Chapter: The saying of Allah the Exalted: “O mankind, indeed the promise of Allah is truth, so let not the worldly life delude you, and let not the deceiver delude you regarding Allah.”

The Reciter: Chapter: The saying of Allah the Exalted: . Its plural is *sa'ir*. Mujahid said: The deceiver is Satan.

The Shaykh : Yes, and Allah Mighty and Majestic said: This is guidance for the general public, even the disbeliever falls under this guidance from Allah, because the worldly life deceives the disbeliever and deceives the believer. And His saying: includes His promise and His threat. His promise to the people of righteous deeds is with abundant reward and Paradise, and His threat to the people of evil deeds is with punishment and the Fire. And His saying means: firm, occurring, inevitable. Then he read to him His saying: This is the evidence: “Let not the worldly life delude you,” meaning do not deceive you, because the worldly life is deceptive and deluding; it deceives and deludes the person. And what is meant by the worldly life is what Allah indicated in His saying: Everything in the worldly life is summarized by Allah in this verse: So a person may be deceived by wealth, or deceived by women, or deceived by status, or deceived by mounts, or deceived by dwellings. The important thing is that the aspects of deception from the worldly life are many. And this verse is general: “Let not the worldly life delude you, and let not the deceiver delude you regarding Allah.” The deceiver is Satan, as indicated by His saying afterwards: So the deceiver is also the one who deceives and deludes, and it may include the Satan of humans and the Satan of jinn. The Satan of humans is that unseen realm which we do not see.
The Reciter: jinn.

The Shaykh : Yes: the jinn. So the Satan of jinn is that unseen realm which we do not see, but we know it by its effects. And the Satan of humans is apparent; they are callers at the gates of Hell, as in the hadith of Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him): And how many are the callers to Hell, especially in our time. And His saying: is a statement and a command. The statement is: The command is derived from this statement: “So take him as an enemy,” meaning make him a true enemy. And if we take him as an enemy, we will not be deceived by him. If he commands us, we will disobey him, and if he forbids us, we will oppose him. Because your enemy can never command you with what is in your benefit, nor forbid you from what is in your harm. Rather, he forbids you from what? From what is in?
The Reciter: From what is in your benefit.

The Shaykh : Yes, your enemy forbids you from what is in your benefit. For this reason, He said: With this definition, we can know the commands of Satan. So whatever necessitates sin and punishment is from the commands of Satan, because he invites his party to be among the companions of the blazing Fire. Therefore, whatever call occurs in your soul and you feel it in your soul to leave an obligatory act or to commit a forbidden act, know that it is from Satan. At that time, avoid it. Because Allah Mighty and Majestic says: And this is a rule that I think no one is safe from. Meaning, if someone says, “I do not see Satan,” this is the scale. Allah Mighty and Majestic made it clear in His Book that whenever you feel an inclination in yourself toward disobedience, know that this is from the command of Satan, so oppose it.