The Real Enemy, Not the One on Screen

The popular image of the devil — a figure in a red costume, with a pair of horns, some contrivance dangling from his back, something upon his head — has nothing to do with Shayṭān; that would almost be a comfort, if it were true. He does not wear red and walk about, nor does he rise from the depths of Hell to appear in films. That is not Shayṭān — that is a harmless creature confined to the screen. The real one stands right beside a person: the one who talks, the one who suggests, the one who will never, never leave. He never sleeps and never eats; his whole occupation is to lead a person astray, waiting for the moment he falls. He suggests constantly, and in the blink of an eye he says: do this. A person answers, I don't want to do it — he says, do it. Do it, do it, do it, do it. Just do it, enjoy yourself, just a few minutes. Allah is Ghafūr al-Raḥīm, so forgiving; don't worry, a person is young — do it. These very words are heard again and again from people: Allah is so Forgiving, Allah is so Forgiving — and the base self within, the animal self, which either accepts nothing or falls for everything, gives in every time.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: "The intelligent one is he who reins in his own self and works for what comes after death." The most intelligent person, al-kayyis, is the one who controls his nafs, who stops it from following its own whims and wishes — because a nafs left to do as it pleases makes a person more vicious than an animal, more savage than an animal; it does not think of any law, does not believe in any law. The nafs wants only to be satisfied: a bottomless pit, wanting constantly to eat, sleep, indulge its desire, watch, and follow its wanting — that is what the nafs is. Such a person controls his desires, obeys Allah, practises Islam to the best of his ability, and prepares himself for the life to come, the eternal life: this is al-kayyis, the intelligent one. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) names the opposite too: al-ʿājiz, the incapacitated, the weakling, the useless one, the foolish one, is the person who constantly gives in to his own desires, to the temptation of nafs and Shayṭān together, and merely hopes, yatamannā ʿalā Allāh — hopes upon Allah — that Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.