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1,001 Sayings and Deeds of the Prophet
Satan, Devils and the Jinn
Remember the Urinator?
Narrated Abdullah:
It was mentioned before the Prophet that there was a man who slept the night till morning (after sunrise).
The Prophet said, "He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated."
Bukhari 54.492
If a donkey's braying wakes you up during the night and you feel a moist warmth in your ears, chances are that Satan has paid you a visit.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "When you hear the crowing of cocks, ask for Allah's Blessings for (their crowing indicates that) they have seen an angel. And when you hear the braying of donkeys, seek Refuge with Allah from Satan for (their braying indicates) that they have seen a Satan."
Bukhari 54.522
Then again, Satan may have been keeping you company all night and you were not aware of it.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "If anyone of you rouses from sleep and performs the ablution, he should wash his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out thrice, because Satan has stayed in the upper part of his nose all the night."
Bukhari 54.516
A single sneeze may contain over 100,000 germ-filled droplets travelling at up to 100 miles an hour. A sneeze in a large crowd can easily infect 150 people in 5 minutes; a yawn, on the other hand, is quite harmless germ-wise. You would think a sneeze would be something that Satan would cause and that Allah would abhor.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "Allah likes sneezing and dislikes yawning, so if someone sneezes and then praises Allah, then it is obligatory on every Muslim who heard him, to say: May Allah be merciful to you (Yar-hamuka-l-lah). But as regards yawning, it is from Satan, so one must try one's best to stop it, if one says 'Ha' when yawning, Satan will laugh at him."
Bukhari 73.242
At the risk of spoiling the mood; how to protect the child you might conceive from Satan.
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
The Prophet said, "If anyone of you, when having sexual relation with his wife, say: 'In the name of Allah. O Allah! Protect us from Satan and prevent Satan from approaching our offspring you are going to give us,' and if he begets a child (as a result of that relation) Satan will not harm it."
Bukhari 54.493
Protecting your unborn child from Satan by invoking Allah’s protection will not stop Satan from laying his two fingers on the infant with one exception.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "When any human being is born. Satan touches him at both sides of the body with his two fingers, except Jesus, the son of Mary, whom Satan tried to touch but failed, for he touched the placenta-cover instead."
Bukhari 54.506
Satan may be the cause of your anger, unless you are mad.
Narrated Sulaiman bin Surd:
While I was sitting in the company of the Prophet, two men abused each other and the face of one of them became red with anger, and his jugular veins swelled (i.e. he became furious).
On that the Prophet said, "I know a word, the saying of which will cause him to relax, if he does say it. If he says: 'I seek Refuge with Allah from Satan then all his anger will go away.'"
Somebody said to him, "The Prophet has said, 'Seek refuge with Allah from Satan."'
The angry man said, "Am I mad?"
Bukhari 54.502
Can’t you see I am insane? Go away.
Narrated Sulaiman bin Surad:
A man from the companions of the Prophet said, "Two men abused each other in front of the Prophet and one of them became angry and his anger became so intense that his face became swollen and changed.
The Prophet said, "I know a word the saying of which will cause him to relax if he does say it."
Then a man went to him and informed him of the statement of the Prophet and said, "Seek refuge with Allah from Satan."
On that, angry man said, 'Do you find anything wrong with me? Am I insane. Go away!"
Bukhari 73.74
Muhammad stopped to explain Satan's omnipresence when he was spotted with his eleventh wife out in the open, and suspected that the two men who witnessed them might have thought they were not married.
Narrated Safiya bint Huyai:
The wife of the Prophet [said] that she went to Allah's Apostle while he was in Itikaf (staying in the mosque) during the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan. She spoke to him for an hour (a while) at night and then she got up to return home. The Prophet got up to accompany her, and when they reached the gate of the mosque opposite the dwelling place of Um Salama, the wife of the Prophet, two Ansari men passed by, and greeting Allah's Apostle, they quickly went ahead.
Allah's Apostle said to them, "Do not be in a hurry, she is Safiya, the daughter of Huyai."
They said, "Subhan Allah (Glorious is God)! O Allah's Apostle (how dare we suspect you)."
That was a great thing for both of them.
The Prophet then said, "Satan runs in the body of Adam's son (i.e. man) as his blood circulates in it, and I was afraid that he (Satan) might insert an evil thought in your hearts."
Bukhari 73.238
Satan, an absolute liar who told the truth! Is it conceivable that Muhammad had heard of Epimenides of Crete who said, “All Cretans are liars,” from whom we get the infamous Liar Paradox?
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle deputed me to keep Sadaqat (al-Fitr) of Ramadan. A comer came and started taking handfuls of the foodstuff (of the Sadaqa) (stealthily). I took hold of him and said, "By Allah, I will take you to Allah's Apostle."
He said, "I am needy and have many dependents, and I am in great need."
I released him, and in the morning Allah's Apostle asked me, "What did your prisoner do yesterday?"
I said, "O Allah's Apostle! The person complained of being needy and of having many dependents, so, I pitied him and let him go."
Allah's Apostle said, "Indeed, he told you a lie and he will be coming again."
I believed that he would show up again as Allah's Apostle had told me that he would return. So, I waited for him watchfully. When he (showed up and) started stealing handfuls of foodstuff, I caught hold of him again and said, "I will definitely take you to Allah's Apostle."
He said, "Leave me, for I am very needy and have many dependents. I promise I will not come back again."
I pitied him and let him go. In the morning Allah's Apostle asked me, "What did your prisoner do?"
I replied, "O Allah's Apostle! He complained of his great need and of too many dependents, so I took pity on him and set him free."
Allah's Apostle said, "Verily, he told you a lie and he will return."
I waited for him attentively for the third time, and when he (came and) started stealing handfuls of the foodstuff, I caught hold of him and said, "I will surely take you to Allah's Apostle as it is the third time you promise not to return, yet you break your promise and come."
He said, "(Forgive me and) I will teach you some words with which Allah will benefit you."
I asked, "What are they?"
He replied, "Whenever you go to bed, recite "Ayat al-Kursi" - 'Allahu la ilaha illa huwa-l-Haiy-ul Qaiyum' (Allah — there is no God but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining) till you finish the whole verse. (If you do so), Allah will appoint a guard for you who will stay with you and no satan will come near you till morning."
So, I released him. In the morning, Allah's Apostle asked, "What did your prisoner do yesterday?"
I replied, "He claimed that he would teach me some words by which Allah will benefit me, so I let him go."
Allah's Apostle asked, "What are they?"
I replied, "He said to me, 'Whenever you go to bed, recite Ayat al-Kursi from the beginning to the end - Allahu la ilaha illa huwa-lHaiy-ul-Qaiyum.' He further said to me, '(If you do so), Allah will appoint a guard for you who will stay with you, and no satan will come near you till morning.'"
The Prophet said, "He really spoke the truth, although he is an absolute liar. Do you know whom you were talking to, these three nights, O Abu Huraira?"
Abu Huraira said, "No."
He said, "It was Satan."
Bukhari 38.505
Satan is not afraid to ask the big question, but you should be.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "Satan comes to one of you and says, 'Who created so-and-so?' till he says, 'Who has created your Lord?' So, when he inspires such a question, one should seek refuge with Allah and give up such thoughts."
Bukhari 54.496
Satan has been known to interfere in battles on the side of pagans.
Narrated Aisha:
On the day (of the battle) of Uhud when the pagans were defeated, Satan shouted, "O slaves of Allah! Beware of the forces at your back," and on that the Muslims of the front files fought with the Muslims of the back files (thinking they were pagans) ...
Bukhari 54.510
If you see a person talking to himself, it may not be that he is speaking into one of those hands-free cellphones, but rather seeking protection from Satan.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "If one says one-hundred times in one day: 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the Alone Who has no partners, to Him belongs Dominion and to Him belong all the Praises, and He has power over all things (i.e. Omnipotent)', one will get the reward of manumitting ten slaves, and one-hundred good deeds will be written in his account, and one-hundred bad deeds will be wiped off or erased from his account, and on that day he will be protected from the morning till evening from Satan, and nobody will be superior to him except one who has done more than that which he has done."
Bukhari 54.514
Earlier on, people were not afraid to express doubts as to the identity of the invisible friend with whom Muhammad met on a regular basis.
Narrated Jundub bin Sufyan:
Once Allah's Apostle became sick and could not offer his night prayer (Tahajjud) for two or three nights. Then a lady (the wife of Abu Lahab) came and said, "O Muhammad! I think that your Satan has forsaken you, for I have not seen him with you for two or three nights!"
On that Allah revealed: "By the forenoon, and by the night when it darkens, your Lord (O Muhammad) has neither forsaken you, nor hated you." (93:1-3)
Bukhari 60.475
Asking Allah to disgrace a drunk is only making Satan’s job easier.
Narrated Abu Salama:
Abu Huraira said, "A man who drank wine was brought to the Prophet. The Prophet said, 'Beat him!'"
Abu Huraira added, "So some of us beat him with our hands, and some with their shoes, and some with their garments (by twisting it) like a lash, and then when we finished, someone said to him, 'May Allah disgrace you!'
On that the Prophet said, 'Do not say so, for you are helping Satan to overpower him.'"
Bukhari 81.768
Is it Satan, a devil or a Jinn? Satan, like the modern vampire, does not let himself in unless you leave the door open.
Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah:
Allah's Apostle said, "When night falls (or when it is evening), stop your children from going out, for the devils spread out at that time. But when an hour of the night has passed, release them and close the doors and mention Allah's Name, for Satan does not open a closed door. Tie the mouth of your water-skin and mention Allah's Name; cover your containers and utensils and mention Allah's Name. Cover them even by placing something across it, and extinguish your lamps."
Bukhari 69.527
Satan may behave like a devil, but a devil he is not. The same cannot be said of the Jinn, a creature from the Koran from which we get the caricature of the genie. Could the Jinn and devils be one and the same? Devils are always bad, Jinns are sometimes good; some even became Muslims after hearing Muhammad recite verses from the Koran.
72:1 Say (Muhammad): “It was revealed to me that a company of jinn listened; then they said: ‘We have indeed heard a wonderful Qur’an;
72:2 ‘“It guides to rectitude; so we believed in it, and we shall never associate anyone with our Lord;
Would it make any sense to chain Muslims, even if they be Jinns, during the month of Ramadan?
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Apostle said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained."
Bukhari 31.123
In the Koran, it is the Jinn who eavesdrop on Allah’s conversations with His angels.
72:8 ‘“And that we reached out to heaven, but we found it filled with mighty guards and comets;
72:9 ‘“And that we used to sit around it eavesdropping; but whoever listens now will find a comet in wait for him;
In the hadiths, it is mostly the devils, unless they are one of the same.
Narrated Aisha:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The angels descend the clouds and mention this or that matter decreed in the Heaven. The devils listen stealthily to such a matter, come down to inspire the soothsayers with it, and the latter would add to it one-hundred lies of their own."
Bukhari 54.432
In a hadith, the devil closest to the first level of Paradise hears whatever was being discussed and passes it down to other devils stacked beneath him all the way to the surface of the Earth. In the following account about stacked devils, Muhammad is assisted by a fellow by the name of Sufyan who illustrates how it all works.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "When Allah has ordained some affair in the Heaven, the angels beat with their wings in obedience to His statement, which sounds like a chain dragged over a rock.
Until when fear is banished from their (angels) hearts, the (angels) say, 'What was it that your Lord said?' They say, 'The truth; And He is the Most High, the Most Great.' (34:23) Then those who gain a hearing by stealing (i.e. devils) will hear Allah's Statement: 'Those who gain a hearing by stealing, (stand one over the other like this)'.
(Sufyan, to illustrate this, spread the fingers of his right hand and placed them one over the other horizontally.)
A flame may overtake and burn the eavesdropper before conveying the news to the one below him; or it may not overtake him till he has conveyed it to the one below him, who in his turn, conveys it to the one below him, and so on till they convey the news to the earth.
(Or probably Sufyan said, "Till the news reaches the earth.")
Then the news is inspired to a sorcerer who would add a hundred lies to it. His prophecy will prove true (as far as the heavenly news is concerned).
The people will say. 'Didn't he tell us that on such-and-such a day, such-and-such a thing will happen? We have found that [it] is true because of the true news heard from heaven.'"
Bukhari 60.223
So which is it? Who are the snitches who inform the soothsayers about Allah's private conversations with His angels? Is it the devils or the Jinn?
Narrated Aisha:
The Prophet said, "While the angels talk amidst the clouds about things that are going to happen on earth, the devils hear a word of what they say and pour it in the ears of a soothsayer as one pours something in a bottle, and they add one hundred lies to that (one word)."
Bukhari 54.508
Narrated Aisha:
Some people asked the Prophet regarding the soothsayers. He said, "They are nothing."
They said, "O Allah's Apostle! Some of their talks come true."
The Prophet said, "That word which happens to be true is what a Jinn snatches away by stealth (from the Heaven) and pours it in the ears of his friend (the foreteller) with a sound like the cackling of a hen. The soothsayers then mix with that word, one hundred lies."
Bukhari 93.650
Maybe you should just worry about the rat.
Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah:
The Prophet said, "Cover your utensils and tie your water skins, and close your doors and keep your children close to you at night, as the Jinns spread out at such time and snatch things away. When you go to bed, put out your lights, for the mischief-doer (i.e. the rat) may drag away the wick of the candle and burn the dwellers of the house."
Ata said, "The devils." (instead of the Jinns).
Bukhari 54.533
When you can let your children out of the house after nightfall.
Narrated Jabir:
The Prophet said, "When night falls, then keep your children close to you, for the devil spread out then. An hour later you can let them free; and close the gates of your house (at night), and mention Allah's Name thereupon, and cover your utensils, and mention Allah's Name thereupon, (and if you don't have something to cover your utensil) you may put across it something (e.g. a piece of wood etc.)."
Bukhari 54.500
Muhammad sought refuge from the devils and the evil eye (“a malevolent look that many cultures believe able to cause injury or misfortune for the person at whom it is directed.”Wiki) for his grandsons in an age where devils were everywhere, and the evil eye was a fact of life.
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "The effect of an evil eye (a malevolent look that many cultures believe able to cause injury or misfortune for the person at whom it is directed Wiki) is a fact."
Bukhari 71.636
Narrated Ibn 'Abbas:
The Prophet used to seek Refuge with Allah for Al-Hasan and Al-Husain and say: "Your forefather (i.e. Abraham) used to seek Refuge with Allah for Ishmael and Isaac by reciting the following: 'O Allah! I seek Refuge with Your Perfect Words from every devil and from poisonous pests and from every evil, harmful, envious eye.' "
Bukhari 55.590
When he answered the call of nature in an enclosed space, it is from the Jinn that Muhammad sought refuge with Allah.
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Whenever the Prophet went to the lavatory, he used to say: "Allahumma Inni a'udhu bika mina-lkhubthi Wal khaba'ith (O Allah, I seek refuge in you from the male female evil and the Jinn)."
Bukhari 75.334
Is it possible that devils and Jinns would eat the same crud?
Narrated Abu Huraira:
That once he was in the, company of the Prophet carrying a water pot for his ablution and for cleaning his private parts. While he was following him carrying it (i.e. the pot), the Prophet said, "Who is this?"
He said, "I am Abu Huraira."
The Prophet said, "Bring me stones in order to clean my private parts, and do not bring any bones or animal dung."
Abu Huraira went on narrating: So I brought some stones, carrying them in the corner of my robe till I put them by his side and went away. When he finished, I walked with him and asked, "What about the bone and the animal dung?"
He said, "They are of the food of Jinns. The delegate of Jinns of (the city of) Nasibin came to me – and how nice those Jinns were – and asked me for the remains of the human food. I invoked Allah for them that they would never pass by a bone or animal dung but find food on them."
Bukhari 58.200
Jinns, like humankind, will die and be resurrected on Judgement Day. Can the same be said of devils?
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet said, "A strong demon from the Jinns came to me yesterday suddenly, so as to spoil my prayer, but Allah enabled me to overpower him, and so I caught him and intended to tie him to one of the pillars of the Mosque so that all of you might see him, but I remembered the invocation of my brother Solomon: 'And grant me a kingdom such as shall not belong to any other after me.' (38:35) so I let him go cursed."
Bukhari 55.634
Jinns, like man, will die and be resurrected on Judgement Day. Can the same be said of devils?
Narrated Ibn Abbas:
The Prophet used to say, "I seek refuge (with YOU) by Your Izzat, None has the right to be worshipped but You Who does not die while the Jinns and the human beings die."
Bukhari 93.480