Devilish whispers – their causes and remedy

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

It is good that
you are worried about yourself, it is good that you are upset about what you
are suffering from, and it is good that you have written to us, asking for
advice. This indicates that your heart is alert and cautious. We ask Allah
to help you to do that which pleases Him.

Secondly:

This state in
which you find yourself is what is called “compulsive waswaas [whispers]”.
We would like to reassure you and lift your spirits by noting the following:

-1-

These whispers
have no implications and no rulings are based on them. Therefore no divorce
is valid, no oath is binding, no state of purity is rendered invalid, and no
Muslim becomes an apostate if the whispers have to do with some fundamentals
of belief. So if a person is overwhelmed with whispers to the point that he
begins to doubt the existence of Allah or his belief in the Prophet Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), none of that has any impact on
him, and the ruling of his being a Muslim remains valid. Therefore you may
rest assured, and let the Shaytaan die in his distress and suppression.

It was narrated
that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has forgiven my
ummah for whatever whispers [waswasah] cross their minds so long as they do
not act upon it or speak of it.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (2391) and Muslim
(127).

Al-Haafiz Ibn
Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

What we may
understand is that there is no blame for what crosses a person’s mind,
unless it is translated into actions or words as a result of that thought.
What is meant by whispers [waswasah] is when a thought resides in a person’s
mind without him feeling happy with it, or it takes root in his mind.

Fat-h al-Baari
(5/161).

For some
important details mentioned by Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen, please see the answer
to question no. 10160, where he stated that no harm
will befall a Muslim if he experiences compulsive whispers about Allah and
His existence, or about His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) or His religion.

-2-

These whispers
are indicative – in sha Allah – of strong faith and certainty, because of
which the Shaytaan is eager to subject you to this waswasah. Were it not
that he sees that you have strong faith and are righteous, he would not have
resorted to this method of whispering, especially since you regard as
abhorrent the thoughts that he is trying to instill in your mind.

We are not
saying that just to be nice to you; rather this is what the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stated, and it is what the
trustworthy scholars of this ummah understood from the hadiths.

It was narrated
from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Shaytaan may
come to one of you and say: ‘Who created such and such, who created such and
such?’ Until he says to him: ‘Who created your Lord?’ If it goes that far,
let him seek refuge with Allah and stop (such thoughts).”

Narrated by
al-Bukhaari (3102) and Muslim (134).

According to a
report narrated by Muslim, “…let him say, ‘I believe in Allah and His
Messenger.’”

According to
another report from Abu Hurayrah, he said: Some of the companions of the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) came and asked him: We
find in our hearts thoughts that are too awful for any of us to speak of
them. He said: “Do you really find that?” They said: Yes. He said: “That is
[a sign of] clear faith.”.

An-Nawawi (may
Allah have mercy on him) said:

What this means
is that the Shaytaan only resorts to whispering to those whom he despairs of
ever misleading. So he tries to annoy them with his whispers, because he is
unable to misguide them. As for the disbeliever, he can lead him in any
direction he wants, and in that case he is not limited to whispering; rather
he toys with him however he wishes. This is what the hadith means: the cause
of the waswasah is strong faith or, in other words, waswasah is indicative
of a person’s strong faith. This is the view favoured by al-Qaadi ‘Iyaad.

Sharh Muslim
(2/154).

-3-

The remedy for
this waswasah is very simple. All you have to do is adhere to the
instructions of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) to
stop going along with those whispers, ignore them, seek refuge with Allah,
say “I believe in Allah,” and distract yourself from it by glorifying Allah,
may He be exalted, remembering Him and calling upon Him, and sending
blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

An-Nawawi (may
Allah have mercy on him) said:

With regard to
the words of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): “let
him seek refuge with Allah and stop (such thoughts)”, what is meant is: If
he is faced with these whispers, let him turn to Allah, may He be exalted,
to help him ward off this evil. He should stop thinking about it and should
realise that this thought is one of the whispers of the Shaytaan, who is
only trying to corrupt him and mislead him. So let him stop listening to
these whispers and hasten to put a stop to it by focusing on something else.
And Allah knows best.

Sharh Muslim
(2/155, 156).

The scholars of
the Standing Committee were asked:

I am a young
Muslim man who has recently become religiously committed, and the Shaytaan
is causing me a great deal of trouble. Every time I manage to overcome one
thing, he presents me with another obstacle. After I attained a level of
religious commitment and I thought – praise be to Allah – that I was a
little better than those around me, I began to see those who I had thought
were less committed than me as now being better than me, and doing more
righteous deeds than me; I look at myself and I find myself to be going
downhill fast, drifting away from the level of commitment that I had
achieved. I am trying to resist my evil inclinations and the Shaytaan by all
possible means, but I cannot find anyone who appreciates my pain and the
suffering that I am enduring silently, or anyone I can talk to about the
evil thoughts that the Shaytaan is putting into my mind. These whispers do
not leave me even for a minute, no matter what I do or where I am, in the
mosque, in the street, at home or in school. Is there anyone who could stand
by me and help me against this Shaytaan? Is there anyone whom Allah might
inspire to help me?

They replied:

We advise you to
ignore these whispers and to pay no attention to them, to read a great deal
of Qur’an, do a lot of righteous deeds, and turn to Allah, beseeching Him
and calling upon Him to ward off from you the tricks of the Shaytaan, to
make you steadfast in adhering to the truth, and to guide you. For He, may
He be glorified, is in control of all creatures, both jinn and humans, and
He directs them as He wills. Beware of being filled with self-admiration
because of your worship, or being deceived by your good behaviour and
conduct or your many righteous deeds. When it comes to matters of worship
and issues connected to the hereafter, do not look at those who are less
than you, for that will lead to you developing self-admiration and will
cause you to do fewer righteous deeds and to become slow in doing them; it
will cause the Shaytaan to toy with you and discourage you from doing good.
Rather you should look at those who are better than you in adhering to the
Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him). Cling to that and be keen to adhere to it, for that will
motivate you to increase your righteous deeds and help you to attain the
forgiveness and mercy of Allah, and a high position in Paradise, and
everlasting bliss. Perhaps Allah will make you steadfast in adhering to the
truth and will guide you to the straight path, and will relieve you of this
waswasah.

We also advise
you to read the book Talbees Iblees, by Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi, in
which he discusses this issue. We hope that Allah will benefit you thereby.

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez
ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan,
Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Qa‘ood.

Fataawa al-Lajnah
ad-Daa’imah
(2/194)

For important
details concerning this matter, please see the answers to questions no.
39684, 62839,
25778 and 12315.

You should not
worry, after reading these glad tidings and reassuring words, for all you
have to do now is follow the advice of the scholars, which is based on the
advice of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). We ask
Allah to protect you from the Shaytaan and to make what is good easy for
you, wherever it may be.

And Allah knows
best.