What is the meaning of “(and he forbids the devil’s obstacle)”?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Regarding sitting on the heels. Yes.
The Shaykh : Some of them interpreted it as sitting on one’s heels. Yes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, I do not think this is surprising, because what Imam Ahmad intended is clear: it is difficult and tiring. As for what Ibn 'Abbas mentioned, it is not like that, but it does not offer complete stability. It lacks stability, just as if one spreads the right and left legs and stands the right leg up; it remains as if one is on tiptoe.
The Shaykh : Some of them interpreted it as sitting on one’s heels. Yes.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, I do not think this is surprising, because what Imam Ahmad intended is clear: it is difficult and tiring. As for what Ibn 'Abbas mentioned, it is not like that, but it does not offer complete stability. It lacks stability, just as if one spreads the right and left legs and stands the right leg up; it remains as if one is on tiptoe.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 928 - ما معنى (وينهى عن عقبة الشيطان)؟ الكافي في فقه الإمام أحمد بن حنبل - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.