Misunderstandings Crop Up
Misunderstandings crop up because of waswasa (repeated, unfounded doubts or fears). Sometimes Satan gains control of a person's mind, rendering him worse than a hypocrite or a show-off. In other words he becomes Satan in the garb of a human being! Satan enslaves his thought-process, and the person does whatever Satan wants him to do
Sometimes Satan is also able to dominate the hearts of certain people. According to the Quran, this person then becomes an idol worshipper. This means that his heart becomes a slave to his desires, rendering him a fasiq and fajir. According to the Quran, this person becomes a Satan worshipper, not a servant of Allah. We read in the Sura Yasin:
Did I not charge you, O ye sons of Adam , that ye worship not the devil - Lo! He is your open foe!
O children of Adam, did you not promise Allah that you would not worship Satan? Then why are you worshipping Satan now? This verse shows us that a Satan worshipper is actually a person whose heart is enslaved by Satan. Satan eradicates the love of Allah from this person’s heart, and corrupts his thoughts. This type of a person is a Satan worshipper. When Satan is able to dominate over a person’s power of thinking, it is known as waswasa (repeated, unfounded doubts or fears), and this person is called waswasi. Waswasa is of two types: One of these is the waswasa of thought, which is the topic of today’s discussion. Another type of waswasa is the waswasa of action. Sometimes even pious people are inflicted with waswasa of action. They experience waswasa in worship – regarding purity (taharat) and impurity (najasat), prayer, fasting etc. We shall talk about this later, inshaallah. Anyway, when Satan is able to control a person’s power of thinking, he creates waswasa in his mind. The affected individual is then ruled by evil and wicked thoughts. If a person becomes inflicted with the waswasa of action, the individual commits wicked acts. Waswasa affects him at the time of action. Both these conditions are fraught with danger. In both these situations Satan overwhelms the thought-process of the persons. In the view of Imam Jafar al Sadiq, this condition is nothing short of madness. A man came to meet Imam Ja’far al Sadiq (a.s.), and started praising someone. He praised the man for being intelligent and then mentioned that the man was affected by waswasa. The Imam (a.s.) smiled and said, “This man is a slave of shaitan. If he is asked whether his deeds are godly or evil, he himself will tell you that his deeds are evil.”
Effects of Waswasa: Negative Thoughts
One of the harmful effects of waswasa of thought is that the affected person always takes the negative view of things. Some people don’t see anything positive about themselves or those around them. They take a negative and morose view of everything. They never think of the strengths they or those around them have, but are always complaining about their failings and weaknesses. These are the persons who are always pessimistic about themselves, their friends and the society at large. This is a very harmful condition and, in many people, it is a result of waswasa.
Another harmful effect of always having negative thoughts is that the individual is unable to progress. He is unable to reach perfection. This attitude is also a big sin. Negative thoughts are like the flies which search for some filth to sit upon even in a garden in full bloom. If your body and the clothes are clean, flies will not sit on them. But if there is some dirt or a suppurating wound on the body, flies get attracted to it. Some men, too, are like the flies. They excel in carrying negative thoughts.
One should abstain from negative thoughts. The wives should think positively about their husbands. Similarly men should not allow the shortcomings of their wives to dominate their thoughts. Don’t be on the look-out for her flaws; don’t hanker after dirt like flies. Instead you should always be in search of flowers like a nightingale. You should search for her positive qualities. On the whole, a human being is unfaithful. Even if you always treat your wife well, a single episode of misbehaviour is enough to make her forget your past good behaviour. Similarly, if a good wife misbehaves one day, her husband forgets all her past kindness. This shows that humans are not faithful. Even the Quran complains about this aspect of human nature:
Perish man! How ungrateful is he?!
Grief
Another symptom of waswasa of thought is that the person gets fed up with life and remains sad. If the person is pious, he wonders why he has come into this world. He thinks it would have been better if he had not come into the world. If the person is irreligious and has no fear of Allah, then he commits suicide. Such events are more widespread in the Western world. This is the result of waswasa of thought. The affected individual is always lost in thought, and when he is unable to come to a conclusion, he becomes fed-up with life and ends up committing suicide.
A question asked, usually by the youth is: why have we come into this world? According to the psychologists, the source of this question is waswasa of thought. Such questions are asked by unhappy people, who are fed-up with life. They don’t know the reason for their existence in the world. If you try to make them understand, their waswasa of thought does not allow them to be satisfied with your replies. If you present them with proofs and arguments, they will still insist that it would have been better if they had not been born. I am unable to recollect the name of the author who wrote that one morning when he got up, he found the morning to be sad and gloomy. He was still brooding over the day when he happened to glance at the newspaper. He read two news items which were completely opposite to each other. The first item was about a man who had slashed his stomach with a knife and had thrown out his intestines, saying that he wanted to be without his intestines for just a minute. He died after one minute. The other item in the newspaper was an article by a lady. She wrote that, by the Grace of Allah, as soon as she woke up in the morning, she found a pleasant day coming her way. She thanked Allah for giving her life and yet another opportunity to stand before Him. The author then began to think about the source of the lady’s happiness; that man’s suicide and his own grief and depression. He came to the conclusion that all the negative thoughts had their source in waswasa of thought. In other words, it can be said that tiredness, lack of understanding and waswasa of thought affect our lives.
Suspicion
The worst effect of waswasa of thought is that the person becomes suspicious. First he is plagued with bad thoughts about his own family, and then gradually this extends to the society. If this malady progresses further, he starts doubting Allah, the Holy Quran, the Prophet (s) and his Progeny (a.s.). These doubts ultimately turn him into an unbeliever. Suspicion is from shaitan. Shaitan makes a small beginning, but as soon as man gives him an opportunity, he takes man to the seventh level of Hell. He will not settle for anything less. In addition, shaitan even ridicules man and says, “you have reached the depths of Hell yourself, what do I have to do with you?" Suspicion, driven by waswasa of thought, starts on a low scale, but soon escalates to the extent that one even starts suspecting Allah and the Ma'soomeen (the infallible ones.)
The Dangers of Suspicion
The biggest danger of suspicion is that it may lead one to sin. Because of waswasa of thought and suspicion, the affected person sees others as sinners and bad characters. He, then, wants to punish them. We come across many youth who are pleasant, and have even participated in the (Iranian) revolution, but suspicion has turned them into sinners. They even accuse the scholars and pious people of disbelief (kufr). Because this sin can attract the death penalty, they end up murdering innocent men of piety and religious scholars. Suspicion can lead man to commit such sins. Suspicion arises from waswasa of thought. Do not underestimate a sceptic. Sometimes, the sceptic becomes involved in a strange type of madness. For example, a man suspects his wife. This is a great sin. Or, for example, when a man enters their path, the husband tells his wife, “He is making passes at you.” This man talks like insane people. Sometimes the wife suspects her husband, although he has become so old, he is devoid of carnal desires. But the moment he steps into the house, she creates a hue and cry and accuses him of maintaining a second wife secretly. “Where else could you have gone all this while?” she asks him.
There is a story making rounds in the society. A husband and his wife were sleeping on their terrace. As you may be aware, at night, a row of stars points to the Kaaba. The husband asked the wife,” What is the significance of this row of stars”. The wife replied, “People say that it shows the way to the Kaaba. When hajjis lose their way, these stars guide them to the correct path.” As soon as the man heard this, he started beating his wife and said, “Now I know why you make me sleep here. Your intention is to hand me over to the hajjis. After they kill me, you want to marry again”. This is probably just a story, but a man once told me about a couple. The husband was a victim of waswasa of thought, and the wife was a victim of waswasa of action. When the couple consulted this man, he turned to the lady who had waswasa of action regarding purity and impurity (taharat and najasat), and told her that your problem is suspicion. If you follow my advice continuously for six months, you can be cured. It was then that he became aware of the husband looking at his wife in a strange manner. He even refused to consult this man and left. After a few days the husband telephoned the man and said, “I have understood what you were trying to tell my wife. You were trying to tell her to divorce me, marry you and stay with you for six months. Then you would cure her”. It is as if the husband was insane. There are many persons with such disorders. When husbands and wives doubt each other, they assume their spouse to be a thief. For example, the husband spends some money and forgets or it falls out of his pocket, while he was unaware of it. When he can’t find the money, he pins the blame on his wife and considers her to be a thief. He considers her a thief, an adulteress, a shameless woman. Even the wife can suspect her husband of these things, if she becomes entangled in waswasa of thought. This is a major sin about which the Holy Quran says:
(O man), follow not that whereof thou hast no knowledge. Lo! The hearing and the sight and the heart--- of each of these it will be asked.
O men! Do not talk about matters without knowledge. Don’t assume things. Don’t suspect others. Your eyes, your ears, and even your hearts will be questioned on the Day of Reckoning about these suspicions and these wrong thoughts! On that day, the organs of your body will bear witness against you. A husband suspects his wife but does not let her know, neither does he tell anybody, even then, when he will be brought to the grounds of Judgement, his heart will bear witness against him that he used to suspect his wife in the world. Islam has strictly forbidden doubting others. A good Muslim should act on his conviction and not on doubts. The Holy Quran says:
… And ye did think an evil thought, and ye were worthless folk.
A society where people doubt each other is on its way to destruction. Their lives in this world and the Hereafter will be bleak. These days this ailment is very prevalent. May the person die who, like the silkworm, weaves a cocoon of suspicion and conjecture so that he can hide within it. I appeal to my audience to remember and recite this verse whenever any doubts crosses their minds:
Accursed be the conjecturers Who are careless in an abyss!
Like the silkworm, a person who remains trapped in the cocoon of his doubts and wrong thoughts will suffocate to death. According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam (s) faced the Kaaba and said, “O Kaaba! You are much respected! But respect for a believer (mu’min) exceeds the respect for you. Allah has declared only one thing haram with regard to you. But for the mu’min He has declared three things haram:
1. He has declared killing an innocent human haram.
2. Usurping a mu’min’s, property is haram.
3. Entertaining doubts about a mu’min is haram.”
The Prophet (s) has placed murdering people, usurping others’ property, and suspecting people, on an equal level. If, God forbid, you suspect your wife and utter even one sentence about it to your innocent wife, she will never forget this sentence, even if she is always willing to forgive and forget. If the character of a woman of good character is suspected, not only will this destroy the love in her heart, but it will also sow the seeds of hate in it.
It is said that the husband of a suspicious wife came home late. The wife opened the door and told him to go back to the where he had spent his evening. Saying this she slammed the door shut in his face and went back into the house in a huff. The man went to a hotel, rented a room, and had his dinner. The next morning he rented a house and married a second wife. He returned home after about a week. He told his first wife. “My dear, I have reached the place you had sent me to. From today, one night is for you, one night is for her – that is if you want it this way, otherwise one night is for you and two nights are for her.”
Yes! Men toil so hard that sometimes they develop calluses in the soles of their feet. Still they work to provide the comforts of life to their wives and children. Even after all this if the wives suspect their husbands, it goes to show that the suspicion is not a product of their intelligence, rather it is the work of someone else.
Lo! The devils do inspire their minions to dispute with you. But if ye obey them, ye will be in truth as idolaters.
When Satan whispers in the ear of a person, goading her to do wrong, an intelligent person should not cause the destruction of her house and lose the love of her husband by paying attention to such senseless talk. May Allah protect men and women from becoming suspicious of their spouses. Being suspicious of ones spouse is a very big sin. Usually, the woman does not suspect her husband of adultery; she accuses him of re-marrying on the sly. But if the husband suspects the wife of adultery and tells her so, the jurist can order a punishment of anything between 29 and 79 floggings. Such suspicions are major sins and it is regarding this that the Quran says: May you die. Therefore it is imperative that there are no suspicions in the family. One should not be suspicious even while dealing with persons outside the house. Sometimes suspicion leads one to spy on others. Spying is such a major sin that the Prophet of Allah (s) once said, “O those people whose faith is limited to their tongues and has not reached their hearts, do not spy! Do not search for defects in others. If you spy on others, Allah will humiliate you. Even if you are very intelligent, suspecting others will lead you to spy on them. Inquisitiveness and curiosity can sometimes become the cause of wrongdoing. For example: a woman standing at her threshold finds an unfamiliar young man entering the door of the neighbour's house. If she is a good Muslimah, she should assume that the young man must be their relation or visiting them for some errand. But if she spies on her neighbours and, God forbid, spreads it among the people, it will give rise to innumerable ills. Imam Hussain (a.s.) has said slitting the throat of a person is a lesser sin than causing separation between a husband and wife. Some people pretend to be very religious and pious, and yet they perpetrate such acts. They run the gossip mill and cause the destruction of happy families. They ruin the respect and reputation of families and cause divorces. These people want to do good but end up doing evil.
The Prophet of Islam (s) used to repeatedly say that one should always have a good opinion about his mu’min brother, and always be his well-wisher. One should always try to hide the flaws of his mu’min brother. Try all the possible ways to hide his shortcomings. If one method does not work, try the second. If it fails try a third, but don’t give up. Tell yourself: what kind of a Muslim am I that I can’t even hide the flaws of my brother-in-faith? Do we ever adopt this method? I appeal to those of you who can understand the message of the Holy Prophet and his infallible progeny to the pious people; your Prophet (s) is telling you not to be curious. Gossip mongers flit around in search of stories about others. Many people are inflicted with this disease, whether they are businessmen, soldiers, or workers – this scourge is found in everybody and it is found especially in ladies. This is a sin which is not just equal to killing someone, it is equal to taking out all the blood vessels from his body. Then why should we indulge in this act?
Inquisitiveness and gossip are major ills, but there is a simple cure for this as well! This can be done by adopting the dictum of forgive and forget! Even if one notices a defect in his wife, he should think positively about it. When he does this, he is literally slapping Shaitan, who then goes away. Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (a.s.) says, “Slap him on his impious face! When you slap him, when you refuse to heed to his whisperings, he will run away. If you give credence to his talk, then the accursed Satan will gradually overwhelm your thought-process and turn you insane.The ailment is serious, but easily curable. The ailment will destroy your world and your Hereafter, but each one of us can easily cure himself. The cure lies in giving no importance to suspicion and gossip.
Indeed conjecture is no substitute for the truth
The Quran says that suspicion is of no use. Those who are suspicious aren’t following the Quran.
Waswasa of Action
We have categorised waswasa (repeated, unfounded doubts and fears) into two kinds: waswasa of thought and waswasa of action. We have already dealt with the first category. Today we shall talk about waswasa of action.
Sometimes people get excessive doubts about the tasks they are doing. For example: while doing wudhu (ablution), performing the ritual bath (Ghusl), performing the prayers etc. They get doubts whether they have performed these actions strictly in accordance to the set norms or not. Such doubts are very harmful for homes. A person who nurses repeated doubts about his own actions becomes an outcast from the society. He can no longer feel love for his home. Those in the audience who have the tendency of doubting their own actions should give particular attention to this talk.
We had mentioned earlier that when Satan is able to dominate the thoughts of a person, he becomes a treacherous hypocrite and is subject to many other ills. Sometimes Satan is able to control the heart of a person, enslaving him. It is evident from many verses of the Holy Quran that sometimes man comes under the spell of Satan and at other times he bows to the will of Allah. When Satan overwhelms man, he becomes a puppet in the hands of Satan. Then man becomes an idol worshipper, a money worshipper and a slave of his desires. Every action of such a person, the Holy Quran says, reflects his worship of Satan. When Satan overwhelms the thinking process of a man, he creates waswasa of thought and action in him. This places man in a very dangerous situation. He considers fantasies and falsehood to be facts and believes in them. For example: a timid person, under the spell of Satan, imagines seeing jinn when he passes through an isolated place. He imagines that someone is ordering him to run away. When he begins to run, he imagines that a dead man is chasing him in order to catch him. This fear renders him unconscious. In reality, neither was there a jinn, nor was a dead man chasing him, nor did he hear anything. It was his imagination which had affected his hearing and sight. Similarly a person who constantly doubts about ritual purity immediately believes that some drops of najasat (impure substances) must have fallen on his clothes, rendering him impure. In reality, no najasat has touched his clothes. He finds it difficult to believe that things are tahir (pure), but readily believes them to be impure (najis). Satan has overpowered his power of imagination; hence he readily believes in those things which are harmful to him. Such people should consider themselves ill, otherwise they would also readily believe in the purity of things. If one cannot believe in the taharat (purity) of things, he should equally not be able to believe that they are impure (najis). Readily believing that things are najis, and being unable to believe them to be pure indicates that this person is psychologically ill. Psychological illnesses progress very rapidly, and arise because Shaitan is able to dominate their power of thought. Let us now examine the source of this illness. A man, once, came to Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (a.s.) and began to praise someone saying,, “He is very intelligent, but has a little suspicious nature” The Imam (a.s.), smiled and said, “ What sort of an intelligent person is he, if he is suspicious. Then he added, “Satan has overwhelmed him. His actions are Satanic and not Godly!” The Imam (a.s.) further added, “If you ask the person if his acts are Godly or Satanic, he will himself tell you that they are Satanic."
We should seriously give thought to the fact that Satan is bent on harming us in this world and the Hereafter! He plans to send everyone to Hell through his stratagems. He lands some people in Hell through adopting prohibited professions, some go to Hell because of fornication, some in their greed for power, some through nursing doubts, accusing others falsely and because of jealousy. Ultimately man becomes the loser in this world and the Hereafter! One incident is very famous. Someone saw Satan in a dream carrying long ropes on his shoulder. He asked Satan, “What are these?” Satan replied, “These are some nets I have prepared to catch the people. I drag them to the Hell ensnared in these nets.” Satan also had a chain in his hands. The man asked him the purpose of the chain. Satan replied, “The chain is for Sayed Radi! I had been to Sayed Radi this night and tied him up thrice with this chain. But he cut away the chain every time. “The man then asked Satan, “Why are you carrying ropes of different colours?” He replied, “I tempt different men with different colours and in different ways!” The man called on Sayed Radi next morning and narrated to him the dream. He learnt that the dream was true. Kulaini has narrated that Satan once went to Prophet Musa (a.s.) attired in colourful dress Prophet Musa (a.s.) asked him why he had worn the colourful dress and Satan replied, “ I don’t tempt my victims in one way. I tackle every person differently to lead him to the Hell. Regarding people of suspicious natures, I create doubts in their minds about cleanliness, correctness of the ablutions performed by them and correctness of the prayers offered by them. As for a person who is careless in matters of Faith I tempt him to become more so! I tempt women to indulge in gossip and backbiting. I tempt some people to indulge in bribery and theft. In a nutshell, I tempt people in different ways to make them earn Hell in the Hereafter!”
There are several verses in the Holy Quran that talk about Satan resolving to tempt and misguide men. He said to Allah that he would make men misguided and helpless.
He said: Now, because Thou hast sent me astray, verily I shall lurk in ambush for them on the Right Path. Then I shall come upon them from before them and from behind them and from their right hands and from their left hands, and Thou wilt not find most of them beholden (unto Thee)…
Satan says that when he himself had gone astray because of Adam (a.s.), he will definitely tempt and misguide the progeny of Adam. He says that he will create hurdles in the way of their achieving salvation and thus lead them to Hell. He says that he will attack men from all directions – from the front, from the back, from the left, and from the right; he has vowed to surround man from all directions. Explaining this verse, Imam Mohammed Baqir (a.s.) said that when Satan says that he will come upon men from before them, it means that he will present to them a vague and poor picture of the Hereafter. When Satan says that he will come from behind them, it means that he will make men involved in collecting wealth and make them tardy in discharging the obligations of faith. When Satan says that he will come from the right, it means that he will present to them evil in the form of good and thus create doubts in their minds. When he says that he would attack them from their left, it means that he will involve men with luxury and make passions rule over their hearts. Satan misguides careless women through abandoning the hijab or observing incomplete hijab, but he does not approach the pious through this route. Instead he sends them to Hell by creating doubts in their minds.
I fervently appeal to persons who carry doubts in their minds to recite these verses every morning and evening to protect themselves from the machinations of Satan, and imagine Satan standing in front of Allah and saying that he will misguide different people in different ways. He will lead the pious into Hell through the path of taharat (purity), najasat (impurity), wudhu (ablution), ghusl (bath), and worship. Another verse of the Quran also means nearly the same thing, in which Satan has vowed that:
… Surely I will take of Thy bondmen an appointed portion. And surely I will lead them astray, and surely I will arouse desires in them, and surely I will command them and they will change Allah’s creation.
At the very beginning Satan told Allah that he would tempt certain special people and certainly misguide them. He said that he will give them false hopes and teach them to disfigure the ears of animals for the sake of idols and in accordance with his instructions change the face of Allah’s creation. He also said that he would derive maximum advantage from Allah’s creatures and in the bargain tempt and misguide them. He would get them involved in acquiring wealth and fulfilling desires. Satan said that he will bring men to such a pass that they will loose their inborn instinct of good, and thereafter they would never be able to recognise Allah. Once this happens, such people will never be able to realise that one must be humble before Allah. They will never be able to realise that felicity can be earned. If someone totally submits to Satan and makes Satan his protector, he will be in great loss. O' people of doubting nature, Quran says that you are clearly in loss. A third verse which we quote here is also similar to the first two verses. When Satan was thrown out, he said that he would misguide everybody. Allah said:
And excite any of them whom thou canst with thy voice, and rally against them your cavalry and infantry, and be a partner in their wealth and children, and promise them. Satan promiseth them only to deceive.
Satan misguides people with his voice. What is this voice? It is all kinds of songs and music. Satan maintains two armies. One of these armies is made up of foot soldiers. They trap the people who do not have much knowledge and are unwise. Such will be sent to Hell because they act on the basis of the doubts in their minds. Another of his armies comprises of horsemen. An example of this is the centres of learning set up by the west to misguide people. Sometime illegitimate riches make a person deserving of Hell. Such a man feeds his children on this ill-gotten money. If a child is conceived, even this child turns out to be bad. We understand from this verse that Satan gives unlawful money to some people, thus corrupting their progeny. He misguides some by inciting them to take bribes; he incites some to charge interest. He misguides some by using his voice. Thus he does not use the same stratagem with everyone. Satan assigns a separate satan to deal with every individual. Common individuals are assigned common satans, but he assigns shrewd and knowledgeable satans for the scholars and the wise people. May Allah bless Shaykh Ghulam Reza Yazdi. He says that one erudite person used to say that: every person has a satan within him, but my satan is one who guides the other satans. He proved his point from the Holy Quran that says:
And rally against them your cavalry and infantry
Suratul Falaq and Naas are important to ward off the Satan. You must make your children memorise the four Quls. Whenever the children, or others, stir out of their homes they should recite these verses to shield themselves against Satan, jinn and wicked people. In Sura Falaq and Naas, a point deserves our special attention and it especially deserves the attention of those who doubt. In Sura al Falaq, Allah’s protection is sought from four things:
O Allah! I seek your protection from the wickedness Of people.
Definitely one has to seek protection from the wickedness of the strong enemies.
From the evil of the darkness when it is intense.
The times when the evil practices of sexual promiscuity prevail, may Allah keep us protected!
And from the evil of malignant witch-craft,
We seek Allah’s protection in times when women exhibit their feminine charms. For example, a person is walking on the street and a woman is walking in front of him. Or when a person is busy in his work, a woman comes and starts displaying her feminine charms to him. This verse says that the person should seek Allah’s protection from the evil of such episodes and in such situations.
And from the evil of the envier when he envieth
People must seek protection of Allah against the envy of the adversaries.
These are four very important things for which protection is sought in this Sura. But in Sura al Naas protection is sought thrice.
Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind.
The King of mankind
The God of mankind
Here King of mankind and God of mankind have a qualitative aspect, but actually the supplicant is seeking the refuge in his Lord. From what is he seeking refuge?
From the evil of the sneaking whisperer,
He seeks protection from the evil of Satan who creates waswasa (repeated, unfounded doubts and suspicions), and particularly from the evil of the Satan creates waswasa with istidlal (proof). Khannas is a Satan who is an expert at creating waswasa in men. He knows how to involve the scholars and the careful people in waswasa. He knows the method of involving ordinary men and women in waswasa. Khannas and waswasa are both superlative degrees. Thus, khannas creates a very high degree of doubt and suspicion, and backs them up with (unsound) evidences. People who doubt are also just like this. They usually have very peculiar notions about their affairs. They get such ideas in their minds that even their Marjae Taqleed doesn’t get these ideas at the time of giving an edict (fatwa). They should not think that these are realistic arguments. The Holy Quran says about such doubting persons that they get inspired from Satan. Satan inspires and teaches them to speak contrary to what is told to them. If someone says that a thing is pure, Satan inspires them to insist that it is impure, and even presents proof of it being impure! When a knowledgeable person says that the way he performed the ablution and the ghusl (bath of purification) is correct, he challenges the opinion! Sura an Naas says: O Lord, I seek refuge in you from the khannas. I request my audience to regularly recite the four Quls to ward away waswaas and khannas before they create any problems for them. Do not allow the Satan to dominate you. As soon as Satan tries to mislead you, start reciting these Suras.
One should recite this Sura, and think of the meanings of its words. The meanings are: I seek Your protection, seek Your protection, seek Your protection from the Waswaas and Khannas who create doubts and embellish these doubts with arguments. They plan to, thus, push me into Hell!”
The summary of discussion today is that a psychologically ill person, in the view of Islam, is one whose thought-processes have been overwhelmed by Satan. According to the verses of the Quran a doubting person is one who has befriended Satan. His end will be loss in this world and the Hereafter! This loss will certainly be a total loss!
We have understood that Satan takes every person to Hell through a different route. He will take the Revolutionaries on one route, the enemies of the Revolution on another! The men of piety he handles in one way and the men of the bazaar in another. He has his own methods for a careless woman and a very different method for the pious woman who is attached to Allah, the Prophet (s) and the Infallibles! Satan knows very well how to handle a woman who is miles away from prayer and fasting! The doubting persons are Satan’s easy targets. They are in a very dangerous situation. Some psychologists are of opinion that this disease is incurable. I don’t remember the name, but one highly qualified psychologist once called on me. He had heard from people that I have been curing those inflicted with the disease of waswasa. He was much surprised. If the psychologists consider this situation beyond cure, it goes to show how dangerous this condition is. But I have cured many people of this disease. How have I done it? The treatment is very simple. Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (a.s.) has said that when Satan tries to involve people in waswasa, they should not give any importance to Satan’s inspirations. When you do not pay any attention to him for some months, when you disregard his arguments and evidences, Satan will leave you alone. For example, the doubting wife should accept everything her husband says. The doubting husband should accept everything that his wife says. If one is involved in waswasa regarding wudhu, ghusl, salah etc, he should observe how others do wudhu, ghusl, or recite salah and copy them. But this condition cannot be treated in a couple of months; one has to work at it for atleast five to six months. If a person suffering from this ailment doesn’t follow the regime suggested by me, then his ailment will become worse day by day. Ultimately it will destroy his world and his home. It will make him depressed. This person will become useless for the society. He would end up creating hell on earth, for himself and for his family. He should also remember that Hell is ready for him in the Hereafter too! If you follow my advice, you will be able to get rid of this condition in six months, and you will be able to uproot it altogether.
I would like to make a point in conclusion. Those who don’t have doubting natures should give ear to what I am saying. If your wife is of a doubting nature, she cannot be corrected by shouting, beating or bad-mouthing her. She is ill, and ill persons should not be handled with sternness. Similarly if a husband, son or daughter is of a doubting disposition, they cannot be corrected by shouting or beating them. If you do this they will become more stubborn. These people are ill. They should be handled with politeness and patience. Slowly, they will all be able to overcome the ailment. You have to look after these people, and bear the necessary expenses. Request the persons with doubting natures to follow the regime suggested by me. Those who are not of doubting natures should not talk sternly or bad-mouth others who suffer from this ailment. They should maintain a friendly and helpful attitude with such persons, just like they would with any other ill person.
O Allah! For the sake of Fatima Zahra (a.s.) cure all the diseased persons, and specially those who suffer from waswasa of thoughts and waswasa of actions.
