Isti'aadha OR Ta'awuz
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
I seek Allah’s protection from the shaytaan, the cursed one.
أعوذ: I seek refuge
The word comes from root letters: ع و ذ
These are the same root letters as ta'weez in urdu/ hindi. As we say ta'weez what are the thoughts that come to our mind?
We are looking for protection, we are seeking help, we are seeking refuge.
A’udhu has the same kind of feeling.
Besides isteaadha, the word a’udhu also comes in the Quran several times, particularly in the last two surahs - Qul A'udhu bi Rabbil Falaq and Qul A’udhu bi Rabbin-Naas, and in several other duaas as well.
بالله : in Allah, with Allah
Is made of two words بِ + الله
Allah is the proper name, the specific name of God. The name of the Creator, the Lord of the whole Universe. It is difficult to find its exact synonym in any language.
من : from
الشيطان : the shaytaan
Comes from root letters sheen - taw - noon - means to be far away from something.
And what is shaytaan far away from?
He is far away from the rahmat of Allah SWT.
He is far away from good deeds, He is pure evil.
He is far away from siratal mustaqeem - the straight path - so anyone who follows him goes away from the straight path as well.
الرجيم: The Outcast/ the cursed. Someone who has been thrown out.
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
I seek Allah’s protection from the shaytaan, the cursed one.
First thing to understand is that shaytaan is not just any philosophical construct, unlike what a lot of media or literature or people would like us to believe. He is an actual physical entity.
The main shaytaan - his name is Iblees. But he has a whole army of shayaateen in jinns as well as human beings, who follow him and his commands.
And how do we know this?
We know this from a hadith where Prophet SAW told us to the effect that - every day Iblees sets up his throne and asks his minions what they did. They all update him that one made someone cheat, another made someone lie, be rude to another and so on. And he is like - ok ya, not a big deal! On the other hand, he is most impressed by someone who creates a friction, misunderstanding or fight between a husband and a wife. And gets up and hugs this one and makes him sit on his throne that - ya you have done something worthwhile.
This tells us that shaytaan loves to break up families, create misunderstandings, friction and fights, especially between a husband and wife. We also learn that shaytaan has an army of jinns and human beings that go out and do his job, they work in a planned way, they work 24x7, they don’t take any vacations and are always trying to harm us.
Shaytaan is not cute or fun, nor is he our well wisher in any shape or form. He is pure evil and he has evil intentions for us. Quran tells us that he is our biggest, most dangerous enemy, and we must consider him such.
But why is he our enemy?
Because of jealousy, arrogance and pride.
Since when?
Since the beginning of our creation, the creation of Adam AS. That story is mentioned 7 times in the Quran and various aspects of the story are highlighted at different times.
We learn that Shyataan was a jinn and he used to worship Allah so much that his status was raised and over a long long period of time, he was eventually allowed to hang out and to pray with the angels. Usually the jinns would not do this, but he was given that permission. Although he was worshiping Allah SWT a lot, Allah knew what was in his heart. Only Allah knows what is in every heart! Allah knew that there was pride and arrogance. And when Allah SWT asked everyone to prostrate to Adam AS, shaytaan refused out of this arrogance and jealousy. Basically his pride came out and he made an argument that - should i prostrate to this inferior creation? This creation is made of mud, and I am made of fire - so I am better and if anyone should get this honor, it should be me and not him. So I will not prostrate to him.
Shaytaan did not just disobey, but on top of that he also started blaming Allah SWT for giving that command in the first place - that come on - You are asking me to prostrate to him, that’s not gonna happen, You are the one who set me up for failure. It’s not my fault if I am not doing this, it’s Yours.
It is interesting to note that even though angels are made up of something even better than fire i.e noor - the light, they did not make this kind of argument.
Why?
Because they understood the point is not to which direction they were prostrating, but whose command they were obeying.
It is important to note here that this sajda - this prostration was a prostration of respect and not of worship. This was allowed in previous shariah (religious law) but not in ours now. We are not allowed to prostrate for any reason to any entity, human, jinn or thing - nothing and noone - except One and Only Allah.
Think of anyone that has ever been extremely jealous of you and tried to harm you or your family. Now multiply that jealousy over and over and over and over, many many times - this is how much shaytaan is jealous of us and hates us. The shaytaan was so jealous and had so much hatred for human beings, he made a promise to Allah SWT that I will not only destroy him, but his family, his children and his children’s children and so on. All their coming generations.
Imagine if someone calls you and says that I will attack you as soon as you step out of your home. Not only you, and even if you pass away - I will keep attacking your children and grandchildren and great grandchildren as well. Will we not try to protect ourselves and our families?
Quran teaches us that we have an enemy and he hates us and wants to harm us. Just like he is outcast, he wants to make us outcast as well. Allah swt says in the Quran - wallakad karramna bani Adam - indeed We have given honor to every child of Adam. Shaytaan hates that and wants to snatch our honor, he wants to make us do undignified things, engage in dirty nasty actions, immorality, indecency, disgraceful things that Allah SWT doesn’t like. He wants to humiliate us in front of Allah SWT. He wants to cut off our relation with Allah SWT. And he is working towards this all the time.
Me and you - we need protection from him - our enemy.
Why do WE need protection?
Because he has huge experience in making us sin, since the time of Adam AS and including Adam AS. Adam AS was a prophet of Allah and none of us is smarter than Adam AS - so we are all open to shaytaan’s attacks. Another thing is that this life is a war zone and we cannot see our enemy while he sees us. We can not see shaytaan, we can not kill him or get rid of him.
Shaytaan has promised Allah ﷻ that he is going to attack us human beings from left, right, front and back. He attacks in many ways.
Sometimes he makes the duniya seem so big and near to us, that this small duniya seems big and magnified and we get so focused and involved in it that we forget our Akhirah, our Hereafter. Like when a child eats a lot of chocolate, then he doesn’t have an appetite for healthy food anymore. So we get involved in shopping, cooking, career, education, business, family, workouts so much that we forget our purpose.
Sometimes he creates misunderstandings between family members or misunderstandings about Allah or the Quran.
Sometimes when we intend to do a good deed, he makes us forget about it, or makes it seem hard, or boring or irrelevant. Or he will plant a seed of riya, showing off so that we lose all rewards of the good deeds.
Sometimes he makes us feel too lazy, too sleepy or have excessive fear, or too much worry of the past or future.
Sometimes he makes a person lose hope and feel worthless about themselves or their situation. And when someone loses hope, then they can no longer be productive.
He wants us to forget about him, just like any other enemy, so that he can catch us unaware and attack us harder.
Sometimes all of a sudden he puts some evil thought or idea in our minds.
He beautifies sins, gives good names to evil things, like garbage is wrapped in a candy wrapper.
If someone feels guilty after doing something wrong, then he tells them to shift the blame - it’s not really your fault. You were raised like this, or you had no other choice, and so on.
Shaytaan is our sworn enemy and has big armies, many tools and tricks and traps, but he can only do waswasa, whisperings and deceptions, he can not force us to do something against our will. Yes our enemy is out in the open and we do not see him, but our Rabb sees him and He has full power over him. We need to be careful and protect ourselves, but not feel defeated either. Our Rabb is with us whenever we seek His protection.
Allah ﷻ has provided us with a very simple and powerful weapon to protect ourselves from the waswasa of shaytaan – it is the Ta’awwudh or Isteaadha which covers us from all sides and wraps us in protection. This is like our seat belt, like a helmet, like a vaccine, like a canopy that protects us. When we trust Allah ﷻ and say “Audhu billahi minash shaytaanir rajeem” then we understand that Allah ﷻ is enough to guard us and to protect us.
There are several times when it is highly recommended that we say taa’wuz. This could be whenever shaytaan attacks us, when any evil or negative thought comes to us, when we are in the marketplace, when we feel angry, when we are feeling any kind of fear or danger, before sleeping, after waking up, before we use the washroom, when we are visiting a creepy deserted place, or if we are having lot of distracting thoughts while praying our salah.
Most importantly we need to say it when we are going to read or study the Quran.
Why before studying the Quran in particular?
Because shaytaan absolutely hates it when we try to get closer to the Quran, and will do whatever he can to take us away from it or spoil our experience.
Why?
Because - Quran will tell us about him, his tactics and how to protect ourselves from him, how to keep our dignity, how to manage different relations and challenges of our life, and how to gain the pleasure of Allah SWT.
So just like we put on our seat belts before as we start on any exciting drive or a ride, let us all seek the protection of Allah swt against the shaytaan and all his armies, as we begin our journey with the Quran.
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
I seek Allah’s protection from the shaytaan, the cursed one.
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READY FOR TRANSFORMATION?
Knowledge becomes beneficial when it is reflected in our thoughts and actions. Whether you are reading or listening to this information by yourself or as a family or a group or a halaqa (study circle), we recommend the following:
Life is too short, Take Action Now:
When an enemy or a thief comes to our house, we call 911, right! So anytime a negative thought comes to your mind, say - audhu billahi minash-shaytaanir rajeem.
Go to the “NEXT” level, where only high achievers go:
Memorize the dua for protection from even the presence of shaytaan near you. And make this dua very often.
رَّبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ هَمَزَاتِ الشَّيَاطِينِ
وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ رَبِّ أَن يَحْضُرُونِ
My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the strokes of the satans (devils),
And I seek refuge in You, my Lord , even from their coming near me.
Something to think about/ discuss:
Think about/ or discuss about a time when you were protected from shaytaan. It could be a childhood, teenage life or an adult life experience.
Some examples:
There was only a little bit of time left for fajr namaz. The thought came to me - What’s the point of getting up now? Let me go back to sleep. And then I recited and prayed to Allah with - Audhu billahi minash shaytaanir rajeem and Allah helped me to fight my sleepiness and instead of shaytaan being able to distract me, i was able to get up and pray.
At one time, there was a difference of opinion between myself and my spouse or my children. In the heat of the moment, I was about to snap and say something unkind and nasty, when Allah helped me check myself and not say it. Just one phrase could have changed the course of the discussion and it might have led to an argument or an unpleasant discussion. However, I was able to keep my patience and so was my spouse and we were able to see each other’s point of view and discuss our different opinions in a friendly way.
We can see several times when we were going to be attacked by our enemy but we got protected. There are several such subtle incidents in our life that we can recall, if we pay attention.