The Prophet peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said,
"When Ramadan enters the doors of the Heavens are opened, the doors of Hell are closed, and the shayateen are chained." (Bukhari, Muslim, and others)
Explanation
Sheikh-ul-Hadeeth, Moulana Zakariyya (rahmatullaahi 'alayh) writes in his famous book, Fadhaail-e-A'maal, under the commentary of the Hadeeth in question, that there can be two explanations for this.
The first is that it could be that only the rebellious and chief Shayaateen are chained and thrown into the oceans. In this case, the evil factors that instigate human sin during Ramadhaan will be the smaller shayaateen that are with man all the time.
The second is that although all the Shayaateen are chained, some people become so accustomed to sinning during the other months of the year, that when Ramadhaan arrives, they sin out of habit.
Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi rehmatullah alayh says, the motivator (i.e the Shayateen) being chained does not necessitate that the disobedience will completely fade away, since the other motivator (i.e the Nafs) is still free. In this month Nafs will motivate one towards disobedience, although with lesser force since it is alone.
Question It is said that the Shayateen are locked away during Ramadan. If this is the case, then how can they still influence us during our prayers, by making our minds wander, etc.? And why is there still mischief all around us, even during this blessed month?
Answer According to some Muhadditheen, during Ramadaan only the big Shayeteen are chained. The mischief is then perpetrated by the small Shayateen. According to other Muhadditheen, all the Shayateen are chained, the big and the small. The mischief during Ramadaan is then due to the habits of a person which he built up over a period of time.
and Allah Ta'ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
FATWA DEPT.
The Chaining of Shayateen (Devils) During Ramadan Answered by Ustadha Shaista Maqbool
Question: Assalamu alaikum. I was recently fortunate enough to spend some time in Makkah during Ramadan. I had a bad dream (I will not go into any detail) but was surprised as I previously understood bad dreams to be from shayateen and good dreams from Allah SWT.
How is it possible to have a bad dream if the shayateen are locked away in Ramadan?
JazakhAllah khair.
Answer: Wa'alaikum assalaam warahamtu Allahi wabarakatuh,
May Allah ta'ala accept your Ramadan.
The Prophet peace and blessings of Allah upon him, said, "When Ramadan enters the doors of the Heavens are opened, the doors of Hell are closed, and the shayateen are chained." (Bukhari, Muslim, and others)
However, because sins and other evil occurrences related to the devil still go on during Ramadan, scholars interpreted the last part of the hadith "the shayateen are chained" in different ways.
1. It refers to those shayateen that try to stealthily listen to the reports of the Heavens.
2. It means that the shayateen are not able to incite the Muslims in Ramadan to the same extent they can at other times so they become "as though" they are chained.
3. "Shayateen" here refers to some of them, namely the intensely evil ones amongst them.
4. It means the lessening of evil during Ramadan. This is because even if all of them are chained, there will still be evil since evil has other sources e.g. immoral persons, vile traits, and evil people.
5. It means they are chained for certain things, not everything and for certain people, not all.
(Ibn Hajr, Fath al-Bari and Imam Nawawi, Sharh Muslim)
InshaAllah that clarifies your question. BarakAllahu feekum.
Wasalaam,
Shaista Maqbool
Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani
The second is that although all the Shayaateen are chained, some people become so accustomed to sinning during the other months of the year, that when Ramadhaan arrives, they sin out of habit.
A student asked his teacher: "If the shaytan (devil) is locked up during Ramadan, why do people still do bad things?"
Teacher answered: "What happens when you stir a cup of coffee for a long time? After you take the spoon out the coffee continues to stir on its own, right? Shaytan is that stirrer and we are his coffee. Our bad habits continue to stir even when he is away."
A small boy of tender age... I don't remember his exact age, but can't be much more than 10 years old... called in during a Q&A session with a Mufti sahab on the radio. The astonishing clever question he posed - in his innocent way - delighted the host and Mufti. I'm paraphrasing: "Mufti sahab, when Ramadhan begins at one place a day earlier and at another place the day after, does that mean that Shaytan is chained at one place and still free at the other?"
The Mufti congratulated the boy for his sharp mind and then explained (to all the listeners) something along the lines of that the wordings of some Ahadith must not always be meant in their literal sense. Sometimes figurative speech, metaphors are used to simplify or illustrate a certain issue. So, the Hadith reporting Shaytan being chained in Ramadhan simply means to illustrate that Shaytan's influence in this blessed month of Ramadhan is much lesser. Wherever Ramadhan officially commences and believers start observing fasts the influence of Shaytan on them immediatly decreases significantly. Of course one can not negate the possibility that the Hadith is meant literal, but to facilitate an easy comprehension on the issue this was one of the best explanation I ever heard or read. That sinning unfortunately has become for many of us the 2nd nature is of course a seperate fact in itself.
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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