Seven Devils from Seven Eggs

There is more still. In a different hadith, the Prophet says that the accursed Shayṭān laid seven eggs, or gave rise to seven offspring, and from these came seven distinct kinds of devil, each used with great skill against human beings, this ancient enemy working through each of them in turn.^**

The first of the seven is named Madhas. His single task is to spoil the intention of scholars, so that they fall into worldly temptation. Knowledge is sought for the sake of Allah's pleasure alone; whoever seeks it to win arguments, to gain political favour, or to secure some worldly pleasure or gain, is barred from Paradise altogether — the fragrance of Paradise, the Messenger of Allah says, can be detected from a distance of five hundred years, yet such people will be entirely forbidden to enter it, because knowledge is gained for Allah's pleasure and taught for Allah's pleasure, not for the sake of this world. This specialist devil, Madhas, works upon the very psyche of scholars, so that they come to rub shoulders with rulers in order to secure position and standing, and give judgement according to what suits those in power rather than what Allah has said — preferring this world to the next, and issuing verdicts accordingly.

The second of the seven is named, as heard, Ḥadīth — a name identical to the word for a Prophetic report. His task, first, is to trick a person in prayer out of the concentration, the khushūʿ, that is owed to Allah alone — the presence of mind that should be given entirely to Allah, to the life to come, and to the meaning of what is recited — and, second, to make the one praying drowsy, so that he yawns; when he yawns, the devils laugh at him, saying: look at this heedless one, standing in whose presence, and yawning even so; his mind elsewhere, half asleep, letting his eyes travel where they should not while he ought to be fixed upon the place of prostration. The Messenger of Allah swore by the One who holds his own soul in His hand that a person may fall asleep in the mosque waiting for prayer, and when told afterward that he had been asleep and snoring, and should renew his ablution, will insist that he had been fully aware the whole time, and go on to pray without having renewed his wuḍūʾ — Shayṭān gives him the impression that he had been awake throughout. Through this devil's work, many finish their prayer earning little reward, sometimes finishing with nothing but sin recorded against them, the mind occupied with unlawful thoughts and the prayer performed for the sake of being seen — riyāʾ creeping in — so that the good deed is lost entirely.

The third is named Zalniyoon, whose speciality is the streets and the marketplaces. There he works constantly upon buyers and sellers, whispering into their ears to deceive one another: the merchant gives short measure and overstates the qualities of his goods to fetch a higher price, and swears a false oath over it — I swear by Allah, brother, I am only making two dollars on this — when in truth the item cost him five cents and is being sold for five hundred dollars, and Allah is made a false witness to the lie. And to keep from being deceived in turn, the buyer works on the seller by running down the very goods he intends to buy, so as to get them cheaper still. This too is his particular ground.