Befriending The Devil: A Tip For The Lazy Human
by Muslim ProWhat’s that 1 ultimate tip for the lazy human? Be unproductive. That’s a surefire way to decrease the proximity between yourself and the devil. You see, because shaytan’s main objective is to influence the downfall of humans; he’s always plotting ways to make you unproductive, and if you’re successfully caught in his trap, that’s a victory for him.
3 Ways The Devil Will Make You Unproductive
1. Hypocrisy
You will start pretending to be what you are not. Neither values will match your behavior, nor will your actions match your intentions. Your deeds will not reflect your faith.
حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ دَاوُدَ أَبُو الرَّبِيعِ، حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْ أَبِي عَامِرٍ أَبُو سُهَيْلٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ “ آيَةُ الْمُنَافِقِ ثَلاَثٌ، إِذَا حَدَّثَ كَذَبَ، وَإِذَا اؤْتُمِنَ خَانَ، وَإِذَا وَعَدَ أَخْلَفَ ”.نُ جَعْفَرٍ، حَدَّثَنَا نَافِعُ بْنُ مَالِكِ بْنِ
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “The signs of a hypocrite are three: Whenever he speaks he tells a lie; whenever he is entrusted he proves dishonest; whenever he promises he breaks his promise.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 2749]
2. Slacking
Your world will revolve around the couch. Unhealthy habits and survival chores will be part of your daily life. You will perform tasks without conviction and delay commitments. Allah might disappear from your thoughts, and God-forbid, paradise from your afterlife.
Even the Prophet ﷺ asked for refuge from laziness.
حَدَّثَنَا مُسَدَّدٌ، حَدَّثَنَا الْمُعْتَمِرُ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبِي قَالَ، سَمِعْتُ أَنَسَ بْنَ مَالِكٍ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ يَقُولُ كَانَ نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ “ اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ، وَالْجُبْنِ وَالْهَرَمِ، وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ عَذَابِ الْقَبْرِ، وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ فِتْنَةِ الْمَحْيَا وَالْمَمَاتِ ”.
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Allah’s Prophet ﷺ used to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge with You from incapacity and laziness, from cowardice and geriatric old age, and seek refuge with You from the punishment of the grave, and I seek refuge with You from the afflictions of life and death.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 6367]
3. Demotivation
You will focus your time and energy on doing nothing. You will start becoming physically and mentally disorganized. You will start questioning your self-worth and aimlessly ponder over the purpose of life.
4 Signs of A Lazy Muslim
As the devil and his hold get stronger, your negative emotions will creep deeper. Lethargy, exhaustion, anger, isolation, and emptiness will amplify and start disrupting your life.
حَدَّثَنِي مُوسَى بْنُ إِسْمَاعِيلَ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الْوَاحِدِ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بُرْدَةَ بْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ، قَالَ سَمِعْتُ أَبَا بُرْدَةَ بْنَ أَبِي مُوسَى، عَنْ أَبِيهِ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم: مَثَلُ الْجَلِيسِ الصَّالِحِ وَالْجَلِيسِ السَّوْءِ كَمَثَلِ صَاحِبِ الْمِسْكِ، وَكِيرِ الْحَدَّادِ، لاَ يَعْدَمُكَ مِنْ صَاحِبِ الْمِسْكِ إِمَّا تَشْتَرِيهِ، أَوْ تَجِدُ رِيحَهُ، وَكِيرُ الْحَدَّادِ يُحْرِقُ بَدَنَكَ أَوْ ثَوْبَكَ أَوْ تَجِدُ مِنْهُ رِيحًا خَبِيثَةً
Narrated Abu Musa:
Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “The example of a good companion (who sits with you) in comparison with a bad one, is like that of the musk seller and the blacksmith’s bellows (or furnace); from the first you would either buy musk or enjoy its good smell while the bellows would either burn your clothes or your house, or you get a bad nasty smell thereof.”
[Sahih al-Bukhari 2101]
1. Neglecting Deen
As the devil whispers and creates a strong foothold in your heart, your bond with Allah will weaken, and your acts of worship will lessen.
2. Stop Making Dua
The devil will encourage you to seek material pleasures, and your hands will raise for everything else except dua.
3. Become Increasingly Impatient
You will demand immediate satisfaction, and your heart will silence the understanding and wisdom that comes with sabr.
4. Submit to The Thought of ‘The Written Destiny‘
You faithfully begin to practice the religion of your friend, the devil, oblivious to the fact that you are giving up on working hard to create your destiny.
If you find yourself drawing close to these signs, congratulations! You are part of the devil squad. If you are too lazy to pat your back, at least you are acknowledging and aware of the company you keep!
Take A Break
Allah says:
وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌ
And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.'”
[Surah Ibrahim 14:7]
Allah also says:
مَنْ عَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُۥ حَيَوٰةً طَيِّبَةً ۖ وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer – We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do.
[Surah Al-Nahl 16:97]
A Friendly Advice
We are not infallible, but Allah is. So if, there was a slight shift in your heart, try to detach yourself from your current companion and befriend your creator, Al-Ghaffar (The Great Forgiver).
You will find with salah, dua, and sabr that He, Ar-Razzaaq (The Provider) has limitless bounties set aside just for you.
Dear brothers and sisters, there are many excuses to befriend the devil. You just need one reason to turn to Allah — faith. He is Al-Aziz (All-Mighty); He gives you 99 reasons to befriend Him.
Jazakallahu Khairan
What is solution for some of our brothers and sisters becomes problem for Muslim imma, Greed, manager action,conflict for personal, apolitical motivation, associations with enemy of ALLAH.
Sometimes I’m practicing then other times I don’t practice. Is this being lazy , unfaithful or un confident in me my religious beliefs
Hi Ami Si
I do not know you. I cannot tell you what the answer is. Only you know deep down what the answer to that question is.
But if you really want my opinion, I think unfaithful/unconfident in your religious beliefs. You maybe think sometimes that god is not present and does not really care? I think this is a common and normal problem.
I advise you to just remember that god is always present and that everything in your reality (including you) is directly sourced from god’s creative generosity and ingenuity, and that not only does god care about you, but also god cares more about you than you do, than any person does, than your parents do. God not only literally created you, but is still currently creating you. Your creation is ongoing, it was not a one-time event in history. You are energy, and god is the source of that energy. God can “pull the plug out of the wall” any time he wants, and then suddenly you would no longer exist. This is on-going, constant, current. You are being created right now, and developed, and you are given enjoyable life experiences to relish, and you are given challenging life experiences to help you learn wisdom and independence. God loves you immensely, and more than you can imagine. Our main job is just to remember this truth and love god too, with gratitude for all that is good and enjoyable, as well as to love god with selflessness for all that is challenging and difficult. God gives us enjoyable experiences and difficult experiences so that we have both opportunities (to indulge in his pleasant gifts for us, and to grow wiser and stronger through his challenges for us).
All challenges in life will become easier and less difficult, and all pleasant gifts from god will become more enjoyable and more meaningful, when you are surrendered to god, and when you remember god’s love, and when you put your love in to god and in to your actions.
Don’t beat yourself up. You are probably better than me. I struggle too. I recently lost my way on the path. Thank you for asking your question and compelling me to answer you, which reminded me of god’s love and to surrender to him.
God bless you.
Very well explained
Alhamdulillah jazakamallah khairan
Assalamu ‘alaykum. Can you say that again, please?
Thanks very well explained. In Sha Allah will help us in our resolve in this life & after life as well
i was a very good muslim and close to Allah, i fell in love and asked Allah to guide me everyday, i got positive signs everyday and i loved him even more and i never stopped praying because i didn’t want to be hurt and i have been longing for happiness for a long time and couldn’t find one but then and at the end he left me in such a painful way i got lost i lost my iman i got angry and sad i still am and i am very confused right now i need guidance.
I can relate somewhat to what you’re going through. I was at the height of my iman when I got married to my wife. Shortly thereafter she absolutely destroyed my peace. I’m in Great Depression, turned cold from everything but we have 3 kids together. When she’s not around, I start feeling like myself again, motivated. Don’t know what to do.
please never lose faith in Allah, sometimes Shaitan wants you to believe the glamour of this life but we all should turn to Allah, his door is always open for us. His forgiveness is never ending.
Salam ihsan,
I’m sorry for you. Sometimes things happen in the way we don’t really expect. However if you been praying and making dua for happy days with him and Allah didn’t allows you stay with him, that means that relationship was not good for you. You probably don’t see yet why Allah decided that way by believe me one day you will be grateful for not being in this relationship anymore. God know what we don’t know. Accepting his volunteer will ease your life. Don’t let cheitan take the control over you.
He is testing you! Be patient and do not fail the test! Whenever you feel alone is whenever you are being tested.
May Allah always guides us to the right path..Never doubt his Power.
May Allah always guides us to the right path.
Don’t worry, even if we are bad Allah Subhanahu wa Taalaa forgive and guides us, you just have to ask for guidance. I will pray for you may Allah guide you to the right path❤️
Assalaam O Alaikum,
I Hope & pray this reply u recieve in the best state of health & Iman….
Dear Brother(or sis),
plz try to Review this whole process in your thoughts again….
Maybe, you may find that it’s u who left Allah SWT first…..
Or Probably have done something in life, which is Unpleasant in the sight of Allah SWT. Note:( I’m Not judging u here, it’s for the purpose of ur own Re-Assesment bcoz judgement suits to Allah only )
As Allah SWT says in;
“So remember Me; I will remember you. Be thankful to Me, and never ungrateful.”
Quran (2:152)
Chapter-Surah Baqarah
Remember bro…Any Hardship in life which leads one towards the path Of the Rememberance of Allah is not A Hardship, it could be Testing too and there are abundant of blessings hidden behind in it…..But One recieves the results and rewards after passing through these hardships with patience or/& by being Grateful in All circumstances & also when tries to Be closer To his/her Creator SWT & this Could be for Unlimited other Reasons too.
Only Allah SWT has All Wisdom behind it.
So plz try to get the msg from this.
Also bro, u used something like , “at the end in your msg above “…
With respect , it’s Not the end bro….Not at All!
U r still Alive, Breathing ,Must be having a lot other blessings in ur life as well & the Most beautiful gift u still have Is LIFE, Alhumdolillah🤲
End comes, when someone is taking last breaths of life.
You still have a lot of chances to attain This Pleasure Back with Your Creator.(which u think u had it bfr)
Remember it’s One-on- One Relationship!💞
Never ever Doubt in it! Try to make this Relationship Special
May Allah SWT bless you with Peace, Contentment , Ease and His SWT closeness again.
Ameen
Duas & Thoughts From A sister,
From USA
Salam Ihsan, bro I’d love to chat with you because I was going through something similar in my life. I’d love to hear your story & also share my journey of how I overcome these feelings. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a perfect Muslim I’m not the best believer out here but I’m trying my best to earn my place in Jannah.
Salamulakum: when I married the Brother from Baltimore fell in love because I new he was truly in love with Allah,but things changed,Muslim man,I thought supposed to be easy with him wife& kids,
When Allah takes something away it’s for your own good.Someone BETTER will come for you.But work you honey.Be able to be alone with yourself appreciate love yourself because only when you can be with yourself is when you can truly be with someone else
Remember those days that you have all the good things and nothing last forever
The way this article is written is disgusting & insulting. Congratulations for being part of the devil squad?? What rubbish! Write in an encouraging, motivating, comforting way! I am beyond repulsed by the way this article is written! So disappointing!
I couldn’t agree more. In fact, the way it’s grammatically written, it left me confused as well.
I like the message – I do think there was a better way to write it where it didn’t speak down on others.
You took the words right out of my mouth, Very un Islamic,And disregarding a human beings experiences or the area they live in is inhumane.
Agreed to Juweiriah’s comment above. I also felt the ‘way of writing’ is condescending and does not reflect the Muslim way. However, the content is good but the writer still needs to pay attention to this. For example: do not “congratulate“ being part of the devil squad, because Allah has said in the Quran, that Shaytan is your plain enemy; I am also thinking sarcasm in this context does not suit us. Whereas Allah is Pure.
exactly, this is absolutely ridiculous and the way this article was written only serves to further push people from islam. it talks so much about lack of motivation and shames anyone who may be feeling that way instead of offering advice or kind words.
A very timely reminder to do a self assessment to determine whether we’re still staying the course with Allah.
Harsh and too dogmatic …
A very interesting topic.
However, I expected this article to provide a much more detailed explanation, rather than short paragraphs of generic opinions and mere-mentions of the Quran’s sentences. The latter is especially worrisome because it forces readers to make their own interpretations from it.
I acknowledge that I should not expect this advertising-oriented app to scrutinise every single flaw it has, but I hope that the good traits this app has would not be further ruined.
May Allah guide us all.
Jazakallahu khairan.
Here to learn more
Jak this is really helpful I just need to trying with my level best in sha Allah.
AsSalaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullaah Ta’ala wa Barakatuh.
I want to first commend you for making efforts to educate fellow brothers and sisters on the Deen.
Now let’s talk about your article, the third sentence from the very beginning could be incorrect and misleading if not read well.
“What’s that 1 ultimate tip for the lazy human? Be unproductive. That’s a surefire way to decrease the proximity between yourself and the devil.
By neglecting ones Deen and becoming lazy surely increases ones proximity to shaytan. I think the correct word to use in that context would have been, “INCREASE” and not “DECREASE”. If that is done, it will accurately capture the essence and meaning of that third sentence.
Well done and may Allaah bless you for doing what you can to advance the knowledge of the Deen.
I think you can improve the quality of your articles with more research to enrich the content. I am saying this because, you could have gone further to proffer ways to avoid falling into the tricks of shaytan and his soldiers through laziness.
Jazaakallaahu khair.
I think some of us could do better by toning down the bitterness and criticism that accompanies our comments. May Allaah grant us patience and ability to appreciate the efforts of others even if it doesn’t meet our expectations.
Remember! Rasul (SAW) was reported to have said, “if you can’t compliment someone with good words it is better for us to remain quiet”.
Just want to let you know of a typo in the first two sentences where it says “What’s that 1 ultimate tip for the lazy human? Be unproductive.”
I think you mean to say “Be productive.”
Great article otherwise, though!
Wow! like it
Not sure I’m a fan of the “devil squad” language couple with the sarcastic “congratulations”!
Looking forward to more improved work though!
Alhamduillah, I enjoyed your article; may it be a benefit to all who are striving to improve their Islam. JazakAllah Khairan.
very harsh.. poorly written. nothing in this article serves to motivate or uplift, only demean and mock. it’s such a shame that so many muslims think that guilt-tripping people who struggle with their faith is the way to guide them to the right path. one of the signs of a “lazy muslim” depicted here is committing hypocrisy, and the author is doing just that by acting like hardships and struggle aren’t both completely normal aspects of faith. do better.
Thank you for your beautiful insight. I needed a deen check.
All praise to Allah
Alhamdulilah, I find this article to be on point. Sometimes we as Muslims want to hear things that’s pleases our desires and not the Truth! That’s not Islam. For verily the remainder benefit the Believers!
Shukran JazakAllah Khair
I needed to hear this. May Allah(swt) guide us all Aameen
well explaned
Wow! like it