How to Protect Your Faith and Soul from Shaytan (11-Minute Read)
Original poetry and selected Ismaili guidance, inspiring believers to safeguard their īmān and nurture the rūḥu’l-īmān, the soul of faith.
Abstract: Safeguarding the Soul of Faith
The religious poetry you are about to read — shared here exclusively on Ismaili Gnosis — is a heartfelt call for sincere believers (muʾminīn) to treasure and safeguard their faith (īmān) and the rūḥu’l-īmān, the spirit or soul of faith that is the very life of a muʾmin’s spiritual being. Through vivid imagery and searching questions, it exposes the subtle yet devastating effects of neglect, sin, and misplaced priorities, while offering hope to those who return to God in genuine repentance (tawbah).
Addressing muʾminīn who, through deep īmān, have tasted the sweetness of divine inspiration and are determined never to lose it, the poem warns how easily one can slip — even unknowingly — into attitudes and actions that undermine the spirit of faith, leading to spiritual blindness and forgetfulness of one’s true calling.
Reading this post — which pairs an original poem with selected passages from Shīʿī Ismāʿīlī wellsprings of wisdom and streams of guidance — can awaken deep gratitude for the priceless gift of faith, strengthen the rūḥu’l-īmān by attuning it to the light of the divinely appointed Imāms and the spirit of the religion of truth (satpanth dīn), and sharpen the heart’s vigilance against devilish deceptions that seek to dim the muʾmin’s light and wound the faithful soul.