Remedy for Whispers from Shaytan

Praise
be to Allah

Not answering your wife does not
count as a talaq, neither does speaking to her angrily. 

No matter how much you may think
of divorce, or intend and resolve to do it, talaq (divorce) does not take
place until and unless you utter the words of talaq. That is because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Allah has forgiven
for my ummah (followers) that which is whispered to them and which crosses
their minds, so long as they do not act upon it or speak of it.”
(Narrated by al-Bukhari,
6664; Muslim, 127) 

Based on this, according to the
scholars if a man thinks of talaq, that does not mean anything unless he
speaks of it. 

Indeed, according to some
scholars, if a person is suffering from waswas, his talaq does not count
even if he utters it, so long as he did not have the intention of talaq. Al-Shaykh
Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:  

“The talaq of a person who is
suffering from waswas does not count even if he utters the words, if that
was not done deliberately, because this utterance happened because of waswas,
not because of his will or intention. Rather it was forced upon him because
of the strength of the waswas and his lack of self-control. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘There is no divorce under
compulsion.’ So this divorce does not count, because he did not really want
to do that. This was something that was forced upon him with no intention or
choice on his part to do that, so this does not mean that talaq has
occurred.”

(Fatawa Islamiyyah, compiled by
Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azeez al-Musnad, 3/277) 

We advise you not to pay any
attention to these whispers, and to ignore them, and to do the opposite of
what they are calling you to do. For these whispers (waswas) come from the
Shaytan to cause grief to those who believe. The best way to deal with them
is to remember Allah a great deal (dhikr), to seek refuge with Allah from
the accursed Shaytan, to keep away from sins and wrong actions which are the
means by which Iblees gains control over the sons of Adam. Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning): 

{Indeed,
there is for him no authority over those who have believed and rely upon
their Lord.} [al-Nahl 16:99] 

It is worth quoting here what
Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (may Allah have mercy on him) said about dealing with
waswasah in his book al-Fatawa al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kubra, 1/149. This is what he
said: 

“He was asked about the problem
of waswasah (insinuating whispers from the Shaytan), and whether there is a
remedy for it. 

He replied by saying that there
is an effective remedy for it, which is to ignore them completely, no matter
how frequently they may come to mind. When these whispers are ignored, they
do not become established, rather they go away after a short time, as many
people have experienced. But for those who pay attention to them and act
upon them, they increase until they make him like one who is insane or even
worse, as we see among many of those who have suffered from them and paid
attention to them and to the devil whose task it is to insinuate these
whispers, whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned
us against when he said, “Beware of the whispers with regard to water (i.e.,
wudu/ablution) which is caused by a devil called al-Walhan” – because that
causes a person to go to extremes with regard to doing wudu, as was
explained in Sharh Mishkat al-Anwar. 

In al-Saheehayn there is a
report which supports what has been mentioned above, which is that whoever
suffers from waswas should seek refuge with Allah and turn away from the
waswas. So think about this effective remedy which was taught by the one who
does not speak of his own whims and desires to his ummah (followers), and
understand that whoever is deprived of this is deprived of all goodness,
because waswasah comes from the Shaytan, according to scholarly consensus,
and the accursed one (the Shaytan) has no other desire than to make the
believers go astray, make them confused, make their life a misery, cause
them distress to the extent that they leave Islam without realizing it. 

{Indeed,
Satan is an enemy to you; so take him as an enemy.}
(Faatir
35:6 – interpretation of the meaning) 

According to another hadeeth
(prophetic narration), the one who suffers from waswasah should say, “Amantu
Billahi wa bi rusulihi (I believe in Allah and in His Messengers).”
Undoubtedly, whoever thinks of the paths of the messengers of Allah,
especially our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) will find
that his path and his law is easy and clear, with no hardship in it.  

{and (He)
has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty.} (al-Hajj 22:78 –
interpretation of the meaning) 

Whoever ponders this and
believes in it sincerely, the problem of waswasah and listening to the
Shaytan will go away. In the book of Ibn al-Sunni it is narrated via ‘Aishah
(may Allah be pleased with her), “Whoever suffers from this waswas, let him
say ‘Amantu Billahi wa bi rusulihi (I believe in Allah and in His
Messengers)’, three times, and it will go away from him.” 

Al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salam and
others mentioned something similar to the above. They said: the treatment
for waswasah is to believe that this is an idea from the Shaytan and that
Iblees is the one who is bringing these thoughts to his mind, and he should
strive to fight him. Then he will have the reward of the mujahid (warrior),
because he is fighting the enemy of Allah. If he does that, then the Shaytan
will flee from him. This is what mankind has been tested with from the
beginning of time, and Allah has given him (Iblees) some power over man as a
test for him, so that Allah may show the truth to be true and falsehood to
be false, even though the disbelievers may hate that. 

In Muslim, hadeeth no. 2203, it
is narrated that ‘Uthman ibn Abi’l-‘As said: “The Shaytan was interfering
with my prayer and recitation of Quran. He [the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him)] said: ‘That is a devil called Khanzab, so seek refuge
with Allah from him and spit drily to your left three times.’ I did that,
and Allah took him away from me.” 

This hadeeth proves the point we
are making, which is that waswasah can only overpower the one who is
ignorant and confused and does not know what’s what. But the one who has
knowledge and understanding will follow the Sunnah (prophetic teachings) and
keep away from bid’ah (innovation). The worst of the innovators are those
who follow waswas, hence Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated that
his shaykh al-Rabee’ – who was the imam of the people of his time – was the
fastest of the people in relieving himself and doing wudu. 

Ibn Hurmuz used to be slow in
relieving himself and in doing wudu, and he used to say “I have a problem,
do not follow my example.”  

Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy
on him) said that some of the scholars considered it mustahabb (liked) for
the one who was affected by waswasah with regard to his wudu or prayer to
say La ilaha il-Allah, for when the Shaytan hears dhikr (remembrance of
Allah) he slinks away, and La ilaha il-Allah is the best of dhikr, and the
most effective remedy for warding off waswasah is to remember Allah a great
deal. 

We ask Allah to take away the
waswasah that you are suffering and to increase us and you in faith,
righteousness and piety.

And Allah knows best.