Learning, knowing and recognising Satan’s goals and methods helps us to beware of their danger and safeguard ourselves against them.
Satan’s Goals
- To worship other than God. This is Satan’s greatest goal as those who fall into this will be with Satan in Hellfire for eternity.
- To commit major sins. These are the sins which have specific punishments that have been mentioned in the Quran or by the Messenger Muhammad, such as murder, adultery, theft etc.
- To commit minor sins. These are the sins which don’t fall in the above category but are dangerous because they can lead to major sins. This can include impolite manners or not the correct etiquette’s such as for eating and drinking.
- To prevent people from doing good deeds. Satan doesn’t just care about us sinning, he also wants to prevent us from doing good deeds and would rather we spent our time doing nothing.
- To damage acts of worship. When we worship God, Satan attempts to distract us and diminish our reward.
Satan’s Methods
- Lies and deception. Satan whispers and puts doubts into our hearts. He lies and deceives by making us think that our sins are not a big deal or that we’ve done enough good deeds and so on.
- False promises. God says, “He makes them promises and raises false hopes, but Satan’s promises are nothing but delusion.” [4:120]
- Going to extremes. For people who are serious, Satan attempts to drive them to fanaticism or excess, and for those who are lazy, Satan leads them to heedlessness and negligence. Remember, Islam is about balance and moderation.
- Gradual steps. Satan rarely starts with his main goal of worshiping others besides God. He will begin with damaging acts of worship, and then committing one sin, and then repeating that sin twice and three times, and then committing a second sin, and then a major sin and so on.
- Our own desires. Satan uses our weaknesses against us. If we have a weakness for money, power, fame, lust etc, he will use this and tempt us to sin in these issues.
Thank you very much for the information
May God protect us from Satan.
Ameen, brother! Thank you for this excellent text!
Assalaamualaikum. It is really crisp and clear and to the point. I did a Bayaan some time ago with the same sentiments.
If anyone should be interested it is copied below:
Is Shaitan real?
Do we realise that Shaitan is a force to be reckoned with? That there is one out there who actively will harm us? As normal decent people it is hard to realise and even harder to make a part of our living. To never give Shaitan a chance. But where can we gain strength and who can be our shield?
It is a hard one. It touches on something very basic within Islam. If we believe in the heavens, do we also then believe in hell? Do we believe that Shaitan actually wants us to go to that horrible place?
Let us try to look at the first part of it all.
Surah 20:116-117
When We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam’, they all prostrated themselves, except for Shaitan, who refused. We said, ‘Adam, Shaitan is an enemy of you and to your wife. Let him not turn you both out of Paradise and thus make you come to grief’.
Surah 20:120
But Shaitan whispered evil to him, saying, ‘Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of immortality and to a kingdom that never declines?’
Let us look at this a bit. The first one is immortality. How can Shaitan promise immortality? Are we not all to taste death? Shaitan is a liar. And a kingdom that never declines? That means wealth — in this world.
But the most horrible part of it all is that Shaitan only produces the invite. It is up to each and every one of us to either follow Shaitan or to follow Allah.
How can this then be?
Allah gave us a brain so we know what is right and wrong and He gave us a choice. We can choose to do the right thing or we can choose to follow Shaitan.
Do we know when we follow Shaitan? Oh yes. Nobody can claim that they don’t know right from wrong. Nobody can claim that they do not have a conscious which directs them. The little voice in the back of the mind, the one who tells us what is the right thing to do.
Do we know the consequences of following Shaitan? It should be amazingly clear. Right from the Torah through the gospels to the Holy Quran. It tells of what it is all about.
So why do we follow Shaitan? Look at Adam. Shaitan came to him with something very precious: immortality! You shall never taste death! And on top of you will be so wealthy it is unbelievable. Well, it is not to be believed after all.
What does Shaitan tempt you with? What does Shaitan tempt me with? Make no mistake. Shaitan is good at this. Talking to our innermost desires. Reading our minds to figure out what to promise us.
And there it is in front of us. Issa was tempted on the mountain: Bow down to me and all the kingdoms you see and all the wealth is all yours. Unlimited power was the mantra here.
Now, do we not have ambitions ourselves? Is it wrong to have ambitions? Of course it is not wrong to be ambitious. I also would like to be able to provide a comfortable life for the family, but it should not be by sacrificing my salvation. My afterlife.
There is really only one thing to guide us: All for the pleasure of Allah. If we try to always look at that, we might have a chance to both achieve and to be on the right side of things. But that takes effort.
Now, is it then a matter of just listening to this inner voice? Oh no, here is the crux of it. And here is the inspiration for this Bayaan: Moulane’s Bayaan from last Friday. Knowledge!
Surah 96:1
Read! In the name of your Lord, who created:
That is easy! But what to read? Of course we need to read the Quran. We need to understand what the scripture is all about. We have to have a working knowledge about the Quran, well, actually, all the scriptures.
It is a life-time to know all and we might never get to know all things, but that does not mean that we cannot strive to know as much as we possibly can. We cannot all be scholars. And how boring it would be if we were! But we can surely read with understanding. And we can always ask. Ask Moulane. Come to the Quran classes. It can be done.
But it still leaves us with one little thing: When Shaitan is calling, what happens?
Surah 20: 115
We made a covenant with Adam before you, but he forgot, and We found him lacking in constancy.
He forgot Allah? Sounds incredible. But do we not forget Allah sometimes? When we are blinded by ambitions or desires.
That is where Shaitan is creeping in. entering our thoughts. Promising us all kind of things.
So let us look at what our desires are? Now, we can of course look at all the really bad things. Power to kill and power to dictate and power to be the most powerful and so on. The top gangster in the gang. Those are easy things to identify. But let us face it. We are after all reasonable decent people, all of us. So it is not a matter of being bad.
Shaitan whispers in the ears of all of us. You and me. No exception. And what is the promise? Our innermost desires. Rich and famous? Or just something else like the best father for my kids. But hey, if it is a show-off, to be seen as being the best father, it is not for the pleasure of Allah and then it is debatable if it is not Shaitan playing us for fools again.
How easy it is to forget after all.
Remember what Shaitan is saying: ‘I only gave you the invitation, but you came to the party on your own free will. So don’t blame me, blame yourself’.
Now let us turn to knowledge. Do we start to see what our shield is? Allah commands us to gain knowledge. Only by knowing the tricks of Shaitan can we guard ourselves against his evil planning for us.
Surah 16: 96-100
What you have shall pass away, but what is with Allah is lasting. We will certainly give those who are patient their reward according to the best of their actions. To whoever does good deeds, man or woman, and is a believer, We shall assuredly give a good life; and we will bestow upon them their reward according to the best of their works.
When you read the Quran, seek Allah’s protection from Shaitan, the rejected one. Surely, he has no power over those who believe and put their trust in Allah; he has power only over those who are willing to follow him and associate others with Allah.
Not bad at all, is it. If we are true Muslims, Allah will be our guardian. I really like that.
But even so, we still forget. Like Adam. We still follow Shaitan. We follow our own secret desires.
But who to follow then? Let it also be said. Shaitan loves religious people. Those can turn anyone away from the path. Turn anyone away from Allah, even to the extent where reasonable people will not even entertain that there is a God.
Have you seen them? I think we have.
Surah 3: 69-
Some of the people of the Book wish to lead you astray but they only lead themselves astray, though they do not realise it.
Here we go again, really. The false prophets. And they may think they do it in the name of God. Shaitan is smart.
The false prophets will know the Torah, the Bible or the Quran. The more the better. They can argue any point with you. They want to have you follow their man-made rules and inventions. Are they bad people? Not necessarily. As it says: “they only lead themselves astray, though they do not realise it”. That is actually sad!
Surah 16: 116
Do not falsely declare, ‘This is lawful, and this is forbidden,’ so as to invent a lie against Allah. Surely, those who invent a lie against Allah do not prosper.
Man-made rules are so hard to counter! Shaitan is fine with false prophets inventing things and making religion a misery.
So the world is not easy to navigate?
Surah 2: 185
Allah desires easy for you, not hardship
So when we step into the realm of man-made rules and religious things which are just too much, we might just remember: Islam is not hardship!
I really don’t want to go into detail, but I have been there. To the extent where the rules and the so-called guidance took over. Where I gave up on God. Turned my back to religion and just gave up. No, I did not turn into an evil person, but God had gone out of my life. And who was sitting and laughing? Shaitan! Mission accomplished. By a religious grouping and false prophets.
So, it is easy to spot the obvious, but when Shaitan talks to our desires or just plainly discourage us, that is where we end up like Adam: we forget Allah.
Is there any hope for us? Of course there is hope. Allah will never abandon us! Your Lord will be their all-sufficient guardian, as it is said.
But where do we then find Allah? Allah will be closer to you than your jugular vein. Give Allah a chance! Seek Allah in the Holy Quran. It is after all the exact word of Allah. Read! Seek knowledge
And never forget: Islam is not hardship. We are here to have a good life and be content and by happy. And those are the true believers that Shaitan hates. Those are the one’s he cannot tempt, although he tries his best by all means possible.
And let all our actions be determined by one axiom: All for the pleasure of Allah. Submit to Allah and we have the shield against Shaitan. Allah as our guardian.
Thank you for the information!
jazak ALLAH khair
May ALLAH protect us all (Muslims) from Shetan ‘n’ his whispering ameen