The Enemy

 

THE ENEMY.

The expression to know you is to love you is been seen a lot on social media for a while now. He was a different being though, he made enemy of everyone before coming to know anyone. Can you imagine having someone hate you so clearly and deeply and not even knowing you yet? I’m not talking about the ‘haters’ we so conveniently rant about. No. True hate that has no boundaries, intense and real.

Husband has the habit of playing the Quran after early morning prayers. One of these mornings I was cleaning the house and casually listening when I heard the phrase “...shaidana lakuma adduwun mubeen”(a’araaf:22). It caught my attention for some reason and I found myself looking up the television to the exact surah been recited. I looked up the translation and it was the story about Adam eating from the forbidden tree. 

I went online to look up verses that talk about how he, Iblees was banished from Allah’s Rahma, his Janna. Still can’t believe a being that has tasted Janna will do something to be thrown out of it, while we all are working towards gaining entrance into it subhanallah, but the heart wants what it wants.  

Everyone knows the story, Allah fashioned Adam and breathed life into him. He gave him knowledge which was not known to the angels nor the jinns. Allah (SWT) asked them to name some objects, they couldn’t. He asked him(Adam) and he did. Allah (SWT) then said to the angels while Iblees was amongst them to prostrate out of respect for him(Adam) they all did except him (Iblees). He was cursed, he was cast out but before he left he had a request. And Allah azza wa jal granted him what he asked for. He asked for respite, for postponement, basically he asked to be immortal. From The Kitab…

#Allah said, “Then get down from Paradise! It is not for you to be arrogant here. So get out! You are truly one of the disgraced.”

#He appealed, “Then delay my end until the Day of their resurrection.”

#Allah said, “You are delayed until the appointed Day.”

#He said, “For leaving me to stray I will lie in ambush for them on Your Straight Path.

#I will approach them from their front, their back, their right, their left, and then You will find most of them ungrateful.”

#Allah said, “Get out of Paradise! You are disgraced and rejected! I will certainly fill up Hell with you and your followers all together.”

#Allah said, “O Adam! Live with your wife in Paradise and eat from wherever you please, but do not approach this tree, or else you will be wrongdoers.”

#Then Satan tempted them in order to expose what was hidden of their nakedness. He said, “Your Lord has forbidden this tree to you only to prevent you from becoming angels or immortals.”

#And he swore to them, “I am truly your sincere advisor.”

#So he brought about their fall through deception. And when they tasted of the tree, their nakedness was exposed to them, prompting them to cover themselves with leaves from Paradise. Then their Lord called out to them, “Did I not forbid you from that tree and did I not tell you that Satan is your sworn enemy?”

#They replied, “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves. If You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we will certainly be losers.”

#Allah said, “Descend as enemies to each other. You will find in the earth a residence and provision for your appointed stay.”

#He added, “There you will live, there you will die and from there you will be resurrected.” (a’araaf:13-25).

On this (that) day we (mankind) made a true enemy. This verses are not too tricky to understand. After reading I learnt some lessons I would love to share with you.

Arrogance is deadly. It didn’t kill Iblees, it earned him deathlessness. His everlasting state will result him in nothing good. There is a (Sahih Muslim) hadith that talks about arrogance. The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was reported to have said “Whoever has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart, will not enter Paradise… Arrogance is rejecting the truth and belittling people”.

Commentary on the above hadith states that pride and arrogance was the first sin committed; it was due to arrogance that Iblees refused to prostrate in front of Adam, and it was the same reason why Pharaoh suppressed his people.

# And do not turn your cheek (in contempt) toward people and do not walk through the earth pride fully. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful (Luqman: 18)

And in His words He does not like arrogance in His creations.

Another lesson from this verses is long life does not mean good life. That is why most learned people while praying for your long life they also pray for increase in Iman and good health.

Perhaps the most important lesson from the above verses is Iblees promising to lie in ambush on the right path. The natural order of things is everyone is born on the right path but some conditions make us to make other choices. There is a hadith by Abu Huraira in which the Prophet (SAW) says “Every child is born on Al-Fitrah(natural instinct of Islam) but his parents convert him to Judaism, Christianity or a Fire-worshipper, if an animal delivers a perfect baby animal. Do you find it mutilated?.

It should be warning enough that the enemy has promised to approach us from the back, front, right and left. Iblees vowed he will use every means possible to make us stray from Allah’s religion. He could come to us through our minds, our children, our spouses, our friends, our colleagues, our employers or employees, our hobbies, our wealth and even the least thing we would expect all so he will be victorious. He will be patient because he has a goal to achieve do not think you can’t be a victim simply because you are among the righteous today. You might fall flat tomorrow or the day after. The hope is in knowing that you are created by Allah, Al-Ghaffar the Repeatedly Forgiving, Al-Ghafur the Much-Forgiving, At-Tawwab the Ever Returning,  Al-Affuw the Pardoner and He is in charge. So many of His names talk about His will to forgive us if only we return back to him subhanaLLAH.  

In the verses above Iblees wants us to be ungrateful “…and then You will find most of them ungrateful”(Al A’araf: 17). Will you be among the unappreciative and do the enemy’s bidding or will you say thank you Allah no matter how bad the situation is because you are the servant of  Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim and He loves you more than your mother would.

Your Allah has promised Iblees “…I will certainly fill up Hell with you and your followers all together”, so be warned. To be forewarned is to be fore armed. Thats all the warning a wise person needs, one from the  Lord of the worlds.

Another thing learnt from the above verses is man will always be inclined towards immortality, that is what the devil used to lure Adam and his wife to eat from the forbidden tree. He told them they will be like the angels, but if Allah had wanted them to be everlasting and pure wouldn’t he have made them so? But he made them human and they ate from the tree and were also cast out of the garden (Janna) like him. He (Allah) announced us enemies “descend, being to one another enemies. And for you on the earth is a place of settlement and enjoyment (i.e., provision) for a time” (Al A’araf: 24). SubhanaLLAH,this is pretty self-explanatory.

Why all this arrogance of refusing to do what his Creator demanded of him? Some might ask, simply because he feels he is superior as he was created from fire and Adam from clay Allah asked, “What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you?” He replied, “I am better than he is: You created me from fire and him from clay.”(Al A’araf:12). You can’t tell the Creator what is better he is the Creator, He knows what is better. And He chose Adam over his enemy Iblees. May we never aid our towards destroying us.  

Feel free to share any lesson you have learnt from the verses above or from the write up entirely, so we all can benefit and you can get the reward in sha Allah.

If you found value in this article please share, it might be the Ajr you need to tip your scale in favor of entering Janna(in sha Allah). 

May we be among the successful. Amen.

Love, Mariya A.Z.