One of the names that have been given to the shayatin (sgl. shaytan) is al-khannas. This is so because when the heart of a person is in a state of remembrance of Allah High and Exalted is He, the shaytan will withdraw himself away from such a heart and he will be unable to come near such a person. However, what remains with such a person are the whisperings of his own soul that will distract him from that state of remembrance. It is thus said in a (famous) text that one is to be careful of his own soul and its evil whisperings because a blameworthy soul is worse than 70 shayatin.

May Allah protect us all from the whisperings of the shayatin and the evil whispers of our souls.

– Extracted from the speech of Sayyidil Habib Umar bin Hafiz at Majlis Ratib Al-Attas on 3 November 2016 @ Masjid Ba’alawi, Singapura