What Causes Fear of the Future? What Are Its Symptoms? Does Satan Play a Role in Creating Such a Fear?

-What if my child gets sick?

-What if my spouse leaves me?

-What if a war starts?

-What if I go bankrupt?

-What if I can’t?

-What if I fail?

We are constantly bombarded with such questions throughout the day. Worry and fear of the future exist in many of us. Although It is natural to occasionally feel worried due to life’s challenges and the uncertainty of the unknown, when fear of the future turns into constant worry, takes on an obsessive nature, and causes constant anxiety without any clear justification, it is considered a disorder known as chronophobia. This condition causes our soul to be constantly preoccupied with fear of the future, leading to serious harm in the long run.

-Where does this morbid fear of the future come from?

-Is it a product of our own mind or a result of negative insinuations of Satan?

-How does Satan manipulate us into fearing the future?

In previous lessons, we discussed that our relationship with Satan is not physical or material; instead, Satan gains control over us through the induction of negative thoughts into our minds. He attacks our soul from four directions: front, back, left, and right [1].

In this article, we will focus on Satan’s attack from the front and on the factors that contribute to fear of the future. We will also explore the signs and symptoms of this attack to better equip ourselves to combat it effectively.

What Does Satan’s Attacks from the Front Mean?

We all have two futures ahead of us: the certain future, which begins with our death and entrance into the hereafter, and continues for eternity, and the uncertain future, which is our current worldly life, and we do not know how long it is going to last. Satan plans various attacks for us during the interplay between these two futures. If we wish to succeed in both our certain and uncertain futures, meaning our worldly and eternal lives, we must overcome Satan in this intense and exciting competition.

Our tools in this struggle consist of hope, happiness, peace, power, vitality, knowledge, and awareness. We must confront Satan’s attacks in a manner that ensures a happy uncertain future, meaning our worldly life, while securing a good life in the certain future, helping us reach the ultimate goal of our creation and human perfection.

The result of Satan’s frontal attack is the endangerment of both futures. Satan is constantly trying to destroy our certain and uncertain futures by distracting us from them and preoccupying us with estimative affairs. He makes us so worried about the future of our worldly matters that we forget about the hereafter, to the point that all our concerns become focused solely on worldly affairs. In this situation, we are constantly worried about our future, as well as our family, career and finances, to the extent that we view the future as dark and hopeless, leaving us with no time to reflect on eternity and our life in the hereafter.

Attack from the Front by Embellishing and Magnifying Wishes

One of the examples of Satan’s frontal attack is through our wishes. Satan attacks us with various wishes in order to control our certain and uncertain futures. Through magnifying our wishes, he makes the world seem so important to us that we completely forget about eternity. In other words, from the time of birth to eternal life, Satan chooses the period from birth to wafat (departure from this world) and magnifies its significance to the point where we have no time to think about death and the life after it. Therefore, all our desires become limited to fleeting worldly goals and will be of no use to us after transition to eternal life.

Imagine preparing for an important journey or a camping trip. You need to take time to prepare the necessary supplies, but Satan distracts you by encouraging you to focus on superficial tasks, like painting or reupholstering the car, rather than checking it for defects, or preparing food, clothing, and tools needed for the journey. Although you make your car look beautiful, doing so leaves no time to prepare the car’s engine and mechanical systems.

If we wish to be successful in the affairs of this world and the hereafter, we must focus on organizing our wishes; otherwise, we will face various hardships. Our wishes must align with our existential structure, bringing us happiness, peace, and growth in both this world and the hereafter.

Attack from the Front Through Wishes and Fear of the Future

Satan constantly interferes with our wishes, making suggestions that, if followed, lead to the loss of bliss both in this world and the hereafter. He uses several tactics in regard to our wishes and worldly future. The first of which is “fear of the future.” By instilling this fear, he weakens our resolve and prevents us from making great and powerful decisions. For example, he discourages us from engaging in business and instills fear about marriage by suggesting it might lead to hardship. He constantly creates fear of the future when it comes to studying, traveling, and making any decision.

Satan is our obvious enemy. If he fails to instill fear of the future in us, and observes our strong resolve in improving ourselves and building our future, he will take the next step: the substitution trick. At this stage, he manipulates our efforts against ourselves. Initially, he accompanies us, but along the way, he changes our wishes and directs us toward discouragement, so that we leave this world without fulfilling our wishes.

Attack from the Front Through the Fear of Poverty

Satan exploits the fear of poverty to weaken our determination. He uses this fear to make us worry about our own future and that of our families. This anxiety is due to our weak faith because if we fully trusted the infinity and beneficence of our True Beloved, i.e., Allah, we would not worry about our sustenance in the future.

Satan always strikes when we intend to perform an act of charity. He sows in us fears of poverty, failure, dishonor, and other illusory fears.

In this article, we discussed Satan’s frontal attacks and their most important signs. We identified that Satan’s most important tactic in frontal attacks is the instillation of fear of the future. If he fails to defeat us in this way, he manipulates our wishes, leading us to pursuits that deprive us of bliss both in this world and in the hereafter.

From which direction does Satan attack you the most? What other tricks do you know in his frontal attacks?

References

[1]. Quran, 7:17