Unchain your heart

It is Ramadan - a month in which the proverbial human enemy, Satan, is chained. The thirty or so days then become a window of opportunity for a muslim to purify his tainted heart. It becomes easy for him to follow the path of ease for there is no enemy of mankind luring him to the thorny path leading to destruction. Why is it then that some of us still fail to take advantage of our enemy's absence and continue to transgress? If Satan is not egging us on to do bad then what is tempting us to follow our vain desires? Is there an enemy more dangerous than the devil?
Iblis (the devil) who was actually a djin, enjoyed an elevated status due to his knowledge and worship of Allah (swt), cohorted with the angels and was their teacher. He knew and worshipped Allah (swt). Then what was it that made him disobey His Command? There was no Satan to misguide him; it was his nafs - man's foremost and most dangerous enemy. So being a worshipper of God but not a lover of God, his innate pride caused him to become the most wretched amongst creation. A fallen creature cursed till the end of time, brought down by a disease of nafs - pride.
So this Ramadan when we feel desires tugging at our heart, distracting us from the worship of the One Supreme God, making us commit sins, we should remember that Satan is not to be blamed but our very own nafs wreaking havoc within. That is the one enemy that has to be reined in. The real struggle thus is waging war against the nafs. So whether the nafs rears its head in the form of anger, pride, jealousy, ostentation, greed or desire for the material world it has to be recognized and restrained. And what better month than Ramadan to work on these issues. This is the month of blessings and Allah (swt) has promised to increase the reward for good deeds many-fold.
So remember the Hadith Qudsi: Take one step towards me, I will take ten towards you. Walk towards me I will run towards you. Strive to strike your enemy down and Allah (swt) will make this easy for you.

(by Erum Rab)