The Strategy of Satan

Even the messenger of Allah is being told, there will be times when you're speaking to someone, and they're going to be so obnoxious, and they're going to be so ridiculous, and they're going to be so offensive, and their entire mission in life is to get under your skin, so you lose your temper.

So they will say terrible things about you, and your prophet, and your book, and your God. They will say all kinds of things to just try to agitate you, because that's what they want. And guess what they're doing that on behalf of? They don't even know.

This agitation is coming, this guy is speaking, is spewing. Some of you have like a da'wah booth on your campus, and someone comes and starts spitting out all kinds of stuff about Rasulullah ﷺ. And you're sitting there, you're like 18 years old, like, yeah, kafir, I'll show you. It begins, you know.

What did Allah tell His Messenger ﷺ? This is in the context of da'wah. First of all, hold on to forgiveness. And then bring the conversation back to what everybody recognizes.

The Meaning of Al-Urf

In other words, don't talk to him about... He will try to talk to you about tangents. And he'll try to take the conversation in 30 different directions. Hey, by the way, in your tafsir of like Tabari, Tabari says that, you know, you're a prophet, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you'll listen to all of that like, what, Tabari? What are you, quoting Tabari? Do you even know who Imam Tabari was? Dude.

By the way, those of you that are in the field of da'wah, or you have non-Muslims that come up to you and mess with you, or a class you're taking, and Imam Tabari, rahimahullah is mentioned, watch out. Imam Tabari was a historian. Imam Tabari was a historian. And his job was to collect anything that's ever been said about the Quran, right or wrong. He just collected it. He wasn't a mufassir. His tafsir is called tafsir of Tabari, but it's really a collection of all manner of quotes, all manner of quotes, right or wrong.

He said, this is what I'm hearing being said about this ayah. He didn't verify it, he didn't collect it. He was just saying historically, he wanted a record that in this century, these kinds of opinions about this ayah existed, whether right or wrong.

Now, that becomes amazing ammunition for evangelicals, or anti-Islamists, or whatever, because they can find all kinds of crazy things in which tafsir, Imam Tabari. And that's not his opinion, and nor is he saying this is what the Quran means. He's just saying, this is what people be saying about the Quran. Check it out. That's all he did. It was an encyclopedia of quotes. Imagine it was like the old wiki. It was an old collection of comments, archived. That's what it was.

So, you know, we get all... There's an Imam, and he said that in his tafsir. Oh! How are we gonna ever respond? But anyway, this guy is throwing tangents at you. And what does the ayah say? The ayah says,

Command to al-urf.

It's not even al-ma'ruf, it's al-urf. And al-urf is actually more, it's less demanding than the word ma'ruf. Ma'ruf means that which is known. Everybody knows about it. But al-urf is actually even more what you can call a social norm. Call to the norm. Call to the common ground. Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but let's talk about the right of the neighbor. Let's talk about decency. Let's talk about this God who created everything. The norm. Everybody knows about that stuff.

Bring it back to the common elements. Don't complicate a conversation. You see, people who try to get under your skin, they love complicating conversations. And if you notice one thing about prophetic speech, it's always direct to the point, and most important of all, it's simple. It's straightforward. It cuts to the point. It doesn't allow tangents.

Walking Away from the Ignorant

Then the Prophet is told

Ignore. Deliberately ignore people who can't control their emotions.

Guy comes up to you. He's got (جَهْل - jahl) (جَهْل means ضِدُّ الْعَقْلِ - dhiddul 'aql). (عَقْل - 'aql) means you can control your emotions. (جهل - jahl) means you can't control your emotions. Urdu speakers have some idea of what (جَهْل - jahl) means.

When you say that, right, that's kind of correct. (جَهْل - jahl) means a guy who can't hold himself. He starts using foul language, starts getting loud, starts getting obnoxious, maybe even starts getting physical, starts changing colors and all this stuff. That guy, you need to do what with that guy?

Get away from those people. Ignore them.

This is not a time to talk to them. If they're gonna turn into a gorilla, no point speaking to a gorilla. It's just as productive as speaking to an actual gorilla. You're not gonna get anywhere. So just leave it. Let it go. Maybe there'll be another chance when he's not so overtaken by shaitan's waswasa, we'll find another time to talk. So if he's really losing it, you just let go. Just let it go.

When Satan Provokes You to Respond

By the way, when people lose it, they get even more offensive, right? And when you're walking away, what are you, chicken? Can't handle my questions, huh? I thought so. All you Muslims, take your Quran with you. Etc.

And then as you're walking away, what happens? What did you say about me? Like, you know, like... You know... And you turn back. Now I'm gonna put the smackdown on you, boy. I'm gonna teach you. So I'm gonna use all my... I've prepared all the arguments to make you feel so stupid. And I'll put you in your place. And that's when this ayah comes up.

And even when the shaitan starts agitating you, the ayah is to Rasulullah ﷺ. Even if, even if, you might even have the possibility that the maa was used because it wouldn't happen with Rasulullah ﷺ. The ما protects the Rasulullah ﷺ from the shaitan. Because he made a shaitan Muslim. That's why the ما is important. But by extension, all of us are covered.

How are we covered? As you're walking away from the ignorant, does he get more aggressive or less aggressive? He gets more aggressive, which pokes at your ego. So Allah says to the messenger, listen, if that happens, then shaitan will come to you because shaitan likes to excite the ego. And at that point, just seek Allah's refuge.

That's shaitan. That's the urge to wanna go back and take him on, and take him down, and watch him be humiliated in public. That urge was not from Islam. That was from shaitan. That wasn't dawah. That was your pride. So watch it. And seek the refuge of Allah, certainly he is listening and knowing. It's pretty powerful.

Allah's Knowledge of Hearts

But that's surah al-a'raf, where Allah mentioned that Allah hears and Allah sees. So Allah hears what he said. Allah hears what you're gonna say. Allah knows what is in his heart, and Allah knows what's in your heart. So if you turn around in arrogance, Allah will know the words might be of Islam, but the heart is nothing of Islam.

When Satan Beautifies Good Deeds

On this note, before I go to the next ayah, Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ describes a very powerful phenomenon in the Quran, a very deep statement in the Quran. Allah says:

Satan made their deeds pleasing to them. (Quran 6:43, 8:48, 16:37:24 29:38)

People mostly understand this ayah in one way. They understand this ayah to mean, there are things that are haram, like alcohol, or partying, or drugs, or whatever. And Shaytan beautified the haram for them. They beautified, you know, whether it's they're committing zina, or they're lying, or stealing, or whatever, they're disrespecting elders. Whatever they're doing, Shaytan beautified it for them.

But this ayah means something else also. This ayah also means when you're doing the work of deen, but you're doing it for the wrong reasons. When you're doing the work of what? What did I say? Of deen, of Islam. You're doing da'wah. You're praying. You're doing good stuff. What you're doing it for? The wrong reasons. Shaytan beautifies that too.

Shaytan beautifies good deeds too. Because he doesn't care about the deed. What does he care about? That your heart should be corrupt. Once your heart is corrupt, you could outwardly be doing good things,

but if he knows, it'll mean nothing. So he'll beautify it to you. And you'll be delusional into thinking you're accomplishing great things.

While they think that they are doing well in work. (Quran 18:104)

On the outside, everybody will think, this guy is amazing, da'ee, mashaAllah. They're doing so much work. They've accomplished so much, but you've accomplished nothing. Because in the heart, it was just the extension of one's pride. That's all there was.

The Second Context: Surah Fussilat - The Harder Challenge

Now turn to the other ayah, in which Allah emphasizes His presence even more. Even more than the first one. Now the first one was hard. Because someone obnoxious came to you, and you have to hold on to forgiveness like it's almost like, forgiveness is not the first thought that came to your mind when you heard this guy speak. So you have to hold on to it. Then you have to speak, but speak the decent thing. Stay on subject. And walk away when things get out of hand.

All of this is extremely easy or extremely hard? This is extremely hard, but it's about to get a lot harder.

Surah Fussilat, things get a lot harder. Allah Azzawajal says:

And not equal are the good deed and the bad. (Quran 41:34)

First of all, remember, the good and the evil are not the same. Good and evil are not the same. What in the world does that mean, good and evil are not the same? Why even begin like that? That is teaching the Rasul of Allah ﷺ, and all of us by extension, that not only are you to speak in a good way, not only is your message good, but the way in which you deliver it is part of goodness.

So somebody could be saying a terrible thing, but they have a nice way of saying it. And somebody could be saying wonderful things, but they have a terrible way of saying it. Not only is our message supposed to be good, the way in which we deliver that message is supposed to be good as well. Because if you put any element of bad in your message or in the way you deliver it, it will turn into something bad.

Examples of Good and Bad Delivery

Look, you can ask someone to pray. You can ask your younger son to pray. There's a nice way to ask, and there's a terrible way to ask. Son, it's Salat time, you wanna go pray together? Oh, I'm lazy. Come on, I'll get you some ice cream afterwards. It's a nice way to pray, nice way to ask.

Then there's you, shaitan, you never make Salat. Better see you making wudu right now, just go pray. Why are you so late for Asr? How come you never pray? You're such a waste of space. I told you your

mother, you're like her family. Etc, etc, you know. He caught her side of the jeans or whatever.

I mean, in both cases, you asked him to pray, but there's a way to say it. You see what I'm saying? Not just what you say, but how you say it. So that's how the ayah begins.

Responding with What is Better

Then what does he say? He says:

Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better. (Quran 41:34)

Respond with what is better. Respond with the word, with (ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ، يَعْنِي الْكَلِمَةُ - idfa' billati hiya ahsan, ya'nil kalimah). Respond with the word that is better. Respond with the answer that is better. What does that mean?

That means the guy is coming, he's obnoxious like last time, he's cursing, he's using foul language, he's attacking Islam left, right and center. You have to respond this time. Last time you could do what? You could walk away, you forgive, stay quiet, maybe you get to say one thing, but you walk away. This time Allah is saying, no, you don't get to walk away, you gotta respond.

When You Cannot Walk Away

Sometimes you're in a situation where you have to respond, you can't walk away. The consequences of walking away sometimes are better, but the consequences of walking away, sometimes it could do more damage than good. Sometimes you have to stand your ground.

What if there's an imam or a speaker, he's on TV, and he's being attacked on TV, he can't just take the mic off and walk away. Because for millions of people, what does it look like? Islam didn't have a response. You can't always walk away, you have to respond.

So this ayah is about a tougher situation, when you have to hold your ground and you have to respond.

(ادْفَعْ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ - idfa' billati hiya ahsan). Then Allah says, okay, now you have to respond. By the way, the guy was arrogant when you didn't respond. Imagine if you responded, does he get even more aggressive than before? He's like, oh, forget this, he's exactly where I wanted him to be. Because he was looking for a response. These people, they love responses.

Because then they pick one thing out of your response, and they try to tear it apart. And they take another thing and they try to tear it apart and take it in all different kinds of directions. So you're left constantly defending yourself. That's what they love doing.

Treating Your Enemy as a Close Friend

So Allah says:

And then the one who between you and him was enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend.

That even if there is clearly between you and himself in particular, there seems to be animosity. Between him and you there is now animosity. Meaning the discussion has gotten so heated that it's become clear that this guy doesn't just disagree with you, he actually hates you. He hates you. This is hate in his face, in his eyes, in his words. And it's becoming clear. The hatred is just spewing out. And when that happens, you still have to respond, right?

So Allah says (كَأَنَّهُ وَلِيٌّ حَمِيمٌ). Then at that point, you have to think of him as a friend who would protect you. And you have to think of him as your closest, most intimate buddy when you talk to him. Imagine that it's not a guy who hates your guts. You need to imagine this is your closest friend and wali is used, the kind of friend that you would want by you when you're in a fight.

Wali is a friend who has the urge and the intention and the motive to protect you. You need to pretend that guy's got your back instead of attacking you. And you need to pretend he's hamim to you.

The Meaning of Hamim

Hamim comes from himmah. Himmah means fever. Himmah literally means fever. And you know why that's used here? Because there are some friends, even thinking about them warms your blood and you feel closeness. There's a love that takes over you. I miss that friend of mine.

There are some friends of yours. I live in Texas now. Some of my closest friends are in New York. Even their name comes up. I'm like, oh, I miss that guy. I used to do all kinds of pranks with him. I used to mess with him so much. I can't mess with anybody anymore. They might sue me.

In Texas, there's a lot of guns. There are actual signs in Texas in buildings. We are so sorry. No guns in this building. Like they apologize like 4 or 5 times. We're so sorry. I know you're offended. I hope you don't take it too personally. But no guns just for the weekend. It's not the same as New York. Let me tell you. But anyway.

So you know, hamim is a close friend. Now when you talk to your close friend that you haven't spoken to in a while, is there a different tone? There is, isn't it? Allah is forcing this da'i to internalize something almost humanly impossible. He is asking the da'i to internalize the guy in front of you is hateful. It's become clear that he's hateful. But to you, you have to pretend that he is your protective, intimate, close buddy, your friend.

This Requires Exceptional Patience

And then Allah Himself says:

But none is granted it except those who are patient.

No, no, no. This is not accomplished by people at all except people who truly have sabr. Allah recognizes Himself, this ain't for everybody. This ain't for you. If you don't have sabr, stay out of da'wah. I'm serious. Da'wah is not for everyone. It's not. If you don't have the patience for this kind of ethic, don't put yourself in that position. You will do more damage than good. وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا

And then He says, by the way, all of this is so difficult to do. So Allah says, those who can pull this off:

And none is granted it except one having a great portion [of good].

This good patience, and this power, and this ability to respond with better, will never be met with anyone except people who have incredible fortune. They're really truly fortunate with Allah. Why? Because when Allah gives you more difficult challenges, then the rewards are proportionally higher. So He says, this is for very, very lucky, very fortunate people who can pull this off. وَمَا يُلَقَّاهَا إِلَّا ذُو حَظٌ عَظِيمٍ

The Greater Emphasis on Allah's Presence

Now He says:

And if there comes to you from Satan an evil suggestion, then seek refuge in Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing.

In the middle of that heated debate, if Shaytan agitates you, and if he wants you to respond, and forget that you're looking at a friend, and you look at him as an enemy, just like he looks you as an enemy, and you get heated yourself, then at that time seek the refuge of Allah.

And then He says (إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ) No, no, no. He's the one listening, He's the one who knows. In other words, you forget the person in front of you, all you can think of is Allah, because He mentioned Himself twice.

Look at the power, and the perfection, and the eloquence of the Quran, where a difficult challenge was mentioned, Allah mentioned, (إِنَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ). Where a way more difficult challenge was mentioned (إِنَّهُ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ). Because in that challenge, you have to recognize Allah's presence to back off. You will not be able to back off on your own.

The Psychology of Recognizing Authority

There will be something that switches off inside of you, there's an animal part of us, the gear that just clicks, and you go into hyper aggressive mode, and you turn into someone else. The only people who can back off from that, are people who recognize Allah's presence.

Let me give you a psychological example of that. You're about to get really angry with your younger brother, and your dad walks in. Why you? It happens or no? You recognize your father's presence, and you realize, Oh, wait, wait, yeah, yeah, no, no. What were you saying? No, nothing, nothing, nothing. You understand? When you recognize the authority's presence, something in you changes immediately.

You were about to be angry, but you're like, Oh, I know I get in trouble if I say anything now. Allah reminds you of Himself at the right moment. (وَإِمَّا يَنزَغَنَّكَ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ نَزْغٌ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللهِ).

Reflections on Quranic Study

The purpose of this talk, was to illustrate a couple of things. In the study of the wisdom of the Quran, and the study of the lessons drawn from the Quran, I tell you the more I study it, the more I realize we haven't even scratched the surface. There are so many gems, and so many treasures, that need to be extracted from this book, simply by reflection.

And when I try to study this stuff with tafasir, and other lexical resources, and things like that, I realize the things that people could use immediately, the practical stuff, it's scattered in volumes and volumes of books. You read four pages, and then you read one line that's like epic. You're like, Oh, snap! Why did I have to read four pages of nothing for this? You know? But it's there, but it's so scattered. And it's an undertaking in and of itself, to pull that stuff out, and put it in one place, so that we can have, we can extract these gems, you know? Because for so many, the Quran simply became an academic exercise.

It's a living text. It's giving us advice for what we're going through right now.

Satan Attacks Those on the Straight Path

The other reason I gave you this particular example, is because when people think of the attack of shaitan, they think of drugs, alcohol, you know, partying, illicit relationships. That's where shaitan's at work. Let me tell you, shaitan's at work from the top to the bottom. Like, you know, some people start thinking, well, if I become a good person, I start praying and stuff, or I start learning Islam, and talking to people about Islam, then shaitan will leave me alone, because, you know, I'm good now.

No. The worst attacks of shaitan are mentioned in the Quran for people who are trying to go on the straight path. The people who are headed down the wrong path are on, basically, cruise control from shaitan. He says, Jao Munne, you have your fun. You're already on cruise control, heading towards, you know, hellfire, so I'm gonna work on these guys over here, help them make a U-turn. You understand? And if U turns around, and then shaitan comes back at you once again.

How much time I got left? Five minutes, okay. I can wrap this up in five minutes, inshallah. Okay, so now, a last thing.

Satan's Strategy with Our Parents in Paradise

This is unrelated to these two ayahs, but I hope you benefited from that discussion, inshallah. Surah Al-A'raf and Surah Fussilat for your reference. Now I wanna tell you about one of the ways in which shaitan got our parents.

If you really wanna understand shaitan properly, you need to see where his career began. His career began with messing with our parents. And if you really wanna understand that, you have to study Surah Al-A'raf. The seventh Surah, Surah Al-A'raf, Allah mentions what he did and his strategy in detail. He accounts step by step by step how he worked his way to get our parents out of Jannah, and therefore by extension, how he's working to keep us out of Jannah. Once he got them out, he wants to keep us out, right?

So now, of the many things, because that's a long passage, and it's incredible stuff. Like every one of those steps is a discussion by itself. But I will mention just one of those steps to you.

The Meaning of "Dalla"

And that one step is:

So he made them fall, through deception.

دلا in Arabic is a verb, تَدْلِيَةٌ as an infinitive, the verb is actually used when you have a bucket, and you have a rope attached to the bucket, and you pull the bucket slowly. Little by little by little by little. If you pull it immediately, it's أَدْلَى. أَدْلَى if you pull it slowly, then it's دَلًا

Now in the case of Yusuf (عليه السلام) he was in the bottom of a well, and they pulled the bucket up, and a boy came up. You remember the story? So the ayah says:

And he let down his bucket.

(فَأَدْلَىٰ دَلْوَهُ) means it came up rather quickly. Now you and I know, a boy is not that light. So it would take still a while to pull it up, right? So that's أَدْلَى.

But when Shaytan is described figuratively as, he took this, he took Adam and Hawwa (عليهما السلام), and he yanked them out, like a bucket is pulled up out of a well, using deception. But Allah uses the word دل

meaning he took his sweet time. Like a boy being pulled out of the well would take a few minutes too, but Shaytan took a lot longer than that to pull them out of Jannah.

Satan's Gradual Approach

In other words, he didn't just go there and say, hey, that fruit, oh-ho-ho. Just do it, just do it, come on. And that was it. And then our parents were like, okay, sounds like a good idea. Like, no, no, no, no, no.

He did waswasa, he came to them, he came to them, first time they caught it, then he came at night, then he came in the morning. They say, hey, you hungry? You hungry? Hey, I know this one tree. Imagine Jannah has countless trees. Countless trees. Jannah is way bigger than this earth. Allah says:

Its width is [that of] the heavens and the earth.

Then He says:

Its width is like the width of the heavens and the earth.

Its size is maybe somewhat comparable to the skies and the earth, meaning it's even bigger than the skies and the earth. It's even bigger than that. So how many trees in Jannah? And Allah calls it Jannah, which means every bit of it is covered with green or trees.

So the entire span of more than what we know of the constantly expanding universe is covered with trees. So how easy is it to find one haram tree? Think about that. Of all the trees in the entire universe of Jannah, there is one that is haram.

Leading Them Gradually to the Forbidden Tree

And shaitan had to first of all GPS them back to that one tree. Little by little. Take this turn. Why don't you go over here? Why don't you go and check that out? Check the strawberries. Those look pretty good, don't they? So he didn't call them to the haram necessarily. Dalla suggests, he called them to something.

Now, are all the other trees haram? No. All the other trees are not haram. But he's not even directly saying, go to that tree. He's saying, go to this one. Now go to that mountain. Check out this waterfall. Then go over here. Then go over here. And they're going and they think this has nothing to do with what? A larger plan. They don't see it, that this is part of a larger plan. And Allah is teaching us that's exactly what shaitan does.

Satan's Strategy Today

So what does he do with you?

He tempts you into doing something. And when you do it, at first, it's not haram. It's not totally haram. At least I'm not doing, and then you can fill in the blank with your creativity. Because when kids get caught, they say, at least I didn't. And then they, you know, right? But he only wanted to get you to the first milestone. Because from there, he will work on you for a month or two to get you to the second milestone. And then to the third milestone. And then to the fourth milestone. Eventually you will be doing the very thing you said early on, at least I'm not doing. You'll be doing that. But he won't get to you immediately. He will work on you slowly. He'll work on you slowly.

Example of Gradual Temptation

He'll work on a guy and a girl to develop an illegitimate relationship slowly. First they'll just see each other in the bazaar. At the Islamic book stall. Oh, you like that tafsir too? I love that tafsir. I love it. Yep, yep. I love Ibn Kathir. Yeah, it's amazing. Oh, you love that surah too? Oh, okay, okay. Oh, it's the last copy? Oh, I'll let you buy it. It's okay, please, please. It's innocent. It's nothing. It's okay, alhamdulillah. He said, salamu alaikum. He said, wa alaikum salam. He did a little bit. It was all innocent at first.

And then it takes a little bit. Hey, do you know Abdul Kareem? Well, yes I do know Abdul Kareem. You know. Oh, okay, I know him too. Somebody comes and says, hey, you can't say do you know Abdul Kareem. Is it haram? I can't even ask who Abdul Kareem is? Is it haram to talk to a brother? No, I can't tell you that it's haram. But you know what shaitan is doing? Just a little.

So, are you on Facebook? Well, of course I am. Actually, I already looked you up. You know. Little by little. And then you'll say, we're just texting. We don't do anything else. We're just on WhatsApp together. That's all. Oh, just a picture. It wasn't a video. It was just a picture. There'll be one justification, then another justification. Then it's just a dinner. It's with the whole MSA. Yeah, I know, I know. How did he know that? Who told him? One thing to another to another.

Then I get the phone call. Brother Noman, do you have a couple of minutes? I want to talk to you. What's her name, bro? You know. Well, you know the shaitan. He got us. Now I really want to marry her, but I'm 14 years old. It's happened. It's happened. You know. He will get you. Look, boys like girls. There's no hiding it. They do. And shaitan knows that better than you. He does.

Satan's Attack Through Immodest Clothing

And you know what? You know what else? The way, you know, how people like to dress provocatively now. Like if I go to Target or Walmart or any other store to even buy my kids some clothes. I can't find decent clothes anymore for my girls. They're like 9, 10, 8 years, 7 years old. I can't go to the store and buy any decent clothes. I have to go to the boys section to find sweatpants for them.

Mothers here know what I'm talking about. Because they make horrible clothes. Like I can't even say it on stage, kinds of clothes for kids now. Because they're trying to sexualize children. They're trying to do this, right?

Now when you see that, when you walk through the aisle of the kids clothing section, you know what I think of? By the way, they do this in the toy section. In the toy section, back in the day, Barbie, long dress, and now brats, shorter and shorter skirts, more and more huge lips with makeup on them, right? With like eyeliner and all of it. You know, brats. You've seen the brats, right? And they're selling like hotcakes. Those things go.

Teaching Children to Think Critically

I actually experiment with my children. When I take my girls sometimes to the toy store, I put a brat in the cart. How about take that out? It's disgusting. I was like, why is it disgusting? Because I say it's disgusting or you think it's disgusting? Explain to me why it's disgusting. I like it. No? I think it's nice. Don't you think we should give this to your younger sister? No, this is wrong. Why is it wrong? Explain it to me. You have to stand up for yourself and explain it to me.

I don't want to hear an artificial answer. Because sometimes kids tell you what you want to hear. I want to know how you're thinking. Why is this wrong? Why is this bad? You know? And I have to teach them how to articulate themselves.

Satan's Original Strategy: Removing Dignity

But anyway, I mentioned this to you because one of the earliest, earliest attacks of shaitan. This is when he was beginning his career. He wanted us, he wanted our parents to eat from the tree. You remember? How much time we got left? Okay, okay. He wanted us to eat from the, our parents to eat from the tree.

You recall this? Allah mentions with laam at ta'leel. It's called laam at ta'leel. Laam at ta'leel means the reason why he wanted us to eat from the tree. The laam will explain why. He says:

To show them what was concealed from them of their private parts.

He wanted them to go to the tree and eat from the tree so that he could expose to each of them what was covered of their ugliness. He wanted them to lose their clothes. He wanted them to be provocative in front of each other. This is what he wanted. This was his way of humiliating because Adam عليه السلام was honored. And what better way to humiliate someone than to remove their clothes. You know. And he wanted that for both our mother and our father.

Modern Application: Entertainment and Dress

What is happening in the world of design? What is happening in the world of entertainment? How are you justifying yourself watching television shows that have the following has sexual content? You're like, oh, it's just some sexual content. It's just some. I can forward it. You know. I could skip that part. I just see the first second of it. Then I'll say astaghfirullah. Then I'll watch it again when nobody else is there. It's disgusting.

But this is what shaitan has done. And he knew that human beings will lose their dignity if they lose their clothes. And now we are living in times where losing the clothing is celebrated. It's just celebrated.

For Young Men

Why are guys working out? If they're gonna stay dressed. You can tell me you're working out because you want to be healthy. But there are plenty of other exercises you can do. But you want to build certain muscles of your body because eventually you want to find an excuse where somebody sees you. It's sad. Even guys. Even guys.

For Young Women

Girls, you know. There are girls that are dressed. And they want to tell themselves they're dressed Islamically. They're covered head to toe. But covering isn't just the Islamic code of dress. It's about protecting, covering what Allah beautified within you. So if you're covered head to toe, but you're wearing skin tight clothes. Or you're drawing attention to certain parts of your body with the way, the kinds of clothes you're wearing. You know. Don't kid yourself. You know.

And I'm talking to you like your older brother. I'm not gonna beat around the bush. It is like it is. My daughters have to hear this from me too. So I'm not gonna come and talk to you like just a formal lecture. Somebody might get offended. Look, I'll tell you like it is. You're 14, 15 years old. You're 16 years old, 17 years old. There's no reason you should be dressing like that. There's no reason.

And don't kid yourself that you're wearing a hijab. And don't kid yourself. You know. And I'm not gonna call you out if you're walking by, hey, dress better or whatever. I'm not gonna call you out. But this is my opportunity to call you out. And nobody else can call you out. You have to call yourself out. You have to stop letting shaitan trick you into thinking this is your way of looking beautiful. This is not. This is not. This is sad.

The Balance of Looking Nice

This is what people who don't have anything higher to find meaning in. This is what they find meaning in. I'm not saying you shouldn't dress nicely. Girls have a natural tendency to want to dress nicely. Guys can look like homeless people and they're fine. Girls have a thing. They want to dress nicely. That's fine. I wouldn't dress like this if my mom didn't tell me. I wouldn't do it. You know.

So my mom said, you're going out like this? You'll give a lecture like this? You'll wear this? I'm like, okay mom, I'll dress like this. Okay, okay. You'll go like that? Like that? To a lecture? I'm like, okay mom. Alright. Fine, I'll dress like a human.

But girls want to look pretty. That's fine. You know what? Cool. That's cool. No problem. Allah even says, when He revealed clothing, He said:

And as adornment. (Quran 7:26)

And means to look well, look nice. He did. But not provocative. And you are smart enough to know the difference and please don't pretend you don't. You do. You know very well. And your mother calls you out on it too. Your mother calls you out. She said, mom, come on. Don't say that. You're embarrassing me. No, she's not embarrassing you. She's giving you a reality check. Because shaitan is messing with you and your mom is trying to help you out. Don't dress like that. Don't dress like this.

When Parents Give Wrong Advice

And then there are the sad situations in our families where the mother tells the daughter, take the hijab off. Why is your jilbab so loose? Why can't you get a tighter one? That'll look nicer. You know? There are those sad, disgusting situations. That needs to stop. Yes, I know. I know. I know.

Advice for Young Men: Controlling Anger

Let me pick on the boys now and then we can go. So that was one trickery of shaitan that I wanted to highlight for the young ladies, for the young men, just very quickly. One of the meanings of the word shaitan, shata, is (هَلَكَ وَاحْتَرَق - halaka wa-htaraqa). Actually (احْتَرَقَ وَهَلَكَ - ihtaraqa wa halaka) which means he got set on fire. Literally to be set on fire. It's used as a figure of speech in Arabic for losing one's temper.

So you justify your misbehavior by losing your temper and storming out of a conversation. And then you still do what you do. So your mom says, stop playing video games. Forget it. Just walk away. And now your mother's like, beta, don't be so angry. It's okay. Come back. Come back. No, mom. You're always interrupting my very important purpose in life. Or is it half-life? I don't know what the game is called.

You hide, you justify your misbehavior by just acting all tough so nobody could correct you. Anybody tries to give you advice, you're all like, hey! Alright, whatever. Whatever. I'm not coming back. I don't need this. This is shaitan. That's shaitan. When you're incapable of taking advice, incapable of being corrected, you just get flared up. You just get flared up.

Example of Taking Criticism Well

I gave khutbah yesterday, I was really happy with myself. I gave khutbah and usually my khutbahs don't make any sense. Yesterday it made sense, I thought. It made sense. So I was like, okay, alhamdulillah, this one went well. Uncle comes up to me and says, your khutbah made no sense at all. It had no content. It did not understand anything you were saying. It was completely impractical. It was terrible.

You have an obligation to speak clearly in front of the youth. You did not connect with the youth at all. I thought your khutbah was terrible. And I listened to that and I said, okay, do you have any suggestions? And he said, yeah, I have lots of suggestions. And my family was waiting downstairs. They're in the car, kids getting cranky and all that.

I sat with the uncle for 30 minutes and he gave me suggestions and I wrote them. I literally wrote them. I put them in my phone. I kind of want to save them and I have them. And I disagree with some of them. But I agree with some of them. You have to learn to take criticism. It's okay. I did not say, excuse me, are you on YouTube? No.

Guys, don't get heated when somebody corrects you. Chill out. Just accept it. Take it. They're probably right. Because you're guys. So I pray that we're able to combat the attacks of shaitan and raise ourselves to the point where we are so good at combating shaitan that the real attack of shaitan happens not in our personal lives, but when we're carrying the word of Allah, like I mentioned in the beginning.

Conclusion

We have to raise ourselves to that. That wasn't relevant to many of you. When shaitan comes and you're talking about Allah. Why not? Why don't you raise yourself so you can talk about Allah, and then these ayaat you can live by them. You know? We have to become those people.

May Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ elevate all of us in our status, and may Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ take the good of what is said, and forgive the wrong that is said.

May Allah bless you and me.

As-salamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.