Waswas can become a very serious issue and it may take away the pleasure of worship and instead replace it with constant worry eg whether a person did Wudu (Ablution) or Salah properly. It can become a very serious issue as a person will feel overwhelmed by paranoia with regards to their worship , will always feel a sense of inadequacy and in extreme cases it may even push a person away from their worship altogether.
In regards to worship , Waswas relates to always having doubts about ones worship , and not being sure of anything relating to worship.
What are some of the symptoms of waswas?
* Uncertainly of whether you have prayed or not or prayed correctly , after you have prayed.
* Wasting water doing wudu and ghusl for prolonged times as you are uncertain you have performed it correctly.
* Praying extra rak’at regularly as you have doubts about whether you prayed the correct number , even repeating the whole prayer.
* Changing your clothes constantly as you are worried they are constantly unclean.
* 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. Shaytaan 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 properly , 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 Shaytaan knows that this has become the persons weakness so Shaytaan is able to attack the person from many different angles.
Eventually Shaytaan will go onto more serious matters of faith until he tries to convince a person that “Are you sure Allah exists”? Or Shaytaan tries to cast doubts into 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 examples of real stories of people suffering with waswas :
A woman said: For the past 16 years, everyday I do ghusl and take shahada because I suddenly feel that I am not sure that I am a 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 perform the prayer and keep repeating it until the next prayer.
HOW TO RESOLVE EXTREME WASWAS
The best way’s to resolve Extreme cases of waswas are:
1. Try your best to seek as much knowledge as possible. 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 correctly 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 and learning and you watch how these evil thoughts dissapear In sha Allah.
2. JUST IGNORE the whispers of the Shaytaan. For example , he will keep telling you your worship is incorrect or you have missed out something in your salaah , 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 Shaytaan tells you to do ghusl again because you never did it properly then IGNORE and NEVER obey these evil and deceptive whispers!
If Shaytaan 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.
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.
Shaytaan 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 Shaytaan is just trying to be clever but knowledge will give on the upper hand!
Whenever you get these whispers then just think: IT IS SHAYTAAN TRYING TO DECIEVE ME AND PUT ME OFF MY WORSHIP!
3. Once you have completed Wudu then move on and ignore whatever Shaytaan 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 Shaytaan 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? Shaytaan or Allah? So by listening to the whispers of shaythan then you are simply obeying Shaytaan 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 left 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 Shaytaan’s whispers? By constantly repeating wudu, salaah and wasting so much time then we are going against Allah and instead listening to Shaytaan’s evil whispers. The fact is Allah wants you to reject the waswas but Shaytaan wants you to accept them, then who will you listen to? The choice is yours…
A desert Arab came to Allah’s Apostle Sallalahu Alayhi WaSalam 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 Shaytaan 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 Shaytaan tells us to. We are praying for Allah so Shaytaan has NO say in it and NEVER has!
7. It is unlikely that you will be able to conquer waswas overnight. Shaytaan 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 . Know the different angles so that you are more equipped to fight these evil whispers.
There are many more different angles that the Shaytaan 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 counteract 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 Shaytaan 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