7 Tactics of Satan by Ibn al-Qayyim to Misguide Humans New

The Seven Tactics of Satan: Ibn al-Qayyim’s Warning to Humanity

Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him (d. 751 AH), mentioned seven tricks or tactics of Satan through which he attempts to deceive humans and lead them astray from the straight path. Satan does not move to the second tactic unless he fails to misguide a person with the first one. These seven tactics are as follows:

(1) Satan’s First Tactic:

This is the tactic of Kufr (disbelief). It is the weapon of denial and disbelief in Allah the Almighty, His religion, the Barzakh (the life in the grave), the Day of Resurrection, His perfect attributes, and the commandments conveyed by His messengers. If Satan defeats a person with this tactic, the fire of his enmity cools down and he finds rest. However, if a person overcomes this tactic and attains the light of faith, Satan attempts to deceive him with the second tactic.

(2) Satan’s Second Tactic:

This is the tactic of Bid’ah (innovation). He misguides the person (doctrinally) towards false beliefs that are not part of the religion at all, or (practically) pushes him towards ritualistic acts of worship that the Lawgiver never commanded and which are not acceptable to Allah the Almighty. If a person surpasses this tactic as well, attains salvation through the light of the Sunnah, and remains steadfast on the path of those who follow the methodology of the noble Companions and the great Tabi’in, then the (common) people of later generations will not tolerate his adherence to this methodology. Even if they do tolerate it, the innovators will continue to lay traps of deception for him and keep accusing him of being an innovator and misguided.

(3) Satan’s Third Tactic:

This is the tactic of major sins. If Satan defeats a person with this tactic, he beautifies and makes the major sin attractive in his eyes, and continuously gives him excuses (whispers) to delay his repentance. But if, by the grace of Allah or through sincere repentance, a person escapes this tactic, Satan then uses his fourth weapon against him.

(4) Satan’s Fourth Tactic:

This is the tactic of minor sins. Satan constantly incites him to commit minor sins and whispers to him that since he is free from major sins, what difference do minor sins make? Or he tells him that abandoning major sins and performing other good deeds act as an expiation, erasing all these minor sins. In this way, he keeps inclining him towards minor sins until the person, by persisting in these minor sins, ends up falling into a major sin. And when he realizes the major sin, he feels remorse, and then by repenting, returns to a better state than before. Because sometimes, persisting in a minor sin is worse than committing a major sin (once). Therefore, no major sin remains after repentance and seeking forgiveness, and a minor sin that is committed repeatedly does not remain a minor sin but becomes a major sin. It is narrated from the Noble Prophet ﷺ that he said:

“Beware of minor sins.” Then the Prophet ﷺ gave the example of a group of people who camped in a place and needed wood. Then, each one of them kept bringing a piece of wood until they gathered a large amount of wood, then they lit a fire and baked their bread.

Similarly, minor sins keep accumulating in a servant’s record of deeds, and he continues to consider them insignificant and trivial until they (turn into major sins and) destroy him.

(5) Satan’s Fifth Tactic:

This is the tactic of permissible (Mubah) acts. This is the tactic involving lawful deeds in which there is no harm in doing them, but Satan preoccupies the person so much with these activities that he finds less time to do good deeds and prepare for the Hereafter. Thus, Satan keeps giving him false hope (that he is certainly not committing any sin). In this manner, he misguides him from these acts towards minor sins, and then towards major sins. Then he incites him to abandon the Sunnah, and then to abandon obligatory duties. Thus, the person falls into a great loss. If he understood that performing good deeds would bring him immense benefit, he would not waste his time, but he does not realize its value. If he attains salvation from this tactic, understands the importance of good deeds, and tries to increase them, Satan attempts to lead him to the sixth tactic.

(6) Satan’s Sixth Tactic:

This is the tactic of deeds with lesser virtue and those that are outweighed (Marjuh – i.e., inferior). Thus, Satan commands a person to perform deeds that are outwardly good, but (they are outweighed or rare deeds) because, in reality, there are better, superior, and more preferred deeds available. He presents these lesser deeds as beautiful and attractive in the eyes of the person, highlighting their virtues and benefits, in order to busy the person with them and prevent him from deeds that are superior, more fruitful, and of a higher rank. Because when Satan fails to deprive a person of the core reward, he tries to deprive him of the perfection of the reward, additional virtue, and elevated ranks. Therefore, he entangles the person so much in inferior matters that he diverts him from acts of high virtue to acts of lesser virtue, from deeds of high importance to deeds of lesser importance, and preoccupies him with things that are less beloved to Allah instead of things that are more beloved to Him.

The question arises: where are the people who manage to pass through this sixth tactic? Such people are very few in the world, because most people have already fallen into Satan’s trap in the previously mentioned five tactics. Therefore, if someone escapes this tactic by recognizing the ranks of deeds, their levels in the sight of Allah, recognizing their virtues, distinguishing between the superior and the inferior, separating the preferred from the outweighed, and understanding the sovereign and the subordinate, the master and the subject among every deed, then this is a great success. Because even in actions and words, there are major and minor, high and low ranks, as it has been stated in an authentic Hadith: “The master of seeking forgiveness (Sayyid al-Istighfar) is for the servant to say: ‘O Allah! You are my Lord, there is no deity worthy of worship but You…'” Furthermore, it is mentioned in a tradition (Athar) that “deeds began to boast to one another”, so every deed’s status and rank is distinct. Thus, only those people escape this tactic who possess deep insight and are true scholars, who, walking upon the path of divine guidance, give every deed its due right and place it in its appropriate position.

(7) Satan’s Seventh Tactic:

If a person manages to escape these aforementioned six tactics, Satan is left with only one path from which he inevitably attacks. If it were possible for anyone to be saved from this, the Prophets and Messengers, peace be upon them, would surely have been saved from it. This tactic is essentially Satan unleashing his army upon people, who attempt to inflict all kinds of physical, verbal, and emotional (heartfelt) harm upon the person. These afflictions increase in accordance with the person’s rank in goodness: the higher the status, the more Satan gathers his entire army (human-like devils) and attacks, turning his allies and even the person’s close ones against him. There is no strategy to avoid this tactic, because the more a person strives in steadfastness, inviting to the truth, and elevating the religion of Allah, the more Satan incites the ignorant against him. In this stage, a person is in the line of fire, engaged in a battle in the path of Allah against the enemies of the Divine.

These are the seven tactics that Satan uses to misguide humans from the straight path.

[مدارج السالكين – ط الكتاب العربي (٢٤٠-١/٢٣٧)، بتصرف]

نسأل الله أن يُعيذنا وإيـاكم من كيد الشيطان .