On Scorpions and Snakes
The Prophet ﷺ taught his Companions O to seek refuge and protection with Allah ﷻfrom the physical dangers around them. Scorpions, snakes, and evils of the land…
“O land, my Rubb and your Rubb is Allah, I seek refuge in Him from your evils, the evils of what you contain, the evils of what has been created in you, and the evils of what walks upon you. I seek refuge in Allah from lions, black serpents, scorpions and from the inhabitants of the place, and from the parent (i.e., Satan) and his offspring who inhabit a settlement (i.e., helpers from amongst the devils). ” (Abu Dawud)
يا أرض ، ربي وربك الله، أعوذ بك من شرك وشر ما فيك ، وشر ما خلق فيك، وشر ما يدب عليك أعوذ بالله من شر أسد وأسود، ومن الحية والعقرب، ومن ساكن البلد، ومن والد وما ولد
(رواه أبو داود)
The forces that stand to harm the human in his journeying to his Creator are both physical and spiritual. The Prophet ﷺ taught us to engage this world, not disengage, while teaching us to be aware of the nature and reality of the physical world around us. Imagine a companion embarking on a journey being oblivious to the dangers that lurk on his path. Imagine a companion oblivious to enemy forces from Quraish seeking to kidnap or ransack his caravan or take him hostage. The physical enemies or forces that sought to harm one were clear, and the companions were taught to be well aware of them and prepare accordingly, be it through physical or spiritual means.
Today, many in developed nations live a life of ease, comfort, and satisfaction. There aren’t scorpions or snakes waiting for us on our commute to work. We don’t worry about highway robbers going to the supermarket. There aren’t enemy tribes awaiting to kidnap us.
In our modern-day lives, it seems we don’t have as many enemies or forces against us…
But this is precisely the delusion we live in today.
For the tools we live with on a daily basis, the things that give us the semblance of ease, convenience, satisfaction, are indeed the scorpions and snakes of our time. In our ignorance of them and complete oblivion of their reality, which was by design, we are continually under attack, falling into an ever-deeper state of delusion and dependency on that which only harms us.
The forces against us today in the modern world are stronger than in any other era in history. Yet they are ever more subtle and accepted by people as innocuous. The central banking system, malnutrition of the masses, philosophical indoctrination of materialism, the commoditization of the earth, the conversion of the human to a mere consumer, the blind faith in technology and science, digital and technological dependence…
These are the enemies of the believers and humanity in our time.
The Prophet commanded us to even interrupt our spiritual worship to eliminate such physical enemies and harms:
"Allah's Messenger ﷺ ordered killing the two black things in salat; the snake and the scorpion.” (Tirmidhi)
“عنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ أَمَرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِقَتْلِ الأَسْوَدَيْنِ فِي الصَّلاَةِ الْحَيَّةُ وَالْعَقْرَبُ”
So let us now do just that…