Know Your Enemy- Shaytaan Spends the Night in Your Nose

Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

� When anyone of you wakes up, he Must rinse his nose three times. Verily Shayttan spends the night inside a person’s nostrils.

(Collected by Bukhari 3121 and Muslim 23)

Benefits for this subject:

Blowing the nose is an obligation with the Hanbali school of thought and a sunnah with the majority of scholars.
This hadeeth shows that Shaytaan can’t open what’s closed or locked. Furthermore it has been reported that when a person yawns he should cover his mouth, so Shaytaan can’t enter.[ Subulus Salaam]
Shaykh Muhammad Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) commented on this hadeeth in his explanation for Sahih Muslim. He said,� This hadeeth proves that Shaytaan has the ability to do things and we don’t have the ability to perceive it.Shaytaan spends the night in our nose and we don’t know how. We can’t make out how anyone could shape their body for the size of a nostril. However if it was something that crawled the size of an atom we could see how.
Nonetheless the world of the Shayaateen and Jinn is hidden from us. And likewise the world of the Angels is hidden from us. There is an Angel on our right and left side that companion us. Do we feel them? We don’t feel them, but we believe this to be a fact.

The hadeeth proves that Allah has given Shaytaan the ability to overpower us. Therefore he (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us about this act of Shaytaan, so we could be aware of his evil and realize our need for Allah. [ explanation of Sahih Muslim for hadeeth number 24]
Muhammad Abdur Rauf Al-Manaawee said,� Shaytaan also chooses the nose because the eyes are for looking and pondering over the creations in the heavens and earth. The mouth is for remembering Allah. The ears are for listening to knowledge and Allah’s remembrances. However the nose doesn’t have any of these traits. Therefore this is an entrance for Shaytaan into man’s body to whisper to him.[ Faydul Qadeer #436]
Translated and prepared by Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Lamont Battle