It is mentioned in Bihar al Anwar from Usool e Kaafi that Imam Jafar e Sadiq (a.s.) narrated about a person, in the olden times, who kept himself busy in prayer and supplication to Allah. He was so deeply engrossed in prayer that Satan , despite all the efforts, was unable to disrupt this activity. Upset at his failure, Satan called a meeting of his retainers to devise ways and means of achieving his desire. He said:

"I have not succeeded tempting the pious person despite all my efforts. Can you think of a stratagem to unnerve him!"

One of his disciples said, " By creating evil desires in his mind I shall motivate him to commit adultery."

Satan replied, " There is no use. The desire for women has been extinguished from his heart."

Another disciple said, " I shall tempt him with delicacies and drinks that he gets destroyed consuming haram food and alcohol."

Satan said, " No use! After years of penance he has lost palate for good food."

A third retainer said, " Perhaps he can be tricked through the way of prayer which is his favorite activity!"

Satan said, " Yes. We might succeed this way."

Anyway, the result of this confabulation was that Satan himself took the responsibility to do the job. He adopted the garb of a human being, suspended himself in the atmosphere sitting on a prayer mat and pretended to be busy in prayer.

When the pious person saw this, he went to inquire of Satan about the prayer that he performed to get the faculty of suspending himself in the atmosphere. But Satan appeared so intently engrossed in prayer that even after repeated calls he did not give any attention to the pious person. Fed up of waiting, the person asked Satan to respond to him under an oath. Satan took a respite from his pretended prayer.

The pious person asked, " What great task you have performed that you are at such an elevated place?"

He replied, " I have achieved this status through commitment of a sin. After committing the sin I have repented and done penance. Even now I continue to be penitent. With my worship I am growing stronger by day. If you desire to achieve the same status you too must commit adultery and then busy yourself in penitence."

The pious man said, " Neither do I know the way of doing adultery nor have I money for the purpose."

Satan gave him two Dirhams and explained the way to the house of a woman of ill repute.

The pious person entered the town and inquired from the people about the exact location of the woman's house. People thought that he was intending to visit her to sermon the woman to give up her foul ways. The man went to the woman and gave her the money and demanded to do adultery with her. At this point Allah's help came to his rescue that the woman thought of preventing him from committing the sinful act. The woman saw piety written large on the face of the person and that he was not habituated of going to such houses of ill repute.

She asked him, " How have you come here?"

The man replied, " This is not your concern. I have given you the money and you must comply."

The woman said, " As long as I don't know the real reason of your coming here, I shall not submit to you."

Alas, the pious man yielded and told the entire story to her.

The woman said, " I might be losing custom by dissuading you from your resolve, but I am sure it was only Satan who has sent you here."

The man said, " You are wrong because he has assured me that I shall be able to get the same status as enjoyed by him if I commit the sin of adultery."

The woman said, " Don't be foolish! How are you sure that after committing adultery you will ever get a chance to be penitent and your penitence will get accepted? Believe me! You are under the spell of Satan's temptation."

When the pious person was persistent, the woman said, " I am ready to yield to you. But go back to the place once and see if the person is still busy in prayer suspended in the atmosphere. If you find him there, then you can come back to me. But if he is not there, then you must believe that it was Satan who wants to deter you from the path of piety."

When the pious person reached the place, he found no trace of Satan there. Then it dawned on him that the woman had saved him from falling into the abyss of sin. He offered a sincere prayer for the fallen woman.

It has been said in the tradition that when the woman died, a revelation came to the Prophet (a.s.) of the time that he should join her funeral procession. The Prophet (a.s.) protested to Allah that she was a fallen woman. The reply was, " Yes! But she was responsible for sending back to Us a pious person who was running away from piety under the deceit of Satan!"

Sermons and moralizing are very valuable. Every effort must be made to dissuade persons from committing sins. Motivate them to be penitent. Allah will reward them as well as those who make effort to reform such persons.

It is a matter of great surprise that when we look at the temptations of Satan and our moral weaknesses, we fail to understand what will be our end! Will we be able to reach Him? We only need Allah's Mercy and Munificence for our deliverance.

Iza rayata maulaya zunubi fazeto wa iza rayata karamak tam at

O Allah! I get scared looking at my sins but when I see You Munificence I become hopeful.