Page 33 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

Being Sincerely Religious without Deceiving Yourself 31
faced with Satan's wiles. Satan approaches these misguided people
with guile, and whispers his blandishments in their ears and into their
hearts. One of the reasons why some people deceive themselves about
the truth is that they listen to these deceptions and blandishments and
follow the path to which Satan summons them.
So how can Satan persuade so many people who appear to be in-
telligent to such unintelligent behavior? In what ways can he cause
them to deceive themselves and follow the path that leads to Hell?
In the coming pages, we will explain the situation of those people

who succumb to the wiles of Satan and the reasoning they use to de-
ceive themselves, and we will bring to light the shameful position into
which these people fall. We will draw attention to the ways in which
Satan deceives such people and drives them into Hell, and we will also
make it clear to sincere people that they should be careful in the face of
his cunning stratagems.

Making Excuses
In order to divert people from the path of Allah, Satan uses many
tactics to prevent them from worshipping Allah as He has instructed,
and from living the life of moral excellence taught in the Qur'an. One
of these tactics is to ensure that people put forward various excuses for
not being able to worship. In other words, Satan hands a person ex-
cuses that make what he does seem reasonable. For example, to a
young person who knows that he has to worship Allah, he whispers

that he still has many years ahead of him in which to meet his respon-
sibilities fully but that at the moment, time and circumstances are not
suitable because he is away from home all day at work or at school and
that his friends may view him with contempt.
If the person does not have a sincere and powerful faith, he is de-