It seems like in this day and age, once a month I hear a case about some Muslim falling off the deen, and being led off the straight path. It is increasingly disheartening with each case I come across. And it got me thinking, what is the deal?

I remember learning a few years back while listening to a lecture series by Sh. Yasir Qadhi (Kitaab at-Tawheed) that the Qur’an always refers to that which leads people astray with a plural word form–dhulumaat. And what he pointed out was this is basically telling people there is literally an ARMY waiting to lead us astray.

We’re so relaxed, calm, and feel comfortable with our position in the deen. We figure nothing will happen to us as long as we maintain our current status quo. Meanwhile, Shaitan is formulating new ways of attacking us from the front, from the back, from the sides, through our enemies, through our friends, through our families, at work, at home, in the public. He’s EVERYWHERE, dropping footsteps for me, you, and the rest of the world to follow.

And I think I figured out the main problem that arises when people forget they’re being attacked: we become lazy. We don’t make an effort to learn the tactics of our enemies, and we are attacked, we are defeated, and we are led astray.

People, WAKE UP! In this current situation of the Ummah, if you aren’t actively making an effort to protect yourself from shaitans attacks, you’re going to get pulled out of the ranks of the Muslims.

We need to start training ourselves to fight our biggest enemy. We need to strengthen our Eman, increase our knowledge, and take advantage of every single opportunity we get to come closer to Allah.

May Allah guide us onto the straight path, and make it easy for us, ameen!