what happens to Shaitaan during RAMAZAN?

[Hina 11(MISS Einstein)]

Al-Bukhaari (1899) and Muslim (1079) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“When Ramadaan comes, the gates of Paradise are opened, the gates of Hell are closed, and the devils are chained up.”

The scholars differed as to the meaning of the devils being chained up in Ramadaan.

Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said, quoting al-Haleemi:
It may be interpreted at meaning that the devils are not able to tempt the Muslims as they are at other times because they are busy with the fast which controls their desires, and with reading Qur’aan and dhikr (remembrance of Allaah).
Another scholar – someone other than al-Haleemi – said
that what is meant by the devils is some of them, namely the maarids (strong devils), who are chained up.

‘Iyaad said:
it may be interpreted in a literal sense, and that is as a sign to the angels that the month has begun, and in veneration of its sanctity, and so as to prevent the devils from harming the Muslims. And it may be interpreted as referring to the great amount of reward and forgiveness, and that the devils tempt people less, so it is as if they are chained up.

This second interpretation is supported by the fact that according to a report narrated by Yoonus from Ibn Shihaab which is recorded by Muslim it says “the gates of mercy are opened”. The chaining up of the devils may also be understood as a metaphor for them being unable to tempt people and make their whims and desires attractive to them.
Al-Zayn ibn al-Muneer said:
The first view is most likely to be correct, and there is no need to try to understand it in anything other than the literal sense.

Fath al-Baari, 4/114.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) “and the devils are chained up,” – yet we still see people suffering from epilepsy during the day in Ramadaan, so how can the devils be chained up when some people are suffering epileptic fits?

He replied: In some versions of the hadeeth it says “and the strong devils (maarids) are chained up” – this is narrated by al-Nasaa’i. This hadeeth is speaking of matters of the unseen, so we have to accept it and not discuss it any further. This is safer for a person’s religious commitment. Hence when ‘Abd-Allaah, the son of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal said to his father, “Some people suffer epileptics fits during the day in Ramadaan,”

the Imam said: “This is what the hadeeth says and we do not discuss this.”

Moreover it seems that what is meant by their being chained up is that they are prevented from tempting people, based on the fact that there is a great deal of goodness and many people turn to Allaah during Ramadaan.

Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 20.

Based on this, the chaining up of the devils is something that happens in a real sense, about which Allaah knows best. This does not mean that evil things do not happen or that people do not commit sin.

When people commit sin and happen evil things, that is a result of the Nafs (your own desire). Your won desire is worse than the influence of the shaytaan. In Ramadaan you will find out what your weakness is, and a time to get rid of the sinning... Although one person shouldn't wait to stop sinning when ramadaan has started.

And Allaah knows best.

Narrated by Abu Huraira (ra):

Allah's Apostle (peace be upon him) said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the Heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." (Bukhari)

[Hina 11(MISS Einstein)]

REGARDING THIS TOPIC:

as The verse of HOLY QURAN says: Will ye then take him and his progeny as protectors rather than Me? And they are enemies to you! Evil would be the exchange for the wrong-doers!! [Qur'an 18:50]


It is like someone is saying to you, 'will you take the devil to be your protector in exchange for Allah? This is the worst kind of exchange you could make.
This second verse says:


Verily Satan is an enemy to you: so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his adherents, that they may become Companions of the Blazing Fire. [35:6]


What does this mean? The devil has already decided and confirmed that you (mankind) are his enemy. The problem lies with us not recognizing this and taking him as an enemy unto ourselves.


We actually have an act of worship to confirm our enmity with Iblees, other than taking refuge in Allah from the devil.


This act of worship is 'Ramey al Gamarat' (throwing of pebbles in 3 fixed places in Mina during pilgrimage). 'Ramey al Gamarat' consists of firstly saying 'In the name of Allah the Most Merciful The Most Kind', making the intention, then concentrating and throwing small stones at the designated areas. This is done 70 times, over a period of 4 days.


A lot of people do not understand the significance of this act. In fact, it is this very spot in which the devil tried to persuade Prophet Ibrahim not to sacrifice his son Ismail to Allah.


In this act, one must show that Iblees is the enemy. After throwing each stone, it is recommended that one makes a supplication to Allah, as it will be accepted. This is because one has witnessed that the devil is an enemy to oneself and to Allah (SWT).


At this moment, in Ramadan while we speak, the devil is chained up. So let's prepare the soul, so that it is full of strength during and after Ramadan, and the devil will not be able to make us go astray.




Adam and Eve:


Let's now return to Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve both ate from the forbidden tree, hence they are both responsible; Adam even more so, as he is the man, and they sinned. What is the result of this sin? There are four consequences:


1) The humiliation - What is this humiliation? ……..that which was hidden from them of their shame (private parts) became manifest to them and they began to cover themselves with leaves of Paradise (in order to cover their shame) [Qur'an 7:22]


Then learnt Adam from his Lord words of inspiration, and his Lord Turned towards him; [2:37]




2) Being told to leave Paradise - "We said: "Get ye down all from here" [Qur'an 2:28] Allah (SWT) told Adam and Eve to leave Paradise, and the company of Allah (SWT).


3) Being called a sinner - "thus did Adam disobey his Lord" [Qur'an 20: 121]


4) Allah's admonition- "Did I not forbid you that tree and tell you: Verily, Satan is an open enemy unto you?" [Qur'an 7:22]




Imagine Adam and Eve as they heard this scolding from Allah. The hardest thing on the Day of Judgment will be Allah's admonition.

On the Day of Judgment, each person will be called. Imagine as you stand there, and Allah (SWT) says 'My Servant, read your book", and you open your book and read your sins and wrong-doings. Imagine if you were to read this book in front of your parents, let alone in front of Allah (SWT), and all of mankind is listening. 'Read your book" and you read it and Allah says "My servant, did I not bless you, provide for you, did you not learn from the story of your father Adam, did I not provide you with a spouse, wealth and beauty". My servant you have disobeyed Me. You gave to the people what is good and to Me what is bad. Did you think this day would not come?"


But imagine that you are one of the righteous believers. Allah will say to you: "If you sin, My servant, I will conceal your mistakes so that no one hears you. Do you remember the sin you committed and Allah concealed it from the people? Allah says He will forgive it in the hereafter.


Consequences of our sins in this world:
The admonition of the believers - In a hadith Qudsi reported by Al-Imam Ahmed, Allah says: I am Allah there is no God but I, if I am worshiped then I am content and if content then I bestow my blessings and My blessings have no end. But if disobeyed my wrath is ensued and if my wrath is ensued then I damn…


There is also a Prophetic hadith with regards to the consequences of going astray. Hassan Al Basrey says "beware of the ensuing the wrath of the believers and without realizing it" They said "how?" "By doing that which is in disobedience to Allah, so His anger is passed onto the hearts of the believers"


1) Detachment from Allah - if you have all the riches of this world, it can not overcome this feeling. You will always feel that you are far away from Allah and you can not come closer. One of the people who had repented said: I know the result of my disobedience through my wife's treatment towards me.


2) Allah will take away from you the feeling of piety - You may have committed a sin last Ramadan and Allah left you, but if you commit it again this year, He will not let you get close to Him again. One of the righteous people said "I used to be very obedient then I committed a number of sins but nothing happened to me." He asked, "Doesn't Allah punish those who disobey Him? So how come nothing has happened to me?" So one day he slept and in is dream he saw someone saying to him "Allah is punishing you but you do not realize it. He has taken away from you the joy of piety".


3) He takes away the blessings from your wealth and life - You may have lots of wealth and live a long life, but there is no blessing in either. An example of this is you may have a son and he falls ill, and all the money that was earned through forbidden means will go into paying for medication.


4) He takes away all that is good- The girls and boys that sin will not attain the good that was prescribed for them.


5) 'Darkness' of the face- Hassan Al Basrey says: of the signs of obedience is brightness of the face, light in the heart, the love of people towards you, and strength in the body. Of the signs of disobedience are darkness of the face, injustice in your heart and the hearts of others towards you, no blessing in your provisions and weakness in the body.


6) Not being able to say the Shahadah at the time of death- Your tongue will be tied so you can not bear witness, you will want to say it, but cant.


Let's return to Adam:
The difference between Adam and many people is that after he sinned, he wanted to earn Allah's contentment, he wanted to return to Him but didn't know how to, he had not been taught yet. He had wronged himself but didn't know about repentance yet.


Al-Hakim reports a hadith describing this situation saying 'So Adam and Eve kept on running to and fro in paradise not knowing what to do'. Adam knew that it was Allah that created him and that the angels prostrated to him and after all this he disobeys Allah. As he was running, Allah called him over and asked "Do you run away from Me?" Adam replied, "No I do not run away from you but run out of shame!"


If you do disobey Allah then at least be shameful of it. Don't commit the sin and then feel proud of it!


Ibn Al-Qayim says some important words concerning this matter. He says that your happiness in committing this sin is much worse in Allah eyes than the actual sin! But there is something even worse than this, if you laugh while committing the sin and even worse than that, your displeasure if you unable to commit the sin, (you are unable to commit the sin and are unhappy about this fact).



One should be happy that it is not in their nature to commit a particular sin; this is not a deficit but strength. The worst of all is your concern at hiding yourself while you commit the sin, so that no one can see you, not thinking for a minute that in fact Allah sees everything. This is worse than the actual sin itself!


So as Adam is looking for words to repent,


Allah says "Then Adam received from his Lord words. And his Lord pardoned him (accepted his repentance)." [Qur'an 2:37]

So what Allah is trying to say is that repentance is easy. By saying the designated words (sincerely) Allah will forgive them. Forgiveness from Allah can be achieved very quickly, as in Adam's case where he was given all of Allah's blessings, then sinned, but as soon as he wanted to repent, was taught how to, and Allah forgave him.


What were these words? "Our Lord we have wronged our own souls: If thou forgive us not and bestow not upon us thy mercy we shall certainly be lost" [Qur'an 7:23]



The reason being that we are servants of Allah and humility is asked of us. The first step on the route to repentance is admitting to the fact that you are in the wrong.


There is an invocation that was prescribed by the Prophet(peace be upon Him), whoever says this before they die will be forgiven and will enter paradise, and that is why it is part of the daily invocations, "O Allah You are my Lord, there is none worthy of worship but You. You created me and I am your slave. I keep Your covenant and my pledge to you so far as I am able. I seek refuge in You from the evil of what I have done. I admit to Your blessings upon me, and I admit to my misdeed. Forgive me for there is none who may forgive sins but You."


Al Hakim reports a hadith said by Adam: 'O Lord did you not fashion me with Your hands and breathed into me some of your soul. O Lord did you not give me paradise to dwell in. O Lord did you not say to me when I sneezed, May your Lord have mercy on you. O Lord did You not say to me that your mercy is greater than Your wrath. O Lord will you return me to the Paradise when I repent? He replied 'Yes, you and your wife.'
Let's copy Adam. Don't enter Ramadan with a sin you wont give up on! Do you not want to be saved from Hell-fire? Repent. Make the intention to repent. Copy Adam and not Iblees. Both Adam and the devil sinned, but the difference between them is that Adam realized his mistake and repented, whereas the devil did not.


The Prophet (PBUH) said, "I ask for forgiveness and repent to Allah more than 70 times a day." The companions said that "when we used to sit down with the Prophet we could hear him asking for forgiveness more than 100 times!" The Prophet would be sitting with them, then would become silent, we would look at him and find him saying 'I seek forgiveness from Allah, I seek forgiveness from Allah'…Then he would speak with them, then would become silent and say 'I repent to You'…I repent to You' then again 'I seek forgiveness from Allah' and I repent to You'.




Ramadan is a great opportunity to ask for forgiveness, to repent, and to ask to be saved from the Hell-fire! So make it so that the night of your repentance is also the night of your savior from the Hell-fire.


See this beautiful Hadith: "Allah is pleased when His servant repents". The best day of your life is when Allah accepts your repentance and forgives you. Pray that Allah forgives you in Ramadan.


After Adam repented, did his piety increase or decrease? Is it possible to raise your level of piety after sinning? In fact, Adam became a Prophet after sinning and repenting.


The Prophet (PBUH) was asked: "O Messenger of Allah, who was the first Prophet?" He said Adam. So the companion asked "was he a Prophet?" He replied "yes a Prophet." The meaning is that if you sin and then repent, then you rise in Allah's eyes. In fact, if you sin then repent, you will be above the righteous ones, depending on the strength and sincerity of your repentance. How much is you heart connected with Allah and is sincerely regretting your sins?




Look at the meaning of beseech. Adam left paradise and went to the earth. But he was upset that he had left paradise and left Allah's side. Listen to how Allah talks to Adam. "You used to come to meet me as a King entering the company of another king but now you come to Me as servant to his king and that is more beloved to Me". Adam If I was to stop you from ever committing sins then to whom would I grant My mercy, forgiveness and generosity."


"O Adam the remorse of the sinners is more beloved to Me than being glorified by the obedient ones. O Adam a sin with which you repent to me is Me is more beloved to me than a good deed you may do. O Adam don't be afraid when I say leave Paradise for I created it for you, but you will have to go to earth and work hard in it, work in the way of Allah and cultivate the land, and when you really long to come back, I will allow you to enter it. "


These are beautiful words, a message to us all, to show humility before Allah and learn that this world is one for hard work, and if you really want to go to paradise, then you should work towards it, and you will achieve it.