Means of Protection from Satan

The following are the necessary precautions to stay far from the evil of Satan:

Reading the Qur’an

God speaks of the Holy Qur’an:

O men! There has come to you indeed an admonition from your Lord and a healing for what is in the breasts and a guidance and a mercy for the believers. (10:57)

According to this verse, the Qur’an is a piece of advice that warns people of evils and sins, a healing that cures all kinds of physical and spiritual ailments, a guidance that prevents people from going astray and that keeps them on the true path, a mercy that attracts God’s forgiveness when read, understood, lived, and used as a means for others to live.

The Prophet (pbuh) urged believers to read the Qur’an saying, “Do not turn your houses into graves. Surely Satan runs away from the house in which al-Baqara is recited.”[23]

Being God-Conscious and Refraining from Sins

Of the traits that God loves most is taqwa (God-consciousness) and of people, He loves those who fear Him most. His purest and clearest message for taqwa to those who fear Him is the Holy Qur’an. People can prevent themselves falling to the lowest ranks and become travelers in the highest ones through taqwa. Taqwa means making use of every opportunity to do good deeds and staying or trying to stay away from evil deeds.[24]

When Satan assails those who live by taqwa, their rank in life protects them from this danger. It is like a prayer performed properly that covers great flaws.

This fact is explained by the following verse:

When a thought of evil assaults those who fear God, they bring God to remembrance and they see aright. (7:201)

In such a situation, they examine themselves, think where they made a mistake, notice Satan’s traps, take necessary precautions, and take refuge in God.

Those who do not live their lives along these lines do not have this advantage. Satan can deceive and lead to their destruction at any moment. They follow Satan, becoming among those whom the Qur’an calls “the brothers of Satan.”

But their brethren (evil ones) plunge them deeper into error, and never relax (their efforts). (7:202)

Praying

The Prophet (pbuh) explained in a hadith qudsi[25] that God orders as follows: “I declare war on whoever becomes an enemy to my righteous servant who prays properly. He cannot accost me with a better thing than the compulsory prayers. That servant of mine continues to get nearer with supererogatory prayers. Then I love him. When I love someone, I become his ears that hear, his eyes that see, his hands that hold, and his feet that walk. If he asks for something, I will give it. If he seeks refuge with Me, I will protect him.”[26]

God protects those who pray to Him, calling them My servants. Performing the compulsory prayers fully and observing supererogatory prayers devoutly will bring God’s love. For a man loved by God to be deceived by Satan’s traps is all but impossible, because God sides with him and protects him from all evil. That person always sees the truth, sides with the truth, and continues his life on the Straight Path. That person is a servant that Satan cannot influence. This fact slips off Satan’s tongue:

(Iblis) said: “O my Lord! because You have put me in the wrong, I will make (wrong) fair-seeming to them on the earth, and I will put them all in the wrong. Except Your servants among them, sincere and purified (by Your Grace).” And God said, “This (way of My sincere servants) is indeed a way that leads straight to Me. For over My servants no authority shall you have, except such as put themselves in the wrong and follow thee.” (Qur’an 15:39-42)

Care in Eating and Drinking

One of the practical precautions against Satan is being careful when eating and drinking.

Having a balanced diet is perhaps the first condition of leading a healthy, comfortable, economic, and energetic life. An unbalanced diet does not only have negative effects on our daily lives, but also on our religious lives. It entails undesirable things, such as too much sleep, negligence, talking unnecessarily, laughing too much, absentmindedness, slowness in mental functions, and reluctance toward prayers.

To be able to control lust, one of Satan’s deadliest weapons, one should decrease one’s calorie intake. This must be the reason why the Prophet (pbuh) recommended that those who can afford to should get married, and those who cannot should fast.[27]

Seeking Refuge with God

Seeking refuge with God is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about protection from Satan; the Prophet (pbuh) is addressed in two places in the Qur’an:

If a suggestion from Satan assails your (mind), seek refuge with God; for He hears and knows (all things). (7:200)

 The importance of the issue is further emphasized in another verse that teaches us a prayer:

And say, “O my Lord! I seek refuge with You from the suggestions of the Evil Ones. And I seek refuge with You O my Lord! lest they should come near me.” (23:97-98)

Reciting “I seek refuge from the Satan the outcast, in the name of the most Beneficent, the Merciful,” is a means of seeking God’s protection from Satan.

Satan devises plans to fill our minds with evil ideas, no matter when and where we are. He whispers all kinds of things to us when we are praying. He tries to engage us in non-Qur’anic matters. He tries to prevent us from pondering the meanings of verses. Therefore, God tells us to seek refuge with Him before we start reading the Qur’an, and warns in the following verse that Satan may whisper evil during the recital of the Qur’an:

When you read the Qur’an, seek God’s protection from Satan the Rejected One. (16:98)

Reciting “I seek refuge from the Satan the outcast, in the name of the most Beneficent, the Merciful,” was an important part of the life of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. At every point in his life, he would either recite it or pray that God would hear and listen to all petitions. We would like to give an example of some of his prayers:

“Should Satan visit one of you and start asking ‘Who created this? Who created that?’ and end up with ‘Who created God?’ seek refuge with God and leave that situation.”[28]

The Prophet (pbuh) said, “There are suggestions both from Satan and from an angel for mankind. Satan suggests evil, denies truth, while the angel suggests good and confirms truth. Whoever hears the angel’s suggestion in his conscience should know it is from God. He should thank God for that. Whoever hears the other should seek refuge with God from Satan the Rejected One.” Then he read this verse: Satan promises you poverty and bids you to commit indecency (Qur’an 2:268).[29]

Abu Bakr asked, “O Prophet, will you tell me a prayer I can read night and day?” The Prophet (pbuh) answered “Recite, ‘O the Tamer and Owner of everything, the Creator of the Heaven and the earth out of nothing, He who knows both the obvious and the hidden! I testify that there is no god but Allah and I seek refuge with Him from the evils of my ego and Satan and from his leading me into shirk (associating partners for God).’ And read this in the morning, in the evening, and when you go to bed.”[30] 

The Prophet (pbuh) also sought refuge from Satan’s deception on his deathbed. Where he sought refuge from falling from heights, being buried under rubble, drowning or being burnt by fire he also prayed, “I seek refuge with You on my deathbed.”[31]

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, entered the masjid he would say “I seek God’s protection from Satan the Rejected One.” The hadith continues as follows: “If one recites this prayer when one is entering a masjid, Satan says that ‘he is now safe from me.’”[32]

The Prophet (pbuh) said, “If anyone of you, on having sexual relations with his wife, says: ‘O God! Protect me from Satan, and prevent Satan from approaching the offspring you will give me,’ and if it happens that your wife conceives, Satan will neither harm the child nor be given power over it.”[33]

Two Qur’anic chapters, al-Falaq and an-Nas, are called “al-mu‘awwazatayn” and when chapter al-Ikhlas is included, all three are called al-mu‘awwazat, which means a chapter that provides refuge. When the Prophet (pbuh) felt uneasy, he would recite these three chapters before he went to bed, blow on his hands, rub them over his body from his head down, repeat these actions three times.[34]

Seeking God’s protection from Satan is also an expression of trust in God. Seeking His protection from his archenemy shows our trust in Him. A believer knows God is omnipotent. This idea is clearly conveyed in this verse:

Surely he has no authority over those who believe and rely on their Lord. (19:99)

[23] Muslim, Musafirin, 212.

[24] Gülen, Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, 46.

[25] A Prophetic saying whose meaning was directly revealed by God.—Ed.

[26] Bukhari, Riqaq, 38.

[27] Bukhari, Sawm, 10.

[28] Bukhari, Bed’u’l-Khalq, 11.

[29] Tirmidhi, Tafsiru’l-Qur’an, 36.

[30] Tirmidhi, Da‘awat, 14.

[31] Abu Dawud, Witr, 32.

[32] Abu Dawud, Salat, 2:18.

[33] Muslim, Nikah, 116.

[34] Bukhari, Fada’il al-Qur’an, 15

The researcher and writer Mehmet Şeker answers the critical question: What or who exactly is Satan then? He states how Satan has been described in the Qur’an and the hadiths and how man should protect himself against his archenemy.

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