Page 40 - Why Do You Deceive Yourself ?

38 WHY DO YOU DECEIVE YOURSELF?

believe it will be to your advantage in the Hereafter, give it up. Devote
yourself only to tasks that you can see are good and beneficial. Your
conscience makes the distinction for you in the best way possible.
Listen to your conscience and take heed. Do not let Satan divert you by
making valueless and fleeting things seem attractive.

False Promises
In his task of diverting people from the path of Allah, Satan does
not stop at making useless tasks seem attractive. He also makes a vari-
ety of promises. Allah tells us about Satan's falsehood in this verse:

He [Satan] makes promises to them and fills them with false
hopes. But what Satan promises them is nothing but delu-
sion. (Surat an-Nisa': 120)
People who come under the influence of Satan make themselves
believe they have long years ahead of them and pursue long-term
plans. Behaving as if they will live in this world forever, they lose
Allah's approval by devoting themselves to worldly ambitions such as
money, property, rank and position. In another verse, Allah relates that
this is another deception of Satan's:
Those who have turned back in their tracks after the guid-
ance became clear to them, it was Satan who talked them into
it and filled them with false hopes. (Surah Muhammad: 25)
Every person has wide ranging plans and schemes for thousands
of matters according to the situation and circumstances in which he

finds himself. Even if the plans of people from different professions,
age groups and social strata vary, they are all fundamentally worldly.
For example, a businessman's greatest ambition for the future is to
own a large factory. After he has achieved factory ownership, his
greatest ambition is to be able to market his goods worldwide. Or an