Treating Whispers in Ritual Purity and Prayer
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah keep you safe, Your Eminence the Shaykh. From our questions, we say: Many people are afflicted with whispers (waswas) regarding ritual purity and prayer, and other matters. Please tell us about this topic?
Answer:
The Shaykh: It is obligatory to be wary of waswas (whispers of doubt); it is obligatory for the Muslim to guard against waswas and act according to the default ruling. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked by a questioner about a man who doubts something in his prayer, and he said: He does not turn away. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:Sahih Muslim 361, then regarding the taking of it, he said: Sahih Muslim 362. The hadith of waswas: one should be wary of them. If they occur to a person regarding whether he has become impure or whether he has broken his state of ritual purity, the default is that this has not happened. He should dismiss it and seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan until he knows with certainty that a state of ritual impurity has occurred or that impurity has occurred. Otherwise, he should dismiss the waswas, for they are from the play and harm of Shaytan. Some of the Companions came to him and said: O Messenger of Allah, Shaytan has confused my prayer for me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: If you find that, spit to your left three times, and say: I seek refuge in Allah, in the name of Allah, Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3452Sahih (Darussalam), seek refuge , . The Companion, who was Uthman ibn al-As, said: I did that, and Allah removed it from me.
The point is that if he feels the whispers, he should be cautious of them. If he spits to his left three times and seeks refuge in Allah from Satan three times, this is among the means of safety, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided Uthman ibn al-As al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) to do.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
May Allah keep you safe, Your Eminence the Shaykh. From our questions, we say: Many people are afflicted with whispers (waswas) regarding ritual purity and prayer, and other matters. Please tell us about this topic?
Answer:
The Shaykh: It is obligatory to be wary of waswas (whispers of doubt); it is obligatory for the Muslim to guard against waswas and act according to the default ruling. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked by a questioner about a man who doubts something in his prayer, and he said: He does not turn away. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:
He should not return (from prayer) unless he hears a sound or
لا ينصرف حتى يسمع صوتا أو يجدAbu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: If any one of you has pain in his abdomen, but is doubtful whether or not anything has issued from him, be should not leave the mosque unless he hears a sound or perceives a smell.
فلا يخرجن من المسجد حتى يسمع صوتا أو يجدI seek refuge in Allah from Shaitan
أعوذ بالله من الشيطانin Allah from Shaytan three times, and spit to your left three times
بالله من الشيطان ثلاث مرات، واتبع يسارك ثلاث مراتThen that will be removed from you
فإن ذلك يذهب عنكThe point is that if he feels the whispers, he should be cautious of them. If he spits to his left three times and seeks refuge in Allah from Satan three times, this is among the means of safety, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) guided Uthman ibn al-As al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) to do.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you with good,
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم [ برنامج إذاعي ]، بداية من باب ارتياد المكان الرخو وما يكره التخلي فيه — islamhouse.com (8:03)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.