Will the one who suffers from waswaas be rewarded, and what should he do?

 

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.