How can we be sure something is waswas?

[Aishath]

Assalaamu alaykum,

As most of you might know, I am suffering from waswas a lot. I try to remember Allah and pray and ignore these thoughts and yet they still affect me a lot. What makes it worse is when I sometimes feel like I am thinking this thought intentionally and it was all my fault. For instance, before I start praying I seek refuge in Allah and ask Allah to help protect me from shaytan's waswas. I start praying and suddenly I realise that I haven't had a waswas and it's going well and then pretty much as soon as I think that, I think a kufr/shirk thought. And it makes me feel like this was all my doing and not shaytans' just because I started thinking about waswas and things to begin with. This really weird rebellious feeling comes over me and I have a thought of kufr or shirk and it passes away and I'm literally horror stricken by the evilness in these thoughts sometimes.

How can one be sure if something is waswas and not his/her own thought? I read that one needs to be a 100% sure that it is their own thought and not shaytan's waswas and the best way to make sure it is shaytan's waswas is when you know you dislike the thought and just want it to go away. :exhausted

 

[Alpha Dude]

Wa alaykum salam

Simply ignore these thoughts and more importantly, do not attach any significance to your waswas. Meaning, since you know in your heart that the thought in your mind is not what you really believe, there is no need to get agitated.

Trust me sis, this is the only way. The shaytan is giving you these whispers and you are responding to him. Simply don't respond! He'll get tired and stop doing this and you'll get used to praying without paying any attention to the waswas.

However, shaytan's cunning. He will come to you with a different attack if and when you are able to protect yourself from this current waswas problem. Hence, we should consistently seek sincere refuge in Allah from shaytanic attacks at all times.

 

[Aishath]

Thank you brother. I am trying my best really and I hate knowing that my worrying is giving shaytan joy. I am in the middle of doing uni work and yet I stop and think about this every now and then. I hate how shaytan is making me think that they are my thoughts and not his and I hate how I can't be sure they are not my thoughts

 

[tango92]

if you know in your heart that islam is the truth then anything elese must be from shaytaan. shaytaan will pounce on any weakness you have, make sure your doing islam right. not too extreme either way. this will inshallah keep you in good mental health.

the best advice i can give you is to look deep in your heart, and realise you can never leave islam. you have no choice because it is the truth. also pray to Allah swt and beg him to guide you. as humans we are not capable of self healing nor do we have any knowedge save what Allah swt guides us to.

i hope you dont mind me asking but do you get any weird dreams just before/after fajr salah ?

 

[Hamza Asadullah]

Thank you brother. I am trying my best really and I hate knowing that my worrying is giving shaytan joy. I am in the middle of doing uni work and yet I stop and think about this every now and then. I hate how shaytan is making me think that they are my thoughts and not his and I hate how I can't be sure they are not my thoughts

Asalaamu Alaikum, my sister of course you can be sure. Your heart does not believe any of the evil shaythan whispers to you so why do you let him get joy out of your confusion. If you know he is trying to trick you then do not keep falling for it everytime. You have to be strong sister and keep on doing the dua's i sent to you in previous posts.

There is no need for you to worry at all about what he is whispering to you because you do not believe it in your heart. You are just stressing yourself out for no reason. You have to be strong now and not let him run rings around you every single time.

You have the strength in you sister so stop falling for his tricks now and disregard his evil and deception and instead keep thinking of Allah and his greatness.

And Allah knows best in all matters

 

[tango92]

keep working on your iman. theres a book called Gods ID which i would recommend (although i havent read it personally i know arguments frm it).

edit: inshallah im trying to get hold of a copy, ive been told its beeing proof read b4 publication. my bad. in the mean time if you want some web resources feel free to ask.

i may sound a bit crazy now but ive been told humans have a "spiritual power". when our iman becomes strong and our love for Allah swt increases the Shaytaan cant touch you.

Also what you NEVER want to do is give up the good actions you are performing or stop caring about Allah swt just to stop the waswas. If anything stop caring about your thoughts and say let Allah swt be my guide.

 

[Alpha Dude]

Think about it this way, sister. Imagine a muslim is held hostage in his own home by intruders who chuck dog poo on him and prevent him from praying his fardh Isha salah. The muslim man being so conscious of and having never missed a prayer is in a complete state of inability. Despite how much he wants to, he is simply not able to pray his salah on time. In his heart, he will feel guilty and bad but at the end of the day, he will realise that Allah KNOWS that he is incapable of praying due to the intruders. He will have hope that Allah will excuse him due to the impossible nature of the problem.

That is what you need to do. Realise that shaytanic whispers are outside of your control and you should hope for mercy from Allah on the basis that he knows what you really believe. Hope that would provide an incentive to ignore them.

 

[Aishath]

i hope you dont mind me asking but do you get any weird dreams just before/after fajr salah ?

I do actually. Not all the time. During the week days I find it to be less so because after Fajr prayer I don't go back to bed because I have lessons but during the weekends I tend to get up and pray and go back to bed for a bit. Sometimes they are pretty bd dreams where I've woken up just really scared (like nightmares). Is this all part of waswas too then?

i may sound a bit crazy now but ive been told humans have a "spiritual power". when our iman becomes strong and our love for Allah swt increases the Shaytaan cant touch you.

It does make sense. I've always believed in Islam but I have lost my way over the past 2 or 3 years really and even though as far as I can recall, I never stopped believing in Islam, I certainly stopped practicing some things. Whereas now I always remember Allah and try to make a conscious effort to practice my faith much better than I have in the past. But even there shaytan sometimes makes me think that because of my previous sins, I've 'left' Islam and come back to it. I don't see it that way. I see it as my iman getting stronger whereas few years ago it was so weak. But I get worried sometimes that there might be a ghusl on me or something (like there is for people who were once muslims, leave the faith and then come back to it). Does this apply to me here? :S

 

[Alpha Dude]

But I get worried sometimes that there might be a ghusl on me or something (like there is for people who were once muslims, leave the faith and then come back to it). Does this apply to me here? :S

Sister, really, you have been repeatedly reassured that there is nothing to worry about in this regard. Please stop dwelling on this same issue.

 

[Aishath]

Sister, really, you have been repeatedly reassured that there is nothing to worry about in this regard. Please stop dwelling on this same issue.

I am sorry. I know it sounds like I am just constantly going on and on about the same thing.

Trust me, I don't enjoy any of this. I hate how I can't enjoy my salat cz of shaytan or how sometimes he whispers such evil to me that it makes me feel like no matter what I do in terms of worshipping, i am doomed to hell. And I know deep down that I should just ignore these thoughts and belive me, I do try as much as I can. But shaytan waswas is not something I've always dealt with y whole life and sometimes when he tries a different angle or tactic, it leaves me so shaken that I can't physically do or concentrate on anything without always feeling like I am going straight to hell. I had a thought that if this certain programe hasn't started I am going to hell. I can't even remember if that is what I thought anymore. The more logical, rational part of me is thinking that I just thought oh I hope it has started but when I realised it hadn't and waswas got stronger, I felt like I was going straight to hell really.

I know all of it sounds like I am repeating myself and I am really really sorry. I just feel so helpless sometimes. It's like I have a constant battle going on in my mind all the time and it just doesn't stop even when i try to ignore it. When I try to ignore it, it goes away for a bit and comes back even worse

 

[Alpha Dude]

Sister, we need to keep in mind the mercy of Allah. He can and will forgive us if we are sincere in our repentance.

So the solution to your problem is easy: simply keep repenting as often as possible for all the sins you have done both knowingly and unknowingly. When you repent, you believe in your heart that Allah will certainly forgive you because of your sincerity.

 

[Aishath]

Sister, we need to keep in mind the mercy of Allah. He can and will forgive us if we are sincere in our repentance.

So the solution to your problem is easy: simply keep repenting as often as possible for all the sins you have done both knowingly and unknowingly. When you repent, you believe in your heart that Allah will certainly forgive you because of your sincerity.

Yeah I try to do that after most salats really. From the posts below, I understand that we don't get held accountable or punished for experiencing waswas so I am trying to be patient now.

Thank you for everyone who posted though and has helped me

 

[Aishath]

Does waswas tend to get stronger when ur not feeling well? I've been a bit ill over the past two days and insha Allah, getting better but waswas just seemed to have increased then. And it's much worse cz it's things like, if you do this, ur going to hell and whilst I know shaytan doesnt determine who goes to hell/heaven, he is making me feel like I am the one thinking these thoughts. It got pretty bad one night because I thought it had been me who thought such thoughts but then realised that if i dont believe in that thought then it must be shaytan's waswas really.

 

[tango92]

Does waswas tend to get stronger when ur not feeling well? I've been a bit ill over the past two days and insha Allah, getting better but waswas just seemed to have increased then. And it's much worse cz it's things like, if you do this, ur going to hell and whilst I know shaytan doesnt determine who goes to hell/heaven, he is making me feel like I am the one thinking these thoughts. It got pretty bad one night because I thought it had been me who thought such thoughts but then realised that if i dont believe in that thought then it must be shaytan's waswas really.

i dont know. it must be different for different people i guess. you can try doing something fun to get your mind of it, i used to play table tennis back in the day...

 

[Muhaba]

The shaytan tries to take advantage of a person's situation, trying to make a person hopeless and do kufr, so in such down times it's possibe to get more waswas, ezpecially such that will make you upset with Allah. For example you might get thoughts such as Allah doesn't care about me, or Allah hates me and won't do anything for me, etc. However, is it possible that you are under the effect of black magic? black magic affects people in such ways that they get waswas that are uncontrollable. I've seen people wandering around like they are crazy, getting obsessions of shirk and sins because of black magic. One girl had preached to shia neighbors of hers against shirk. After that she always got the waswas that she was doing shirk. Even when she stood for salah, she was getting the waswas that when she prayed she was committing shirk. No matter what she did she couldn't get rid of the thought that she was doing shirk, so i'm sure someone did black magic on her. You should recite the last two surahs as well as Ayatul Kursi as mush as you can over yourself. If you see an improvement, then you can be sure that you are under the effect of black magic.

 

[Aishath]

Well with me, i think it is just waswas. Just because shaytan knows im paranoid and I think slightly OCD. For instance, waswas used to be about being pure. I used to get into a massive state of panic even if a drop of alcohol or najasat came near me whereas I don't overreact that much anymore. After I learnt more on how to be pure etc, shaytan stopped those whispers and he moves on to someone else. It jsut so happens that now I get waswas about 'if i do/think this, it can lead me to hell'. But I hope that once I overcome these, it'll stop insha Allah. I can see the different types of waswas and these few days it's been bad but I think it's cz I'v been feeling abit weak and even tho I'm trying not to miss any salat prayers, I tried to rest/get better insha Allah, as soon as possible. However, I don't think it is so bad, it is overcoming me all the time. Whenever it does get bad, I can tell it is because of my paranoid nature and that it is because I am over reacting to things.

 

[Aishath]

However, is it possible that you are under the effect of black magic?

haha i can't stop thinking about this now

 

[marwen]

I don't think waswas is a disease. It's a human thing, coz every one has some waswas. Suspicion exists in our mind, we doubt in every thing, we can't be 100% sure. Sometimes this suspicion has a good reason.
But in most of the cases it has no reason, and we're able to know it's fake and ignore it.

I think the best solution is to not care about this waswas and never think about it.

 

[Aishath]

I don't think waswas is a disease. It's a human thing, coz every one has some waswas. Suspicion exists in our mind, we doubt in every thing, we can't be 100% sure. Sometimes this suspicion has a good reason. But in most of the cases it has no reason, and we're able to know it's fake and ignore it. I think the best solution is to not care about this waswas and never think about it.

Thanks, I was getting abit worried and I really dont want to spiral into more suspicion

 

[Muhaba]

There are times when shaytan sees that a person is becoming more religious, instead of telling him to stop being religious, it starts the types of waswas where you keep feeling you need to do more, that you aren't doing enough. Like for example, you need wash more, etc. So if you're getting that type of wiswas then i guess the best to do is to realize that we humans aren't perfect and that Allah is Most Forgiving, so He'll overlook our short-comings. Another necessary thing to do is to get as much knowledge as you can, because a lot of times shaytan takes advantage of our ignorance when bringing the waswas. For example, getting thoughts like, if i don't do this it will lead me to hell. such thoughts can't come to a person if he/she knows that not doing the action will not take them to hell. So when you get such a thought, ask a scholar whether doing or not doing the act will get you punished. like on another thread a person was feeling guilty about not speaking to a lonely boy from her class. Shaytan was misguiding her due to her lack of knowledge, making her feel guilty, maybe even telling her her action would cause him harm or she'd be punished, etc. Such thoughts wouldn't come if the person had knowledge. Ihope i explained it well and my post is helpful. May Allah cure you and help you to overcome the shaytan.