Comment on the “Counsel of Iblees before he is chained up” which is widespread in some chat rooms
Question

                There is something that is widespread in many chatrooms that is called “The letter of Iblees” which is signed in his name. In it are words addressed to mankind and the devils among mankind. We hope that you can look at it and comment on it.
Praise be to Allah.
    We have come across this letter and have seen it in many 
    chatrooms. It is known as the “Counsel of Iblees” or “My advice before I am 
    chained up” or “The Letter of Iblees.” It is written as if it is words of 
    the Shaytaan addressing mankind before he is chained up in Ramadaan, in 
    which he urges the devils among mankind to undertake his missions. We will 
    quote this letter and make whatever comments we can on it. 

    The text of the letter is as follows: 

    “Iblees says in this letter: I send you my best wishes and 
    greetings a few hours before I am put in chains, which I am certain of and 
    everyone knows about that. 

    “Thirty days in which I will be far away from you, after 
    having been with you throughout the year. My consolation is that there may 
    be among you those who will make up for my absence. 

    “You are all aware of what happened last Ramadaan. Despite 
    all the efforts I made with you, and all the thoughts that I whispered into 
    your ears, we saw millions of people in all lands going to the mosques, 
    millions putting on hijab. At that time I was tied up in chains and burning 
    with the fire of anger.  

    “The efforts of a whole year were wasted with that lost girl 
    on Laylat al-Qadr, and that man whom I caused to fall into every major sin, 
    and now tears are falling from his eyes that extinguish his Lord’s wrath and 
    open the door of repentance to him. 

    “O devils among mankind, when your leader is absent, you have 
    a great role to play, so do as you are commanded. I want them in Ramadaan to 
    know nothing but staying up all night until morning, and sleeping until it 
    is time for a delightful iftaar, until their rounded bellies are filled. 
    Then complete it with the blessing of TV programs. We want dancing, we want 
    music, we want desires and provocation, we want devilish ideas. But do not 
    forget to close it with deceit by including recitation of Qur’aan. 

    “O devils of mankind, include many interviews with actresses 
    and dancers and all attractive and beautiful women who will tell them about 
    the spirit of Ramadaan and the efforts they make on stages and dance floors. 
    We want all the people to talk about those daily soap operas, weekly movies 
    and monthly plays. We want soccer matches, Arabic songs, satellite channels. 
    I do not want to see any one of them stopping, not even for a second. As you 
    know, our time is precious and our goals are cheap. 

    “O devils of mankind, do you want them to enter Paradise 
    which has been denied to us, even its beautiful fragrance? Do you want them 
    to have moments of repentance where decades of our efforts will be wasted? 
    Did I not warn you that whoever among them lives to see Laylat al-Qadr, his 
    past and future sins will be forgiven? No, a thousand times no! You will be 
    doomed and lost if you do that. 

    “I will replace you, you cheap devils. Do you not want 
    dwellers for Hell and inhabitants for its lowest degrees? Is there no one 
    who would like to go to Hell and eat from the tree of Zaqqoom? Where are 
    your dead hearts and devilish minds?  

    “As for you, O woman, your role in the ummah is very 
    important. You are the strongest drug for man, and I have great hopes in 
    you. You are the answer to every question. We want soirees, we want dancing 
    and laughter, in brief, we want provocation and pleasure. Forget about 
    Taraweeh, forget about the reward of the one who spends the night in prayer. 
    Is it not enough that you are fasting?  

    “O sons of Adam, listen to me, for I am nothing but a sincere 
    adviser to you. Do not worry about anything in Ramadaan but all that is 
    delicious. Forget about praying to the Lord of the Worlds, and beware of 
    reading the verses of the Qur’aan; it is bad and sinful in the eyes of the 
    dwellers of Hell. “Ramadaan will come back year after year, so you will have 
    plenty of opportunities to repent to a merciful and oft-forgiving Lord. But 
    for now spend your time in glorifying Bush and Binyamin (Netanyahu), upon 
    whom be the mercy of the devils. 

    “Signed by the accursed Iblees.” 

    We have several comments to make on this letter, as follows: 

    1 – This is an innovated form of da’wah and exhortation. 
    Daa’iyahs and preachers can write letters to sinners telling them of their 
    sins and to obedient worshippers encouraging them to increase their worship, 
    with no need for such a silly, joking letter that contains all kinds of 
    ignorance and unrealistic nonsense. 

    2 – This way of exhorting and reminding opens the door to 
    putting words into the mouths of others besides Iblees, such as the angels, 
    Prophets, martyrs, the Dajjaal, Paradise, Hell and so on. This is something 
    that would lead to chaos and open the door to any fool who wants to 
    attribute such letters to whomever he wants. Thus the da’wah would turn into 
    a fiction-writing competition and exhortations would turn into a contest to 
    choose a figure to whom to attribute words. 

    3 – We are certain that the author is not a scholar or a 
    seeker of knowledge. We have only seen this letter in chatrooms that are 
    frequented by ordinary people. One of the conditions of calling people to 
    Allaah is that the speaker should have knowledge of what he is saying, 
    because he is speaking on behalf of the Lord of the Worlds and speaking in 
    the name of Islam, so this is not the field for those with colourful 
    imaginations. 

    4 – This letter does not contain any verse or hadeeth, so it 
    distracts people from exhortation that is based on the Qur’aan. It is as if 
    there is nothing in Islam that could move people such as clear verses, 
    saheeh ahaadeeth or clear shar’i rulings. 

    5 – This letter contains a kind of respect towards the 
    Shaytaan, as if he is the speaker and the people are listening to him, and 
    transmitting messages that are signed by him. Undoubtedly this is a kind of 
    honour to the one who has been cursed and who is too despicable to have his 
    messages conveyed by Muslims in their chatrooms and on their mobile phones. 
    Any daa’iyah or seeker of knowledge could write an essay explaining how the 
    Shaytaan deals with sinners and with worshippers, comparing and contrasting 
    the two, and explaining that with verses and ahaadeeth, without making the 
    speaker the Shaytaan himself. Thus he could reach the same goal as that for 
    which this letter was written. 

    6 – This letter contains ignorance of Islamic rulings and 
    lies about Islam, such as when it says, “Did I not warn you that whoever 
    among them lives to see Laylat al-Qadr, his past and future sins will be 
    forgiven?” This sentence reveals ignorance on two counts. Firstly, it is 
    well known that merely living until Laylat al-Qadr comes brings no virtue. 
    The saheeh hadeeth states that virtue is found in spending Laylat al-Qadr in 
    prayer, not just living to see it. Secondly, the virtue attained by the one 
    who spends Laylat al-Qadr in prayer is that his previous sins are forgiven, 
    not his future sins. It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be 
    pleased with him) that the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be 
    upon him) said: “Whoever spends the night of Laylat al-Qadr in prayer out of 
    faith and in the hope of reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.” 
    Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1802). The Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) did not mention future sins. 

    7 – This letter says that all the devils among the jinn are 
    chained up, but it seems that the ones who are chained up are the strong 
    ones (maarid), as it says in some saheeh reports. We have discussed this in 
    the answer to several questions, such as 
    39736, 
    12653 and 
    14253. In some of 
    those answers it states that the fact that those strong jinn are chained up 
    does not mean that they cannot whisper (waswaas), which proves that this 
    letter is completely baseless. 

    Conclusion: 

    We do not think that it is permissible to spread this letter, 
    because it goes against sharee’ah and because it is silly and foolish. We 
    think that such means distract people from the Qur’aan and Sunnah, and that 
    their supposed benefits are limited to style only, and do not include the 
    meaning and content. 

    And Allaah knows best.