Part 4: The Traps of Shaytan: Evil: Origins and Wisdom- Heart Therapy

Read the Table of Contents of Heart Therapy

Read Part 3 (a): Tazkiyat al Nafs- Importance and Significance

Evil: Origins and Wisdom

Why did Allah create evil?

The answer to this question is quite simple: If there was no evil we would not know what good is. Moreover, in the absence of evil there would be no test! And in the absence of tests humankind would, like the angels, be forever obedient to Allah. Yet the angels were created before man, and they have continued to obey Allah from that time without choice. Rather, Allah wanted to create man and jinn giving them a choice between obedience and disobedience.

Furthermore, if there was no evil on the earth, there would be:

• No da’wah- there would be no one to give da’wah to if everyone was good.
• No matrys- there would be no call for jihad if everyone was Muslim.
• No amr bi’l ma’ruf wa’l nahi ‘an al munkar (enjoining of the good and forbidding that which is evil)
• No test against following one’s desire (as no evil temptation such as alcohol, zina, music, etc would exist), thus, one would not be rewarded for avoiding evil, because there would be no evil!

Thus

Iblis (Shatan) has many ways of entrapping a person into following his desires. One should know these traps and recognise their evils in order to succeed in avoiding them.

Shatans’s First Ploy

Allah created Adam and placed in Adam his soul, when it reached his head he sneezed. The angels, who were present, said, “Say, Alhamdulillah (All praise be to Allah), which he said; Allah responded, “yarhamuku”lah” (May Allah have mercy on you).

Allah then ordered the angels to prostrate to Adam, Iblis was with them and was also ordered to do so but he refused. As a result of his disobedience Iblis was promised an eternity in hellfire. But Iblis pleaded for respite till the Day of Judgment, that he might mislead both man and jinn as well as Allah granted it to him; since then, the struggle began between him and Adam and will continue until the Day of Judgment.

From Adam, Allah created Hawaa; housing them both in Paradise, He prohibited them from approaching [and eating] from a tree in paradise. Shatan attempted to mislead them into disobeying this injunction, at first without success, but when he swore that the fruits of this tree would grant them the immorality of the angels they succumbed.

“And he took an oath to them both that I am definitely from among the sincere advisors.” (7:21)

And this is what convinced Adam, he could not conceive that Iblis could swear by Allah and lie. He and Hawaa’ ate from the forbidden tree and were thus expelled from Paradise. Adam begged Allah’s forgiveness- and this is the crux of the difference between Adam and Iblis- Iblis sinned but refused to repent, Adam, on the other hand, sinned and repented.

The best of sinners are those who repent!

He invoked Allah’s mercy and said: “O Allah, did you not create me and say that your mercy overcomes your anger? When I sneezed did you not say “Yarhamukullah”? In response Allah forgave him.

Satan is a jinn. He was an obedient Jinn. The first sin was created by Satan that of PRIDE!

Satan comes as a friend and not as an enemy. He tricks us by whispering things by making us feel he is advising good things to us. But don’t forget

Satan is an enemy to you. So treat him as an enemy!

This clearly illustrated the importance of learning the traps of Iblis so we do not fall into them. Having this knowledge is integral to purifying our soul as well as cleaning ourselves from sin and transgression.

Read Part 4 (a) Iblis’ Ploy