The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
The fortress is lit with remembrance (of Allah) and faith (imdn) .
In it there is a shiny mirror that reflects the images of everything
passing by. The least that the devils do is to generate smoke to blacken
the fortress walls and rust the mirror. But the winds of remembrance
(of Allah) repel smoke, and the polisher of remembrance
(of Allah) removes the rust off the mirror.
The enemy conducts campaigns against the fortress. Sometimes,
he attempts to enter the fortress but the guard attacks him forcing
him to retreat. Other times he enters the fortress to cause mischief,
or stays around because the guard is negligent. Sometimes the wind
that repels the smoke calms down and the walls blacken and the
mirror becomes rusty. So the devil passes by unnoticed. Sometimes
the guard leaves his position out of negligence and is captured by
the enemy.
One of the Salef said: 'I met the devil, so he told me: 'I used to
meet people to teach them (evil), but now I meet people to learn
from them."
The devil might attack an alert person by bringing with him the
bride of desire. The alert person becomes occupied with looking at
her and falls captive.
The strongest chain with which captives are chained is that of
ignorance. The chain of medium strength is that of lust. And the
weakest is that of negligence. And as long as the believer is wearing
the shield of imdn, then the arrows of the enemies will never strike
his deadly spots.
90) Al-l:Iasan lbn Salil said: 'The devil opens ninety nine doors
of goodness in front of a believer in order to be able to open
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