Page 39 - Satan: The Sworn Enemy of Mankind

Satan's Tactics

He Hinders Gratitude
Before Satan was expelled from the presence of Allah, he made
himself an important promise, one which reveals one of the most in-
sidious tactics employed by Satan against man:
[Satan said,] "Then I will come at them, from in front of
them and behind them, from their right and from their left.
You will not find most of them thankful." (Surat al-A`raf,
17)
Satan wishes to prevent people from being grateful to Allah.
The reason for this is that gratitude is one of the matters most em-
phasized in the Qur'an. Around 60 verses refer to the importance of
gratitude. One of Satan's primary aims is therefore to cause people
to neglect this virtue, the importance of which is so repeatedly men-
tioned by Allah.
In order to render thanks one must first recognize the impor-
tance of gratitude itself. One who thanks Allah knows that He is the
sole Lord over that which he enjoys, and that it was He Who had be-
stowed them upon him. He also knows his powerlessness before
Allah. The level of awareness of one who ignores the greatness and
majesty of Allah, refusing to accept these realities in his heart, will be
limited accordingly.
The societies foundering in ignorance, which Satan seeks to fur-
ther corrupt, are far from the recognition of the virtue of being grate-
ful. They only consider gratitude after they have suffered a disaster,
but soon forget once the situation has been rectified. They then re-
turn to their lives of impiety. In the Qur'an, the example is given of
those who pray during some tragedy, but who return to deifying
idols once their difficulties have passed:
Say: "Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and

37