Will The One Who Suffers From Waswaas
Be Rewarded, And What Should He Do?
Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
Islamic Questions & Answers
Will the one who suffers from waswaas
(insinuating whispers from the Shaytaan) be rewarded?
What should he do?
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah says in Soorat al-Naas (interpretation of the
meaning):
"Say: I seek refuge with (Allaah) the Lord of mankind,
The King of mankind —
The Ilaah (God) of mankind,
From the evil of the whisperer (devil who whispers
evil in the hearts of men) who withdraws (from his
whispering in one's heart after one remembers Allaah).
Who whispers in the hearts of mankind.
Of jinn and men."[al-Naas 114:1-6]
Muslim (132) narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: "Some of
the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) came to him and said, ‘We find
things in our hearts that none of us would dare to
utter out loud.' He said, ‘Do you really find that?'
They said, ‘Yes.' He said, ‘That is clear faith.'"
Muslim (3203) narrated that ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi'l-‘Aas
came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allaah, the
Shaytaan is coming between me and my prayer and making
me confused in my recitation." The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
"That is a devil called Khanzab. If you feel his
presence, then seek refuge with Allaah from him and
spit drily to your left three times." [‘Uthmaan] said:
"I did that and Allaah took him away from me."
Al-Bukhaari (3276) and Muslim (134) narrated that Abu
Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "The
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: ‘The Shaytaan comes to some of you and
says, "Who created such and such? Who created such and
such?" – until he says, "Who created your Lord?" If
that happens, then let him seek refuge with Allaah and
stop thinking about that.'"
Al-Bukhaari (1231) and Muslim (389) narrated that Abu
Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "The
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: ‘When the call for prayer is given,
the Shaytaan runs away, breaking wind loudly so as not
to hear the adhaan. When the adhaan ends, he comes
back. When the iqaamah is made, he runs away, then
when the iqaamah ends, he comes back to distract a man
from his prayer, saying, "Remember such and such,"
things that the man did not remember, until he does
not know how many rak'ahs he has prayed. If one of you
does not know how many rak'ahs he has prayed, whether
it is three or four, then let him do two prostrations
whilst he is sitting."
Muslim (571) narrated that Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri said:
"The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said, ‘If one of you is uncertain
about his prayer and cannot remember how many rak'ahs
he has prayed, whether it was three or four, then let
him avoid doubt and act upon that of which he is
certain, then let him do two prostrations before he
says the salaam. Then if he prayed five rak'ahs then
they will make his prayer even, and if he prayed four
then that will annoy the Shaytaan."
These aayahs and ahaadeeth show just how keen the
Shaytaan is to lead the sons of Adam astray and stop
them from worshipping their Lord, by means of the
waswaas (whispers) which he instills in their hearts.
But the way to save oneself from these devilish
whispers is made clear. For some people the matter may
go so far that they have doubts about every act of
worship they try to do, whether they have even done it
or not. The question here is not whether such a person
is to blame, rather the question is whether a person
will be rewarded for his striving against the Shaytaan
and his efforts to resist these whispers, or not.
There is no clear statement from the scholars on this
matter, but it may be understood from the words of the
two Shaykhs, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim (may
Allaah have mercy on them), that he will be rewarded
for that. This is what is to be understood from the
texts quoted above, as we shall see below.
In the first hadeeth, the Sahaabah asked the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about the
waswaas that they felt in their hearts, and he said,
"That is clear faith." Shaykh al-Islam (Majmoo' al-Fataawa,
7/282) said: "In other words, the fact that this
waswaas was happening and they disliked it so much and
pushed it away from their hearts is clear faith, like
the mujaahid to whom the enemy comes and he resists
him until he defeats him, and this is the greatest
form of jihad. Clear (sareeh) means pure, like pure
milk. It becomes clear and pure because they hated
those devilish whispers and warded them off, so their
faith became pure and clear."
He also said (Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 14/108):
"This waswasah is something that enters the heart not
by a person's choice, and if a person hates it and
shuns it, this hatred of it is clear faith."
He also said (Majmoo' al-Fataawa, 22/608):
"Many of the scholars said: hating that, disliking it
and shunning it is clear faith. Praise be to Allaah
that the most the Shaytaan can do is whisper, for when
the jinn-devil is defeated, it whispers (waswasa) and
when the human devil is defeated he lies. Waswaas
affects everyone who tries to focus on Allaah in his
worship and dhikr etc. So one has to be steadfast and
patient and persist in dhikr or prayer; he should not
feel distressed because if he persists, that will
divert the plot of the Shaytaan away from him, for the
plot of the Shaytaan is weak."
And he said in Dar' al-Ta'aarud, 3/318:
"This waswaas may be gotten rid of by seeking refuge
with Allaah and ignoring it, so that if [the Shaytaan]
says, ‘you did not wash your face,' you should say,
‘Yes, I did wash my face;' if he thinks that he did
not form the intention (for prayer) or say Allaahu
akbar, he should say in his heart, ‘Yes I did form the
intention and say Allaahu akbar.' He should cling
steadfastly to the truth and ward off the waswaas that
goes against it, so that the Shaytaan will see how
strong and steadfast he is in adhering to the truth,
and will leave him alone. Otherwise when he [the
Shaytaan] sees that he is influenced by doubts and
responsive to waswaas, he will send him more waswaas
until he will be unable to resist and his heart will
become receptive to the seductive whispers of the
devils of the jinn and of mankind, and he will move
from one thing to another until the Shaytaan drives
him to his doom.
Based on the above, we may say that a man will be
rewarded for resisting this waswaas and for striving
against the Shaytaan for a number of reasons:
1 – The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) praised the feeling of hatred towards the waswaas
that had to do with doubts concerning belief (‘aqeedah),
when he said, "That is clear faith." One of things
implied by the hatred of this waswaas is that one
turns away from it and does not get carried away with
it.
2 – Obeying the command of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him), "Let him stop it."
3 – The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said concerning the prostration of forgetfulness
(sajdat al-sahw): "They will annoy the Shaytaan." This
implies encouragement to annoy and humiliate the
Shaytaan. Annoying him here means turning away from
this waswaas and not paying any attention to it. This
is in addition to the fact that Allaah and His
Messenger have taught us to seek refuge with Allaah
from the Shaytaan, etc.
4 – The difficulties and distress that the believer
may suffer as a result of this waswaas may be included
in the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), "No Muslim suffers tiredness,
exhaustion, worry, grief, annoyance or distress, not
even a thorn that pricks him, but Allaah will expiate
some of his sins thereby."
(al-Bukhaari, 2573; Muslim, 5642).
5 – Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn Taymiyah – may Allaah have
mercy on him) said: "like the mujaahid to whom the
enemy comes and he resists him until he defeats him,
and this is the greatest form of jihad." The fact that
he likens him to a mujaahid and describes this as the
greatest form of jihad may be understood to mean that
he will be rewarded for that.
And Allaah knows best. May Allaah bless our Prophet
Muhammad and all his family and companions.
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