The whispers
Surah An-Nas
Qul a'uzu birabbin naas malikin naas ilaahin naas min sharril was waasil khannaas al lazee yuwas wisu fee sudoorin naas minal jinnatI wan naas
Say: I seek refuge with the Lord and cherisher of mankind, the King (or ruler) of mankind, the Allah (or judge) of mankind, from the mischief of the whisperer (of evil), who withdraws (after his whisper), (the same) who whispers into the hearts of mankind, among jinns and among men.
Whispers in the absence of conscious mind
The starting point of any harmful act is a harmful thought or suggestion; with the suggestion a seed is planted. When it affects a careless or preoccupied person,
this seed grows and becomes a bud of desire for harm. Then, further
whisperings change the harmful desire into a harmful intention or harmful
purpose – this may lead to the person taking actions to initiate the
intended harmful act. When the evil suggestion grows in intensity, the
intention becomes a resolution to take action. Ultimately this results in that person engaging in the harmful act.
During the recitation of Sura An-Nas one is seeking refuge with Allah from the evil of the whisperer. With dua we must be in action; the action here is that we ‘nip the evil in the bud’, i.e. overcome and remove the evil at the initial desire stage so that it cannot progress to intention leading to action.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah will forgive my ummah (followers) for whatever crosses their minds so long as they do not speak of it or act upon it.” (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, 4968; Muslim, 127)
The thoughts that surround us
The human brain is always in activity. Twenty-four hours a day the brain is active and this activity does not stop even for a second. What is the brain active with? Well this depends on oneself for we have an ability to control our thoughts. But little are we aware of this.
Imagine a magnificent tree, firmly rooted beside a river and surrounded by its own beauty, its long branches reaching tall with thousands of leaves and blossoms. Imagine the shade and protection it provides and the grass and shrubs that grow beneath it. Imagine the birds that sing and the animals that gather around it. This tree has huge roots that are firmly planted in dark soil and from this ground it draws its sustenance. It is a tower of strength and stability and can weather the harshest of rain and storms, protecting both itself and others, and when the rain stops it basks in the glorious sunshine. This tree is magnificent. It is firm and fixed. It is present.
Now imagine another tree without roots that are not so firm in the ground. This tree cannot protect itself, let alone others, and with even a mild wind the tree becomes dislodged and tumbles into the river. The river is furious and fast-flowing and carries the tree at speed as it crashes into the river bank and other objects. At first, the smaller branches break off and then one by one the large branches are lost too. All that remains of this tree after the loss of its leaves, twigs and branches is the trunk; the tree is now little more than a large log. The log now offers less resistance and starts to flow faster with the river. It is pushed here and there and tumbles along without any control over where it is going or its final destination. It is but a floating log.
Our minds can be compared to this. Without controlling one’s thoughts we have no control over where they will end. These thoughts or ‘internal conversations’ form the basis of who one is at any given moment. It is these thoughts that form the basis of one's interactions with others, one’s conversations and one’s actions. Thought can be determined by the whispers, evil whispers of jinn and man. These whispers are like the wind or water to the tree. If the tree is firmly present, it will be able to weather the storm; however, if it is pitifully floating in the river, then the weather and waters will have control of the tree.
We do have control over thoughts and actions but one is not always aware of this. Awareness can only be achieved by one being of conscious mind. The conscious mind is the present mind, focusing on thoughts only in the present moment and not being allowed to drift aimlessly like a log floating in that gushing river.
Time is relative
Abu Hurayrah said that the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The hour will not begin until time passes quickly, so a year will be like a month, and a month will be like a week, and a week will be like a day, and a day will be like an hour, and an hour will be like the burning of a braid of palm leaves.”
Ibn Katheer said: “Its isnaad is (saheeh) according to the conditions of Islam. And it was classed as saheeh by Al-AlbaanI in saheeh al-jaami.” (7422)
How often does a day pass ‘unnoticed’? Or even a week or maybe several months have ‘passed us by’ and then we stop and think, “Wow! Where did that time go?”
Notice how half an hour of time can sometimes pass by in the blink of an eye when chatting with a friend or watching a TV program whereas on other occasions, such as the last few minutes before breaking the fast in Ramadan, each single minute is felt.
If one allows the thoughts to drift freely and to wander, the brain will engage in all types of thoughts. These thoughts may literally take that person anywhere, be it reflections on past events, childhood memories, past successes – or more often failures – one’s feelings toward others, or even thinking about a thought!
Whispers of man – whispers in one’s own mind
This internal conversation is based on imagination and is not based on reality. We literally invent our own version of reality around us.
We all have a set of values and opinions on life. These opinions are formed by and based on past experiences, usually during childhood. The fact is that we have created these opinions, they are our version of the reality of the world we live in, and we usually stick by them! Now with every subsequent event or ‘reality’ the mind rationalises and tries to ‘understand’ and interpret each event according to one’s opinions and past experiences. We then form our own opinion on that event. Not some but all events, be they small or large, are processed and rationalised by our brain and our opinionated version is created. For us, this is reality.
Whispers to others – gossip
How often during an ‘innocent’ conversation does one hear, “No! This is not gossip, it is truly what he/she did” or “truly what happened!”?
The reality is that one’s version of any event is simply not the absolutely true version. It is merely one’s interpretation of that event and almost every single person witnessing an event could interpret the same event in a slightly, or maybe not so slightly, different way.
Our version is only one version of an event, so every time that we relay our version of someone else this is gossip and backbiting. This is not even restricted to a good or bad version of someone; any version is just that, one’s version!
Once we engage in this type of conversation it is very similar to the freely floating log: the mind and subsequently the conversation flows aimlessly, so much so that one will often go on to engage in conversations that were not intended. The intention cannot be relevant when one’s mind is floating aimlessly. Without control and direction the intention disappears.
When the mind is allowed to freely float, one is simply not present to the moment. At that time the mind is filled, saturated by these uncontrolled thoughts; we simply do not have any space or capacity to have thoughts that are related to that present time. By taking control of one’s thoughts one can have a choice as to what the mind will be occupied by.
It is by controlling one’s thoughts that one effectively creates a space; one can then utilise this space as one would like as opposed to being completely and helplessly dominated by the whisperings. The agents of shaitaan are an absolute reality yet are hidden or invisible to us.
Abul-Maleeh (ra) reports that a man said, “I was behind the Messengerﷺ and his riding animal stumbled. I said, ‘May shaytaan perish,’ and he said, ‘Do not say, “May shaytaan perish.” If you say that he will grow in size until he becomes the size of a house and says, “By my strength”. Instead say, “In the name of Allah”. When you say that, he reduces in size until he is like a fly.’” (Abu Dawood(ra), Saheeh Isnad).
Being aware of the whispers of shaitaan, i.e. the evil whispers
Iblis (the shaitaan) was in a lofty position but Allahﷻ created man higher. Iblis was inherently jealous of man as he felt that he should have been given this position. Iblis refused Allah’s ﷻ command due to his arrogance; this arrogance had stemmed from this jealousy.
Allahﷻ has allowed one jinn to be created for each man created.
Dua of shaitaan – the sole purpose of Iblis and his followers is to mislead and cause the destruction of man.
So how does shaitaan work?
The shaitaan’s work begins by planting suggestions in one’s mind. It is imperative that one is conscious and aware that he is active at all times! It is important, first of all, to appreciate that shaitaan does not whisper as a third person; the whispers are heard as one’s own thoughts. It is therefore only those who are enlightened and aware that can differentiate the evil whisperings of shaitaan from their own thoughts. Despondency is removed with the ability to recognise these whispers as not from oneself and that we have an implicit choice in all matters.
The mere act of recognising these whispers allows us to respond in an entirely different manner, allowing us to resist or decline the ‘evil desires’, preventing them from becoming planted and growing shoots, insha’Allah!
Methods
If the suggestions were blunt and crude, such as ‘do not remember your Lord Creator’, we would easily be aware of the suggestion. However, the devil is more devious and the suggestion will be planted in the most cunning of ways. The suggestion may be ‘do not pray yet, continue doing what you are occupied with for a mere five minutes longer’, and then after that period the suggestion is for another ten, and so on…
The suggestion may be 'do not wake for Fajr as you may disturb your young children – they need their sleep!' It is critical to remain aware that one is more exposed and more vulnerable to the suggestions/whispers of shaitaan when distracted, hungry, angry, tired etc.
The Jinn will say, 'Do not blame me, but blame yourselves'
Surah 14 Ibrahim Ayah 22
Waqala alshshaytanu lamma qudiya alamru inna Allaha waaaadakum waaada alhaqqI wawaaaadtukum faakhlaftukum wama kana liya aaalaykum min sultanin illaan daaaawtukum faistajabtum lee fala taloomoonee waloomoo anfusakum ma anabimusrikhikum wama antum bimusrikhiyya innee kafartu bima ashraktumoonI min qablu inna alththalimeena lahum aaathabun aleemun
Once the matter has been decided, shaitan will say: “In fact, the promises which Allah made to you were all true; I too made some promises to you but failed to keep any of them. However, I had no power over you. I just invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Now! Do not blame me, but blame yourselves. I cannot help you, nor can you help me. I reject what you did before; that you associated me with Allah. Certainly such wrongdoers will have painful punishment.”
So when are the whispers of shaitaan in action?
The shaitaan is in action during all of the waking day, every minute of it. He is unrelenting, he works without a break, and doesn’t give up.
Shaitaan has not been allowed any force or control over us by Allahﷻ , other than man will follow the suggestions or whispers of his own free will.
Protection from Shiataan
Recitation of Ta'awwudh : Seeking refuge in Allah
A’uudhu billaahi minash shaytaanirrajiim
“I seek protection in Allah from shaytan, the accursed one.”