Sometimes I wonder: What if I never knew what cable TV was? What if I never watched a movie? What if cyber-dating or Internet chatrooms were foreign to me? What if I had never heard music? Or read novels and fiction stories? Or knew the latest color trends or stylish dresses? Or lived in luxurious homes with big swimming pools? Or had lots of money? What if I were a girl living in a remote area with my family, with no connection to what the rest of us call the real world? You know, see no evil, hear no evil … do no evil, I guess. Heck, if you don’t know what wrong things are, you won’t do them, right? There’d be no temptation, no harm done. Easy as that.

But the fact is, I have seen these things and more, just like anyone else who doesn’t fit that description. There is temptation around me in all its grandeur, so much so that the line of distinction between good and bad has been blurred to the extent that evil is no longer evil and righteousness has all but vanished. This has become a world in which Satan reigns supreme in most lands; in fact, that remote place probably doesn’t even exist.

It has occurred to me often that perhaps those of our Ummah who have come before us were so righteous and God-fearing because these sort of contemporary ills were not present at their time. I consoled myself thinking that there was hardly any vice then; thus they were able to reach such a high level of piety. But who was I kidding? I failed to ask myself why there was no such prevalence of evil, the reason why hardly anybody took to the path of the immoral. I mean, come on, was I saying there were no adultery, drugs, homosexuality, music, corruption in the old times? That people didn’t know what it was? Of course not; everyone knew, but most, if not all, had the ability, the spirit to say “no.” I will not do wrong, I will not be tempted by Satan. And so, when evil is shunned, it ebbs away.

That’s what we need today, to not just jump on the bandwagon and say “no” to drugs, but all that accompanies it of vice. It’s when we take a stand, remember Allah, and resist temptation that He is pleased with us and rewards us accordingly. Consider that one of the seven types of people whom Allah will shade on the Day of Judgment is “a man who, when approached by a beautiful woman (for fornication), abstains and says ‘I fear Allah.’” Not a man who has never seen a beautiful woman, but a man who, in the face of temptation, remembers his Lord, fears Him, and says, “No, I will not be enticed.”

Now that I think of it, that’s exactly the point of being a monk. Seclusion provides them with peace and tranquility; not seeing the outside world gives them a desire to remain in a constant state of devotion to their beliefs. It becomes easier to worship when Satan is out and you’re in, oblivious to his mischief.

But is that the Islamic way? Our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) never cut themselves off from the rest of the world. They were not ascetic in their worship, yet were the best of Muslims and mankind to boot.

This is not to say that we should immerse ourselves in this world, practically daring our souls to know their limits and abstain from evil. It doesn’t work that way either. We all know that each of us has a Satan with him. Who knows when Satan will dominate our heart and sway us from the right path? The willpower to say “no” to iniquity can only be achieved by building up our iman so that our shaytans can no longer beautify evil for us; by constantly remembering Allah, crying to Him in repentance, reading the Qur’an, comprehending the reality of this fleeting world, recalling the devout lives of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, anticipating death, keeping the company of righteous people, attending religious gatherings, and, most of all, by beseeching Allah to grant us the resolve in faith needed to be able to defy Satan and his ways, supplicating with the oft-repeated du`aa’ of our Prophet: “O turner of hearts, make my heart steadfast on Your faith.”

To have it all and yet do the right thing—that, my brothers and sisters, is rare. To have cable TV and not surf lewd channels in spare time; to hear lovely voices singing with music and yet cover your ears, trying your best to get away; to own intriguing novels and not read romantic stories buried in the plot; to have a shapely body and not show it off with figure-hugging outfits; to have a gorgeous face and keep it covered with a veil; to have classmates who smoke, listen to music, and follow outrageous clothing fads and still stay as an outcast among them with pride in your Islamic ideals; to have an overfilled wallet and not squander it away —it is all rare, indeed, but all the more beloved to Allah.

The questions I have remain. But maybe I’ve found a partial answer: Lock Satan out, not necessarily by locking yourself in physically, but mentally and spiritually. That’s the key to bolting the gate of temptation.