Disturbed by Waswas (Whispers From the Shaytan) and Evil Thoughts

Praise
be to Allah

Evil whispers during prayer and
at other times come from the Shaytan, who is keen to misguide the Muslim and
deprive him of good and keep it far away from him. One of the Sahabah
complained to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) about waswas during prayer, and he said: “The Shaytan comes between me
and my prayers and my recitation, confusing me therein.” The Messenger of
Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “That is a devil
called Khanzab. If he affects you, seek refuge in Allah from him and spit
drily to your left three times.” He (the Sahabi) said, I did that and Allah
took him away from me.
(Narrated by Muslim,
2203) 

Proper focus (khushoo’) is the
essence of prayer. Prayer without proper focus is like a body without a
soul. The following are two of the things that help one to develop the
proper focus: 

1 – Striving to think about what
you are saying and doing, pondering the meanings of the Quran, dhikr (words
of remembrance) and du’as (supplications) that you are reciting; bearing in
mind that you are conversing with Allah as if you can see Him. For when the
worshipper stands to pray, he is speaking to his Lord, and ihsan (perfection
of worship) means worshipping Allah as if you are seeing Him, and knowing
that even though you cannot see Him, He sees you. Every time a person
experiences the sweetness of prayer, he will be more inclined to do it. This
depends of the level of one’s faith – and there are many means of
strengthening one’s faith. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) said, “Of the things of your world, women and perfume have been
made dear to me, and my joy is in prayer.” According to another hadeeth he
said, “Give us our rest through it, O Bilal (ie. with prayer),” and he did
not say, give us a break from it. 

2 – Striving to ward off the
things that may distract you during prayer, namely thinking about things
that are irrelevant or distracting. Waswas affects each person differently,
because waswas has to do with a person’s level of doubts and desires and the
degree to which a person is attached to other things or fears other things. 

(From Majmoo’ Fatawa Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, 22/605) 

With regard to what you say
about the waswas reaching such a great level that you have begun to
experience waswas that makes you think about Allah in ways that are not
appropriate, these are evil whispers from the Shaytan. Allah says
(interpretation of the meaning):

{And if there comes to you from Satan an evil suggestion, then seek refuge
in Allah. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing.} (Fussilat 41:36)

Some of the Sahabah complained
about the waswas that was bothering them. Some of the Companions of the
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came to the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said to him, ‘We find
in ourselves thoughts that are too terrible to speak of.’ He said, ‘Are you
really having such thoughts?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘That is a clear
sign of faith.’” (Narrated by Muslim).   (Narrated by Muslim, 132 from the
hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah). 

Al-Nawawi said in his commentary
on this hadeeth (prophetic tradition): “The Prophet’s words, ‘That is a
clear sign of faith’ mean, the fact that you think of this waswas as
something terrible is a clear sign of faith, for if you dare not utter it
and you are so afraid of it and of speaking of it, let alone believing it,
this is the sign of one who has achieved perfect faith and who is free of
doubt.” 

And it was said that what it
means is that the Shaytan only whispers to those whom he despairs of
tempting, because he is unable to tempt them. As for the kafir (non-Muslim),
he can approach him in any manner he wants and is not restricted to waswas,
rather he can play with him however he wants. Based on this, what the
hadeeth means is that the cause of waswas is pure faith, or that waswas is a
sign of pure faith. Please see question no.

12315.  

The fact that you hate that and
your heart recoils from it is a clear sign of faith. Waswas happens to
everyone who turns to Allah by reciting dhikr etc. It is inevitable, but you
have to be steadfast and patient, and persevere with your dhikr and prayer,
and not give up, because in this way you will ward off the plot of the
Shaytan.

{Indeed,
the plot of Satan has ever been weak.} Every time a person wants to turn to Allah, waswas brings other matters
to mind. The Shaytan is like a bandit: every time a person wants to proceed
towards Allah, he wants to block the way. Hence when it was said to one of
the salaf (pious predecessors) that the Jews and Christians say, “We do not
experience waswas,” he said, “They are speaking the truth, for what would
the Shaytan do with a house in ruins?” (From Fatawa Shaykh al-Islam Ibn
Taymiyah, 22/608). 

The remedy: 

1 – If you feel that you are
being affected by this waswas, say, “Amantu Billahi wa Rasoolihi (I
believe in Allah and His Messenger).” It was narrated from ‘Aishah that the
Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The
Shaytan comes to one of you and says, ‘Who created you?’ And he says
‘Allah.’ Then the Shaytan says, ‘Who created Allah?’ If that happens to any
one of you, let him say, Amantu Billahi wa Rusulihi (I believe in
Allah and His messengers). Then that will go away from him.”
(Narrated by Ahmad, 25671; classed as hasan (sound) by al-Albani in
al-Saheehah, 116). 

2 – Try to stop thinking about
that as much as possible, and keep busy with things that will distract you
from it. 

Finally, we advise you to keep
on turning to Allah in all situations, and to ask Him for help, and to
beseech Him, and to ask Him to make you steadfast until death, and to cause
you to die doing righteous deeds.

And Allah knows best.