A Little Person's Guide to Swatting Shaytan Like a Fly

shaytan is such a menace! He trips us up, plays tricks on us, whispers to us and what's more - he enjoys it! Now I know his name is an actual noun AND it's at the beginning of a sentence but I am not going to honour him with a capital S.

I am particularly upset with him for doing these terrible things when I was a kid:

He made my sister and me play tug of war with our little sister's most favourite pair of shorts till they ripped and she cried till the sun went down.

He made me fly right over the handlebars of my bike. I don't know how he did this but it hurt.

He made me remember where I had left my elephant, which I had been trying to find since the week before. But he did it sneakily right in the middle of my prayer! Then he made me leave the prayer to go and get it.

He made me burn the carpet with the iron and pretend it wasn't me, even when my mum asked if I knew what had happened in the bedroom.

He made me keep all my toys in a secret box so I wouldn't have to share them with my sisters.

He made me say 'no' when the new kid in school wanted to play with us, because she was different and didn't look like me or my friends at all.

He made me say a very bad word when I was angry. No wait. He made me angry and then made me say a very bad word.

I used to think there was not much I could do about this annoying creature, but as I grew up I realised that was flapdoodle! I started learning some things that helped me make shaytan become as small as a fly. I'm glad about that because when he is that size he probably doesn't feel very important at all. I wanted to share this with all the children out there.

These are some of the things I do:

When I am about to get angry I say audoobillah...that hurts him

When I stumble or fall I say bismillah...that's bothers him a lot

When I think of doing something bad, I do something good instead...that makes him sad

When I don't feel like giving money in charity, I give even more...that makes him mad

When I think I am better than someone else I say astagfirullah...that makes him feel like a loser

When I'm about to tell a lie, I tell the truth instead...that makes him miserable.

When you do all of those things, it makes that nasty piece of work get smaller and smaller, and smaller still, till he is as small as a fly. So you see, it's easy to swat shaytan like a fly. Let me know how you get on!

If you liked this post, you'll love my books! Say bismillah and check out my books for Muslim children!

Watch out for the 'Little Person's Guide' book series coming soon In sha Allah

Text copyright (c) Zanib Mian 2016

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