Praise be to Allah

Many people suffer from these whispers – there is no power and no strength except with Allah. The way to deal with waswas is to seek refuge with Allah a great deal from the accursed Shaytan, and especially to recite al-Mu’awwadhatayn (the last two soorahs of the Quran), for there is nothing better with which a person may seek refuge with Allah. So she should recite (interpretation of the meaning):

“Say: “I seek refuge with (Allah), the Lord of the daybreak”

[113:1] – to the end of the soorah, which includes seeking refuge from the evil of the Shaytan, because he is one of the creations of Allah. And she should recite Soorah (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Say: “I seek refuge with (Allah), the Lord of the people”

[al-Nas 114:1] – to the end.

The way to deal with that (waswas) is to seek refuge a great deal in Allah from the accursed Shaytaan, to turn to Allah, and to have sincere resolve, so that one will not pay any attention to whispers that may enter one’s mind.

For example, whether you have done wudu once or twice or three times, you should not pay any attention to the whispers of the Shaytan. Even if you feel that you have not done wudu, for example, or that you neglected some part of the wudu or that you did not have the right intention, you should not pay attention to that. Similarly, if you are praying and you feel or it occurs to you that you did not say “Allahu akbar” at the beginning of the prayer, you should not pay attention to that, and you should carry on and complete your prayer. Similarly, if it crosses your mind – as mentioned in the question – to insult Allah or the Mus-haf (Quran) or any other kind of kufr (disbelief), you should not pay attention to that and it will not harm you. Even if it goes so far as a person uttering the words under compulsion of the waswas, there is no sin on him because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “There is no talaq (divorce) under compulsion.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 2193; Ahmad, al-Musnad, 6/276; classed as hasan/sound by al-Albani in al-Irwa, no. 2047. If the divorce that is the result of waswas does not count, then this is more likely to be forgiven, but one should turn away from that and not pay attention to it.

So, my advice to this lady and others who are tested with waswas is to seek refuge a great deal with Allah from the accursed Shaytan, to recite al-Mu’awwadhatayn – Qul a’oodhu bi Rabb il-Falaq and Qul a’oodhu bi Rabb il-nas (the last two soorahs of the Quran) – to have sincere resolve and not to pay attention to these insinuating whispers from the Shaytan.

If the Shaytan manages to instil some doubts in a person’s heart concerning Allah and so on, he should not worry about that, because he is only suffering these doubts because of the faith in his heart. The person who is not a believer does not care whether he doubts or not; the one who suffers because of these doubts and whispers is a believer. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “That is clear faith,” (narrated by Muslim, no. 132), meaning that what the Shaytan casts into your hearts of such matters is a reflection of clear faith, i.e., sincere faith… He described it as sincere faith, because the one who experiences these doubts is not happy about them and should not pay any attention to them; they grieve him and he does not want them. The Shaytan only comes to hearts which are filled with faith in order to destroy it; he does not come to hearts that are devoid of faith, because they are already ruined. It was said to Ibn ‘Abbas or Ibn Mas’ood that the Jews said, “We do not experience waswas during our prayers.” He said, “Of course, what would the Shaytan do with a heart that is already ruined?!”

My advice to her is to ignore all of these whispers. She will find it hard at first, and she will think that she is praying without wudu or without saying “Allahu akbar” at the beginning, and so on, but it will become easier for her after that, and this doubt and waswas will leave her, in sha Allah.

Praise be to Allah, there are people who suffered with this problem, but they were told how to deal with it and how to resist it, and Allah granted them relief.

We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.