Deeper into Dhikr
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The Meaning of A'oodhu billah | Episode 8
The act of isti’aadhah is to seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan and actions that cause us to be like him. Learn about when to use a’oodhu billah and the different variations of this protective dhikr.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. We have a way that we send our peace and blessings on the best of Allah's creation. And then we also have a way of seeking refuge in Allah from the worst of his creation. And if you think about the difference between Allahumma salli wa sallim ala nabina Muhammad and a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim, I seek protection in Allah from the accursed devil, the most hated creation of Allah. Our entire lives manifest this dhikr by trying to be as much like the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam as possible, and trying to be as little as possible like the shaitan, like the accursed devil. Now, one of the things that we take from istiAAadah, which is to seek refuge in Allah from the shaitan, is that it gives us a realization of who he is, what his tactics are, and always makes us aware so that as we're putting up the fortress of the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we are not letting the shaitan expose any of those gaps. And so you find various forms of istiAAadah, various forms of seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed devil. Not just for ourselves, but even for our loved ones, right? So you can take every single one of those forms of istiAAadah, of those forms of seeking protection from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and you read them upon your children. So, So, you could either say, I seek refuge in Allah, in his perfect word, from every single devil, from every beast, from every envious blameworthy eye, or you could just say, I seek refuge in the most high, from the worst of his creation. And if you look at the way that we put ourselves to sleep, we obviously recite
the mu'awwidatayn on ourselves. There's a reason why this is the end of the Qur'an, that we remind ourselves that as much as we can get on the straight path, and seek Allah's protection, seek Allah's help, and seek to be like our Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, there's always a possibility of us falling. That is not to make us despair, that's to make us diligent. And so every night we read on ourselves, and we read upon our loved ones as well, and realize that you're not just seeking refuge from something, but you're seeking refuge in Allah constantly, the Lord of people. Allah is the Lord of you, Allah is the Lord of me, Allah is the Lord of the one we hope to be like, and Allah is the Lord of the one from whom we seek protection. So what are we seeking refuge from? Number one, from becoming like the shaytan. We don't want to fall in our religion to where we start to act like the devil himself, and ultimately he wants to pull as many people into hellfire as possible. Number two, we seek refuge from the devil's deception, and from his tricks. We seek refuge from his whispers, from his waswas, so we ask Allah to remove those waswas. We seek refuge in Allah from bad thoughts and anxiety, because obviously the shaytan wants us to be distracted, he wants us to be paralyzed, so that we can't move towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We also are taught to seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when we become consumed with anger. Remember the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said that the strong person is not the one who overcomes their opponents, the strong person is the one who is still in control of themselves when they are angry. Now think about this, think about how people say things and do things in anger that they regret, and there's this famous hadith where the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam
saw this man who was in a fit of rage, and Rasulullah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam did not go up to the man and say, say, he said to the other companions that I know something and if he were to say it, his anger would dissipate, and they said what is it ya Rasulullah? He said I seek refuge in Allah from the cursed shaytan. Now the reason why he didn't go up to the man and say it to him is because once you're in a fit of rage, you're unable to see yourself anymore and unable to really control yourself, and so here the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam was giving a lesson to the rest of the companions, that don't be like that person who's going to be as Ali radiAllahu anhu said in a state of rage and then afterwards in a state of regret. Instead be a person who understands from the very start that the shaytan can take the driver's seat, the shaytan can take the wheel, and you might say things and do things that you really don't want to do in a state of anger, just like when you're in a state of desire and your desires overwhelm you, seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the shaytan. He wants to make you fall by your desires, he wants to make you fall by your pride, the point is he wants to make you fall, and we even find from the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam that when we are in a state of pain, that the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam taught us to say I seek refuge in Allah and in his power from the evil of what I find and of what I guard against. So you remember that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one who can protect you from the shaytan, and you remember that the plot of the shaytan at the end of the day is to really distract you from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and so you'll find subhanAllah that the words that if the shaytan comes to annoy you, to poke, to whisper, that Allah azawajal uses this in the context of a person who's about to sin and in a person who's doing da'wah, right, because at the
end of the day shaytan will try to get in the way of that too, so in da'wah he'll try to get you to be overcome by ego, he'll try to fracture the community, and in desire he will try to bury you in your desire, and then afterwards when you regret try to bury you in despair, all of that is to put a barrier between us and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala individually and collectively when we're sinning and when we're doing good deeds, and so he wants to busy you with other than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and that's why you find that we are taught that when we are about to read Quran that you seek refuge in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala from the shaytan because shaytan who does not want you to connect to Allah certainly doesn't want you to read the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and to hear the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and so immediately when you're going towards your mushaf, shaytan panics because he knows that if you hear Allah you won't hear his whispers anymore and so he tries to get you to not open the Quran in the first place, to distract you from the Quran, to get you to abandon the Quran and you say a'udhu billahi minash shaytanir rajim bismillahir rahmanir rahim and he is completely humiliated, he completely sinks away and so the prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us what, when you seek refuge from the shaytan, realize that you're seeking refuge in one who is more powerful than the shaytan, and the ulama mention here that the best forms of isti'adah are the ones in which you mention the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as well, so for example a'udhu billahi as-samee' al-alim minash shaytanir rajim, I seek refuge in Allah, the all-hearing and the all-knowing from the accursed devil, and so you remind yourself of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and I heard some of my own teachers actually say that especially in a state of anger you need to be reminded of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, so say a'udhu billahi as-samee' alim minash shaytanir rajim I seek refuge in Allah, the all-hearing, the all-knowing from the accursed devil, and you see
even in the beautiful hadith of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam when he would enter into the masjid and he said a'udhu billahi al-azim wa biwajhihi al-karim wa sultanihi al-qadeem minash shaytanir rajim I seek refuge in Allah, the almighty, and in his noble face, and in his eternal domain from the accursed devil, you're reminding yourself that Allah is so much greater than the shaytan, and that Allah has all power over the shaytan, and so you seek refuge in Allah from the shaytan, now remember there is evil that is seen, there is evil that is unseen, there are shayateen that are jinn, there are shayateen that are human beings, there is harm that could be caused intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, but the solution is always one, a'udhu bi kalimati allahi ta'mati min sharri ma khalaq I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the worst of what he has created a'udhu bi kalimati allahi ta'mati min kulli shaytanin wahhammah wa min kulli aynin lammah a'udhu billahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhadhir a'udhu billahi al-azim wa bi wajhihi al-karim
wa sultanihi al-qadim minash shaytanir rajim bismillah wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulillah allahumma iftah li abwaba rahmatik a'udhu bi kalimati allahi ta'mati allati la yujawizuhun nabarrun wala fajir min sharri ma khalaq wa bar'a wa dhar'a wa min sharri ma yanzilu min assama' wa min sharri ma ya'ruju feeha wa min sharri ma dhar'a fi al-ard wa min sharri ma yakhruju minha wa min sharri fitani al-layli wa al-nahaar wa min sharri kulli taariq illa taariqan yatruq bi khair ya rahman you
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