Chapter X: Remembrance of Death
(2) Hatred and greed. Another great door of the devil to enter soul is hatred and greed. When a man has got greed for anything, it makes him deaf and blind, as the Prophet said : Your love for anything makes you deaf and blind. It has been narrated that at the time when the Prophet Noah embarked on the boat, he took a pair of everything in it by God's command He found an old man in the boat and asked him: Why have you come? He said : I have come to throw the hearts of your companions into fear, so that their hearts may remain with me and their bodies with you. Noah said : O enemy of God, go out as you are cursed. Then the old man (devil) said to him : I will destroy people with five things and I will not disclose to you two things. God revealed to Noah : You have got no necessity of these things Tejl him to disclose to you the two things. Noah informed the devil accordingly. The devil said : The two things are greed and hatred. I have been cursed for hatred. I generated greed in Adam and misguided him.
(3) Eating with satisfaction. Another door of the devil is eating to one's heart content though the food is lawful and pure, as it makes sexual passion strong. Once the devil came to the Prophet Ihya who saw his body stout and strong and asked him:
0 Iblis' what is the reason that you have got a strong body? He replied : The reason is sexual passion. He asked : Have I got anything of it? The devil said : Sometimes you eat with satisfaction and as a result you feel heaviness to pray and make Zikr. Then he said : Have I got anything besides this ? The devil said : You have got nothing else. Prophet Ihya said : I shall never eat to my heart's content. Iblis said : By God, I shall no more give any advice to any Muslim.
HARMS OF EATING WITH SATISFACTION. Eating with satisfaction creates six harms.-(l) God-fear goes out of the heart of such a man, (2) kindness for the people goes out of his heart, (3)
he feels difficulty in doing divine service, (4) he does not feel humility when he hears words of wisdom, (5) when he gives sermon, it does not enter into the hearts of the audience and (6)
many diseases grow in him.
(4) Love for fine things Another door of the devil is love for fine dresses, houses and furnitures. When a man loves fine dresses, he loves to embellish his house and decorate it with fine and beautiful furnitures and things. He loves also to paint his building with variegated colours and its roofs and walls.
38 Soul and its Attributes Vol-III
(5) Dependence on people. Another door of the devil is dependence on the people and to cherish hope to get their favours. For that , he assumes show and artificial methods. Thus greed becomes his deity.
(6) Hastiness and absence of steadiness. Hastiness in action ' and to give up firmness in actions are another door of the devil. The