Allah the Almighty created human being and jinn for His worship only. (See Surah Az Zariat, verse no: 56) Along with them He made Devil and Nafs who are there to divert them from right path. They try their best to misguide them and lead them to the hell fire. On the other hand, Allah sent the holy prophets and the holy books to direct them to His path. Furthermore, He told them to avoid Devil and Nafs as they are their arch enemies. Here we want to mention Devil’s traps, so that we would be able to evade them.
When prayer time approaches us, Devil never says us not to offer prayer, he either remind us some necessary and urgent tasks or whispers: You have plenty of time to offer prayer. You are too exhausted, have some rest and then offer prayer and you will be fresh. The second happens mostly in Isha and Fajer prayers. That is why these two prayers are very heavy on hypocrites. Allah the Sublime says: And when they (hypocrites) stand for Salah, they stand up lazily, showing off to people, and do not remember Allah but a little. (Surah Al Nisa, verse no: 142) The holy Prophet; Muhammad Sala Allah o aliha wasallam said: The hardest prayers on hypocrites are Isha and Fajer. (Sahih Bukhari)
If a person has ignored him and reached the mosque to offer prayer then Devil struggles to ruin his prayer through polluting his intention with sense of showing off as stated in the aforesaid verse.
In the case of Zakat or voluntary charity, Devil firstly reminds a human of many tasks to fulfil. So many people are misguided by this trap and if someone succeeded to oppose him, he says him again: If you spend your money, you will fall into poverty. Allah the All-Truthful says: Satan frightens you of poverty. (Surah Al Baqara, verse no: 268)
Similarly when a person possesses wealth and that is enough to perform mandatory pilgrimage (Hajj). Devil gives him hope of life. He says: You are young enough to do other worldly works. As far as the pilgrimage is concerned you have a long life to perform it. Some other time he says him: If you perform Hajj now, then it will be really hard to enjoy life, because if you listen to the songs (for example) after that people will criticise you that you have performed Hajj and you are doing this too. So why do you visit Makkah now, delay it and you will do it in the end of your life.
In these ways he strives to prevent human beings in general and Muslims in particular from doing good deeds. In next episode we will discuss how he provokes us on doing bad deeds. May Allah protect us all from Devil’s traps. Ameen
Comments
Thanks Luci and Rysperski for your comments. I apologize for not clarifying Islamic terms here. I should have mentioned them. In fact, I thought these words were clear and well known to all.
Oi there,
It came to my mind that one should know the meaning or at least have a vague pictorial understanding of any word one uses to describe any notion to be conveyed to the reader.
In cases where the word used to depict a notion or feeling is interpreted in many, confusing quasi-synonyms, the whole interpretation becomes doubtful for the reader, especially those readers, who do not partain to the specific culture of the speaker.
The whole matter becomes even more dramatic, if one realises that such ambiguities can cause disconfort even for people of that given culture. How can an illiterate, simple person handle such a situation when the elites have trouble in clearly defining it?
The more "nafs" are encountered in any presentation, the more doubtfull and enigmatic becomes the whole tale.
Thanks for your comment and correction both. As for as literary translation is concerned you are right, but these words cannot give us that connotation which is derived from ''nafs'' in Islamic Terminology.
Thanks for this wonderful blog!
By the way, the English translation of "nafs" could be soul, self, psyche or ego.