No matter where you go in the world, whether you are young or old, a man or a woman, you'll notice immediately that there exists a universal language in which everyone is fluent. Perhaps these people have never met one another; perhaps they live kilometers away from one another. They may come from different cultures, hold different beliefs, and speak different languages. But despite all this, they all share a common language that they know very well and use when the need arises—namely, the "silent language of evil."
This insidious language allows its speakers to do unseemly things they would never do openly, utter ugly things that they would not say directly and speak to one another in secret ways that no outsider would understand. Some hesitate to express openly the evil that lies within them because if they did so, they could provoke adverse reactions in those around them—which would not be to their benefit. But when they act in secret, they believe the subtle and intricate methods they use eliminate their risk of being found out. Indeed, those who speak in this silent language make themselves clearly understood. But because of the cunning it employs, no echo is left behind and there can be no proof.
An important question comes to mind: How did so many all around the world learn this language, with its multitude of rules? Certainly, someone must be teaching them the silent language of evil and urging them to use it in secret. The leader of evil, the one who's engaged in a merciless struggle against human beings, is satan.
Satan swore to Allah that he would teach people this language to draw them secretly into evil. With the aid of this language, he leads them to do things in secret that they would never dare to do openly. He tempts them to say things in secret that they could not utter openly. He leads people to secretly live the evil inside them instead of stamping it out. But in the Qur'an, Allah says that He has forbidden human beings to commit evil: "... you do not approach indecency – outward or inward... " (Surat al-An'am: 151)
Some who fall into this trap of satan's may avoid committing evil openly. But otherwise, they adopt satan's morality, speak his language and lead the sort of lives he wants them to lead. They seek to attain their goals and desires by applying this secret language's rules. They believe they can use the methods of this dark language to attain a good life and enjoy happiness, success and superiority. However, this stratagem of satan's cannot bring people happiness or contentment, but can only lead them into damage and destruction.
Allah warns us in the Qur'an against this danger:
O Humanity! Eat what is good and lawful on the earth. And do not follow in the footsteps of satan. He truly is an outright enemy to you. He [satan] only commands you to do evil and indecent acts and to say about Allah what you do not know. (Surat al-Baqara: 168-169)
But because some do not accept the Qur'an as their guide, they have been falling into satan's traps for centuries. Even though they have been led into misery, they cannot give up living in this system and speaking the language of evil. One of the main reasons is that this language's insidious methods have not yet been revealed. Although thousands of people around the world speak this language, no one mentions it, so its evil cannot be unmasked. Indeed, one of the main principles of this language is that it should not be unmasked. Satan's insidious system can continue only if secrecy is maintained, and only in secret can people continue to practice the evil based on this insidiousness. The fact that this universal language remains a secret is why so many follow satan with no qualms about committing evil.
Therefore, it is vital that satan's secret language of evil be brought out into the open. If that can be done, satan, with all his interference based on secrecy, will be unmasked and his methods will have no further effect on the lives of humans. He can deceive people only with these insidious methods; he can approach them only in unexpected places and spheres. Once more people came to know the methods he employs, his games would have no more effect—Allah willing.
In addition, we learn in the Qur'an that it is a believer's responsibility to stand up to evil and eradicate a morality that fosters evil: "Let there be a community among you who call to the good, and enjoin the right, and forbid the wrong. They are the ones who have success." (Surah Al 'Imran: 104) Allah tells us in the Qur'an how we are to purify our lower selves and oppose a belief system that supports satan's evil. The solution that will remove all the evil in the world is to practice the moral teachings of the Qur'an.
This book's purpose is to expose in detail satan's system that calls people to the secret practice of evil, to uncover its silent language and to show the ways to foil satan's traps. Yet another purpose is to remind individuals that they will be held responsible before Allah for evil they commit, both in secret and openly and to invite all people to practice the moral teachings of the Qur'an.
Abandon wrong action, outward and inward. Those who commit wrong action will be repaid for what they perpetrated. (Surat al-An'am: 120)
Good and evil are probably concepts that people have talked and thought about the most. Most individuals try to be "good", according to their own standards, and to protect themselves and their loved ones from the evil actions of others. It's indeed most important to behave in such a way as to avoid evil. But many who expend great efforts to do so may have never thought about how close evil lies to them. Some have never considered the facts presented to them in the Qur'an, and think that evil is evil only when it is openly seen or and clearly experienced. For example, everyone knows that revenge, anger, jealousy, selfishness and lying are evil. They recognize that a person is vindictive when they see his anger, and a liar when they hear him telling lies.
Besides this, when the word evil is mentioned, actions generally accepted as wrong come to mind: murder, theft, treating others unfairly and other breaches of basic behavioral norms. Because they avoid such behavior and criticize it in others, they may therefore regard themselves as far removed from evil in general. However, evil has insidiously hidden aspects that cannot be clearly seen—and which many may not want to accept as elements of evil.
The reason is that those who don't live according to the Qur'an have their own measures of truth and falsehood. They determine their concepts of good and evil on the basis of their own beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and social education. However, the one place where we can learn the real meaning of good and evil is the Qur'an—the Holy book that Allah has sent to teach people right and wrong and to bring them from darkness into Light. Prophet Muhammad (saas) emphasized the importance of learning the Qur'an and teaching it to others, thus:
"The best among you [Muslims] are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it to others." (Sahih Bukhari)
In the Qur'an, Allah explains what good and evil are and shows what draws a person toward evil. The Qur'an tells us that true good resides in the behavior of those who fear Allah and observe the limits He has set: "... rather devoutness is possessed by those who guard against evil... " (Surat al-Baqara: 189)
Whatever happens to him, a person who fears Allah will behave in a way that will please Allah and in accordance with the Qur'an. At every moment of his life he will exhibit this commendable behavior. A person will be led to always think and act rightly if he knows that everything that happens around him occurs under Allah's control and that everything happens for a good reason—and if he considers that in the Afterlife, he will be confronted with everything he has done both openly and in secret. Therefore, to be able to live a good life in the true sense, a person must fear Allah, believe in the Afterlife and make it his purpose to win Allah's favor. According to the Qur'an, behavior that does not conform to these standards is not truly good.
The Qur'an defines good and evil. Acting without the fear of Allah, taking other deities beside Him, serving someone else besides Him and living to please others and to make gains from this earthly life—all this can lead a person into evil. People without faith are passionately attached to the values of this world, which distance them from a good moral life. They always think first about how they can get the most out of life and set this above everything else—which leads them into selfishness, meanness, ingratitude falsity, arrogance, lying, mercilessness and other such negative moral qualities.
Those who live according to this way of thought may still try to avoid some things they consider as evil. But their calculations are usually directed toward avoiding criticism from others, not falling afoul of society's judgments and not damaging their own chances for gain. While they may avoid questionable behavior in public, they do not restrain themselves in secret. If confident that they won't be seen or heard, they're quite content to engage in such behavior, since these people have no fear of Allah. Their measure in avoiding evil is not to be known by others, so that they won't lose respect and will be generally well thought of in society. If they're sure that these conditions are met, they don't restrain their tendency toward every kind of evil. Therefore, these people base their idea of right and wrong on not getting caught.
However, Allah tells us in the Qur'an to avoid evil both openly and in secret and explains what it is: "... others have acknowledged their wrong actions and mixed a right action with another which is wrong. It may well be that Allah will turn towards them. Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Surat at-Tawba: 102) To avoid such situations, people must first know where evil originates and do everything they can to uncover its source. This will root out deception, and those who now think it's acceptable to do evil in secret will be led to avoid such behavior. Otherwise, as Allah says in the Qur'an, the life of a person deceived to think that evil can remain secret will be quite different from that of a believer, both in life of this world and the Hereafter.
"Or do those who perpetrate evil deeds suppose that We will make them like those who believe and do right actions, so that their lives and deaths will be the same? How bad their judgment is!" (Surat al-Jathiyya: 21) It says in the Qur'an that those who think they are doing good yet actually whose efforts are wasted are the greatest losers in the Hereafter:
Say: "Shall I inform you of the greatest losers in their actions?' People whose efforts in the life of this world are misguided while they suppose that they are doing good. Those are the people who reject their Lord's signs and the meeting with Him. Their actions will come to nothing and, on the Day of Resurrection, We will not assign them any weight." (Surat al-Kahf: 103-105)
The Qur'an tells us that there are two main sources of evil. The first is the lower self, which constantly urges us to do bad things. With its suggestions, the lower self unceasingly tries to distance us from the true path and leads us to disaster. The Qur'an tells us about this aspect of the lower self:
[Yusuf said,] "I do not say my self was free from blame. The self indeed commands to evil acts—except for those my Lord has mercy on..." (Surah Yusuf: 53)
Another being supports the lower self and urges people to behave in a negative and unseemly ways: that is satan. The Qur'an tells us that satan calls people only to commit evil:
He [satan] only commands you to do evil and indecent acts and to say about Allah what you do not know. (Surat al-Baqara: 169)
Satan and the lower self will struggle to the last to draw humans into evil. To achieve this, satan will try every method and resort to every kind of trick. His aim is to make people suffer the same Hell that he endures. There is no escape from the pangs of Hell; they will last forever and are filled with unbearable pain.
One must understand the great danger that satan tries to draw them into and must be vigilant against his stratagems and assaults. To do this, he must read the Qur'an as our guide, where he can find absolute truth about satan. There, Allah tells about satan's character, aims, the methods he uses against people—and how he can render those means ineffective.
The first thing we must realize is that satan has no power of his own. He, like all creatures, was created by Allah. His struggle on the side of evil and against human beings remains under Allah's control. And He has created the world as an arena of testing human beings to learn who, in this earthly life, will do good and who will incline toward evil.
And as a part of this arena of testing by satan and the lower self calling us to evil, Allah has created the conscience to inspire us every moment toward good. Opposing the lower self, the conscience always tells us what is right in the face of satan's instigations and urges us to act in ways pleasing to Allah. Therefore, a person who listens to his conscience can easily become immune to the calls of satan and his lower self to commit evil. Allah tells us about this in the Qur'an:
And [I swear by] the self and what proportioned it and inspired it with depravity or sense of duty, he who purifies it has succeeded, he who covers it up has failed. (Surat ash-Shams: 7-10)
Another important thing to know about satan is that he has by no means any coercive authority over human beings. All he can do is urge us to follow him. Though he makes suggestions in this direction, the choice to act on the side of evil or good is totally a matter of a human will. If we have faith and act according to the Qur'an's moral teaching, satan will have no influence over us. As the Qur'an says: "He [satan] has no authority over those who believe and put their trust in their Lord." (Surat an-Nahl: 99) In this way, satan's plans will be upset: "... Satan's scheming is always feeble." (Surat an-Nisa': 76)
Allah tells us in the Qur'an that satan can have no influence over sincere believers:
He [satan] said, "By Your might, I will mislead all of them except for Your chosen servants among them." (Surah Sad: 82-83)
Our Prophet (saas) tells in one of his hadith that satan can have no influence on believers:
"So when one sees a bad dream which he does not like,… he should seek refuge with Allah from its evil; then it will not harm him." (Sahih Muslim)
If a person does not take refuge in Allah against satan and embrace the Qur'an as his guide to the right path, he will fall under the influence of satan: "He [satan] only has authority over those who take him as a friend and associate others with Allah." (Surat an-Nahl: 100) And this will lead irrevocably to the pangs of Hell.
Certainly, no one wants to meet with such a doom. So a person must learn all he can about satan from the Qur'an, how to respond to his tricks and avoid his traps.
In the following pages, we will reveal satan's evil character, the secret religion to which he calls people and the methods he uses to do this—and the ways the Qur'an teaches us to avoid evil.
Allah tells us in the Qur'an that satan is the enemy of humanity and that until the end of the world, he will spend all his strength and determination to draw them into evil:
He [satan] said, "My Lord, because You misled me, I will make things on the Earth seem good to them and I will mislead them all, every one of them except Your servants among them who are sincere." (Surat al-Hijr: 39-40)
But some people do not have any knowledge based on true facts about satan. For this reason, they must first learn what they have to do to avoid his enmity; then learn his methods and how to take precautions against his traps—and lastly, how to be prepared against his traps.
The first thing we must understand is that satan has a sense of "religion" he defends for centuries and attempts to get people to accept. From the beginning of history, he has been making the same suggestions, trying to make people all over the world adopt a common lifestyle and accept his false religion. Here are some of this religion's basic characteristics and some of the methods he uses to get people to accept it:
Satan's religion is based upon getting people to accept his character and his system of ideas. In order to persuade, he has developed many deceitful methods based on false superstition. But his main philosophy is directed toward disabling the human conscience because, first of all, it tries to ruin his traps and constantly puts suggestions into people's minds, calling them to what is good and true. Allah tells us in the Qur'an that actually, no matter what traps satan sets, every human being is able to perceive the truth, thanks to the guidance of his conscience. "In fact, man will be clear proof against himself. In spite of any excuses he might offer." (Surat al-Qiyama: 14-15) But satan tries to get people to ignore this perception; he has many excuses to get them to shroud their consciences and live according to his morality.
Believers think according to the Qur'an. Therefore, no matter how expert satan's suggestions are in this direction, they immediately perceive them and act according to their consciences. But those who live far removed from the moral teachings of the Qur'an, whose lives are based on pampering their lower selves, immediately accept the excuses that satan offers to incite them. Since they are already seeing a way to silence their conscience's voice, they are open to satan's suggestions and accept his help and support.
This satanic system condones every kind of unacceptable behavior, excuses every evil act and justifies every depravity. In this way, satan opposes a person to his own conscience, trying to show him that such perverted ways of thinking are valid and justifiable.
One method satan uses to seduce people into evil is to suggest many and varied false proofs to persuade them to leave the true path, and his proposals are so intricate and elaborated with disingenuous logic that those who fail to look with the eyes of faith are easily convinced. They accept satan's proposals as truth and actually transform their behavior according to what they have been falsely led to believe.
We can find many instances of people who act incorrectly in daily life, having been led into such behavior by satan's deceptions. Because of his suggestions, for example, a person may come to regard a close friend as his enemy. Satan offers so much clear and detailed proof about his friend's ill-intentions that, the deceived person begins to suspect even his friend's well-intentioned behavior and looks for a hidden meaning behind his every word or action. He has fallen so far under satan's influence of and thinks so much about the suggestions satan has put into his mind that his friend can do nothing to alter his opinion, no matter what well-intentioned efforts he makes.
Sometimes satan makes the same suggestion, but in a totally opposite way. He deceives a person to consider as friends those who will harm him and draw him into evil. Despite clear evidences that a person is ill-intentioned, satan has an explanation for them all and so prevents the deceived individual from seeing the true nature of others' intentions. Satan presents some insignificant details and inflates them, making the deceived person believe that the other's intentions are actually benevolent.
Satan uses these tactics in every matter a person must deal in daily life. As a result, someone he has urged into evil is drawn into ever-greater error and prevented from avoiding the evils he has become immersed in. In reality, however, satan has become a close friend of this deceived person and drawn him closer to his own religious ideas and moral qualities. About this matter, the Qur'an says:
If someone shuts his eyes to the remembrance of the All-Merciful, We assign him a satan who becomes his bosom friend. They debar them from the path, yet they still think they are guided. (Surat az-Zukhruf: 36-37)
He uses insidious methods and urges people to
be sly
To divert people from the right path and draw them into Hell with him, one of the most important tactics that satan resorts to is insidiousness—one of the most indispensable methods that he uses in his pitiless struggle against human beings. If he invited people to join him by revealing his true intentions, he wouldn't be successful. If he admitted how much he hates human beings and has been their enemy since the beginning of their history, how hard he has tried to deceive them and drag them with himself into the eternal pangs of Hell, then people would certainly beware of him and be saved from falling into his traps. For this reason, satan tries to mislead them by using lies, insincerity and deceitful tricks. He avoids acting in any way that would make them think that he is their enemy. He may even not openly suggest that they follow him, practice unseemly morality, do harm to themselves and others—and every time they have to choose between good and evil, that they act on the side of evil. In fact, these suggestions actually sum up satan's final goal. He always presents these actions to people as goodness, beauty and truth. He insinuates himself into their lives with methods of persuasion and sly cunning.
The Qur'an tells us that satan himself has spoken of this; that he will not approach people openly, but lies in ambush for them:
He [satan] said, "By Your misguidance of me, I will lie in ambush for them on your straight path. Then I will come at them, from in front of them and behind them, from their right and from their left. You will not find most of them thankful." (Surat al-A'raf: 16-17)
Satan has no direct influence on human beings, and so resorts to insidious methods to present people what is wrong as right and good as evil. In order to deceive, he gilds his words and tells them that the wrongs they commit are attractive and becoming. In the same way, he tries to make them foreswear habits that are good and beneficial by depicting them as unseemly. He makes attractive promises to them with regard to this earthly life, giving them groundless apprehensions about what is right. He tries to make the simplest things complicated and intractable and suggests that Allah's commands are difficult to keep. He makes them believe that worldly gain is easy and close at hand, but that the benefits of the next world are allegedly remote, imaginary promises. He observes human beings at every moment, watching for their deficiencies. He tries to catch them at their weak points and make them fall into his trap. He always promotes evil, wanting them to imitate him by adopting it. He sets his snares with all these suggestions, in unexpected ways and at unexpected times.
At times he makes open suggestions; most often he makes himself appear as a real friend to someone, as if he wanted the best for that person. Those deceived by satan's various lies gradually fall into error and depart from the true path. Having made friends with satan, they think that their unseemly moral behavior and attitudes do not matter, and so they persist in them.
One principle of this silent language that satan uses to call people to his own morality is that: Evil committed must be expertly concealed. This secret religion that satan teaches those under his influence to practice is based on the principle of never being found out. These people do not openly display unseemly moral qualities, but conceal them behind many intricate details. This system is very insidious; those who use this secret language can express themselves in a perfectly understandable way, but give no evidence of their evil intentions.
This silent language easily lets its users to recognize others who practice the same satanic morality. They know all the subtleties of the dialect they use; when they see the same "vocabulary" in others, they know that they are under the same satanic influence. Knowing this gives them the courage to practice their wayward morality unhesitatingly in the presence of these others, without feeling the need to hide it. They can show their true faces to those with whom they share a common understanding, but they keep their faces hidden in the presence of others.
The principle of not getting caught is designed to shroud the consciences of those who speak evil's silent language. Those to whom satan has taught this language have instilled in them the idea that for a person to be morally good, it is enough that he not do evil openly. For this reason, some people who speak this language shroud their consciences, care nothing about showing unseemly moral behavior, and go on practicing the insidious methods of this silent language. People around them cannot detect this evil morality, which is based on so many subtle details—and this permits them to see themselves as blameless in this matter.
Allah, the only ruler of everything on Earth, knows His creatures very well and the way of life that suits them best. Allah has created human beings to be happy and content, but only if they believe and practice the moral teachings of the Qur'an. "... Only in the remembrance of Allah can the heart find peace." (Surat ar-Ra'd: 28)
This truth is written in the Qur'an and applies to all human beings without exception. A person can live a good life in this world only if he draws near to the Lord Who created him and lives a life to gain His love and approval. Allah tells us in the Qur'an to use as our guide the nature He has created in us:
So set your face firmly towards the religion, as a pure natural believer, Allah's natural pattern on which He made humanity... (Surat ar-Rum: 30)
If they do not live their lives according to their nature and do not adopt this moral understanding, people will lead lives of anxious discontent. They won't be able to derive pleasure from the countless blessings that Allah has bestowed on humanity and will not be aware of the beauty surrounding them. As the Qur'an says, they will lead lives filled with difficulties: "But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life will be a dark and narrow one and on the Day of Resurrection We will gather him blind." (Surah Ta-Ha: 124) They will be easily overcome by sadness, uneasiness, hopelessness and pessimism, and can find no solution to the problems they live with. Yet when they realize the situation they're in, they cannot find the source of the anxiety that dominates their lives nor how to find a remedy for it. The basis of this difficulty confronting individuals is the work of satan, the basic source of all evil. One of the methods he uses against human beings is to debase themselves, because satan knows that humans can be happy only if they live according to their human nature. So, by making them adopt a moral understanding and lifestyle contrary to their nature, he can bar them from happiness. Again, his own insidious methods lead people into error and prevent them from escaping from the traps they have fallen into. By calling them to practice a morality contrary to their nature, he makes false promises of happiness. According to the Qur'an, satan boasts that:
I will lead them astray and fill them with false hopes. I will command them and they will cut off cattle's ears. I will command them and they will change Allah's creation." Anyone who takes satan as his protector in place of Allah has clearly lost everything. (Surat an-Nisa': 119)
All these truths that Allah reveals in the Qur'an make it clear that human beings can be happy only if they live according to the moral teachings of the Qur'an and return to the nature that Allah has created in them. Otherwise—as we shall detail in due course—satan will draw a person not only into unhappiness in this world, but into suffering that will last for eternity.
He tries to deceive people by using the name
of Allah
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