وَخالِفِ النَّفْسَ وَالشَّيْطَانَ وَاعْصِهِـمَا      وَإِنْ هُمَـا مَحَّضَـاكَ النُّصْحَ فَاتَّهِـمِ

24/12. And (O follower of virtue!) Oppose (your) self (Nafs) and Shaytaan and disobey them both. And if both of them give you (even) sincere advice, be suspicious of them.

Both enemies of man, nafs and Shaytaan have been mentioned, since both encourage a person to do evil in different ways.

Shaytaan attacks by placing many doubts in a person’s mind. That is why he is referred to as Al-Waswaas.
For example, he urges a person to engage in discussions regarding the being and qualities of Allaah Jalla Jalaalahoo.
Rasulullaah SalAllaahu Alayhi Wasallam said, “Shaytaan comes to one of you and says, “Who created this? Who created this? Eventually he asks, “Who created your Sustainer?” When he takes one to this level, then seek the protection of Allaah and stop thinking.”
(Bukhaari no. 3276)

He teaches a person to adopt stratagems in acts of worship and business dealings. He discourages a person from doing acts of worship on their time so that it can become qadhaa. He encourages a person to engage in discussions over futile matters like the differences of the Sahaabah RadhiAllaahu Anhum which offers no joy to the nafs. He warns a person of poverty whenever the person wants to spend in the path of Allaah Jalla Jalaalahoo.

Nafs desires haraam food, fulfilling the desires of the stomach and private parts, seeking false praises, etc. The nafs has been mentioned first since it is an extremely dangerous enemy. The reasons for its being so dangerous are:

a. The nafs is an internal enemy, while Shaytaan is an external enemy.

b. Nafs never leaves man, not even in the state of salaah, whereas Shaytaan can be repelled by dhikr of Allaah Jalla Jalaalahoo. Shaytaan is like a dog, who never leaves man’s side.  However, if a person turns to Allaah Jalla Jalaalahoo, He will protect him from the evils of Shaytaan.

c. Nafs is beloved to man, whilst Shaytaan is despised. When something is beloved, one cannot see its faults.

d. Shaytaan wants to involve man in any sin. When man does not accept one call of his, he tries to involve him in some other evil. However, the nafs forces a person into one evil. It is not happy with another action, until a person does the action or manages to control himself. Where there is compulsion, it is more difficult to save oneself from those sins. Remember that in Ramadhaan when the shayaateen are tied up, many still fall into sins. One reason given is that the nafs pushes one to commit those sins.

Another important point to remember is that one has to fight against the nafs to overpower Shaytaan since the nafs is the agent of Shaytaan. If the nafs is overpowered, Shaytaan will not have the courage to attack man.

Our elders have stated that no matter how old the pious person may be, one should, until his last breath, exercise extreme precaution when dealing with the nafs.

To be Continued In Sha Allaah

مَوْلَاىَ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ دَائِمًا أَبَداً  عَلىٰ حَبِيْبِكَ خَيْرِ الْخَلْقِ كُلِّهِمِ