The battlefield begins

The air is still, nothing stirring, everything at a standstill. I turn on my side and gradually gain consciousness, could it be… has it really escaped… how on earth could I have neglected it? The bombshell suddenly transpired and the awfulness of what had happened lay bare in front of me. I had missed my Fajr (pre-dawn) prayer. The devil had now advanced, took a blow to my head and began to encircle me, I tried to find an opening but Satan had sealed them all off. Through this obscurity I saw a glimpse of light drawing towards me, as I wrestled Satan, the light glimmered and I remembered the hadith of the Prophet (pbuh):

"The Pen is lifted from three (i.e. their deeds are not recorded)

1. A child until he reaches puberty
2. An insane man until he comes to his senses
3. One who is asleep until he wakes up." (Recorded in Abu Dawud #4403, and Ibn Majah #2041)

I began to see the light at the end of the tunnel illuminate, Satan's whispers were beginning to subside, defeated by Imaan's (faith's) beams of light charging against the devil and in that I called to mind when God mentions:

"I am as My servant thinks of Me. I am with him when he remembers Me. If he mentions Me within himself, I mention him within Myself. If he mentions Me in an assembly, I mention him in a better assembly. If he comes near to Me a handspan, I come near to him the distance of a cubit. If he comes near to Me the distance of a cubit, I come near to him the distance of two outspread arms. If he comes to Me walking, I come to him running.” (Sahîh al-Bukhârî(6856) and Sahîh Muslim (4832)) 

 I invoke my Lord as Al-Ghaffār (The Repeatedly Forgiving) and realise that He is the Ar-Raḥīm (The Exceedingly Merciful) and where once the blows of Satan would have threatened the very essence and demeanour of my day, I pondered in solace of God's consolation that by nature man is created weak.


I grasped that the daily morning routine dictates how the day will end. If Satan is not exterminated on initial exposure, it will evade the line of first defence and breed with a constant dose of waswasa (whisper's)to try to tempt me, make me unproductive and distant me from my Lord.