How to Overcome Waswas (shaythans whispers) in Worship

The_truth

Well-Known Member
How to overcome Waswas (shaythans whispers) in worship


Bismillahirahmaaniraheem

Waswas can become a very serious issue and it may take away the pleasure in worship and instead replace it with constant worry whether a person did Wudu or Salaah properly. It can become a very serious issue as a person will feel overwhelmed by paranoia with regards to theri worship and will always feel a sense of inadequacy.

In worship terms Waswas means always have doubts about ones worship and not be sure of anything relating to worship as there is always a doubt there and this serious disease and illness is caused by shaythan.


What are some of the symptoms of waswas?

-You pray and then be not sure if you did.

- You waste too much water and long time in wudu and ghusl.

- You pray more than the number of rakats and do the sahu sujud every time. Even you pray more than once.

- you are not sure if your clothes are clean and every moment change your clothes.

- You follow the tiny things that are not even seen by eyes to clean them and remove them.

- You worry too much and feel your worship is not complete.

- You ask strange questions that people feel amazed about and show strange behavior for example: someone walks with shoes on the carpet until the spot where she prays just because she is not sure if the land is clean.

- You spend a very long time in the bathroom, just washing.

- You are not sure of any worship you did is complete.

And many other strange things that can tell you are suffering form waswas.


Waswas can become a serious problem especially if a person suffers from it constantly. Shaythan keeps putting doubts in ones mind and keeps telling the person that their prayer or wudu ghusl etc are not valid and that you have missed something out or not done it proprly and so you should do it again.

Your clothes are not clean, wash them again and so on. The person keeps falling for this and by this time shaythan knows that this has become the persons weakness so shaythan is able to attack the person in many different angles.


Eventually shaythan will go onto more serious matters of faith until he tries to convince a person that "Are you sure Allah exists"? Or shaythan tries to cast doubts in the mind of a person by convincing them that they had shirk thoughts and so they must do the shahada again because they have now become a kaafir and are out of the fold of Islam.

Here are some real stories of people having waswas problem:

A woman said: For 16 years, I everyday have shower and take shahada because I suddenly feel I am not sure, I am Muslim.

A guy said: For years I pray and think I did not until I stopped praying at all.

A woman said: I used to pray the prayer and keep repeating it until the next prayer.


The best way's to resolve Extreme cases of waswas are:


1. Waswas can occur with pretty much any practising Muslim particularly if they do not have sufficient knowledge of Islam and matters pertaining to fiqhi rulings.


They care so much about wanting to worship right and please Allah and get so worried whether their deed has been accepted or not by Allah but the fact is they just do not know enough about Islam especially fiqhi matters.

So it is VERY important to learn about Fiqh and various other aspects of Islam. Knowledge is key to eradicating this problem from your life!

Join some fiqh classes face to face or online. Learn about other important aspects of Islam to. keep learning, learning and learning and you watch how these evil thoughts dissapear inshallah.


2. JUST IGNORE shaythans whispers. He will keep telling you your worship is incorrect or you have missed out something in your salaah then you must NOT repeat the Salaah again.


When you have done Wudu and something tells you that you have missed out something or have not done it properly then IGNORE those whispers.


If shaythan tells you to do ghusl again because you never did it properly then IGNORE and NEVER obey these evil and deceptive whispers!


If shaythan tries to tell you that you have attributed partners with Allah and that you have done shirk then IGNORE IT. He wants you to lose your faith and think that you have committed blasphemy when you have not done anything of the sort. if the mind wanders sometimes then that is fine all of our minds wander.


Sayyiduna Abu Haraira (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that once a group of people came to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) and asked: “We experience such evil thoughts that it is impossible to bring them on our lips”. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Do you really experience these thoughts? Yes, they replied. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “They are clear signs of faith”. (Sahih Muslim).


So these are signs of faith and ultimately, we are not held to account for these thoughts. However, we will be held to account if we act on these thoughts.


Shaythan will then try to make you think that you did act on these feelings when all you did was involuntarily wandered about them in your mind. Even if they did linger in your mind it does not mean you acted on it. Almost all of us have random thoughts and absurdities going on in our minds all of the time it does not mean we necesserily believe what we thought of.

Do NOT ever give in to these thoughts for shaythan is just trying to be clever but knowledge will give on the upper hand!

Whenever you get these whispers then just think: IT IS SHAYTHAN TRYING TO DECIEVE ME AND PUT ME OFF MY WORSHIP!


3. Once you have completed Wudu then move on and ignore whatever shaythan tells you regardless of how serious it sounds. You have completed it and there is no need to think of it anymore. Once you have completed your Salaah then move on and continue with the next one or get on with whatever you are doing with your day or evening. Do not think about it and ignore any thoughts associated with the worship you have just done.


Whatever you have completed is done and is over and there is NOTHING more you can do about it so do not think back that you could have done this or that or whether you need to repeat it etc. These doubts will not affect the prayer or wudu etc which you have completed so disregard and reject the whispers that tell you otherwise.


These are all tricks of shaythan and you need to realise what his angles are. You need to play him at his own game and that way you will have the upper hand everytime!


Just think of what you need to do to please Allah and do not be extreme in religion.


4. Who decides whether your worship will be complete or not? Shaythan or Allah? So by listening to the whispers of shaythan then you are simply obeying Shaythan over Allah! Therefore we must ignore his evil whispers and realise that ONLY Allah can accept our deeds so we should obey Allah and ignore these waswas.



5. If you get waswas then recite the following:


A'udhu billaahi minashaythanirajeem


and


La Hawla Wala Quwatha Illah billahil aliyyil Adheem



Also recite the four Quls Morning and evening and Ayatul Kursi Morning, before going to sleep and after every prayer.

If shaythan whispers to you in prayer then look lft and spittle and recite A'udhu billaahi minashaythanirajeem


thank Allah, wholeheartedly, for enabling you to overcome your desires and shaytan [saying, Alhamdulillah (‘All praise is due to Allah’)]; this makes Shaytan despair, and strengthens one’s resolve.


The following verse of Surah al-mu’minun may also be beneficial:


“Rabbi inni a’uzu bika min hamazat ashayatin wa a’uzu bika rabbi an yahdurun”


Trans: O my Lord! I seek your protection from the instigations of devils and I also seek your protection from that they (ever) come to me.



6. Why disobey Allah and listen to shaythans whispers? By constantly repeating wudu, salaah and wasting so much time then we are going against Allah and instead listening to shaythans evil whispers. The fact is Allah wants you to reject the waswas but shaythan wants you to accept them, then who will you listen to? The choice is yours...


A desert Arab came to Allah's Apostle
saaws-long.gif
and asked him about ablution. He demonstrated (washing each part of his body) thrice, and then said: That is (the method) of the ablution. And he who does more than this has done wrong, transgressed the limit and has oppressed (himself).
(Tirmidhi #417 , Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Abu Dawud)


This hadith proves that one does NOT need to keep repeating the wudu over and over for no reason just because shaythan is telling us to repeat it. We would then transgress and oppress ourselves by doing so! Sameway one does not have to repeat the ghusl or prayers again and again for no reason just because shaythan tells us to. We are praying for Allah so shaythan has NO say in it and NEVER has!


7. It is unlikely that you will not be able to conquer waswas overnight. Shaythan will not give up so easily for he will try and make you feel like you just don't care anymore about your worship or shirk etc but again this is just one of his many tactics that he uses to try and put off Allah's worshippers and so know that you know the different angels then you are now more equiped to fight these evil whispers.


There are many more different angles that the shaythan will use but they will all be similar in nature, so if you follow these tips then eventually you will be able to eradicate this disease out of your life FOREVER! and start to enjoy your worship of Allah again Inshallah.


So countract all of these negative thoughts that you get after worship with positive thoughts and realise that ONLY Allah can accept your deeds and knows what is in your heart not Shaythan for he is just a deciever!


Allah Most High has promised,

“As for those who strive in Us, We surely guide them to Our paths, and lo! Allah is with the good.” [Qur’an, 29.69]



And Allah knows best in all matters

 

Tabassum07

Smile for Allah
:salam2:

Oh I think I'm under a bit of waswas, so now I know how to fight it. JazakAllahu Khayran for posting this beneficial thread.
 

mahaseeb

Junior Member
Asalamualikum brother;
Very nice and good post which will be very helpful for many here.
Jazakallah hu khair
Asalamualikum
Abdul Haseeb
 

BegumRehana

Junior Member
Asalamwalaikum, jazakaAllah-khair for this post, it has really helped me because i feel i have been going through some of this lately..Jazakallah :)
 

hijabi_sis

Junior Member
JazakAllah khairan for sharing this useful information with us.... this is one post which we can all benefit from alhumdulilah yah Rab!
 

MalikBrother

Junior Member
:salam2:

Thank you for sharing an article. :mashallah: It's very useful.

I always have had these kind of thought, but didn't think or know that it was devils all along. Good to know because i never took these kind of thought in my mind very seriously. I do wujju, pray and move on. Never think back. In fact, after completing prayer, i feel little peace arise in my mind and my heart again. I feel little better and feel confident that ALLAAH (SWT) is watching us and send Angels to look after us.
 

Islam!!yay

Junior Member
:salam2:

THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS , I SUFFER ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT YOU MENTIONED. MAY ALLAH SWT BLESS YOU FOR POSTING THIS ..

THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!
 

The_truth

Well-Known Member
4 hadith on overcoming waswas

1. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has said:

"Whoever experiences anything of this Waswas, let him say three times,'
'Amantu billahi wa rashullih' and that will drive the Shaytan away." (Saheeh al-Jami' 6587)

2. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said:

"The Shaytan may come to any one of you, and say, 'Who created such-and-such? Who created such-and-such?' until he asks, 'Who created your (Lord) Rabb?' If this happens to anyone, let him seek refuge with Allah, the Almighty, and let him stop such thoughts." (Sahih al-Jami' 93)

3. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said:

"The people will nearly ask too many questions, so that one of them may say, 'Allah, the Almighty, created all of creation, but who created Allah, the Almighty?' If they say this, then recite: "Allah is the One, Allah is the Self-Sufficient Master, He begets not, nor was He begotten; and there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him" (Surah 112: 1-4), and spit (drily) to left three times, and seek refuge with Allah, the Almighty, from the Shaytan." (Saheeh al-Jami' 8182)

4. The Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam has said: "Think about the signs of Allah, the Almighty, do not think about Allah ( Himself)." (Saheeh Al-Jami' 2975)
 

isashake

New Member
Jazakallah khair for this post. I have found the information useful and inshallah we could put the beneficial knowledge into practice.

There was one thing that i noticed: 'If shaythan whispers to you in prayer then look lft and spittle and recite A'udhu billaahi minashaythanirajeem'.
Where is this quoted from and also i think that it is supposed to say 'then look left' and not lft.
 

Sakeena

Junior Member
SUBAHANALLAH!!
The shaytaan has been tormenting me during salaat!
I can't escape my mind from his evil wispers and have felt my salat is not complete or even forget if I've prayed, etc.. :girl3:

Ya Allah help us all from the accused devils, amin!

:tti_sister:

(btw-I have to listen to adhan just to have some peace in my mind :( )
 

The_truth

Well-Known Member
Jazakallah khair for this post. I have found the information useful and inshallah we could put the beneficial knowledge into practice.

There was one thing that i noticed: 'If shaythan whispers to you in prayer then look lft and spittle and recite A'udhu billaahi minashaythanirajeem'.
Where is this quoted from and also i think that it is supposed to say 'then look left' and not lft.

Asalaamu Alaikum, your answer is in the following fatwa:

Praise be to Allaah.

It is Sunnah for the one who is praying, if he notices the whisper of the Shaytaan during his prayer, to seek refuge with Allah from him and to turn his head only, then spit dryly to his left three times, because of the report narrated by Muslim (2203) from ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-‘Aas (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which he came to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allaah, the shaytaan interferes between me and my prayer and my recitation, and he makes me confused. The Messenger of Allaah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “That is a devil called Khinzab. If you feel that, then seek refuge with Allaah from him and spit dryly to your left three times.” He said: I did that and Allaah took him away from me..

Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

There is nothing wrong with turning during the prayer to seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytaan when experiencing his whispers. In fact it is mustahabb in the case of urgent need, by turning the head only, because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) instructed ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-‘Aas al-Thaqafi (may Allah be pleased with him) to do that when he complained to him of what he was experiencing of the whispers of the Shaytaan. He told him to spit dryly to his left three times and to seek refuge with Allah from the Shaytaan. He did that and Allah healed him of that. End quote.

Majmoo‘ Fataawa Ibn Baaz, 11/130

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If a person seeks refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytaan and spits dryly to his left, that does not matter and does not interrupt his prayer; rather this makes the prayer more complete and more perfect. End quote.

Zaad al-Ma‘aad, 3/602

Spitting dryly is not the usual kind of spitting; rather it is blowing with a little saliva.

If a man is praying with the congregation, then he cannot spit to his left in most cases, because that will bother the person who is standing to his left, unless he is the last one on the left of the row.

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Someone may ask: If a man is praying in congregation, how can he spit dryly to his left? The answer is: If he is the last one on the left, he can spit dryly to his left in any place other than the mosque. Otherwise, he may spit dryly to his left into his garment or his ghutrah (head cover) or a handkerchief. If that is not possible, it is sufficient to turn to his left and say: A‘oodhu Billaahi min al-Shaytaan il-Rajeem (I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytaan). End quote.

Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb (12/155)

He also said:

If a person is praying in congregation, what should he do? How can he spit dryly to his left three times? We say: It is sufficient to seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytaan without spitting dryly, so as to avoid bothering people around you. End quote.

Fataawa Noor ‘ala al-Darb, 185/45

And Allah knows best.

Source: http://islamqa.info/en/ref/144942
 

The_truth

Well-Known Member
SUBAHANALLAH!!
The shaytaan has been tormenting me during salaat!
I can't escape my mind from his evil wispers and have felt my salat is not complete or even forget if I've prayed, etc.. :girl3:

Ya Allah help us all from the accused devils, amin!

:tti_sister:

(btw-I have to listen to adhan just to have some peace in my mind :( )

Asalaamu Alaikum, what does shaythan make you feel in your Salaah? Did the article help in anyway?
 

december

New Member
just a correction brothers

i am suffering from major waswas... n i feel i am psychologically affected... my all thoughts are disturbed... i get disturbed from different thing.... i don't want to mentioned them here because i don't want others who are having some waswas problem to be more affected as i was when searching on net about the disease of waswas... and someone mentioned different that these thing happen in waswas and these etc etc.. which was unfortunately added to my waswas then too after reading that.. so i feel the best is too not to mentioned the kind of major waswas that some muslims are going through and try to hep them by telling them what to do like reciting different ayats, surahs...


right now the reason i wanted to make this post is to make a correction

the brother who wrote this blog or artical to help other muslims... good work , May Allah accept it ,Ameen

but brother in you blog , u have made a mistake in point 5

i am pasting the point 5 here.

( The following verse of Surah al-mu’minun may also be beneficial:


“Rabbi inni a’uzu bika min hamazat ashayatin wa a’uzu bika rabbi an yahdurun” (23. Surah Mu'minun, Ayat number 97-98 )


this verse was told to me by a muslim researcher/scholar of Quran to reicte it more.. but you have (am sure) un-intentionally made a mistake while writing/typing down the ayat..

there is no word "INNI" in it... the correct one is “Rabbi a’uzu bika min hamazat ashayatin wa a’uzu bika rabbi an yahdurun”

وَقُل رَّبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنۡ هَمَزَٲتِ ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينِ (٩٧) وَأَعُوذُ بِكَ رَبِّ أَن يَحۡضُرُونِ (٩٨) (don't read the first word "وَقُل" but

recite it from" رَّبِّ أَعُوذُ بِكَ "


97. My Lord! I seek refuge with You from the whisperings (suggestions) of the Shayâtin (devils).

98. "And I seek refuge with You, My Lord! lest they may attend (or come near) me."

in last please pray for me.. it more than 6 months now... everyday i have wrong dreams and very wrong and bad thing comes to mind and much more.... and are repeated

O Allah please help us all and protect us from the devil shaitan. Ameen

I bear witness that,"There is no God but ALLAH and Muhammad [P.B.U.H] is the Last Prophet and Messenger of ALLAH.
 

The_truth

Well-Known Member
Shaythan CANNOT decide if your worship is accepted or not, ONLY ALLAH CAN!

Imprint this in your minds whenever you get any type of paranoia about worship. Surely shaythan does not know what is in our hearts. He cannot decide if our purification or worship is accepted or good enough or not. To him nothing good that we do will ever be good enough because he hates it when we do good. Therefore ignore shaythan who is our sworn enemy and know that he has NO say in whether our wudu, ghusl or any worship we do is good enough or accepted or not. He is decieving us into think it is not good enough and will not be accepted. Who is he to tell us this? NO ONE! So ignore him and do not listen to him. Know that as long as we try our best to do a good wudu and ghusl and worship him in the best way that we can then that is good enough for Allah. After that get on with making the best of each second of our lives and IGNORE YOUR ENEMY SHAYTHAN!
 

The_truth

Well-Known Member
Dua to ward off the deception of the Obstinate Shaytaans




The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم Protecting Himself from the Shayaateen

Ja’far bin Sulaymaan ad-Duba’ee narrated: Aboo at-Tayyaaj narrated to us, he said: “I said to ‘Abdur-Rahmaan bin Khanbash at-Tameemee – and he was an old man – ‘did you reach the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم (during his lifetime)?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘So I said: How did the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم act on the night the shayaateen plotted against him?’ So he said: ‘Indeed the shayaateen descended that night upon the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم from the valleys and mountain paths, and amongst them was a shaytaan, in his hand was a flame of fire, wanting to burn the face of Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم with it. So Jibreel - عليه السلام - descended to h im and said: ‘O Muhammad! Say:





'A'oodhu bikalimaatil-laahit-taammaatil-latee laa yujaawizuhunna barrun wa laa faajirun
min sharri maa khalaqa,wa bara'a wa dhara'a,
wa min sharri maa yanzilu minas-samaa'i,
wa min sharri maa ya'ruju feehaa,
wa min sharri maa dhara'a fil-ardhi,
wa min sharri maa yakhruju minhaa,
wa min sharri fitanil-layli wannahaari,
wa min sharri kulli taariqin 'illaa taariqan yatruqu bikhayrin yaa Rahmaan



(( I seek refuge by the complete, perfect words of Allaah, which no righteous one nor wicked one can exceed, from the evil of what He has created, and from the evil of what descends from the heavens, and from the evil of what ascends to them, and from the evil of what is sown in the earth and is created, and from the evil of what comes out from it, and from the evil of the fitan of the night and the day, and from the evil of everyone who comes knocking, except for the one who comes knocking with khayr, O Rahmaan! ))

So it (this du’aa) extinguished their fire, and Allaah تبارك و تعالى defeated them.” (as-Suyootee in al-Jaami’ al-Kabeer (1/11/2) to Ahmad, and at-Tabaraanee in al-Kabeer, and Ibnus-Sunnee in ‘Amalul-Yawmi wal-Laylah from ‘Abdur-Rahmaan bin Khanbash, and from Ahmad (3/319), and Ibnus-Sunnee (631) from Ja’far bin Sulaymaan ad-Duba’ee from Aboo at-Tayyaa)
 
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