One night Hazrat Mu'awiya was resting at home fast asleep. Suddenly someone woke him up for prayers. He looked around to find the person who got him up, but the person had disappeared. In surprise he said: "No one can enter my house at this time. I wonder who could have been so brave".

Then suddenly a person appeared at the door with his face hidden. He asked him: "Who are you?"
The person replied: "I am known by the notorious name of lblees, the one of ill-fortune".
Hazrat Mu'awiya asked: "0 Iblees, tell me, why did you wake me up? Tell me the whole truth".
He replied: "The time for salaah was running out and was nearly finished. You should hurry to go to the mosque".
Hazrat Mu'awiya said: "That can never be your object. Since when do you guide towards righteousness? You enter my house like a thief and then you come and tell me that you are a watchman over me. How can that be from you, especially you, who is a well-known highway robber. Why would you have so much sympathy for me?"

Thereupon Iblees replied:
"Previously I was an angel (in my actions)
And gave my life in the path of obedience.
Can a previous profession become removed from the heart
Can previous love be removed from the heart.
I point out for righteous ones the path of righteousness
And welcome evil ones towards the path of evil.
If I awakened you up for the sake of deen,
Then know that that is my original nature".

Hazrat Mu'awiya said: "O thief, do not dispute with me! You will not be able to find a way towards leading me astray. So do not search for a way to lead me on the path of evil. Tell me the truth! Why did you wake me up for salaah? You are an inviter towards evil and you are one misguiding people. What is the purpose of your calling towards good?"

Iblees replied: "Sire, the truth of the matter is this. If you should have missed your salaah, you would show so much remorse and sorrow before Allah and through this exhibition of sorrow you would become so raised in rank, that I would be burning up with envy and jealousy. For that reason, I thought, it would be better for me to wake you up for salaah ".

"If your salaah should have been missed,
You would with great pain in your heart, sighed in sorrow.
And your sorrow, crying, grief and sadness would make you
Nearer to Allah than two hundred nafal prayers.
For this reason, fearing your attaining such nearness to Allah,
I decided to wake you up.
I 'woke you up due to this fear
So that your sighing in sorrow and grief will not burn me.
I am jealous of man and this I did through that jealousy
And I am man's enemy and my work is enmity and malice",

Then Hazrat Mu'awiya said: "Now you have spoken the truth and the jealousy and enmity you have shown are things that are fitting for you"

Lesson from this Story
This story teaches us how much sorrow Shaytaan feels when a person shows grief and sorrow after having committed sins and faults. It also shows how much Allah's Mercy is directed to His bondsmen. May Allah grant us the ability to cry to Him out of grief and sorrow for our sins, Ameen!