Quran Garden

Session 5

I seek refuge in God from Satan, the accursed

When you begin reading the Quran, God wants the initial meeting point between you and Him to be under His care and protection.  He states:   

Whenever you recite the Quran, seek refuge with God from the accursed Satan. (16:98)

This is because, as you direct yourself to the Creator and seek refuge in Him, you become stronger despite your weakness, and, as long as God is with you, your ability and power are above all abilities and powers.  Keep in mind that many of the distractions that occupy your mind while you are reading the Quran are Satan's work.  Thus, when you begin reciting the Quran, it is vital that you fine-tune your attention and direct your consciousness to receive God's words properly. 

Satan always comes to the believer from his or her weak side in order to lead him or her astray.  If Satan finds a person rigorous in a particular act, he comes to him or her from another direction.  For example, if a believer is careful in prayers, offering them properly in their appointed time, then Satan will attempt to sway him or her regarding wealth.  He whispers the fantasy of a richer and safer future if he or she does not pay Zakat, the obligatory alms, to the poor.  But in reality this is a lie, because charity instills God's blessings and protection in our wealth.  The Prophet, peace be upon him, told us, "Never has the wealth of a person decreased due to charity."  The devil exploits people's greed and negligence of this fact by driving them towards earning unlawful money and not paying Zakat on what they have lawfully earned.  Likewise, if a person is rigorous regarding wealth, then the devil may tempt him or her to indulge in adultery.  And if Satan finds a person abstaining from all of these immoral acts, he turns him or her to the allure of drinking, bad company, or slander.  He keeps revolving around the person's weaknesses until he manages to drag him or her into committing sin.

For this reason, you should seek refuge in God, so that He may strengthen your weak points and protect your vulnerabilities.  When you ask for God's company and protection before you recite the Quran, He prevents Satan from approaching and distracting you.  Only then will the Quran truly become your means of guidance and enlightenment.

While the merits of the Quran are equally available to everyone, each person reaps from them according to the strength of his or her faith.  Here, you may ask, doesn't everyone who reads or listens to the Quran benefit equally from it? The answer is "No", as God states in this verse:

Among them are those who listen to you and then, when they leave your presence, say to those who have been given knowledge, "What was that he just said?" They are those whose hearts God has sealed up and who follow their own desires. (47:16)

In other words, the Quran did not have any effect on them.  On the other hand, it certainly has a positive impact on the believers who listen attentively as mentioned in this verse:

And if we had made it a Quran in a foreign tongue, they surely would have said, "Why have not its verses been made clear? What! A foreign tongue and an Arab Prophet?" Say: "It is a guidance and a healing for those who believe." But as to those who believe not, there is deafness in their ears, and to them it is blindness. They are, as it were, being called from a far-off place. (41:44)

As you can see, the most crucial element in reaping the benefits of the Quran is the state of mind and faith of the person reading or listening to it.  For this reason, God wants you to purify and distance yourself from Satan when you recite the Quran before he manages to distract you from its verses.  And while you cannot see Satan, and you might not even be aware of his presence, he can see us as mentioned in the following verse:

O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts. Indeed, he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you do not see them. Indeed, We have made the devils allies to those who do not believe. (7:27)

Therefore, we should seek refuge and protection in a power that has the ability to see and overpower Satan.  Only then will the Quran's verses penetrate the heart. 

God expelled the devil Satan from His mercy, making him accursed and destined to Hellfire.  This was because Satan committed his sin when he denied God's command to prostrate before Adam.  His disobedience reached its height not only because he disobeyed a direct order from God, but also because he questioned God's wisdom, as stated in this verse:

God said, "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you to?" He replied, "I am better than him. You created me from fire, and You created him from clay." (7:12)

It is as though Satan was not pleased with God's judgment, and he intended to be equal to Him.  It was this defiance and arrogance that resulted in God banishing him from His mercy.  Satan believes that Adam was the reason for his predicament, so he set his goal to deviate not only Adam but also the entire humankind into Hellfire. 

Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, lived in Paradise and had all their daily needs readily fulfilled without any work or effort.  Paradise was rich in trees and luxuries, providing Adam and his wife with all kinds of fruit.  They were permitted to eat from whatever they wished, except for one tree, the fruit of which was forbidden.  Satan began to allure them towards sin by persuading them that, by abstaining from this tree, they would be deprived of great benefits as mentioned in this verse: 

Satan whispered to them so as to expose their nakedness, which had been hidden from them: he said, "Your Lord only forbade you this tree to prevent you from becoming angels or immortals." (7:20)

And, in another chapter, the Quran states:

But Satan whispered evil to him: he said, "O Adam! Shall I lead thee to the Tree of Eternity and to a kingdom that never decays?"  (20:120)

In order to trick Adam and Eve, Satan exploited their reverence for God and swore by God's honor to gain their trust, as stated in this verse:

Then he said to them on oath, "I am your sincere friend." (7:21)

Through these examples, you can appreciate how Satan approaches us from many different angles.  He approached Adam and Eve trying to convince them that whoever ate from the tree would become an angel or immortal or would be granted an everlasting kingdom.   Satan depicts for us that there is good in what God has prohibited, and that, by disobeying the Creator, we will acquire wealth and power.  Adam and Eve ate from the tree, but they did not become immortal, nor did they attain any lasting kingdom.  On the contrary, their private parts became manifest to them.  They understood that God only intended good for them by making the fruit of the tree unlawful.  Had Adam and Eve thought rationally, they would have realized that Satan's temptations were false.  If the tree had really had the ability to make the eater immortal, then why did Satan feel the need to ask God to grant him life till the Day of Resurrection?  He could simply have eaten from the tree.

Likewise, we should always keep in mind the animosity between Satan and Adam, and we should remember that Satan asked God to keep him alive until the Last Day so that he can take revenge on Adam and the entire humankind by deviating them towards sin.  Only when we remain cautious and seek refuge in God would Satan fail, and his whispers become exposed.