Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Jump to:

Israel is Losing - and They Know It | Imam Tom Live

Israel is Losing - and They Know It | Imam Tom Live

How to Fight the Israeli Backlash | Imam Tom Live

How to Fight the Israeli Backlash | Imam Tom Live

On the Gaza Ceasefire | Imam Tom Live

On the Gaza Ceasefire | Imam Tom Live

Courage in the Face of Israeli Censorship | Imam Tom Live

Courage in the Face of Israeli Censorship | Imam Tom Live

How To Become A Strong Muslim Leader | Imam Tom Live

How To Become A Strong Muslim Leader | Imam Tom Live

How to Develop Better Habits | Imam Tom Live

How to Develop Better Habits | Imam Tom Live

Does Protesting Work? | Imam Tom Live

Does Protesting Work? | Imam Tom Live

Michigan Mosques Say NO! | Imam Tom Live

Michigan Mosques Say NO! | Imam Tom Live

Musk's Take, Columbia's Skunk Surprise, Islamic Unity, and India's Ram Revelation | Imam Tom Live

Musk's Take, Columbia's Skunk Surprise, Islamic Unity, and India's Ram Revelation | Imam Tom Live

The Lives of Imams, Hate Crime in Texas, Israeli Humiliation, Ceasefire Resolutions | Imam Tom Live

The Lives of Imams, Hate Crime in Texas, Israeli Humiliation, Ceasefire Resolutions | Imam Tom Live

Israel Bombs Rafah During Superbowl, that Biden Tweet, and Constructive Conversations | Imam Tom Live

Israel Bombs Rafah During Superbowl, that Biden Tweet, and Constructive Conversations | Imam Tom Live

What Will Ramadan be Like in Rafah? A Conversation About Sha'aban and Leadership | Imam Tom Live

What Will Ramadan be Like in Rafah? A Conversation About Sha'aban and Leadership | Imam Tom Live

Unveiling Truths: Aaron Bushnell, NYT's Agenda, & Stopping Military Aid to Israel | Imam Tom Live

Unveiling Truths: Aaron Bushnell, NYT's Agenda, & Stopping Military Aid to Israel | Imam Tom Live

Biryani Diplomacy: The Illusion of Political Influence & the "Flour Massacre" | Imam Tom Live

Biryani Diplomacy: The Illusion of Political Influence & the "Flour Massacre" | Imam Tom Live

Live Revolution: The West Rallies for Gaza | Imam Tom Live

Live Revolution: The West Rallies for Gaza | Imam Tom Live

University Raids, Fake Negotiations, Holocaust Remembrance? | Imam Tom Live

University Raids, Fake Negotiations, Holocaust Remembrance? | Imam Tom Live

Do Influencers Owe their Followers Advocacy? | Imam Tom Live

Do Influencers Owe their Followers Advocacy? | Imam Tom Live

Israel's Ceasefire Rejection, Nurse Fired for Gaza, and the Law of Sacrifice | Imam Tom Live

Israel's Ceasefire Rejection, Nurse Fired for Gaza, and the Law of Sacrifice | Imam Tom Live

Muslim Influencers Profiting from Apartheid | Imam Tom Live

Muslim Influencers Profiting from Apartheid | Imam Tom Live

The Real Guise of 'Islamophobia' | Imam Tom Live

The Real Guise of 'Islamophobia' | Imam Tom Live

What France & UK's Electoral results mean for Muslims | Imam Tom Live

What France & UK's Electoral results mean for Muslims | Imam Tom Live

No Limits: Israel’s Growing Atrocities and Global Indifference | Imam Tom Live

No Limits: Israel’s Growing Atrocities and Global Indifference | Imam Tom Live

Falsehood is Bound to Vanish | Imam Tom Live

Falsehood is Bound to Vanish | Imam Tom Live

Hypocrisy at the DNC | Imam Tom Live

Hypocrisy at the DNC | Imam Tom Live

Empowering Student Activism | Imam Tom Live

Empowering Student Activism | Imam Tom Live

Remembering Aysenur's Courage | Imam Tom Live

Remembering Aysenur's Courage | Imam Tom Live

Muslim Votes Swing 2024 | Imam Tom Live

Muslim Votes Swing 2024 | Imam Tom Live

All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation | Imam Tom Live

All Praise Be to Allah in Every Situation | Imam Tom Live

Oct 7th Changed Everything | Imam Tom Live

Oct 7th Changed Everything | Imam Tom Live

Allah Will Ask: What Did You Do With Your Freedom? | Imam Tom Live

Allah Will Ask: What Did You Do With Your Freedom? | Imam Tom Live

Surah Al-Kawthar & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Live

Surah Al-Kawthar & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Live

Atomic Habits: Why Most Quit Early | Imam Tom Weekly

Atomic Habits: Why Most Quit Early | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Why You Can't Resist Cravings (and How to Take Back Control) | Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Why You Can't Resist Cravings (and How to Take Back Control) | Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah Al-Ikhlas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah Al-Masad & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Surah Al-Masad & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

Why Reps Matter More than Time | Imam Tom Weekly

Why Reps Matter More than Time | Imam Tom Weekly

What Does Trump's Second Term Mean for Muslims? | Imam Tom Weekly

What Does Trump's Second Term Mean for Muslims? | Imam Tom Weekly

The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption | Imam Tom Weekly

The Islamic Cure for Overconsumption | Imam Tom Weekly

Doomscrolling is Rewiring Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly

Doomscrolling is Rewiring Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly

Trump Wants to Take Over Gaza | Imam Tom Weekly

Trump Wants to Take Over Gaza | Imam Tom Weekly

Will Celebrity Muslims Save Us? | Imam Tom Weekly

Will Celebrity Muslims Save Us? | Imam Tom Weekly

Why Don't Muslims Just Leave? | Imam Tom Weekly

Why Don't Muslims Just Leave? | Imam Tom Weekly

When Did Ramadan Become a Festival | Imam Tom Weekly

When Did Ramadan Become a Festival | Imam Tom Weekly

Muslims Are a People of Principle | Imam Tom Weekly

Muslims Are a People of Principle | Imam Tom Weekly

The Dark Truth About Secularism | Imam Tom Weekly

The Dark Truth About Secularism | Imam Tom Weekly

The Secret Cost of Individualism | Imam Tom Weekly

The Secret Cost of Individualism | Imam Tom Weekly

How Islamic History Was Frozen and Forgotten | Imam Tom Weekly

How Islamic History Was Frozen and Forgotten | Imam Tom Weekly

The Ummah or the Nation? | Imam Tom Weekly

The Ummah or the Nation? | Imam Tom Weekly

Debunking the 'Islamic Dilemma' | Imam Tom Weekly

Debunking the 'Islamic Dilemma' | Imam Tom Weekly

How Music Impacts Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly

How Music Impacts Your Brain | Imam Tom Weekly

Malcolm X's Legacy We Forgot About | Imam Tom Weekly

Malcolm X's Legacy We Forgot About | Imam Tom Weekly

Hajj is the Great Equalizer | Imam Tom Facchine

Hajj is the Great Equalizer | Imam Tom Facchine

The Multi-Million Dollar War on Islam | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

The Multi-Million Dollar War on Islam | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

How Islam Completed what Christianity Began | Imam Tom Facchine

How Islam Completed what Christianity Began | Imam Tom Facchine

Why the Islamic Calendar Matters | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Why the Islamic Calendar Matters | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Colonialism Hijacked the Muslim World | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

How Colonialism Hijacked the Muslim World | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

What Activism Is Missing Today | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What Activism Is Missing Today | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How to Stop Chasing Validation | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How to Stop Chasing Validation | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Representation Isn’t Working. Here’s Why. | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Representation Isn’t Working. Here’s Why. | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Is This Da’wah or Entertainment? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Is This Da’wah or Entertainment? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Islam Isn’t Just Therapy | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Islam Isn’t Just Therapy | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

The Hidden Bias in Every History Book | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

The Hidden Bias in Every History Book | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

How Your Victim Mindset is Destroying You | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Your Victim Mindset is Destroying You | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Modesty Is More Than What You Wear | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Modesty Is More Than What You Wear | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Will Recognition Help Palestine? | Snapshots by Imam Tom Facchine

Will Recognition Help Palestine? | Snapshots by Imam Tom Facchine

Israel’s Link to U.S. Anti-Terror Policy | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Israel’s Link to U.S. Anti-Terror Policy | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Living Up to the Prophet’s ﷺ Final Speech | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Living Up to the Prophet’s ﷺ Final Speech | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Should We View Gaza’s Celebrity Support? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Should We View Gaza’s Celebrity Support? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How to Stop Falling for Fake Mahdis | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How to Stop Falling for Fake Mahdis | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Columbus Wasn't Just After Gold – He Wanted Jerusalem | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Columbus Wasn't Just After Gold – He Wanted Jerusalem | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Why Some Scholars Critique Resistance | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Why Some Scholars Critique Resistance | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Why You Can’t Escape Organized Religion | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Why You Can’t Escape Organized Religion | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Kings Chased Thrones. He ﷺ Chased This Instead | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Kings Chased Thrones. He ﷺ Chased This Instead | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What Islam Reveals About Socialism and Capitalism | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

What Islam Reveals About Socialism and Capitalism | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

What Real Masculinity Looks Like | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What Real Masculinity Looks Like | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Amazon's Kill System & the Network Behind Sami's Detention | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Amazon's Kill System & the Network Behind Sami's Detention | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

The Truth About AI’s Intelligence | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

The Truth About AI’s Intelligence | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What the Qur’an Says About Christianity | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What the Qur’an Says About Christianity | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Does the Qur’an View the Bible? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How Does the Qur’an View the Bible? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What ‘Allahu Akbar’ Really Means (And Why It Scares Them) | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What ‘Allahu Akbar’ Really Means (And Why It Scares Them) | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Debunking the Myth of the ‘Oppressed Muslim Woman’ | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Debunking the Myth of the ‘Oppressed Muslim Woman’ | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Why Not Every Seat is One Worth Taking | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

Why Not Every Seat is One Worth Taking | Focal Point with Imam Tom Facchine

What Sharia Law Actually Means | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

What Sharia Law Actually Means | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Does Islam Actually Oppose Science? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Does Islam Actually Oppose Science? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How ‘Taqiyya’ Became an Islamophobic Talking Point | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

How ‘Taqiyya’ Became an Islamophobic Talking Point | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Who's Your Real Enemy? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

Who's Your Real Enemy? | Snapshots with Imam Tom Facchine

The Promise and Paradox of the Islamic Republic | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 1 | Imam Tom Facchine

The Promise and Paradox of the Islamic Republic | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 1 | Imam Tom Facchine

Iran vs. Saudi Arabia: Who Represents the Ummah? | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 2 | Imam Tom Facchine

Iran vs. Saudi Arabia: Who Represents the Ummah? | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 2 | Imam Tom Facchine

Should We Show Solidarity with Iran? | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 3 | Imam Tom Facchine

Should We Show Solidarity with Iran? | Deep Dive: Iran Ep. 3 | Imam Tom Facchine

Unforgettable Stories From Hajj | Imam Tom x Shaykh Elshinawy

Unforgettable Stories From Hajj | Imam Tom x Shaykh Elshinawy

Series Politics & Practical Theology Social Justice

Imam Tom Live

Surah An-Nas & Atomic Habits | Imam Tom Weekly

How does Shaytaan (Satan) manipulate our choices and lead us into bad habits? What’s the secret to breaking free from his whispers and taking control of your actions? Imam Tom dives into the unique word Al-Khannaas in Surah An-Nas, revealing how Shaytaan uses subtle mechanisms to distract and misguide us. Drawing from the powerful lessons in Atomic Habits, he explores how to design your environment to resist these whispers and build a life of discipline and intention.

Watch on YouTube

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.

Al-Khannas is a title, something that only occurs in Surah An-Nas. Allah is naming or giving a laqab, giving a nickname to shaytan, to Iblis himself.

And as we said that the meaning of this word, sort of indicating one who hides away or slinks away or causes the mischief and then runs,

indicates to us the method and mechanism by which the shaytan leads us astray. We talk about bad habits and some of the bad habits that we have might be sinful habits.

And why do these sinful habits keep on coming to us? Because the shaytan, by whispering, by being someone who basically does it and then leaves, he basically just points out to us.

He makes us notice the possibility of committing a sin and notice a justification for why it might not be that big of a deal. He shows us the cues and then he whispers to you the justification that it might not be that bad if you do it.

You have a reason. Everything has a maslaha, right? There's always a maslaha, a reason to do it. We can always justify. I'm just doing da'wah, right? I'm just, you know, I'm doing what everybody else is doing, right?

It's not like I'm doing this. That would be way worse. There's always a justification. The shaytan is ready to give you that justification and then he'll retreat and watch from a distance as everything blows up in your face.

And so it becomes really important to link it up with what we're about to talk about in Atomic Habits when it comes to how to minimize our bad habits and how to disrupt them and how to break them and admitting that some of our bad habits are also sinful habits.

We've been going through the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, a very, very useful book for Muslims. Coincides almost one to one with some of the things that we have to do in Islam and it really helps us with maximizing our good habits and minimizing our bad habits.

The title of the next chapter is The Secret to Self-Control and he brings up some wild statistics, okay? So he talks about drug addiction. He brings up a case study of the Vietnam War and when American soldiers were abroad in Vietnam fighting the unjust war there, that a whopping 35% of US servicemen tried heroin while they were there. That's crazy.

And of those people who were there, 20% of the soldiers were addicted to heroin. 20%. That's one out of every five soldiers in the US military fighting in Vietnam was addicted to heroin. That's mind-blowing.

Now, even more mind-blowing than that, what percent of them used heroin within one year of returning to the United States? Only 5% of those people who were basically addicted, they were heroin addicts. Over in Vietnam, when they came back, only 5% used heroin within the first year of being back. That's nuts.

Why is it nuts? It challenges a lot of our assumptions about addiction and addictive behavior and how they work. In our culture, in the United States of America, we definitely tend to see addiction and drug use as a moral failing, and it is a moral failing. Let's not be unclear about that.

However, what this study showed is that there's a lot more going on than just willpower. It shows you the power of context, the power of environment, and the power of cues. Now, let's flip these sorts of things. What are the numbers, do you think, of people who get addicted to heroin in their own homes, in their own homeland, where they live, in their residence?

What percentage of people who go through these programs relapse within a year? 90% of them are using heroin again within a year. The people who are abroad in a totally different environment, who are addicted to heroin, they come back, change everything about their lives, only 5% used heroin within one year. Think about it. That's the point that the author is making when it comes to the secret to self-control.

The point is that unhealthy behavior, yes, there is a dimension to it that is about self-control. There's a dimension to it about moral weakness. There's a dimension to it that is moral choice. However, there is another dimension to it that has to do with a disciplined environment.

He talks about the difference between a disciplined person—we are used to thinking about things in terms of disciplined people, that there are disciplined people and undisciplined people, and disciplined people just have all the willpower in the world, and they can just face any temptation, and they're successful. They're successful at resisting that temptation, versus this idea that really successful people create disciplined environments for themselves.

They create environments where there is no temptation or where there's very, very, very little temptation, so they don't have the chance to have a failure of willpower. Basically, he says that the people who seem that we, you and I, look at as the most disciplined are the people who spend the least amount of time around temptation and triggers and cues that would lead to negative behaviors.

The first thing that came to mind was the hadith of the person that killed 99 men. He was a person who had murdered 99 people. He went to a monk. He asked, Will God forgive me? The monk said, No way. So he killed the monk, and he made it an even hundred. Then he went to a shaykh, and he said, I killed 100 guys. I killed 100 people. Can I be forgiven? Will Allah forgive me? He said, Yes, but you have to change your location. You've got to get out of your situation where you're at, and you need to go.

You know the rest of the hadith. He died on the way, but Allah made it so that because of his intention and his effort that he expended, Allah forgave him, even though he didn't even make it to the place where he was at.

So this is exactly what the author is talking about, that Islam recognizes that we want to not just build disciplined people. We also want to build disciplined environments, and sometimes the key to building a disciplined person is actually to build a disciplined environment, that the person who is the most successful is the person who spends the least amount of time around temptation, which is also borne out in other sort of ayat and examples in our tradition.

Allah said in Surah Al-Isra, don't even come close to illicit sexual intercourse. Don't even get close to it, because if you get close to it, there's a likelihood that you're going to fall into it.

And so you need a tuqa, right? You need this sort of, you know, taqwa literally means sort of like a wiqaya, is like a protective barrier. You need to put enough of a barrier in between yourself and that haram thing that you're not going to get in a tempting situation.

Other examples, the hadith of the Prophet (ﷺ) talking about doubtful matters, right? The halal is clear and the haram is clear, and in between them are the things that are doubtful.

And then he says that the example of a believer is like somebody who is grazing their flock around the hima, the hima is like the pastures, right? The king's pastures.

If you graze your flock on the edge of that pasture, it's just a matter of time before one gets in, and then you're guilty of doing something haram. That somebody who has taqwa, wiqaya, is going to put a barrier in between themselves and the haram, they're not going to be in a tempting situation.

They're not going to put themselves into temptation so that they will fail. Anybody can break a habit, but it's much harder to forget a habit. That habit lives on in your mind, and this is what the shaytan plays with, with his whisperings, right?

And so the key to stopping bad habits is to make them invisible. Just like the key to good habits is to make them visible and increase visibility, the key to breaking bad habits, and especially sinful habits, is to make them invisible.

Reduce your exposure, remove cues, and make sure that you spend the least amount of time in temptation as possible.

Other series

40 Hadiths on Social Justice

40 Hadiths on Social Justice

Confident Muslim

Confident Muslim

Sayedaty

Sayedaty

The Faith Revival

The Faith Revival

Proofs of Prophethood

Proofs of Prophethood

To Know Him is to Love Him: Finding Answers Through Allah's Attributes

To Know Him is to Love Him: Finding Answers Through Allah's Attributes

Khutbahs

Khutbahs

Virtues of Dhul Hijjah

Virtues of Dhul Hijjah

Firm Roots

Firm Roots

The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam

The Firsts (Sahaba Stories) | The Forerunners of Islam