Satanic Tactics: Satan’s Goal

Walking the path to Allah is a type of war and its battlefield is the heart. To win, we must strengthen our army – our soul, and weaken the enemy – our lower-self and the devil. This is the sixth in a series of articles on Satanic Tricks: Seven Tricks of the Devil.

Allah says:

وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ حَبَّبَ إِلَیۡكُمُ ٱلۡإِیمَـٰنَ وَزَیَّنَهُۥ فِی قُلُوبِكُمۡ وَكَرَّهَ إِلَیۡكُمُ ٱلۡكُفۡرَ وَٱلۡفُسُوقَ وَٱلۡعِصۡیَانَۚ أُو۟لَـٰۤىِٕكَ هُمُ ٱلرَّ ٰشِدُونَ

“But rather Allah has made faith beloved to you, and fair in your hearts; And made hateful to you thankless unbelief, sin, and rebelliousness. Those are the rightly guided.” [Quran, 49:7; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

O Allah, make faith beloved to us and make it adorned in our hearts. Make it beautiful in our hearts, and make undesirable to us disbelief, corruption, and sin.

Satan’s goal is the opposite. One of the followers (tabi’un) said that the reason why he does not mention above is because no one can come between you and the mercy of Allah. The reason why he does not mention below is because humility is one of the greatest ways to access that mercy. The further you put yourself down, the more Allah will raise you. As the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) reportedly said, “Whoever lowers themselves for the sake of Allah, Allah will raise them.” 

Allah says:

إِنَّ عِبَادِی لَیۡسَ لَكَ عَلَیۡهِمۡ سُلۡطَـٰنٌ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلۡغَاوِینَ

“‘Verily My servants, not the slightest sovereign authority shall you have over them; But only over those who gladly follow you, of those gone thoroughly foul.” [Quran, 15:42; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

Those who embrace the slavehood of Allah are protected from Satan.

There are many different verses of other things that Satan intends or sub-goals that he uses his tactics to achieve.

Allah says:

وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَـَٔامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ ءَاذَانَ ٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ وَلَـَٔامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنَ وَلِيًّۭا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًۭا مُّبِينًۭا

“‘And I swear to lead them astray, and fill them with disastrous empty hopes, and bid them crop the ears of livestock camels in consecration to idols, and command them to deform the creation of Allah.’ And whosoever takes the Devil as his strong protecting friend short of Allah, has lost everything in clear cut ruin.” [Quran, 4:119; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

Mistreatment of animals is also mentioned in the verse. Slitting the ears of cattle was a practice the Arabs did that was later prohibited. The scholars mentioned that part of the altering of Allah’s creation is tattoos and the like. Some mentioned that it means the religion of Allah.

Allah says:

لَّعَنَهُ ٱللَّهُ ۘ وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًۭا مَّفْرُوضًۭا

“Whom Allah has cursed, and who has sworn in reply, ‘I will certainly take of Your slaves a share I have set as mine!” [Quran, 4:118; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

Examples of baseless hopes are “Oh, I’ll live forever. I can do it later. Allah will still forgive me.” There are many different sub-things that Satan aims to do. His goal is to take us as far away from Allah as possible. 

Refuge in Allah

There are a few things that Satan does not affect. First is that he does not affect your actions. He cannot force you to do anything and he does not know what is in your heart. Second, his only tool is a call, an invitation. The more that we embrace our slavehood to Allah, the more we apply humility and the qualities of a slave, and the more that we are within the mercy of Allah and protected from Satan.

Think about a man who is invited to the household of a king for a feast and who comes to the door, but there is a dog at the door barking and growling. If the man were to take and try to repel the dog by throwing rocks at it or chasing it away, the dog would not desist, and he’d miss out on the feast. Rather, the man should call the owner of the house to come take care of his dog. 

The owner of the house is Allah. The house is paradise. The feast is paradise and the dog is Satan. Ask the owner of the house to help. Seek refuge in Allah.