This is the first article in my series of commentaries of the Quran.
The recitation of the holy Quran itself is preceded by reciting in Arabic:
‘Au’dhubillahi min as shaytan ar rajeem’
I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected satan.
This term is known as the ‘Isti’aatha’.
Allah tells us in the Quran.
“So when you want to recite the Qur’aan, seek refuge with Allaah from Shaytaan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed one)”
Surah 16, verse 98.
What is interesting about the ‘Isti’aatha’ that within it contains the triangular, three-sided relationship of God, Allah, his creation man and man’s foe, the Satan whose name is Iblis. The relationship between God, man and the devil.
God, Allah, is the source of goodness, the devil is the source of evil including through constant incitement of man to carry out evil done in a variety of ways, employing many tricks and methods be it inciting man to be angry, or to be arrogant and proud, to be scared or to carry out evil for entertainment.
The Devil.
Who is the devil. His name is Iblis. He is of the Jinn, a species of creation similar to man including in the fact that they have the ability to choose whether to do good or evil. He was amongst the company of the righteous in origin but refused to prostrate to Adam when he and others were commanded to do so by Allah. His refusal to do so was based on his belief in his superiority over Adam and what seems to be jealousy and resentment over the superior status of Adam assigned by Allah. He disobeyed his lord, the one who created him and bestowed him with countless favours, Allah.
When Iblis was being cast out of paradise for refusing to obey Allah, he swore to mislead as much of mankind as he could and cause their ruin and destruction, and lead them to hell. Iblis has sought revenge on the progeny of Adam ever since.
To protect ourselves from Iblis who constantly seeks our ruin and destruction, to make us fight, to make our wives or husbands hate us, abuse us, our children disrespect us, people bully us, we recite the ‘Isti’aatha’.
However how can we seek protection from the evil of Iblis?
The only way is by turning to our creator and lord Allah.
Our life is one which will end in either one of two places, either in heaven (insha’Allah – ameen) or hell.
The world is one of duality, of night and day, man and woman, and of heaven and hell.
Our purpose in life is to avoid the hellfire and to strive hard towards attaining the pleasure of Allah and thus ensure for ourselves paradise. The one who stands on this path constantly seeking to divert us is Iblis who burnt with rage and anger and is to this day burning with a passionate and intense desire for revenge on the sons of Adam.
Mankind.
In the ‘Isti’aatha’ we say ‘A’udhu” which means ‘I seek’. The intial ‘A’ sound in Arabic denotes the first person singular (mufrad muttakallim). In English the pronoun is separated thus we say ‘I saw’ or ‘I ate’, whereas in Arabic the pronoun is attached to the verb (doing word). Thus here in this phrase man is mentioned amongst this three-sided relationship of man, God and the devil.
Man is a weak and volatile creature who is easily able to be manipulated. Many a tyrant in history has rallied mobs and masses to destroy minorities based on false information. Many a troublemaker has incited people against others. People rather than seeking to be patient and confirm the veracity, and truth of an allegation immediately believe it. Man can carry out evil based on his volatile emotional state. He is a weak creature, the cause of much harm, but has an arrogant view of himself. He cannot sustain himself without food for long and will die. He cannot function properly without food or water for a short time of a few days. He is ignorant and in general cannot see beyond his eyes or know beyond that which he has heard or seen.
Iblis preys upon man’s vulnerability which includes his volatile nature, his ignorance, his arrogance. The tricks of Iblis include:
Anger
In English law, there is a term ‘diminished responsibility’, which is that when a person reaches a certain level of anger that it is equivalent to a certain level of mental instability and that this mitigates or excuses the one who carried out a crime. Iblis thrives on anger. Anger is a fiery emotion which can lead to devastation and destruction and is the sister of hate. Iblis loves it.
Muslims are told by our holy prophet, Muhammad, صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم to stay away from anger.
“Verily, anger comes from Satan and Satan was created from fire. Fire is extinguished with water, so if you become angry then perform ablution with water.”
Anger is a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be angry.
Arrogance
Islam tells us not to be arrogant and shows Iblis as the prime example of the downfall which can be caused by arrogance. Arrogance is rampant amongst the sons and daughters of Adam and can come in a huge variety of forms or caused by countless different reasons including:
- Feeling superior based on wealth.
- Feeling superior based on social status (not the same as the first because one can be of humble lineage and have money but be looked down by someone with less money but from a ‘superior’ lineage)
- Feeling superior based on race.
- Feeling superior based on appearance.
- Feeling superior based on clothing, this is common in school and teenagers where those children who do not dress ‘well’ can be excluded.
Everything that man has is from none but Allah and can be taken in a moment. Rather than flaunt his supposed ‘superiority’ over others he should be humble, thank Allah for his blessings and be acutely cognisant of the fact that it can all go in the blink of an eye. How many a tyrannical ruler has been overthrown or even killed? Was not King Louis XVI of France overthrown in a revolution? Was not Julius Caesar killed in a humiliating manner? How many times has a person of wealth lost their wealth?
Arrogance takes away from your good deeds and burns them away. The pious, the friends of Allah, the ‘awliyah’ (friends of Allah, saints), strongly cautioned against it and devoted years to cultivating deep humility and the complete suppression of pride.
Man is the son of Adam, who was created from clay. Man in origin is a sperm, a liquid which if it is seen on a piece of clothing would cause revulsion or embarrassment. Man is of lowly origins.
Man, the son of Adam, should never consider himself to be superior to be another son of Adam, another member of the brotherhood of man.
The prophet Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم is said to have told us that a person even with a mustard-seed of pride/arrogance will not enter paradise (Al-Jannah).
Allah said in the Quran ‘ Do not walk proudly on the earth, your feet cannot tear the earth apart nor can you attain the mountains in height’ Quran 17: 37.
Man may become tall, strong, but there is always others who are taller and stronger than him be it other men who are taller or stronger, or be it the earth which he shall be buried underneath very soon and from which his bones will not be able to escape, or the mountains which are far taller than him and which he would have to spend hours or a whole day to reach the top of, exerting so much energy and effort to do so. If a mountain was to have the same arrogant human attitude of superiority, he would consider man a tiny little creature, far inferior who has to walk high and far just to be on the top of the mountain, whilst the mountain can just arrogantly see him from afar.
Arrogance is a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be angry.
Fear
Fear is also another emotion which man’s avowed enemy and nemesis, Iblis, uses to sow discord, hatred, devastation amongst the songs and daughters of Adam. This may not necessarily be fear of the weak and oppressed, because Islam allows a man to eat or drink pork or alcohol if he is fearful of his death. Nay it is but amongst other things fear of being rejected by others, your ‘peers’ if you do not join them in ganging upon someone, in joining them in insulting and bullying someone. Fear can refer to fear of loss of social status if one does not engage in wrong or in oppression. Oh Son of Adam do not be scared of others if they scorn you for not reviling others. Be strong and tell them this is unjust.
Man is at times akin to a pack animal, and needs to be part of a pack, or a social circle which he can be excluded from if he is seen as too friendly to ‘undesirables’ or the ‘lowly’.
The son of Adam should make du’a (pray,supplicate) to Allah that he is not put in a position where his loyalty to his family, friends, caste, tribe, nation is tested by being pressurised to be cruel to others.
Fear can be a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam try and not be fearful.
Entertainment.
Many amongst mankind derive pleasure from bullying others. This is quite common amongst school children who attain a sense of ‘fulfillment’ from bullying other children. It is characterised by sarcasm and that other deadly weapon of Iblis, arrogance.
Do not seek to taunt others because it is humorous or fun. This can even happen to ‘good’ and ‘kind’ people. Never make humour happen at the expense of others unless they be oppressors, for in that case being ridiculed may cause them to refrain from evil.
In general, the life of this world is not in vain. We are not here merely for play, for fun and games. If one thinks so then when he or she is an old man or woman lying in bed with a plethora of different diseases including arthritis, hearing deficiencies, partial blindness then he or she will truly value those few, those blessed people, who seek to comfort the old and weak. He or she will look back at his life and realise it was short, very short, merely a speck in the timeline of this planet.
Derive pleasure in a good and pure way, but do not make that the priority of your life.
Idle entertainment, sarcasm are weapons of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be wasteful or sarcastic.
God
The third in this three-sided relationship of man, God and the devil is God. He is the Most important of the three and the second mentioned in the ‘isti’aadah’.
‘I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Satan’.
The first is man as in ‘I seek’ and then followed by man depending on Allah.
This statement acknowledges man’s reliance and dependence on God, on Allah for protection from Iblis, Satan.
Be abundant in seeking protection in Allah from Iblis, son of Adam, for that will help you against your foe who seeks your destruction day and night, who seeks to make a wife hate a husband and be ungrateful, who seeks to make a husband abusive, cruel and cold to his wife, who seeks to turn brother against brother, brothers within a family and brothers amongst all the sons of Adam in the brotherhood of man.
For without him, Allah, there is no salvation, there is no success.
Without him you will never be able to pass an exam, get a job, be married, have children, have respect, protect yourself from Iblis and his many subtle tricks.
Praise Allah, love Allah, be grateful to Allah, thank Allah, love the one he loves, the beloved, Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم and the on that he, the beloved (Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) loves.
Summary.
This is the first article in my commentary on the verses of the Quran. The next article will be about the ‘basmallah’ or to say ‘bismillahir rahman ar raheem’ – ‘In the name of God the most Gracious the most merciful’.
We have learnt from this article that the ‘isti’aadah’ though it may not actually be part of the Quranic text per se must precede recitations of verse of the Quran. That it signifies the three sided relationship in which humanity exists, that it identifies our enemy the one who seeks our destruction and our Helper the one whom, if we turn to, will save us. Looking in to it deeper it makes us reflect on what happened between our father, Adam, and Iblis and how this continues to this day. Contemplating upon it, we realise we are in a struggle, a struggle between good and evil, a continuous struggle that does not end. Life is plagued with misery, hardship, with tears. Let us seek the protection of our creator, our lord from the one who is the instigator of much of this misery, Iblis.
Faatih 
The Quran commentary series: 1
Published May 26, 2018 Quranic commentary series 2 CommentsTags: Adam, anger, arrogance, bullying, fear, humility, Iblis, Islam, isti'aadah, jinn, Quranic commentary, sarcasm, tafseer
This is the first article in my series of commentaries of the Quran.
The recitation of the holy Quran itself is preceded by reciting in Arabic:
‘Au’dhubillahi min as shaytan ar rajeem’
I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected satan.
This term is known as the ‘Isti’aatha’.
Allah tells us in the Quran.
“So when you want to recite the Qur’aan, seek refuge with Allaah from Shaytaan (Satan), the outcast (the cursed one)”
Surah 16, verse 98.
What is interesting about the ‘Isti’aatha’ that within it contains the triangular, three-sided relationship of God, Allah, his creation man and man’s foe, the Satan whose name is Iblis. The relationship between God, man and the devil.
God, Allah, is the source of goodness, the devil is the source of evil including through constant incitement of man to carry out evil done in a variety of ways, employing many tricks and methods be it inciting man to be angry, or to be arrogant and proud, to be scared or to carry out evil for entertainment.
The Devil.
Who is the devil. His name is Iblis. He is of the Jinn, a species of creation similar to man including in the fact that they have the ability to choose whether to do good or evil. He was amongst the company of the righteous in origin but refused to prostrate to Adam when he and others were commanded to do so by Allah. His refusal to do so was based on his belief in his superiority over Adam and what seems to be jealousy and resentment over the superior status of Adam assigned by Allah. He disobeyed his lord, the one who created him and bestowed him with countless favours, Allah.
When Iblis was being cast out of paradise for refusing to obey Allah, he swore to mislead as much of mankind as he could and cause their ruin and destruction, and lead them to hell. Iblis has sought revenge on the progeny of Adam ever since.
To protect ourselves from Iblis who constantly seeks our ruin and destruction, to make us fight, to make our wives or husbands hate us, abuse us, our children disrespect us, people bully us, we recite the ‘Isti’aatha’.
However how can we seek protection from the evil of Iblis?
The only way is by turning to our creator and lord Allah.
Our life is one which will end in either one of two places, either in heaven (insha’Allah – ameen) or hell.
The world is one of duality, of night and day, man and woman, and of heaven and hell.
Our purpose in life is to avoid the hellfire and to strive hard towards attaining the pleasure of Allah and thus ensure for ourselves paradise. The one who stands on this path constantly seeking to divert us is Iblis who burnt with rage and anger and is to this day burning with a passionate and intense desire for revenge on the sons of Adam.
Mankind.
In the ‘Isti’aatha’ we say ‘A’udhu” which means ‘I seek’. The intial ‘A’ sound in Arabic denotes the first person singular (mufrad muttakallim). In English the pronoun is separated thus we say ‘I saw’ or ‘I ate’, whereas in Arabic the pronoun is attached to the verb (doing word). Thus here in this phrase man is mentioned amongst this three-sided relationship of man, God and the devil.
Man is a weak and volatile creature who is easily able to be manipulated. Many a tyrant in history has rallied mobs and masses to destroy minorities based on false information. Many a troublemaker has incited people against others. People rather than seeking to be patient and confirm the veracity, and truth of an allegation immediately believe it. Man can carry out evil based on his volatile emotional state. He is a weak creature, the cause of much harm, but has an arrogant view of himself. He cannot sustain himself without food for long and will die. He cannot function properly without food or water for a short time of a few days. He is ignorant and in general cannot see beyond his eyes or know beyond that which he has heard or seen.
Iblis preys upon man’s vulnerability which includes his volatile nature, his ignorance, his arrogance. The tricks of Iblis include:
Anger
In English law, there is a term ‘diminished responsibility’, which is that when a person reaches a certain level of anger that it is equivalent to a certain level of mental instability and that this mitigates or excuses the one who carried out a crime. Iblis thrives on anger. Anger is a fiery emotion which can lead to devastation and destruction and is the sister of hate. Iblis loves it.
Muslims are told by our holy prophet, Muhammad, صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم to stay away from anger.
“Verily, anger comes from Satan and Satan was created from fire. Fire is extinguished with water, so if you become angry then perform ablution with water.”
Anger is a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be angry.
Arrogance
Islam tells us not to be arrogant and shows Iblis as the prime example of the downfall which can be caused by arrogance. Arrogance is rampant amongst the sons and daughters of Adam and can come in a huge variety of forms or caused by countless different reasons including:
Everything that man has is from none but Allah and can be taken in a moment. Rather than flaunt his supposed ‘superiority’ over others he should be humble, thank Allah for his blessings and be acutely cognisant of the fact that it can all go in the blink of an eye. How many a tyrannical ruler has been overthrown or even killed? Was not King Louis XVI of France overthrown in a revolution? Was not Julius Caesar killed in a humiliating manner? How many times has a person of wealth lost their wealth?
Arrogance takes away from your good deeds and burns them away. The pious, the friends of Allah, the ‘awliyah’ (friends of Allah, saints), strongly cautioned against it and devoted years to cultivating deep humility and the complete suppression of pride.
Man is the son of Adam, who was created from clay. Man in origin is a sperm, a liquid which if it is seen on a piece of clothing would cause revulsion or embarrassment. Man is of lowly origins.
Man, the son of Adam, should never consider himself to be superior to be another son of Adam, another member of the brotherhood of man.
The prophet Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم is said to have told us that a person even with a mustard-seed of pride/arrogance will not enter paradise (Al-Jannah).
Allah said in the Quran ‘ Do not walk proudly on the earth, your feet cannot tear the earth apart nor can you attain the mountains in height’ Quran 17: 37.
Man may become tall, strong, but there is always others who are taller and stronger than him be it other men who are taller or stronger, or be it the earth which he shall be buried underneath very soon and from which his bones will not be able to escape, or the mountains which are far taller than him and which he would have to spend hours or a whole day to reach the top of, exerting so much energy and effort to do so. If a mountain was to have the same arrogant human attitude of superiority, he would consider man a tiny little creature, far inferior who has to walk high and far just to be on the top of the mountain, whilst the mountain can just arrogantly see him from afar.
Arrogance is a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be angry.
Fear
Fear is also another emotion which man’s avowed enemy and nemesis, Iblis, uses to sow discord, hatred, devastation amongst the songs and daughters of Adam. This may not necessarily be fear of the weak and oppressed, because Islam allows a man to eat or drink pork or alcohol if he is fearful of his death. Nay it is but amongst other things fear of being rejected by others, your ‘peers’ if you do not join them in ganging upon someone, in joining them in insulting and bullying someone. Fear can refer to fear of loss of social status if one does not engage in wrong or in oppression. Oh Son of Adam do not be scared of others if they scorn you for not reviling others. Be strong and tell them this is unjust.
Man is at times akin to a pack animal, and needs to be part of a pack, or a social circle which he can be excluded from if he is seen as too friendly to ‘undesirables’ or the ‘lowly’.
The son of Adam should make du’a (pray,supplicate) to Allah that he is not put in a position where his loyalty to his family, friends, caste, tribe, nation is tested by being pressurised to be cruel to others.
Fear can be a weapon of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam try and not be fearful.
Entertainment.
Many amongst mankind derive pleasure from bullying others. This is quite common amongst school children who attain a sense of ‘fulfillment’ from bullying other children. It is characterised by sarcasm and that other deadly weapon of Iblis, arrogance.
Do not seek to taunt others because it is humorous or fun. This can even happen to ‘good’ and ‘kind’ people. Never make humour happen at the expense of others unless they be oppressors, for in that case being ridiculed may cause them to refrain from evil.
In general, the life of this world is not in vain. We are not here merely for play, for fun and games. If one thinks so then when he or she is an old man or woman lying in bed with a plethora of different diseases including arthritis, hearing deficiencies, partial blindness then he or she will truly value those few, those blessed people, who seek to comfort the old and weak. He or she will look back at his life and realise it was short, very short, merely a speck in the timeline of this planet.
Derive pleasure in a good and pure way, but do not make that the priority of your life.
Idle entertainment, sarcasm are weapons of Iblis (Satan) to cause our downfall. Oh Son of Adam do not be wasteful or sarcastic.
God
The third in this three-sided relationship of man, God and the devil is God. He is the Most important of the three and the second mentioned in the ‘isti’aadah’.
‘I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Satan’.
The first is man as in ‘I seek’ and then followed by man depending on Allah.
This statement acknowledges man’s reliance and dependence on God, on Allah for protection from Iblis, Satan.
Be abundant in seeking protection in Allah from Iblis, son of Adam, for that will help you against your foe who seeks your destruction day and night, who seeks to make a wife hate a husband and be ungrateful, who seeks to make a husband abusive, cruel and cold to his wife, who seeks to turn brother against brother, brothers within a family and brothers amongst all the sons of Adam in the brotherhood of man.
For without him, Allah, there is no salvation, there is no success.
Without him you will never be able to pass an exam, get a job, be married, have children, have respect, protect yourself from Iblis and his many subtle tricks.
Praise Allah, love Allah, be grateful to Allah, thank Allah, love the one he loves, the beloved, Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم and the on that he, the beloved (Muhammad صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) loves.
Summary.
This is the first article in my commentary on the verses of the Quran. The next article will be about the ‘basmallah’ or to say ‘bismillahir rahman ar raheem’ – ‘In the name of God the most Gracious the most merciful’.
We have learnt from this article that the ‘isti’aadah’ though it may not actually be part of the Quranic text per se must precede recitations of verse of the Quran. That it signifies the three sided relationship in which humanity exists, that it identifies our enemy the one who seeks our destruction and our Helper the one whom, if we turn to, will save us. Looking in to it deeper it makes us reflect on what happened between our father, Adam, and Iblis and how this continues to this day. Contemplating upon it, we realise we are in a struggle, a struggle between good and evil, a continuous struggle that does not end. Life is plagued with misery, hardship, with tears. Let us seek the protection of our creator, our lord from the one who is the instigator of much of this misery, Iblis.
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