Satan's the Enemy

Whoever studies the Quran and Sunnah will find that those texts are more concerned with mentioning Satan and battling against him than they are with mentioning the soul. The blameworthy soul is mentioned in Sura Yusuf, Verse 53 and Sura al-Naziyat, Verse 40. The reproaching soul is mentioned only in Sura al-Qiyamah, Verse 2. On the other hand, Satan is mentioned in a number of places. A whole Sura is dedicated to warning about him!

The Lord's warnings to His slaves concerning him are much greater than His warnings concerning the soul. This is how it must be for the evil and harm of the soul springs from Satan's whispering. This is his medium, the place of his evil and the place of his obedience. Allah has ordered the taking of refuge from Satan upon reading the Quran and at other times. This is due to the great need of seeking refuge from Satan. On the other hand, Allah did not order the seeking of refuge from the soul in any place. Seeking of refuge from the soul is only mentioned in the opening of a speech wherein one says, "We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls."

Al-Ghazali wrote that it is obligatory to protect oneself from the secret whispering of Satan. This can only be done by knowing his means and modes of operation. Satan tries to fulfill his plans through steps, in the same way that a person lowers the bucket turn by turn into a well. His means include encouraging people to go to extremes, making people fail to perform their responsibilities through false hopes and dreams, making people procrastinate and become lazy and so forth. However, perhaps Satan's greatest scheme is that of making what is evil look good and beneficial.

Compiled From:
"Ighathah" - Ibn al-Qayyim, p. 100
"Purification of the Soul" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, pp. 430-432