Undoing The Knots of Shaytaan

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّه صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ يَعْقِدُ الشَّيْطَانُ عَلَى قَافِيَةِ رَأْسِ أَحَدِكُمْ إِذَا هُوَ نَامَ ثَلَاثَ عُقَدٍ يَضْرِبُ كُلَّ عُقْدَةٍ عَلَيْكَ لَيْلٌ طَوِيلٌ فَارْقُدْ فَإِنْ اسْتَيْقَظَ فَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ فَإِنْ تَوَضَّأَ انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ فَإِنْ صَلَّى انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ فَأَصْبَحَ نَشِيطًا طَيِّبَ النَّفْسِ وَإِلَّا أَصْبَحَ خَبِيثَ النَّفْسِ كَسْلَانَ

Abi Hurairah narrated:

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Shaytaan puts three knots at the back of your head when you sleep, and he seals each one by breathing unto them, ‘The night is long, so keep sleeping.’ When you wake up and utter the remembrance of Allah, you untie one knot. When you make wudhu’ (ablution), you untie the second. When you offer prayer, you untie the third. And you then get up energetic and in lively spirits; otherwise, you get up lethargic and in low spirits.”

Narrated in Sahih Bukhari

Grade: Sahih (authentic)

Reflections:

1. Shaytaan (Satan) always works to tempt and lead humans astray.

2.  Every night when a person goes to sleep, Shaytaan places three knots at the back of his head that may cause him to wake up lethargic and devoid of good spirits.

3. Rasulullah (ﷺ) taught us three methods to undo these knots:

a) Reciting the following du’a after waking up:

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِيْ أَحْيَانَا بَعْدَ مَا أَمَاتَنَا وَإِلَيْهِ النُّشُوْرِ

“All praise to Allah who has given us life after causing our death (i.e. waking us up after putting us to sleep), and to Him is the Resurrection.” 

b) Cleaning up and making wudhu’ (ablution)

c) Offering two raka’ahs of supplementary prayer.

4. Thus, we can put into practise all three by getting up before the fajar (dawn) prayer. 

Let’s not allow Shaytaan to bind us and render us lazy and slothful. Ensure that his knots are loosened every day we wake up so that we become productive and do good deeds.