Another group said: “The retreating stars are those that return each night toward the east—the seven wandering heavenly bodies.”

They said that the basic meaning of khunūs is retreating backwards. Al-khannās (“the one who repeatedly retreats”) derives from both these meanings: concealment and withdrawal. When a servant neglects the remembrance of Allah, Satan settles upon his heart, spreads himself over it, and sows within it all kinds of whisperings, which are the root of every sin. But when the servant remembers his Lord and seeks refuge in Him, Satan retreats and draws back, like something withdrawing to conceal itself. This retreating and drawing back also involves gathering himself up and withdrawing away from the heart. It is thus a withdrawal accompanied by concealment.

Both khanasa and inkhanasa convey these two meanings together. Qatāda said: “Al-khannās has a snout like a dog’s within the human breast. When the servant remembers his Lord, he withdraws it.”

It is also said that his head resembles a snake’s. He rests his head against the heart’s core, filling the person with false hopes and speaking to him. When the person remembers Allah, he retreats; when he does not, Satan returns and rests his head there, whispering to him and filling him with false hopes.

The intensive form fa‘‘āl is used here, rather than khānis or munkhanis, to indicate how swiftly he flees and retreats, and how violently he recoils when Allah is remembered. This is his constant habit and practice, not something that happens to him only occasionally when Allah is remembered. Rather, whenever Allah is remembered, he flees, conceals himself, and draws back. Remembrance of Allah is the scourge that subdues him, just as a wicked troublemaker is subdued by implements that restrain him—whips, iron rods, sticks, and the like. Thus, remembrance of Allah subdues Satan, pains him, and hurts him, just as whips and scourges hurt those struck with them.

This is why the believer’s devil becomes emaciated, feeble, and exhausted: the believer torments and subdues him through remembrance of Allah and obedience to Him.

A report from one of the early Muslims states that the believer wears down his devil just as a man wears down his camel on a journey. For whenever the devil gets in his way, he rains down upon him the lashes of remembrance and devotion