The Story Of Barsisa (note)

The Story of Barsisa

04 May 2017 – 8 Shaban 1438 AH

كَمَثَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ إِذْ قَالَ لِلْإِنسَـٰنِ ٱكْفُرْ فَلَمَّا كَفَرَ قَالَ إِنِّى بَرِىٓءٌۭ مِّنكَ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ ٱللَّهَ رَبَّ ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ ١٦ 

 فَكَانَ عَـٰقِبَتَهُمَآ أَنَّهُمَا فِى ٱلنَّارِ خَـٰلِدَيْنِ فِيهَا ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ جَزَٰٓؤُا۟ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ ١٧

(059-al-Hashr 59|16-17) [The hypocrites are] like the example of Satan when he says to man, "Disbelieve." But when he disbelieves, he says, "Indeed, I am disassociated from you. Indeed, I fear Allah, Lord of the worlds."|16|So the outcome for both of them is that they will be in the Fire, abiding eternally therein. And that is the recompense of the wrong-doers.[17]

Prophet (ﷺ) said “narrated stories about the tribe of Israeli and there is no harm in that”

Story to show the way of shaytan in his attempt to mislead mankind the story warns human about shaytan’s sincere advice. One must oppose the thing that shaytan is calling you.

One thing more importantly is that from the story the great lesson to be taken is that shaytan will always lead mankind astray by his step by strategy. Some of his early steps to oppose mankind can be quite sincere but see the end result.

We relate a story of a pious man who was tricked by Satan and made him commit few major sins.

There were three brothers from Bani Israel who were called upon to go on Jihad. These three brothers had a sister who did not have any one else to be taken care other that by them. They did not know under whose care could they leave the young woman. Then they thought that the most reasonable place to leave her was with the Abid (worshipper) because he was the most trusted man in town. Barsisa, the Abid was a man who used to be in a monastery devoted to worship of ALLAH [Subhana wa ta'ala]

So they went to him and said, ”We are being enlisted to go on Jihad and we want to leave our sister with you. We trust no one in town but you.”

Barsisa replied “Audhu billah, get away from me.” This was an Abid who was not married and he did not want to deal with these problems.

The brothers said, “We have no where else to leave our sister but with you. We don’t trust anyone else.”

So Shaytan came to Barsisa and said, “If you don’t accept, she might be left with somebody who might not be trustworthy. You have to step-up and take this responsibility.”

So Barsisa told the brothers, “Leave her in the empty house.” (Which was separate from the monastery where he was staying)? The brothers then left her there and went on Jihad.

After that, Barsisa the Abid used to leave food at his doorstep and the young woman had to come out of her house and walk all the way to take the food from his doorstep. Barsisa never used to leave from his monastery. Barsisa had never met her and they were not seeing each other. Days passed by like this.

One day, Shaytan came to Barsisa and said, “Somebody might see her when she is walking out. So rather than have her leave from her house. You need to carry it and leave at her doorstep.” So he started leaving the food at her doorstep. This happened for many days.

Again one day, Shaytan came to Barsisa and said, “You can’t just leave the food at her doorstep. Somebody might see her when she opens the door and she is very beautiful. You would have to take the food and leave it inside her room.” So Barsisa would go and knock on the door. She would open and he would walk inside and leave the food there. That continued for a while.

Then again one day Shaytan said, “You can’t leave this poor woman alone without giving her any company. Nobody is speaking to her. So she may be feeling very lonely and that might lead to haram. So why don’t you go and talk to her from behind the door.” Barsisa liked the idea and so for a while he would sit outside and just talk to her for HOURS. Slowly and slowly the relationship was building up and Shaytan was finding it easier to drag him to the next step.

Shaytan then came and said, “You can’t just sit there talking to her, people might see you. You need to go inside, just sit in another room without looking at her and talk to her.” So for sometime that is what he did. Slowly she started getting closer to him and everytime they got more and more close to the extent that eventually he committed zina (fornication) with her.

So the Abid, the worshipper who devoted his life to service in the monastery committed zina. Because of that, she became pregnant and delivered a boy.

Then Shaytan came to Barsisa and said, “Now when the brothers come back and find out that their sister has a child you are going to be in big trouble. The only way for you to put an end to this issue is to kill the baby.” Barsisa followed the advice of Shaytan and killed the child.

But it didn’t end there. Shaytan came to him and said, “Do you think that this woman will keep the secret after you kill her own child? The only way out is to kill her.” So Barsisa killed her and buried both mother and child in a certain location inside the house.

Later the brothers came back and inquired about their sister. Barsisa gave some reason and said, “She had passed away and this is where she is buried.” Saying that he pointed to a false grave.

Then Shaytan went to the brothers and made them see a dream. In that dream they were told that Barsisa killed their sister and the proof was that she was buried in a different location (i.e. under the rock inside the house).

When the brothers woke up they started talking to each other and found out that they all had seen the same dream. They thought that there must be some truth in it. So they went and uncovered the grave which Barsisa had pointed to and found it empty. Then they went inside the house and found the rock as mentioned in the dream. On digging underneath the rock they found their sister’s dead body along with that of the child.

So they went to Barsisa and forced him to disclose the secret of what happened. He went ahead and told them the whole story. The three brothers took Barsisa to the king’s court and he was given punishment of execution.

While Barsisa was being dragged to his execution spot, Shaytan came to him and said, “Listen Barsisa I am Shaytan and it was me who was in communication with you since this whole thing started and not your inner thoughts. Now I can get u out of this trouble if you want. I am the one who put you in this trouble in the first place and I can get u out of it.”

Barsisa asked, “What should I do?”

Shaytan said, “Do sujood to me and I will save you.”

Barsisa did sujood to Shaytan (i.e. committed shirk) and as soon as he did so, Shaytan ran away and Barsisa was executed.

Deceit #1

Then Shaitan came to Barsisa in the form of Waswasah (Whisperings). Shaitan (Satan) is very smart and knew Barsisa had a soft heart. So he told Barsisa, "What if they can’t find someone good and leave her with someone bad, wouldn’t that be your fault?" Now Barsisa did not realise this was Shaitan whispering in his heart, and because of his compassion for others, he decided to accept their request and help the woman. He let her stay in a house opposite the church. He did this so that it would be easy for him to leave her food outside the church and she could come get it herself.

Deceit #2

But after sometime, Shaitan returned. This time he told Barsisa, "Why don’t you leave the food closer for her, so that people don’t see her moving back and forth alone!" Barsisa agreed and started leaving the food outside the house.

Deceit #3

Sometime later Shaitan he returned and ask Barsisa, "Why don’t you go in and leave it on the table, so that no one sees her coming out and going in alone all the time!" Again, Barsisa agreed and he started leaving the food on the table.

Deceit #4

Then as time went by, Shaitan returned and said to him, "Why don’t you talk to her, she is all alone and has no one to talk to!" Barsisa agreed and started talking to her from behind a door (so as to screen himself). But this would lead them to almost shouting to each other to here themselves.

Deceit #5

Shaitan then asked Barsisa to just go in and talk to her, and finally, he (Shaitan) had got the alone in a room. Shaitan had completed the difficult part. It wasn’t after Barsisa and the woman committed fornication. And to make things worse, she also became pregnant.

Deceit #6

As soon as the baby was born, Shaitan returned, and said to Barsisa, "What have you done? Look at the result of your evil (i.e. the child), get rid of the evidence otherwise the brothers will kill you!" Barsisa killed the baby and buried it in the same room the woman was in.

Deceit #7

Shaitan then told Barsisa, "Do you think you can kill the child of a woman and expect her not to tell anyone?!" and so Barsisa killed her and buried her alongside the baby! He then made a fake grave outside and when her brothers returned, he informed them that she died of illness. After seeing the grave and make dua for her, they returned home and accepted Allah’s decree.

“Later that night, Shaitan came to them in their dream and informed them about what Barsisa had done and where the child and their sister could be found. The brother got up upset and confused, and informed his brothers of the dream, and they both said they had the same dream. So they believed that it must be true, and when and dug up the fake grave and found it empty. They then dug the place Shaitan showed them in the dream and found the child and woman! Furious, the brothers took Barsisa to the king to get his punishment. Barsisa knew that he would be given the death penalty.”

Deceit #8

Shaitan came to Barsisa again, for the final time this time. This time he revealed himself and told him he was the one whispering the thoughts to him. And he said that he could save Barsisa, if Barsisa makes sujood (prostrate) to him once! Barsisa, out of desperation made Sujood to him, this confirmed his Kufr (disbelief) and Shaitan said to him "I am free of you, I fear Allah, the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)!" and left Barsisa was stoned to death and on the day of judgement he will be resurrected making Sujood to Shaitan!

A LESSON FROM THIS STORY

Shaytan uses a step-by-step approach to misguide mankind

From the previous story we can note one of the methods that Shaytan uses to mislead mankind. He takes the human step by step, not all at one time, to misguidance. He neither over does it nor does he bore the person. Every time the person is pleased by a step, he takes the human to a greater act of disobedience. This continues until he can take him to the greatest sin and the person’s destruction.

This is Allah’s pattern with respect to His slaves. If they deviate from Allah’s path, He allows Shaytan to gain control over them. If Shaytan came to Barsisa on the first day and asked him to do Zina or Shirk, Barsisa wouldn’t do it…But Shaytan used the STEP by STEP Strategy. Since Adam many thousands years have passed and Billions of people came, Shaytan has also gained much experience and he knows how to Delude mankind of different personalities.

 وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَبِٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْـَٔاخِرِ وَمَا هُم بِمُؤْمِنِينَ ٨

002-Al-Baqarah 2|208|O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.

So look how Shaitan tricked him. He came to him as a friend, but was in fact his biggest enemy! Here's some classic traps of Shaitan in the 21st century. Try to save yourselves from these as far as you can.