Will you give information about the tricks of Satan (devil)?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Satan is a kind of creature that cannot do good deeds and that only commits evil. 'It was created from nar as-samum, that is, smokeless and scorching fire. (al-Hijr, 27) The real name of Iblis was Azazil. He was given the names “Iblis” and “Satan” after he rejected to prostrate Hazrat Adam (pbuh) and became conceited and rebelled due to the order of prostration.

All of the activities and efforts of Satans aim at making people exit belief, making them committing sins and making them unbelievers. The greatest obstacle in the spiritual development of humanity and in fulfilling the duty of worshipping is Satan.  Satan is described as “aduww mubin” (enemy avowed ) in the Quran. God Almighty asked people to take shelter in Allah from Satan in many verses in the Quran. 

As a matter of fact, Satan has no power on his own. His delusions and tricks are weak. However, what he does involves destruction and breaking down; so he causes great harms with delusion and deception. Therefore, he appears strong. To construct a building is difficult but to demolish it is very easy. What Satan does and makes others do are related to destruction. Muslim always takes shelter in Allah from Satan because it causes great destructions despite his weak power and delusions.  

The soul of man and his feelings like lust and wrath are always receptive to all kinds of delusions and suggestions of Satan; therefore, a small delusion and trick of Satan affects man quickly and leads him to great spiritual disasters and harms. That is why the evil of Satan is presented as something big to believers and they are repeatedly warned against being deceived by him.  In fact, Satan has no power in terms of inventing and doing things and intervening in the sovereignty of Allah.

Satan resorts to many tricks to deviate man. The most important ones of those tricks are as follows:

1. Lust and fury: They are the greatest means of Satan to influence man. Therefore, the following is stated in a hadith: “Satan enters the body of man like the blood circulates in the body. Narrow his ways through hunger (fasting)” because the greatest means of Satan’s entrance to human body is lust. Hunger weakens lust.

2. Jealousy and ambition: An ambitious person becomes too blind to see the truth too deaf to hear the truth.

3. Greed: Satan makes a person love the things that he is greedy about so much that the thing he is greedy about becomes his god.  

4. Haste:  Man cannot have the opportunity to think when he is in a hurry. Satan can make him get delusions at that time. 

5. Stinginess and fear of poverty: This fear prevents man form charities and makes him pile goods.

6. One of the doors that Satan penetrates into the heart is the fanaticism of denomination and school in the service of the religion. Thus, Satan makes a person feel hatred against and despise those who are not in the same denomination and school as he is. It is a very dangerous state. It causes the destruction of both sinners and righteous people. It is a bad trait to despise people and to try to find their mistakes. However, Satan makes a person regard those bad traits as good under the disguise of serving the religion. That person thinks that he is working to serve the religion and feels happy. However, he is in the trap of Satan.

7. Another means that Satan uses to deceive people is keep them busy with the disagreements among denominations and schools, and the rumors about them. 

8. Another door that Satan penetrates into the heart is making some people whose minds narrow due to their ignorance and committing sins constantly think about issues of belief that they will not be able to understand and making them have doubts about the religion. 

9. Having bad (negative) thoughts about others: If a person starts to have negative thoughts about somebody, Satan causes that person to backbite him or Satan does not make that person show respect to his rights and makes that person despise him. 

The ones we have mentioned do not include all of the tricks and delusions of Satan. They vary depending on people, periods and conditions.

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