The Mad Scientist

Imagine this mad scientist who loves to torture small animals. One sunny morning, he picks up a hitchhiking bullfrog, his new victim, from the roadside. He brings some water to boil in a tin tank and then drops the frog in it. But the frog is too smart for him; it jumps right out and away it hops.

Now for plan B. He takes a container of plain water at room temperature and fixes it on top of a Bunsen burner. Now he drops the frog in the cool and comforting water, and the frog croaks out thanks, too happy to notice the evil expression on his face. Very, very slowly, our serial killer increases the temperature of the water.

While the frog is happily dreaming about the fat fly it had for lunch, the water reaches a threatening 80 degrees Centigrade. And by the time the frog is aware of what’s happening, it’s almost ready for the stew. Ten minutes later, the mad scientist is seen enjoying his greenish (pun intended) lunch, cackling all the time.

Before you get too distressed over the poor creature’s fate, let me tell you that the story is mythical and has little resemblance to reality. Frogs are springy creatures; they don’t just sit in water for hours. Anyway, let’s just extract the lesson from the story for our purpose – if someone who pretends to be our friend leads us to fall into a trap slow and steady enough, we are prone to yield in spite of ourselves.

How Satan Pokes at You

Now we come to the real-life mad scientist who loves to experiment with human beings. Like our fictional scientist, he goes about it with incredible patience and perseverance. He pretends to be our best friend and comforter, while slowly inching the knife behind our backs.

Allah mentions how Satan deceived Adam and Hawa:

So he made them fall [dalla]…. (7:22)

Dalla, according to Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan, founder of the world-famous Bayyinah Institute, denotes the very slow pulling up of a bucket out of a well. He also mentions that Satan’s giving us waswasa means that he continually whispers and leaves, whispers and leaves.

Mad-scientist formula for successful stabbing-in-the-back. And it works. It worked on Adam. We know what he prodded him and Hawa to do – eat from the forbidden tree. And now we also know how Satan made them do it – by whispering continually for a long, long time.

Satan’s Real Objective

Satan’s goal wasn’t just to make them eat the forbidden fruit. It was:

…to them to make apparent to them that which was concealed from them of their private parts. (7:20)

Satan’s goal is to make us lose our sense of shame, dress shorter and shorter, cross boundaries with the opposite sex, send that Facebook message, go to meet that “brother”, browse through photos of that “sister”… and slowly lead us towards the forbidden tree.

It’s interesting that Allah uses the same command, laa taqrab (don’t go near), for forbidding Adam from the tree and forbidding us from fornication.

“Satan saw something more than just a fruit,” says Ustadh Nouman.

“He had a particular agenda…. When human beings expose themselves to each other, outside the command of Allah [outside marriage], then that is, in fact, the ultimate ugliness…. There is a goodness inside you that dies…. [Satan] is going to exploit the physical beauty of human beings to make the inner beauty of human beings ugly. That’s his goal.”

How to Defeat Satan

Step 1: Keep your eyes on the thermometer.

Ponder on the ways Satan tries to lead you on, and what he wants to achieve with you. Think long and hard about your own life – is the water-temperature increasing unawares?

If so, put a stop to his maneuvers immediately, because the water may come to boil any second now and you may die as Satan’s follower. Along with repentance and istighfar, make a lot of du’a for spiritual strength to cope with withdrawal symptoms.

Allah taught Adam this prayer:

Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and have mercy upon us, we will surely be among the losers. (7:23)

You and I will slip from time to time, no doubt, because we’re children of Adam and, as the Prophet Muhammad said:

Every son of Adam commits sin, and the best of those who commit sin are those who repent. (At-Tirmidhi)

The key is to keep praying to Allah for forgiveness incessantly and each day take one step up towards reaching our best potential.

Step 2: Counteract misguidance with guidance.

Allah promised Adam:

… when guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance – there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. (2:38)

Guidance, to the nation of Muslims, means the Quran and by extension the teachings of our Prophet. It lights up the heart and sharpens our insight; it provides us with infrared Satan-detection goggles, so that we can see Satan’s traps clearly. It motivates us and boosts us up for the life-time battle, and counteracts his negative whispers with positive thoughts.

So, for example, when Satan tries to tell us to spend into that haram business, the Quran fortifies us with:

“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.” (2:268)

And when he tries to make us scared of him and his stooges, Allah advises us:

That is only Satan who frightens [you] of his supporters. So fear them not, but fear Me, if you are [indeed] believers. (3:175)

In Summary

The battle between Satan and Adam’s children will continue incessantly until the Day of Judgment. So let’s keep our thermometers always vigilant, and be ready with istighfar for the times whenever he catches us unawares.

Let the guidance of the Quran be constantly present in our hearts, speech, and actions to counteract the misguidance of Satan, and we will have nothing to fear from the mad scientist.