ভূমিকা

(Al-Aaraf 7:201) The second aspect of Isti’adha is Tadhakkur, the remembrance and talk about Allah (S.w.T.). A person who acquires Taqwa or piety becomes free of the domination of Satan. As long as the influence of Satan on the person persists, he remains incapable of effective Isti’adha. Satan keeps going round the hearts of the men of piety to catch a chance of entering therein.

But when these pious persons busy themselves in the Remembrance of Allah (S.w.T.), then there is a lightning of Allah (S.w.T.)’s Blessing and the net spread by Satan becomes visible to them in the momentary illumination. This puts the pious persons out of harms way. Now, let us consider what is Allah (S.w.T.)’s intent about Tadhakkur in the oft-quoted verse during our discussions.

The Thought of Sin and Remembrance of Allah (S.w.T.) In Tafseer al-Burhan commenting 0n this Verse, Imam Muhammad Baqir (a.s.) quotes from Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) an incident that we are summarizing here. When a mu’min suddenly gets the thought of crime in his mind, Satan and his retainers make their maximum efforts to make the person put his thought to action. But in that moment the pious person remembers Allah (S.w.T.) and he abandons the thought of committing the sin.

There are also stages of Remembrance of Allah (S.w.T.) that are different according to the place and the situation. One of those situations is that when the thought of sin comes in the mind of the person, the instigator and prompter is Satan and the opposition of this enemy is necessary. And also the pious person is in oath with Allah (S.w.T.) that he will not follow Satan because the accursed creature is his sworn enemy.

He should therefore not break his oath and instead of becoming ‘Abd ar-Rahman (worshipper of Allah (S.w.T.)) become ‘Abd ash-Shaitan (worshipper of Satan). Therefore, it is imperative that he keeps firmly to his oath and he should strive to resist Satan who can only bring destruction and perfidy.