess with us by making us procrastinate. And isn't that the cause of failure for a person, right? In their personal affairs as well. I know what to do, but I don't really do it because, well, I've had a long day. I know I should be doing this, but I'm stuck in this. I know that I should be making this change in my life, but you know, everyone else around me does it too. So I can wait. A sense of urgency is put off of you. And that is a disease. That is a disease. May Allah protect us from it. With our overcoming of sins, when we know we're committing a sin, I know I have the sin. It's not as bad as that person's sin. Everyone else does it anyway. It's okay. I can wait. Maybe next Ramadan. This Ramadan, I didn't really feel it inside. Who told you you're going to live to see the next Ramadan? Who told you you're going to live to see the next Juma? The next day? But in your mind, it's subconscious. Yeah, I know I could be doing this obligation a little bit better, but you know, Alhamdulillah, at least I'm doing something. I'm kind of doing this obligation, so I can put off fulfilling it later on. Besides, look at everyone else around me. I have time, procrastination. That's what shaitan is going to come.
He's not, you know, he's not going to immediately corrupt your ideas or standards. He'll just break your spirits and busy you and mess with your priorities. So you keep putting stuff off, putting stuff off, putting stuff off. And then listen to this. What is the connection between the whispers and the knots and the personal and the interpersonal? Meaning there is a deep connection between that and family and community as well. Listen to this narration. It's in a Tirmidhi Jabir radiAllahu anhu says that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, Inna ash-shaytaana qad ya'isa an ya'budahu al-musalloon wa lakin fit-tahreeshi baynahum. Shaitan has given up hope that he can take people who pray to Allah and make them pray to him. He's lost hope in you in that sense. He knows that you pray or that you at least know that you should be worshipping Allah. So what does he do instead? He busies you with each other. Tahreeshi baynahum. Let me create discord and fitna amongst them so that they can fight each other because they're not worshipping me. But if they fight each other, at least they'll be too busy then to worship Allah. And that will give me more entrance to penetrate. And subhanAllah, that's where you see the incitement, procrastination, and then incitement between his ibad, between the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And have you ever gone to sleep at night and you wonder, like, why am I suddenly getting all these bad thoughts about my family? Why am I suddenly thinking like I'm getting mad about something? As I'm in bed, I'm just starting to think about that. You know, I'm thinking about, I can't believe she said that to me. I can't believe he did this. And you're sitting at night and you're boiling. Listen to this narration. Abu Umama radiAllahu anhu narrates and it's a sahih narration. He says, Inna sh-shaytana ya'ti ila firashi ahadikum ba'dama yafrishuhu ahluhu wayuhayyoona He said that shaytan comes to you at night.
After you've gone to sleep, he said goodnight to your family. Wayuhayyoona. They already, you know, they gave you a sense of good wishes. You know, at least even if it's just a courtesy, goodnight, goodnight. See you tomorrow. Goodnight, Baba. Goodnight, Mama. Goodnight, honey, whatever it may be. So shaytan comes to you. And obviously there's a symbolism here. qala fayulqi alayhi al'ud aw alhajara aw alshayt li yughdhibahu ala ahlihi Listen, think about the imagery of this. He starts throwing rocks at you and sticks at you and anything to incite you against your family, to get you mad at your family. You ever woke up from a bad dream and you got mad at your spouse, mad at your kids? You're going to sleep at night and you're boiling and you're getting angry. And now unfortunately, you can just pick up the phone and text. I'm getting really upset. I can't believe you said that. So you start boiling in your thoughts. Instead of remembering Allah at night, you're getting mad at your friend. You're getting mad at your family member. So Abu Umamah radiyaAllahu ta'ala says, fa idha wajadha dhalik fala yaghdhabu ala ahlihi li anahu min amal ash-shaytan He said, when that happens to you, don't get mad at your family. Don't fall for it. So while he's tying knots on your head to distract you from Allah, to get you to procrastinate, he's also saying, can you believe he said that to you? Can you believe she said that to you? Wow, you know, you should do something about that. So not only are you putting off the worship of Allah and the remembrance of Allah, you're boiling in bed. Like imagine if someone was standing on top of you, throwing rocks at you, poking you, and saying, go do something, say something. And then subhanAllah, you know, it's like, instead of going to sleep at night like the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam taught us to clear our hearts and forgive people, and that's your entrance into Jannah, you're filling your heart with anger. And now it's just pick up a phone, send a text, make it worse. Go ahead and compound the situation. All the while, you have less time for the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
I'll share with you this last narration inshAllah, just because of time. And it is a powerful narration. And I want you to think about it because again, these things always hit right before Ramadan. It's like now? Why now? Like there's always the fitna and things just start hitting you before Ramadan. It's like this is the worst time it could happen, right? This narration, every time I read it, I think about the imagery of it. Qala RasoolAllahi salAllahu alayhi wa sallam, inna ibleesa yaba'u arshahu alal ma' Iblees sets up his throne upon water. Why does he do that? To try to imitate the Lord of the worlds, whose throne encompasses all things. So he sets up his throne, right? Like I am my own person. That's his ego, his arrogance. And then he starts to call his followers to him. Fa'adnaahum minhu manzeela a'adhamuhum fitna. SubhanAllah. The Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, the closest people to Iblees, when he sits on his throne on water and the shayateen are next to him, is the one who causes the most fitna. That's who Iblees loves the most. The opposite, the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, the closest of you to me on the day of judgment are those that have the best akhlaq, the best character. The closest shayateen to Iblees when he talks to his followers are the ones that cause the most fitna. So he then starts to say, he says, tell me what you all did. Yajeehu ahaduhum fayaqulu fa'altu katha wakatha. So one of them says, I did this and I did that. And Iblees says, ma'asalma'ata shay'ah. That's nothing. Next, what did you do? So the shayateen start to tell Iblees the corruption that they caused on the earth. And then he says, thumma yajeehu ahaduhum fayaqulu ma'ataraqtuhu hatta farraqtu baynahu wa baynamra'atihi qala fayudnihi minhu wayaqul ni'ma ant. The slash shaytan says, I kept on him until I caused him to split from his family.
I caused the breakup. And then Iblees says, come here. He says, what a good follower you are. What a good shaytan you are. And he embraces him. I like you the best. Messed up the marriage, messed up the relationship. And that's not to say, dear brothers and sisters, that there aren't real reasons sometimes for splits. And that's not to escape responsibility. When we do the things and then we say, it's shaytan. He was telling his follower, didn't you hear the hadith? No, I mean, take responsibility. But that's to say how happy he becomes when he pollutes that. When he messes up families, tears us apart from each other. Don't fall for it. That's the connection between the personal, the interpersonal, the family, the community. To busy us with each other and negativity so that we can't long for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and pursue him with positivity and productivity. May Allah fill our hearts with the love of him. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not give the shaytan any opening into our hearts or our lives with his whispers or his knots or his stones or whatever it is in Ramadan or outside of Ramadan. May Allah allow us to remember him so frequently that the shaytan finds no place within us. May Allah protect us as individuals from him, protect our homes from him, protect our communities from him, and allow us to be engaged with what is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allahumma ameen. Aqoolu qawwi hadha wa astaghfirullah liyallakum risala al muslimeen faistaghfiru innahu wal ghkhurur raheem. Alhamdulillah. As-salatu was-salamu ala rasool Allah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Allahumma khfiru al mu'mineen wa al mu'minat wa al muslimeen wa al muslimat al ahya'i minhum wal amwat. Innaka samee'un qareebun mujeebu al da'wat. Allahumma khfiru lana wa arhamna wa a'fu anna wa la tu'adhibna. Rabbana dhalamna anfusana wa in lam takhfir lana wa tarhamna la nakunana minal khasireen. Allahumma innaka a'fuwun kareemun tuhibbu al a'fu wa fa'afu anna. Allahumma khfiru liwalidina.
Rabbirhamhuma kamarabbawna sigara.
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