The Cure for Obsessive Whispers (Al-Waswās Al-Qahrī)
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:
Obsessive whispers, in most cases, occur due to psychological and mental emptiness, and even physical emptiness. Because when a person is occupied, he becomes engaged with what he is doing, and this distances him from evil thoughts and whispers. However, despite that, obsessive whispers may still occur—even when there is something occupying the mind, body, and soul.
The path to getting rid of it is as follows:
Firstly: Not paying attention to it and not giving it importance. A person should not pay attention to it, nor concern himself with it, nor give it any weight within himself. Even if he experiences whispers, he should train himself that this matter is not real, then leave off thinking about it. This is the method of abandoning—meaning that he frees himself from it, does not concern himself with it, and does not pay attention to it.
The second path to getting rid of it: That he uses the means that save him from it, and that is by frequently seeking refuge with Allah, the Most High, from the accursed devil and from these whispers. And when seeking refuge, he should feel two matters:
The first: Complete dependence upon Allah, Blessed and Exalted, from every aspect, such that a person disassociates himself in that state from his own power and ability, and entrusts the matter entirely to Allah, Glorified and Exalted.
The second: That he feels that Allah, the Most High, is fully capable of removing this, because He, Glorified and Exalted, when He intends a thing, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is.
Based upon this second matter is built strong hope in Allah, Glorified and Exalted, and having good expectation of Him, until he is freed from this illness that has afflicted him within himself.
The third path to getting rid of this matter: That when he engages in the affairs of his religion and his worldly life, he is serious in them—meaning that he exerts his heart during action for the sake of the action. When the heart is directed away from obsessive whispers and distracting thoughts to seriousness in action, and looking at matters with seriousness, then the heart becomes active, turns away, and directs itself to these actions. By that, he forgets, and those whispers and evil thoughts depart from him.
The fourth path to getting rid of it: That he knows that this matter—especially whispers related to creed, and those connected to Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and to His Names and Attributes—has occurred to those who are more complete than us in īmān and higher than us in status, and they are the Companions. They complained about that to the Prophet ﷺ, so he commanded them to seek refuge with Allah, the Most High, from it, and to stop it, as has come in the hadith:
“Satan comes to one of you and says: Who created such-and-such? Who created such-and-such? until he says: Who created your Lord? So when it reaches that, let him seek refuge with Allah and stop.”
With these four methods that come to mind now, you can rid yourself of these whispers that have afflicted you. And I ask Allah to grant you well-being from them, and to grant well-being to all the Muslims.
📚Fatāwā Nūr ʿalā ad-Darb (12/557–558)
