Satan as the master predator, armed only with his voice to lie and convince people that God alone is not enough, opens this issue alongside apex predators as God's proofs. A second essay treats the idle mind as the devil's workshop and urges tending a God-centric garden of thoughts. A report covers the 2026 United Submitters International conference in Tucson, its khutba on trusting God with outcomes, and zikr.
Let's consider predators. A predator is an organism that primarily obtains food by the killing and consuming of another organism.
An apex predator is one atop the food chain. It has no fear of any higher form of life. We won't meet many of these species within our urban realm, but they are still out there.
Some of these creatures rule their domain mercilessly and are the top animals in their respective ecosystems.
The tiger is one of the big cats, who are apex predators. They rule their domains without mercy. The great white shark is the king of the oceans and one of the world's most feared animal predators, known for their power, speed, and strength. The bald eagle often hunts by gliding close above the water and catching fish just below the surface. They also take other birds' kills, driving them off with persistent attacks. The King Cobra is the longest venomous snake in the world, sometimes reaching 5.5 meters (18 feet) in length.
It's a deadly snake with a 50% death rate for untreated human bites. A king cobra bite can kill an elephant in hours. The killer whale, or Orca, hunts in family pods and will take everything from fish to seals to other whales. According to a recent study, even great white sharks are scared of them. Nile crocodiles are extremely dangerous. They have very powerful bites that can take down almost anything, including a hippopotamus. Yet the hippopotamus is also a top predator with sharp teeth and a powerful bite.
This list of apex predators only covers a small selection of species; there are different types of predators worldwide, and it is important to understand them all if you are interested in God's creations.
Each predator has unique skills and behaviors that enable them to be an effective hunter, but the deadliest predator of all isn't one of these.
We pretty much associate predators with teeth, claws, and venom. But in a song entitled "Ground on Down" I hear in one line "I believe in a few things, Divinity and grace, but even when I'm on my knees I know the devil preys". Now if you look up these lyrics it will read as "prays", p-r-a-y-s. That is not my interpretation. I hear it as p-r-e-y-s. That's because I am fully aware that Satan is a master predator on this Earth. He possesses no claws, no flesh-tearing teeth, has no venom, and is not a physical threat to any on this earth. All he has is his voice. He will use that voice to lie, manipulate, and convince the human race that God alone is not enough.
17:64 "You may entice them with your voice, and mobilize all your forces and all your men against them, and share in their money and children, and promise them. Anything the devil promises is no more than an illusion.
4:119 "I will mislead them, I will entice them, I will command them to (forbid the eating of certain meats by) marking the ears of livestock, and I will command them to distort the creation of GOD." Anyone who accepts the devil as a lord, instead of GOD, has incurred a profound loss. 4:120 He promises them and entices them; what the devil promises is no more than an illusion.
5:91 The devil wants to provoke animosity and hatred among you through intoxicants and gambling, and to distract you from remembering GOD, and from observing the Contact Prayers (Salat). Will you then refrain?
7:20 The devil whispered to them, in order to reveal their bodies, which were invisible to them. He said, "Your Lord did not forbid you from this tree, except to prevent you from becoming angels, and from attaining eternal existence."
7:22 He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: "Did I not enjoin you from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?"
17:53 Tell My servants to treat each other in the best possible manner, for the devil will always try to drive a wedge among them. Surely, the devil is man's most ardent enemy.
58:19 The devil has possessed them, and has caused them to disregard GOD's message. These are the party of the devil. Absolutely, the party of the devil are the losers.
35:6 The devil is your enemy, so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his party to be the dwellers of Hell.
Though Satan is powerful and ruthless, he recognizes that God alone possesses any power.
59:16 They are like the devil: he says to the human being, "Disbelieve," then as soon as he disbelieves, he says, "I disown you. I fear GOD, Lord of the universe."
14:22 And the devil will say, after the judgment had been issued, "GOD has promised you the truthful promise, and I promised you, but I broke my promise. I had no power over you; I simply invited you, and you accepted my invitation. Therefore, do not blame me, and blame only yourselves. My complaining cannot help you, nor can your complaining help me. I have disbelieved in your idolizing me. The transgressors have incurred a painful retribution."
Praise be to God for all the practices of submission. Praise be to God for the revelation of the Quran. These are the tools or weapons gifted to us by the Most Gracious to fight back against the master predator. May God continue to guide and protect us against the lies and whispers of the rejected devil for "even when we are on our knees we know the devil preys."
7:200 When the devil whispers to you any whisper, seek refuge in GOD; He is Hearer, Omniscient.
23:97 Say, "My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the whispers of the devils. 23:98 "And I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they come near me."
Ayyub
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41:36 When the devil whispers an idea to you, you shall seek refuge in GOD. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient.
Man is not made to be idle. The common phrase, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop" reminds us that when we are lazy and idle, wicked thoughts may enter our minds. Satan and his minions are sneaky whisperers.
Our brain is idle when we do not have anything to think about. And this may lead to dangerous consequences. When you do not think for yourself, you allow others to influence you. That is the reason why much emphasis is laid on education. A truly educated person should be able to discriminate between right and wrong and should be able to work for good. Education trains us to think rationally, it inculcates in us values of life.
We should always engage our minds in healthy thoughts that will be useful to us and society alike. If our ideas, actions, and thoughts are good and are beneficial to society then we can make our world a better place to live. We must maintain a positive attitude even in times of adversity when our minds are disturbed. On the contrary, if we let adversity push us into idleness, our minds can fall victim to evil ideas. The growth of terrorism around the world in recent times may be due to such victimization of the mind.
Some youngsters who are frustrated and disappointed in life, and are pushed into hopelessness and despair, may take to the evil ways of terrorism.
Idleness can make us feel useless. When you're not engaged in activity, your mind tends to overthink meaningless things or not analyse at all. You may be drawn to negative thinking, gossiping, and wasting time. When you occupy your mind with work or hobbies or, most importantly, thoughts of God, it can keep your mind free of negative ideas and desires.
I feel in our mind there is a constant production of thoughts. These thoughts are scattered just like a garden of thoughts. I am comparing our mind with the garden because if you have a garden around your house then you know how much labour is involved in its maintenance. Well, we need to put in mental labour to maintain our garden of thoughts. The way we clean our backyard garden by pulling out the weeds is the same way we need to clean our mental garden. Bad thoughts will creep in and if left unattended may choke off the good thoughts. Our God-centric thinking can protect us from Satanic thoughts. Satan is constantly working to plant impure and ugly thoughts in our mind. Therefore, it should become our priority to defend our mental garden from these bad thoughts and Satan's attack. Whenever we feel low or mentally depressed, immediately turn to God for help.
23:97-98 Say, "My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the whispers of the devils. And I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they come near me."
The unwanted weeds and useless plants can spoil the healthy and good plants; in the same way the half information or the wrong information also spoils our mental garden. To defend it from these dangerous ideas and misinformation we should seek God.
3:28 The believers never ally themselves with the disbelievers, instead of the believers. Whoever does this is exiled from GOD. Exempted are those who are forced to do this to avoid persecution. GOD alerts you that you shall reverence Him alone. To GOD is the ultimate destiny.
In the previous verse God warns us about the consequences of allying with the disbelievers. They are the allies of Satan. If we do not keep away from them then God will banish us from His protection. May God save us from such situations.
We need to constantly keep a vigil on our souls to not waver from the path of God. God gave us the power of hearing, the eyesight and the brain to use in the proper way. In fact, these are strong tools to defend ourselves from evil thoughts. If we fail to do so, we will land ourselves in big trouble.
3:30 The day will come when each soul will find all the good works it had done brought forth. As for the evil works, it will wish that they were far, far removed. GOD alerts you that you shall reverence Him alone. GOD is Compassionate towards the people.
Satan challenged God that he will attack the human being from all directions to distract him from the right path (7:16-17). God gave him the liberty to exploit those who follow him (15:42). Therefore, we must nourish our souls with good thoughts and always strive hard to do good deeds. Just like pests that destroy the good fruits of the garden, bad friends also destroy our mental garden by invading it with hatred and anger (3:118-120).
We know that plants prepare food with the help of sunlight. The process is known as photosynthesis. Our thoughts also need light from God to become healthy. Let us seek God's light in the form of logical and rational thinking.
24:35 GOD is the light of the heavens and the earth…. Light upon light. GOD guides to His light whomever He wills.
GOD thus cites the parables for the people. GOD is fully aware of all things.
2:257 GOD is Lord of those who believe; He leads them out of darkness into the light.
God leads us out of darkness by His light of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Let us not miss this opportunity and use it intensely. If we race towards the light of God, then Satan and his companions cannot put it out. God ensures its brightness.
9:32 They want to put out GOD's light with their mouths, but GOD insists upon perfecting His light, in spite of the disbelievers.
The human mind should always be filled with noble thoughts and ideas that are productive and useful. We want to get rid of evil thoughts and deeds. We must not forget the effects of idleness and not let our minds become the devil's workshop. We must keep God foremost in our thoughts. This practice will yield good results in the long run. Just like a good fertile piece of land produces good fruits, the God-centric mind will also produce noble thoughts.
7:58 The good land readily produces its plants by the leave of its Lord, while the bad land barely produces anything useful. We thus explain the revelations for people who are appreciative
We can choose to focus on important things, righteous deeds and things that benefit us and others. Eliminating negative thoughts, unimportant things and fantasies that sometimes dwell in our mind should be our priority. Our ultimate goal should be to attain Paradise. Just as a garden can produce food to feed a family, in the same way our garden of good thoughts can reap huge benefits for us in the Hereafter, if we maintain it in the proper manner. Our ultimate goal must be to please God and become winners in the Hereafter.
57:21 Therefore, you shall race towards forgiveness from your Lord, and a Paradise whose width encompasses the heaven and the earth. It awaits those who believed in GOD and His messengers. Such is GOD's grace that He bestows upon whomever He wills. GOD is Possessor of Infinite Grace.
As we spray the pesticides in our backyard garden to kill the harmful pests, in the same way we must always be alert to counter the harmful thoughts that try to enter our mind. God reminds us that we are not to be impressed by the disbelievers, and not to be disturbed by their criticism and ridicule.
3:196 Do not be impressed by the apparent success of disbelievers. 3:197 They only enjoy temporarily, then end up in Hell; what a miserable destiny!
God commands us to reverence Him alone. We must always earnestly follow His commandments. We must stay on God's path, and strive in His cause.
So, we can conclude by saying our mind should be occupied with righteous ideas and worthwhile thoughts. In such a mind, evil and vain ideas cannot find a place. Let us become conscious of God and seek refuge in Him to keep away the evil effects the devil's whispers.
Abdul Ghani
The 41th annual conference of the United Submitters International was held in Tucson, Arizona July 10-12, 2026. The khutba was delivered by brother Mahdi. He reminded us to focus on the process of our submission journey. The outcome is only in God's hands. When we focus on the process, we find an overwhelming, positive peace. We step out of the devil's trap of fear, and step into the light of absolute trust in God.
After this wonderful khutba, we spent some time sharing our individual appreciation for God's many blessings. We all have so much to be thankful for. 14:7 Your Lord has decreed: "The more you thank Me, the more I give you." But if you turn unappreciative, then My retribution is severe.
We began the speeches on Friday afternoon and many submitters shared their experiences. The talks helped us consider different aspects of God and Submission. It is truly a blessing to have such a varied world-wide community, all ages, all cultures, all of us striving to worship God alone.
15:98 You shall sing the praises of your Lord, and be with the prostrators. 15:99 And worship your Lord, in order to attain certainty.
What a gift to raise our voices in commemoration of God. We have so many beautiful songs devoted to God, and so many beautiful voices. The atmosphere becomes electric as we praise and glorify God with music. Zikr is the most beloved form of worship.
At the close of the conference, we adjourned to Masjid Tucson for our pizza/Eegee's party. The closeness we enjoyed at the conference stayed on with us, with more zikr and commemoration. It's always a light and cheerful time, where we continue to sing God's praises.
On Monday about 50 of us went up Mt. Lemmon, to a lovely little lake called Rose Canyon. We appreciated the cool temperatures and the beautiful forest. Monday night was a pot luck feast at the Mosque for all those still in town. It's always hard to say goodbye, so it's a delight to have more chances to be together, joining with others to focus on the worship of God and appreciating all His bounties. May God bless us all till we meet again next year, God willing.
Nargis and Lydia
About this work
| Kind | Newsletter |
|---|---|
| Author | International Community of Submitters |
| Publisher | International Community of Submitters / Masjid Tucson |
| Published | July 2026 |
| Collection | Newsletters |
Identifiers
| Address | https://www.wikisubmission.org/library/work/submitters-perspective-july-2026-4cb87999a3b9e340 |
|---|---|
| ID | 01a1a019-d8f6-78d3-9908-c39943d49a76 |