Distraction

Original Islamic painting by Saleha Contractor. 2019 Collection.

Hand-painted mixed media art on 40 by 72" canvas on wood. Only one piece.

Text

Left, Right, Behind, Front. "Greatest attack: Distraction" and some of the story text. 

The Story

Inspired by shaytaans greatest attacks that impact our days. 

Shaytaan attacks from all four sides: front, back, right and left.

Front: Human beings have a tendency to be impulsive. He makes you question patience.  

Behind: Give us anxiety over thoughts of the future. 

Left: Lures us into temptations. He beautifies evil deeds. 

Right: He comes to you and praises you. Makes you take pride in your good deeds.  

So why not the top and bottom? One of the observations is that: Shaytaan calls to falsehood. Which is the opposite of truth. The two truths that will never change are: Revelation and Death.  Therefore, if your focus is on what's above and whats below, you'll be fine. Shaytaan can attack us from all sides every morning but you'll be protected from above and below.

The other observation is that we make dua to the above and sujood to the ground. When we make dua, as the slave of Allah we recognize that we need Allah swt and are dependent on him- the most powerful. When we go in sujood, we humble ourselves showing that we are not like shaytaan who refused to do sajdah. 

One of the greatest attacks of shaytaan is distraction. He gets you so busy and involved with multiple tasks that you actually end up accomplishing almost nothing. The ability to stay focused nowadays seems so difficult. He aims to slow you down and takes away your motivation to pray or do good deeds by making you lazy. Being overwhelmed with tasks leads to agitation... our faith should make our days be filled with gratitude and contentment. Remember, the things we're rushing to do are in the control of Allah swt, so what's the point of missing prayer- will the task have any barakah in it? May Allah swt protect us and guide us.

CC: Lecture by Nouman Ali Khan