The Believer's Three Enemies

"O son of Adam" — and the address takes in every human being, every son and daughter of Adam, without exception, not the male children alone. The first word of the hadith is a command and a warning together: Shayṭān, the devil, is an open enemy, a clear enemy — so take him as an enemy, an ardent foe. This is the first command, the first teaching, the first warning Allah (swt) gives in the hadith. Shayṭān has sworn to Allah (swt) that he will do everything in his power to turn people from the straight path, al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, and take them with him to Jahannam; that is his one function, his only objective, in his entire existence. Allah (swt) repeats the same point directly: "Indeed, Shayṭān is an enemy to you, so take him as an enemy" — and a person, in return, is to take him as an enemy also.

In a separate hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says that Shayṭān travels in a person's bloodstream just as the blood itself travels — whether this is meant literally is not something that can be said with certainty. What it shows, in other words, is that he has been given access to a person beyond what can ordinarily be imagined: access to the heart, access to the mind, to suggest far more than can be imagined. Shayṭān is one being among a believer's enemies, but a Muslim's true enemies are not a rival nation or a disease — they are three.

The first is felt every day, never leaving, present at every moment: this is called, in Arabic, one's own operating system, al-nafs — the inner base self, "myself," "me," the one who speaks within a person, who listens, who looks out from within. This is the nafs. The second is Shayṭān — cursed already, may Allah curse him further — an invisible enemy stationed just outside a person, present for everybody without exception from the age of puberty onward, with no exception to the rule; were a person able to glimpse another dimension, another plane, as it were, he would find one sitting right there, listening. He is invisible. His origin, Allah (swt) says, is of the jinn —

— not of the fallen angels: he is not a dark prince, not the opposite of God, not someone who holds any power of his own. He is one of the creations of Allah (swt), whose aim is that people fall short before Allah. His function is to give constant whisperings, waswasah, constantly suggesting what to do; he cannot compel anyone to do anything — he can only suggest.

Here, then, is one system that by nature wants to listen to nothing but itself, wanting only to satisfy its own inner desires, joined to one enemy standing just outside it: when the two come together, the difficulty a person faces becomes very great indeed — particularly for a young man or a young woman, may Allah help them. There is, in that moment, next to no chance; the weapons and the struggle both prove useless. This is why, ninety-nine per cent of the time, the young fall constantly into sin, unable to think clearly against it. The nafs is what carries the temptations: it wants so much, these strong emotions and feelings pushing, pushing from inside — "I want this, I want this, I want this" — and the whisperer answers, "go and have it." A person asks himself what has become of Allah, what has become of the ḥarāms — no one is watching, he tells himself — except that Allah is indeed watching. But with two enemies together, a person is already in serious difficulty.

Above both of these stands a greater enemy still: ignorance, al-jahālah. Where Muslims do not know their religion, they become the worst of creation on earth; the moment they come to know it, they understand who they are, what they are, they come to know their function and their purpose in life, and they set about adjusting their lives, coming to their senses, and living a life of the decency that befits a true Muslim. As the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, "Say: I believe in Allah, then be steadfast," and practise one's religion accordingly. Until that moment of conviction comes, a person goes on oscillating, up and down, without end.

Shayṭān remains this invisible enemy. Allah (swt) says —

— an enemy to be taken as an enemy, whatever a person's own inclination, to be fought and combated.