بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Shaytan is the biggest enemy to mankind and wishes to make us all follow his path into hellfire. There is nothing that corrupts his plans more than when we obey Allah. One of the commandments of Allah is to recite Qur’an. Allah says:
“So when you recite the Qur’an, [first] seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the expelled [from His mercy].” [16:98]
Shaytan will approach when we sit and open the book of Allah, reminding us of things we may have to do or putting thoughts in our heads to derail us from pondering over Allah’s words and thus puts us off reading; this will happen every single time we try to read, even in our salah. Allah commands us to seek refuge with him from the shaytan every time we recite. Allah then follows up on this ayah:
“Indeed, there is for him no authority over those who have believed and rely upon their Lord.” [16:99]
This tells the Muslims that we should not fear shaytan, rather our belief in Allah and the words we utter as He taught us are enough to guard us. Not only to protect us from the shaytan making us lazy or put us off the Qur’an but also to make us misinterpret or turn our guidance into misguidance. Seeking refuge in Allah should not merely be a recitation but a genuine statement from our hearts to keep the shaytan away.
Allah knows best.