This was a pious man called Burseesah, who lived in a sanctuary and devoted his entire life in the worship of Allah. They came to Burseesah and said to him, "O Burseesah. We know you to be a pious and trustworthy man. We have been enlisted to fight for the sake of Allah and we want to leave our sister with you. O Burseesah! We trust no one else in town except you. Please take care of our sister."
Burseesah immediately said, "AoozuBillah! (I seek refuge in Allah) Get away from me! I have sworn to spend my time devoting it to the worship of Allah! I do not want to deal with these issues and be burdened with looking after someone."
The three men said to him, "O Burseesah! We have nowhere else to take her! We can't leave her with anyone else and we don't trust anyone else. Please take care of our sister!"
Shaytaan heard the discussion, and came to Burseesah. "Burseesah..." The waswaas [evil whisperings] began. "Burseesah, if you don't look after her, she might be left with someone who is not trustworthy! You have to take this responsibility".
Burseesah listened and finally agreed to look after her. He told the brothers to leave her in a separate house so not to distract him from his acts of worship. They left her there, said goodbye and went to Jihad.
Burseesah would continue his acts of worship as normal, and during the day he would leave food on his doorstep so the woman would have to leave the house to collect the food. This also ensured they never saw one another and Burseesah never even left his place of worship.
Time passed by.
Shaytaan came to Burseesah.
"Burseesah..." he whispered, "You can't leave the food on your doorstep! As she is leaving the house someone might see her by herself. All alone and vulnerable and take advantage of her. Rather than her leaving her house, you go to her house and drop off the food on her doorstep".
Burseesah made the decision that this was the right thing to do, and followed the bait that Shaytaan masked in a cover of righteousness. So during the day Burseesah would leave his worship, leave his place of worship, go to the house and leave the food on her doorstep.
This happened for a while and with the trap just being set, Shaytaan moved in for the next step.
"Burseeeeesah..." the whispers came again. ”Burseeesah...you are now leaving the food on her doorstep, but still this is not good. She still has to open the door and collect the food. Someone might still see her and she is so beautiful. She is VERY beautiful".
This servant of Allah, who never saw this woman started to be tempted by the whispers from Shaytaan about her beauty.
"Burseesah, her beauty is intoxicating and if someone sees her they may try something. You have to leave the food INSIDE her house. You don't have to look at her. Just knock on the door, and hand her the food as she opens the door."
Burseesah saw no harm in this. After all, it would stop people from seeing her. More deception covered in righteousness.
So again, Burseesah would leave his worship, leave his place of worship, go to the house and knock on her door to hand her the food.
Time passed by again. Shaytaan remained patient before executing his next plan.
Shaytaan came again.
"Burseeesah...you can't leave this poor woman all alone…without any company. No one is speaking to her. She's lonely Burseesah. Just talk to her. There's no harm in saying salaam and asking how she is. You can talk to her from behind the door...you don't have to see her...just talk from outside."
He liked the idea and when he would bring her the food he would talk to her behind the door while she was in her room. They would talk for hours every day and the relationship began to get stronger.
Shaytaan found it easier and easier to drag him into the next step.
"Burseeesah.....Burseesah....you can't just sit behind the door. You know each other well enough to be in the same room now. Just sit in the same room and speak to her. You don't have to look at her. Just sit in the same room."
Burseesah began to follow the advice of Shaytaan. Every time they met, the talk became more intimate as they began getting closer...and closer...and closer.
...He would hold her hand...
...The kiss came a few days later...
Eventually...they made zinaa [fornication] with each other.
"Ohh what have I done" Burseesah said as he realized his mistake.
--From being a slave of Allah...to becoming a fornicator.—
But the story did not end there.
From that night onwards, the woman became pregnant. Nine months later she delivered a baby boy.
The familiar whispers started again as Shaytaan flowed through Burseesah's veins like blood.
"Burseeesaah...when her brothers come back and find out their sister has a child in zinaa, you are going to be in trouble! There is only one way to solve this problem. Burseesah........you have to kill the baby! Get rid of the evidence!"
Grief and anxiety ran through Burseesah's mind as he listened to the whispers of Shaytaan. He did what he heard and killed the baby.
"Ohhhh Burseesah. Do you think this woman will keep this a secret after you killed her own child?? Nooo. Burseesah.....the only thing to do now is to kill her!"
Burseesah then killed the woman and buried both the mother and child under the house and covered it with a rock.
--From being a slave of Allah...to becoming a murderer.—
The three brothers returned and went to greet their sister. She was nowhere to be found. They went to the house of Burseesah and asked him, "Where is our sister?"
"She has passed away" he said as he pointed to a fake grave. The brothers were saddened by the loss, and made du'a for her.
That night when they went to sleep, Shaytaan came to them in their dreams and told them all what had happened.
"Burseesah has lied to you! Burseesah killed your sister! Burseesah made zinaa with her! She is buried under the rock inside the house."
As they all woke up in the morning, and talked about their dream, they began relating the same dream and thought there must be some truth in it.
They first dug up the grave Burseesah pointed to and found no body. They stormed to Burseesah's house and demanded to know what had happened to their sister. One of them saw the rock in the house and uncovered it, where they saw their sister and her child.
"What has happened to our sister?!" The eldest screamed. They forced Burseesah to disclose the secret of what happened and Burseesah told them everything.
Burseesah was taken to court where he confessed everything to the King. The King sentenced Burseesah to be executed. As they dragged him to his death, fear overcame Burseesah.
And for the first time during this whole incident, Shaytaan appeared before Burseesah and said to him, "Oh Burseesah! Listen! Look at me! I was the one who was whispering to you since this whole thing started! I am Shaytaan!"
Burseesah's fear grew as the blade for his execution was brought!
"Now I can get you out of all this trouble. I was the one who put you in it, and I can get you out of it!"
"Oh Shaytaan, what should I do?!" Burseesah cried!
With an evil grin, Shaytaan said, "Make sujood to me. I am Shaytaan and I will save you! Bow down and prostrate to me!" Burseesah fell down in sujood to Shaytaan and as soon as he did this, Shaytaan ran away!
.....and Burseesah was executed.
--From being a servant of Allah, bowing down to Allah...to becoming a servant to Shaytaan...bowing down to Shaytaan. –
-- From Imaan...to the worst type of kufr - bowing down to Shaytaan! –
Who could ever imagine a servant of Allah making sujood to Shaytaan!?
Imagine if Shaytaan came to Burseesah at the beginning and said "Burseesah make sujood to me", would Burseesah do it? DEFINITELY NOT!
If Shaytaan came to Burseesah at the beginning and said "commit murder", would he do it? NO!
If Shaytaan came to Burseesah at the beginning and said "commit zinaa", would he do it? NO!
But Shaytaan knows the game! He's been playing his tricks since the time of Adam. Classical method of misleading people through step-by-step deception. This is how Shaytaan pulls at your feet and deceives you. So even if something may SEEM to be like an insignificant sin / action, be careful. It might be the start of a trap.
Allah tells us "O you who believe! Do not follow the footsteps of the Shaytaan, and whoever follows the footsteps of the Shaytaan, then surely he bids the doing of indecency and evil"
[Surah an-Noor, 24.21]
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘The Shaytaan flows through the son of Adam as the blood flows through his veins.’
Narrated by al-Bukhaaree
*Source: http://www.dhikrullah.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=213
*This story has other versions as well but the central message of the story remains the same. Slight corrections and changes in grammar have been made to this version. In another narration Burseesah dies in sujjod to shaitan when shaitan promises to save him from the brothers. May Allah save us from such a death. Ameen. This Narration is quoted in Ibn al-Jauzi's Talbees Iblees.
*This story and others similar to it are from the Israaeeliyaat (Israelite narrations) or stories which have their source in the books or tales of the Jews and Christians. We do not say it is true nor do we say it is false, but it is allowed to narrate them as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Narrate stories about the Tribe of Israel and there is no harm in that." [Sahih al-Bukhari]
However, they are not to be relied upon for clarification of Quranic texts but rather for further confirmation or in other words for secondary use. For example, when the Quran says something and the Sunnah provides details of it, then these “stories” are used to further confirm the points verified by the Quran and Sunnah. The Israeeliyaat are not an independent source for clarification and seeking knowledge of Islam. Therefore it cannot be used to extract rulings for any issues. But they can be used to convey critical lessons such as that of this story.
*Please notify me in case there are any mistakes in this article.
