09-29-2007, 04:21 AM
Spends the night over his nasopharynx
Q. Reported in Sahih Muslim that the Messenger prayer and peace be upon him said: When one of you wakes up from his sleep, he must perform Istinthar (enter water into his nose, then expel it) three times for shyatan spends the night over his nasopharynx
(reported by Sunan Abi Daoud)
This hadeeth stands as an essential and integral part of the shield Allah Provided mankind with against Shaytan and his forms of assault. To address this point and be able to understand it, we can not do this in isolation of other instructions and information introduced in Quran and Sunnah.
Now first off what did Shaytan vow to do against mankind? According to Quran:
"Then I will come to them from before them and behind them, from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them grateful and thankful."
7:17
And what else?
Iblees (Satan)] said: "By Your Might, then I will surely mislead them all,
38:82
To do this, what are his weapons?
And istafziz [literally means: befool them gradually] those whom you can among them with your voice (i.e. songs, music, and any other call for Allah's disobedience), make assaults on them with your cavalry and your infantry, mutually share with them wealth and children (by tempting them to earn money by illegal ways usury, etc., or by committing illegal sexual intercourse, etc.), and make promises to them." But Satan promises them nothing but deceit.
17:64
In light of this last Ayah coupled with the following:
O Children of Adam! Let not Shaytan (Satan) deceive you, as he got your parents [Adam and Eve] out of Paradise, stripping them of their raiments, to show them their private parts. Verily, he and Qabeeluhu (his soldiers from the jinns or his tribe) see you from where you cannot see them. Verily, We made the devils Auliyaa' (protectors and helpers) for those who believe not.
7:27
Thus, from those Ayahs we understand how Shaytan and his offspring:
• See us and we are unable to see them.
• Able to share mankind in his wealth, children, sexual intercourse..etc.
• Vowed to mislead mankind except the sincere devotees of Allah.
• Shall attack mankind from all sides.
By those noble Ayahs and major concern expressed by Allah – come to think about it – Allah Gave us full details about the antagonistic plans of Shaytan against mankind, and explained exactly his aim. But Allah Didn’t leave us without the necessary shield and means of protection, how could He?
Verily, those who are pious, when an evil thought comes to them from Shaytaan (Satan), they remember (Allah), and (indeed) they then see (aright).
7:201
The Ayahs explains that mankind when touched by shaytan they could be blinded (you see the man divorces his wife in anger, you see two people fight for no reason and a murder might take place, you see how shaytan may intercept and decorate zina..etc all this out of blindness that is caused by the touch of shaytan). But the remedy is easy, just doing remembrance.
Back to our core of interest here, what is the relation between waking up at night and washing one’s nose?
If the issue was related to merely dirt being accumulated inside the nose, the Istinthar wouldn’t have been encouraged when one wakes up during night .
Before I continue to reach into the main point of this article, in regard to Ayah 17:64 which introduced all the potential attacks, Allah Taught us through Sunnah several Duas (supplications) to be used for protection of each and every item. According to Sunnah, there is a supplication to be used before leaving the house, performing intercourse, receiving money..etc that all aim at protection against shaytan’s plots and assaults. In order not to go off topic, I will just refer to those supplications in total without detailing them. But the main point is that we are taught what to say when in order to protect ourselves against shaytan.
Come let us continue.
In another hadeeth the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam said:
Narrated under the authority of Abdullah that it was told before the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam that a man slept all night till the morning, he explained saying that this is a man who Shaytan passed urine in his ears. Reported by Ahmed. (the point here is that shaytan was able to block his ear with this urine so that the man wouldn’t wake up and perform salah). That is why Istinthat is essential upon waking up just exactly as we encouraged to say la ilaha ila Allah wahdahu la sharika lahu lahulmolk walahul hamd wa howa ala kol shayen qadeer in case we wake up in the middle of the night.
Narrated Ibn Abi Said Al Khodry under the authority of his father that the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam said when one of you yawns, one must put his hand over his mouth because Shaytan enters in (reported by Musnad Ahmad)
Narrated under the authority of Abi Horaira that the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam said Shaytan ties on the back of the head of any of you when he goes to sleep three knots, and presses on the place of each knots saying may you spend a long night so just sleep. As soon as one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is untied, makes ablution the second is untied, when performs Salah anther knot is untied. Thus the person starts the day active enjoying a comfortable sould otherwise, the person shall start the day with a heavy chest and lazy (reported by Musnad Ahmed).
To further understand, shaytan is created from fire that is extinguished by water of course as in the hadeeth:
Narrated by Ibraheem Ibn Khaled saying my father narrated under the authority of my grandfather Attiah saying that a man had an upsetting conversation with him that made him angry, he said when he felt angry he left then returned to us after making wodu (ablution). He said the Messenger salla Allah a`lyhee wa sallam said that anger is from Shaytan and Shaytan is created from fire, and fire is extinguished by wated. Thus, when one of you becomes angry, he should made wodu. Musnad Ahmed.
From all of the above mentioned, we can clearly see as established in the Ayahs of Quran that Shaytan does interfere with mankind, share their food (that is why we must say Bismllah before eating to prevent Shaytan’s interception), their money, intercourse. That Shaytan spares no time or effort or a chance to penetrate into mankind’s life and body. The nose is a passage to very important organs including the brain and lungs. If Shaytan is to be able to penetrate into those organs, mankind is in serious danger. Using Istinthar (washing with water), it becomes very difficult for shaytan to continue staying inside taking in consideration that he is created from fire.
As we know, Sunnah details Quran and teaches us what to do when. Thus, this hadeeth came in the context of how to protect one against Shaytan’s assaults and intervention.