God's name repels the devil

the Prophet (s.a.a.s.) said:
    “The Prophet’s animal tripped,
     so I said,
         `Cursed Satan.’
     The Prophet said
         Do not say, ‘Cursed Satan,’
         for if you say these words,
         Satan becomes arrogant and says,
               ‘With my strength I made him fall.’
         When you say, ‘Bismillah' (in the name of God) 
         Satan will become as small as a fly"


I heard Messenger of God (ﷺ) saying:
    "If a person mentions the Name of God upon entering his house or eating,
     Satan says, addressing his followers:
          'You will find no where to spend the night and no dinner.'
     But if he enters without mentioning the Name of God,
     Satan says;
           'You have found (a place) to spend the night in,
     and if he does not mention the Name of God at the time of eating,
     Satan says:
           'You have found (a place) to spend the night in as well as food."'[Muslim].

When we attended a meal with the Messenger of God (ﷺ),
we would not stretch forth our hands towards the food until he (ﷺ) would start eating first.
Once, we were with him when a little girl rushed in as if someone was impelling her.
She was about to lay her hand on the food when the Messenger of God (ﷺ) caught her hand.
Then a bedouin came in rushing as if someone were pushing him.
He (ﷺ) caught his hand also and said,
    "Satan considers that food lawful for himself on which the Name of God is not mentioned.
     He (Satan) brought this girl to make the food lawful through her but I caught her hand.
     Then he brought the bedouin to make it lawful through him but I caught his hand too.
     By Him in Whose Hand my soul is, now Satan's hand is in my grasp along with their hands."
Then he mentioned the Name of God and began to eat.[Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i].

Messenger of God (ﷺ) was sitting while a man was eating food.
That man did not mention the Name of God till only a morsel of food was left.
When he raised it to his mouth, he said:
    "Bismillah awwalahu wa akhirahu (in the Name of God, in the beginning and in the end)." Messenger of God (ﷺ) smiled at this and said,
    "Satan had been eating with him
     but when he mentioned the Name of God,
     Satan vomited all that was in his stomach."[Abu Dawud and An-Nasa'i].

So an important lesson can be learnt from the above narrations: Satan will be with us in every deed we do.  However, if we do the deed in the name of God, then Satan will be repelled from doing it.  We often remember to say "bismillah" (in the name of God) before we do a lawful (halaal) good deed (e.g. eating, marital relations, reading Qur'an, etc) to prevent satan from interfering and joining in.  However, who would do a forbidden (haraam) bad deed in the name of God? (If we said "bismillah" before doing a bad deed, we most likely would not do the deed!) 

So remember, when we do a bad deed (e.g. smoking, fornication, corruption, lying, breaking ties of kinship etc) Satan will be doing it with us!  Remember that!  Satan smokes with you, fornicates with you, creates corruption and mischief with you!

Muhammad (s.a.a.s) in the Bible

Here are SOME prophecies in the Bible that explain why some Jewish tribes at the time of Muhammad (s.a.a.s) were awaiting the coming of a final Prophet in a specific location in Arabia – an oasis called Yathrib (later renamed madina - city of the Prophet) and how an Ebionite Christian Monk called Waraqa recognised Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) as the final Messenger of God.  This is reminiscent of the Jews at the time of Jesus (a.s) who were awaiting three prophets; the Messiah (Jesus a.s.?), Elias's return (John/Yahya a.s.?) and a final Prophet (Muhammad s.a.a.s.?) [21]

• The prophet's name is 'Ahmad' [22] or 'Muhammad' (praised one) (s.a.a.s.) [6,17]
• Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) was a lawgiver who was NOT from Judah (not Jewish) [1]
• Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) was from Arabia (Paran) and received his first revelation while meditating in cave Hira on a mountain (Jabal al-nour) [3,16]
• The first verse revealed to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) was chapter 96 of the Qur'an. “The Angel (Gabriel) came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read." The Prophet added, "The angel caught me and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read! in the name of your Lord, who created, created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is Most Generous…" [9]
• Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) gained the obedience of his people (all of Arabia) [1].
• Safiyya bint Huyyay (r.a.) was the daughter of a jewish tribe's “King” and became one of the honoured wives of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) titled 'mother of the believers' [5]
• The inhabitants of Yathrib/Madina (land of Tema, villages that Kedar inhabited) in Arabia (“the wildreness”) helped the prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) by bringing food and drink to the migrating muslims escaping persecution from the Meccans [8,14].
• The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) would be gentle and never raise his voice, even if angry. He responded to hostility with humility [11] (one of the Jews who embraced Islam said: I have known all the signs of prophethood in the face of Muhammad except two signs, which were: Would his tolerance overpower his ignorance? And rudeness would increase his forbearance. So, I used to treat him nicely so that I would socialize with him and know these two qualities. So, once he bought fresh dates from me and we delayed the payment for a fixed time. When the term of the payment was about to end, I came to him to demand repayment of my debt two or three days before it was due. I approached him (the Prophet) and gripped him by the shirt and cloak. I looked at him with a harsh face and said: 'O Muhammad, will you not pay my dues? By God, I have not known the House of `Abdul-Muttalib to be ones who evade payment, and I have known that from living amongst you. I looked towards `Umar to find that his eyes were rolling like a round ship. He then gazed at me and said: 'O enemy of God, are you addressing the Messenger of God with what I am hearing and doing unto him what I am seeing? by He who has sent him with the Truth that, if not for what I fear I could sacrifice, I would strike your head with my sword.' The Messenger of God was looking at `Umar with serenity and patience, and then said: 'O `Umar, myself and him were in greater need in something other than this [wrath]; that you command me with good fulfillment [of my debt] and command him with good manners in demanding his dues. `Umar, take him and give him his due and increase it by twenty Sa's of dates in compensation for threatening him." Zayd said: `Umar escorted me and granted my dues and added twenty Sa`s of dates. I said: 'What is this increase, O `Umar?' He said: 'The Messenger of God instructed that I increase [your dues] in place of threatening you.' I said: 'And do you know me, O `Umar?' He said: 'No, who are you?' I said: 'I am Zayd ibn Sa`nah.' He said: 'The rabbi?' I said: 'The rabbi.' He said: 'So what led you to do unto the Messenger of God what you did and say unto him what you said?' I said: 'O `Umar, there was nothing of the signs of prophethood that I did not identify in the face of the Messenger of God save two [qualities] that I did not know of him; his forbearance overpowers his anger and the anger practiced unto him only increases his forbearance. Now I have witnessed them. So bear witness O `Umar that I accept God as lord, Islam as religion, and Muhammad as Prophet." (Ahmad (3/19, 61))
• Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) was very similar to Prophet Moses (a.s.) [2] for the following reasons: both were born natural births to a mother and father, however both were born circumcised, both became orphaned, both became prophets at the age of 40, both were accepted as prophet-kings by their people (jews/arabs), both were given an authorotative book of laws (torah/quran), both got married and had more than one wife, both were exiled/migrated from their place of birth to escape persecution, both performed a splitting miracle (splitting the Sea/Moon), both spoke to God directly (mount sinai/night journey), both had no living male heir, both died natural deaths (were not killed/martyred), The Caliph Ali (r.a.) was also similar to Prophet & Caliph Aaron (a.s.) in many ways except that there are no more prophets after Muhammad (s.a.a.s) (‘Your position to me is like the position of Harun to Musa, except that there will be no prophet after me.' - al-Bukhari)
• The prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) rode a camel (not a horse, not a donkey, etc) [7]
• Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s.) was permitted by God to fight against the enemies of God by sword, arrows, horses and camels to spread truth and justice to the Gentiles [3,4,10,15]
• A new people will come to do God's work after the Jews and Christians  [18,19,20]
• The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) brought a new law [12] which is recited like a song (the Qur'an) [13]
• The Qur'an is the verbatim word of God put into the mouth of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.a.s) – which is why each chapter, except one, begins with “in the name of God...” [2]

BIBLICAL REFERENCES

1 = Genesis 49:10

2 = Deuteronomy 18:18-19

3 = Deuteronomy 33:2

4 = Psalms 45:2-8

5 = Psalms 44:9-12

6 = Psalms 45:17

7 = Isaiah 21:7

8 = Isaiah 21:14-15

9 = Isaiah 29:11-13

10 = Isaiah 42:1

11 = Isaiah 42:2-3

12 = Isaiah 42:4

13 = Isaiah 42:10

14 = Isaiah 42:11-12

15 = Isaiah 42:13

16 = Habakkuk 3:3

17 = Haggai, ii. 7-9

18 = Matthew 21:33-46

19 = Mark 12:1-12

20 = Luke 20:9-18

21 = John 1:19-21

22 = John 15:26

Is your god hiding?

one of His names is The Hidden (al-baatin).

What do Muslims think about Christmas? Are there any Muslims who celebrate it?

if Christmas were truly to do with jesus a.s. birth, as opposed to being an ancient pagan (roman?) practise (winter solstice), then we still wouldn't because it would be considered innovation in the religion (bid’ah) and something not practised by the prophet (s.a.a.s) or any prophet for that matter.  Furthermore, birthdays are also a pagan practise

Religious people: How do you explain the fact that innocent kids, who surely had never sinned, sadly die?

People do not die due to their sins.

Death is a part of life.

Young children die just as some people die when they become elderly and senile.  That equally could be thought of as cruel.  However it is not. It is just death.

It is illogical to think of death as cruel - since it is just the opposite of birth.

However, there are far worse things than death - such as suffering.

But - if your questions is “why does God allow suffering in the World” - then the wisdom behind that is deep and another question entirely

[2:34] making yourself a god

"and when We said to the angels:
    'prostrate to Adam'
so they prostrated
except Beliel - he refused and was proud (sought to be bigger)
and was of the rejecters"
[2:34]


God commands the angels to prostrate to Adam as a sign of respect and to acknowledge that God had created the first human superior to angels (due to some of the abilities mentioned earlier).  They obeyed and acknowledged it, except Beliel (Arabic; Iblis), otherwise known as the Devil.  Beliel (formerly known as Azazel) is not the same race as the angels of light. He belongs to the demon race (an angel of darkness, a fallen 'angel', a watcher)  made of smokeless fire. They also have free will and so Beliel disobeyed God, refusing to acknowledge humans were superior to him or his race due to reasons of pride.

From this verse we learn that people who believe in God can still be considered from among the rejecters (k-f-r) if they refuse to obey God because they are too proud.  This is because they consider themselves and their decisions superior to God and His wisdom.  Although they know God is the truth, they reject Him and the truth by considering themselves superior.  They try to elevate themselves above God.  In essence, they are making themselves a god!  A crime the false messiah will commit.  The crime of the devil himself

For more information about Beliel (Iblis):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belial
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_%28Islam%29
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azazel#Azazel_in_Islam

• "three nets of Belial" which are said to be fornication, wealth, and pollution of the sanctuary.
• It was Belial who inspired the Egyptian sorcerers, Jochaneh and his brother, to oppose Moses and Aaron.
• Simeon 5:3 says that fornication separates man from God and brings him near to Belial. Levi tells his children to choose between the Law of God and the works of Belial^[24] 
•  when the soul is constantly disturbed, the Lord departs from it and Belial rules over it. 
• Naphtali^[25] contrasts the Law and will of God with the purposes of Belial
•  in 20:2, Joseph prophesies that when Israel leaves Egypt, they will be with God in light while Belial will remain in darkness with the Egyptians.
•  the Testament describes that when the Messiah comes, the angels will punish the spirits of deceit and Belial^[26] and that the Messiah will bind Belial and give to his children the power to trample the evil spirits.^[27]
• In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (by Bartholomew)of the New Testament apocrypha, Belial was visible along with 666 fallen angels when Michael was commanded by Jesus to show Hell to his disciples
• In The Satanic Bible (The Book of Belial), Belial means "without a master", and symbolizes independence, self-sufficiency, and personal accomplishment.
• Azazel is one of the leaders of the rebellious Watchers in the time preceding the flood; he taught men the art of warfare, of making swords, knives, shields, and coats of mail, and women the art of deception by ornamenting the body, dying the hair, and painting the face and the eyebrows, and also revealed to the people the secrets of witchcraft and corrupted their manners, leading them into wickedness and impurity until at last he was, at Yahweh's command, bound hand and foot by the archangel Raphael and chained to the rough and jagged rocks of [Ha] Dudael (= Beth Ḥadudo), where he is to abide in utter darkness until the great Day of Judgment, when he will be cast into the fire to be consumed forever (Enoch viii. 1, ix. 6, x. 4–6, liv. 5, lxxxviii. 1; see Geiger, "Jüd. Zeit." 1864, pp. 196–204
•  3 Enoch, Azazel is one of the three angels (Azza [Shemhazai] and Uzza [Ouza] are the other two) 
• And it came to pass when I saw the bird speaking I said this to the angel: "What is this, my lord?" And he said, "This is disgrace – this is Azazel!" And he said to him, "Shame on you, Azazel! For Abraham's portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth, for you have selected here, [and] become enamored of the dwelling place of your blemish. Therefore the Eternal Ruler, the Mighty One, has given you a dwelling on earth. Through you the all-evil spirit [was] a liar, and through you [come] wrath and trials on the generations of men who live impiously. Abr. 13:4–9
• God's heritage (the created world) is largely under the dominion of evil – i.e., it is "shared with Azazel" (Abr. 20:5), again identifying him with Satan, who was called "the prince of this world" by Jesus. (John 12:31 niv)
• 
  

Can God change the decree?

The first thing that was created by God was the pen. It wrote what is fated.

God follows a set way. He is consistent.

However He is the only one who can change what was written. His free will can overrule fate (if it couldnt then how could He have free will?). His will is always done. He need only say Be and it is.