- We have a way that we send our peace
and blessings on the best of Allah's creation,
and then we also have a way of seeking refuge in Allah
from the worst of His creation.
And if you think about the difference between
"Allahumma salli wa sallim 'alaa nabiyyina Muhammad"
and "A'oodhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ar-rajeem",
"I seek protection in Allah
from the accursed devil, the most hated creation of Allah."
Our entire lives manifest this dhikr
by trying to be
as much like
the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam as possible
and trying to be as little as possible
like the Shaytan,
like the accursed devil.
A'oodhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ar-rajeem
Now, one of the things that we take from Isti'aadhah,
which is to seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan
is that it gives us a realization
of who he is, what his tactics are,
and always makes us aware so that as we're putting
up the fortress of the remembrance
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
we are not letting the Shaytan expose any of those gaps.
And so you find various forms of Isti'aadhah,
various forms of seeking refuge in Allah
from the accursed devil.
Not just for ourselves, but even for our loved ones, right?
So you can take every single one
of those forms of Isti'aadhah,
of those forms of seeking protection
from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
and you read them upon your children.
So, "U'eedhukumaa bikalimaat Allahi at-taamah
min kulli shaytaan wa haamah wa min kulli 'aynin laamah."
Or, "U'eedhukuma bikalimaat Allahi at-taamaati
min sharri maa khalaq."
So you could either say, "I seek refuge in Allah
in His perfect word, from every single devil,
from every beast, from every envious, blameworthy eye."
Or you could just say, "I seek refuge
in the Most High from the worst of His creation."
"Min sharri maa khalaq"
And if you look at the way that we put ourselves to sleep
we obviously recite the mu'awwidhatayn on ourselves.
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-falaqi"
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-nasi"
There's a reason why this is the end of the Qur'an,
that we remind ourselves that as much as we can,
get on the straight path and seek Allah's protection,
seek Allah's help
and seek to be like our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.
There's always a possibility of us falling.
That is not to make us despair.
That's to make us diligent.
And so every night we read on ourselves.
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-falaqi"
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-nasi"
And we read upon our loved ones as well.
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-falaqi"
"Qul a'udhu birabbi l-nasi"
And realize that you're not just seeking refuge
from something, but you're seeking refuge
in Allah, constantly.
"birabbi l-falaqi, birabbi l-nasi"
The Lord of people.
Allah is the Lord of you.
Allah is the Lord of me.
Allah is the Lord of the one we hope to be like.
And Allah is the Lord of the one
from whom we seek protection.
So what are we seeking refuge from?
Number one, from becoming like the Shaytan.
We don't want to fall in our religion
to where we start to act like the devil himself.
And ultimately he wants to pull as many people
into hellfire as possible.
Number two, we seek refuge
from the devil's deception and from his tricks.
We seek refuge from his whispers,
from his waswas.
So we ask Allah to remove those waswas.
We seek refuge in Allah from bad thoughts and anxiety,
because obviously the Shaytan wants us to be distracted.
He wants us to be paralyzed
so that we can't move towards Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
We also are taught to seek refuge
in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
when we become consumed with anger.
Remember the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
said that the strong person
is not the one who overcomes their opponents.
The strong person is
"Al-ladhi yammliku nafsahu 'ainda al-ghadhab."
The one who is still in control of themselves
when they are angry.
Now, think about this.
Think about how people say things
and do things in anger that they regret.
And there's this famous hadith
where the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
saw this man who was in a fit of rage.
And Rasulullah SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
did not go up to the man and say,
"A'oodhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ar-rajeem."
He said to the other companions that, "I know something,
If he were to say it, his anger would dissipate."
And they said, "What is it Ya Rasulullah?"
He said "A'oodhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ar-rajeem."
Now the reason why he didn't go up to the man
and say it to him is because once you're in a fit of rage,
you're unable to see yourself anymore,
and unable to really control yourself.
And so here the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
was giving a lesson
to the rest of the companions.
That don't be like that person who's going to be,
as Ali radiAllahu ta'ala Anhu said,
in a state of rage.
And then afterwards, in a state of regret.
Instead, be a person who understands from the very start
that the Shaytan can take the driver's seat,
the Shaytan can take the wheel, and you might say things
and do things that you really don't want to do
in a state of anger.
Just like when you're
in a state of desire and your desires overwhelm you,
Isti'aadah billah.
Seek refuge in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la from the Shaytan.
He wants to make you fall by your desires.
He wants to make you fall by your pride.
The point is, he wants to make you fall.
And we even find from the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
that when we are
in a state of pain,
that the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
taught us to say,
"A'oodhu billahi wa Qudratihi
min sharri ma ajidu wa uhaadhir."
"I seek refuge in Allah and in His Power
from the evil of what I find,
and of what I guard against."
So you remember
that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is the one
who can protect you from the Shaytan.
And you remember that the plot of the Shaytan
at the end of the day
is to really distract you from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
And so you'll find, SubhanAllah, that the words
"Wa-imma yanzaghannaka mina l-shaytani nazghun,"
that if the Shaytan comes to annoy you, to poke, to whisper
that Allah Azawajal uses this in the context
of a person who's about to sin
and in a person who's doing dawah, right?
Because at the end of the day
Shaytan will try to get in the way of that too.
So in dawah, he'll try to get you to be overcome by ego.
He'll try to fracture the community.
And in desire, he will try to bury you in your desire.
And then afterwards, when you regret,
try to bury you in despair.
All of that is to put a barrier
between us and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
individually and collectively,
when we're sinning and when we're doing good deeds.
And so he wants to busy you
with other than Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
And that's why you find that we are taught
that when we are about to read Qur'an,
Ista'idh billah.
That you seek refuge in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
from the Shaytan.
Because Shaytan, who does not want you to connect to Allah,
certainly doesn't want you to read the word
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
and to hear the word of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
And so immediately, when you're going towards your mushaf,
Shaytan panics cause he knows that if you hear Allah,
you won't hear his whispers anymore.
And so he tries to get you to not open the Qur'an
in the first place, to distract you from the Qur'an,
to get you to abandon the Qur'an.
And you say, "A'oodhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ar-rajeem
Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim,"
and he is completely humiliated.
He completely sinks away.
And so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam
taught us what?
When you seek refuge
from the Shaytan, realize that you're seeking refuge
in One who is more powerful than the Shaytan.
And the Ulamah mentioned here
that the best forms of Isti'aadhah are the ones
in which you mention the names
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la as well.
So for example,
"A'oodhu billahi as-Samee' al-'Aleem
min ash-Shaytaan ar-rajeem."
"I seek refuge in Allah, the All Hearing,
and the All-Knowing, from the accursed devil."
And so you remind yourself
of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
And I heard some
of my own teachers actually say that,
especially in a state of anger,
you need to be reminded of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
So say,
"A'oodhu billahi as-Samee' al-'Aleem
min ash-Shaytaan ar-rajeem."
"I seek refuge in Allah,
the All Hearing, the All-Knowing,
from the accursed devil."
And you see, even in the beautiful hadith
of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam,
when he would enter into the masjid and he said,
"A'oodhu billahi al-'Adheem wa bi-Wajhihi al-Kareem
wa Sultanihi al-Qadeem
min ash-Shaytaan ar-rajeem."
"I seek refuge in Allah the Almighty.
And in His Noble Face,
and in His Eternal Domain from the accursed devil."
You're reminding yourself that Allah is so much greater
than the Shaytan,
and that Allah has all power over the Shaytan.
And so you seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan.
Now remember there is evil that is seen.
There is evil that is unseen.
There are shayateen that are jinn.
There are shayateen that are human beings.
There's harm that could be caused intentionally
and sometimes unintentionally.
But the solution is always one,
"A'oodhu bikalimaat Allahi at-taamaati
min sharri maa khalaq."
"I seek refuge in the perfect words
of Allah from the Worst of what he has created."
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